Writing an Argumentative Essay: Secret Techniques Uncovered

The assignment of writing an argumentative essay is a real challenge for most of the students. No doubt it’s a time-consuming and sometimes even exhausting task. But if you have a detailed structure of your argumentative essay and know how to organize the information there’s no way you’ll be staring at a blank page for hours having no clue what to start with. There are a lot of materials explaining how to write an argumentative essay and describing the right structure of it, but they are either difficult to follow or too confusing. The secret technique is to use analogies to fully understand what this task is all about. For example, writing an argumentative essay is like fishing:

This comprehensive (hopefully) and pretty picture shows the fundamental components of a successful argumentative essay. Let’s say that your audience is a hungry adorable cat who desperately wants you to feed it. It looks at you with its big eyes asking for some fresh fish and you just can’t ignore it. So, it’s time for you to go fishing!

Introduction

There’s a common belief that introduction is the most important part of your essay. And it really is so. It makes an instant impression on a reader and your task is to make everything possible for that impression to be positive. Therefore, if you want to catch a big fish for your beloved cat you need a good hook. You have to grab the attention of your audience and interest them in reading your essay further on. There are various types of essay hooks you can use, such as:

• Question

• Philosophical or startling statement

• Quote

• First-person story

• Anecdote

• Factual information

• Analogy

Simply choose the most appropriate one for your topic. You can read more about the secrets of using essay hooks here.

Now that your readers are interested in your argumentative essay, it’s time to provide them with some background information. Make sure they will understand your claim and include the definitions of the key terms and explanations of the theories you’re going to refer to in your essay. Don’t assume they have the same knowledge of the subject as you do. During your research, you might have come across some information not everybody knows about. You can also specify why the issue you’re going to discuss is important not only to you, but to your readers as well. Keep in mind that your introductory paragraph is not the right place for vague discussions and detailed data, so you need to get right to the point.

As a rule, a thesis statement will be the last sentence of your introduction. Here you state your position and give a reason for your choice. The secret technique of composing a thesis is not making it too broad. If a thesis is too broad it will be very difficult to support it with your argumentation and you risk ending up writing about everything and nothing at the same time. You can also name the arguments you’re going to use further in your essay as the reasons for taking this particular side of the controversial issue you’re discussing. Remember, your thesis statement can be more than only one sentence long. The only thing to keep in mind is making it as clear as possible.

Thesis statement examples:

Social media control over the newsfeed influences the decision-making process of the users. False news and biased views should not be present there.

Forgiving the student loans to those who cannot pay them off will boost the economy growth.

High school graduates should be involved in work as interns in the fields of their interest to make the right decision of what faculty to choose in college.

Building Your Argumentation

It’s a common practice to use three arguments to support your thesis. With their help, you’ll be able to catch three big and tasty fish. It will be more than enough to feed your demanding cat;) A good argumentative essay should not only focus on the arguments which prove your point of view to be the right one, but also include some of the most powerful counterarguments. Our advice to you is to use an easy but effective approach of pros and cons. As you write about the fact that supports your thesis you can introduce an opposing view and then refute that statement.

The most significant part of the body of your essay is providing credible and solid evidence for everything you write about. Don’t think that your audience is going to believe your arguments just because you’re a nice student and never lie. Make sure to prepare relevant and informative materials during your research stage. There are two things you should avoid when building your argumentation:

• Making up evidence (everything you write about can be easily checked by your instructor)

• Using too emotional language to prove your point (rely on the facts, not emotions)

To guarantee the smooth flow of thoughts and logical sequence of your argumentative essay’s body paragraphs use transitional phrases. Topic sentences will make it much easier for a reader to follow the information and focus on the main idea of each paragraph.

Conclusion

As you come back home, your cat can’t wait to taste that delicious fish you’ve managed to catch. All you have to do is to serve it properly. Serving a dish is as important as cooking it. Make sure you give a good final impression of your essay. There are three steps for you to take to make it happen:

• Restate your thesis. Emphasize the importance of the topic one more time.

• Summarize your arguments. Show how they prove your point of view and provide strong analytical points to sound more convincing.

• Show possible negative consequences of not taking your side in this argument. What impact will it have on the society?

This is it. If you’ve done everything right, your cat will be satisfied and you’ll be proud of yourself. But if at some point of the writing process you need some professional writing help, we’ll be glad to assist you!

It does not matter at what stage of the process you encounter difficulties, our experts will be here to assist you. If you are not sure what topic to choose, your assistant will do it for you. All of our employees have enough experience to make the right choice. By the right choice, we mean the topic that would be well-balanced – not too broad and not too narrow. The topic also is going to be relevant to the discipline you specify. Our experts will also help you if your teacher has indicated a specific topic but you have no profound knowledge of it. They will find the necessary information and structure it according to the standard academic requirements. Use their experience and wisdom to reach your academic goals.