When the purpose in writing is to persuade another of your opinion, using the correct logic and following the correct layout are very important, and your arguments, if not written clearly and with support, will fall flat. .
When teaching a persuasive essay, you should make sure your students are clear on its purpose – . This differs from other types of essays where the goal is or . The persuasive essay is all about changing someone’s mind. Some topics are better suited to this type of essay, topics that can be logically argued with facts, examples, expert opinions or logical reasoning. Still, they must be a topic on which someone can take an opposing viewpoint. Some writers may be tempted to choose a matter of preference or faith, but these do not make good topics for the argument essay since it is highly unlikely the writer will be able to alter the beliefs of the reader, so , like ‘ ’ (since they cannot prove it,) and to gravitate toward questions they can support, such as ‘s ’.
Though making assumptions is usually a bad idea, your students should start the argument essay with some assumptions about their readers. Since convincing the reader is the primary purpose of the essay, your students need to think about the person for whom they are writing, their audience. Knowing the audience can make the difference between a tolerable and a compelling essay. Your students should assume that the writer disagrees with the positions they are taking on their topic but they should not assume that the reader unintelligent. There would be no purpose to writing this type of essay if the reader already agreed with the writer’s position, but if the writer treats the reader as though he is less intelligent, the piece will have a condescending and offensive tone throughout. It is also important that your students think about why the reader holds the opposite point of view. This will be very important when it comes to writing the .
. One list should be reasons that they hold their opinion (or ), and the other list should be reasons that the opposition holds their opinion about the issue (or ). If you are teaching a simple argument essay, the list of pros should be longer than the list of cons. If this is not the case, you may need to encourage your student to change to the other side of the argument.
Your students can start with any style introduction that seems most effective, but the body of the essay should be rather straightforward. . It is very important that he supports his opinion with objective proof – , , , and – and not just statements of his own beliefs and opinions. Without this type of support, the argument will not be convincing. If you are teaching advanced students, this might be a natural place to look at and how to avoid them in this type of essay. Once the body paragraphs are written,
In this type of essay, just as important as arguing your points is . When writing this type of essay, your students should not only show why they are right but also why the opposition is wrong. This part of the essay is called . Looking at the list of the reasons against their arguments, tell your students to choose the strongest point the opposite site might present. Then challenge them to think about why this argument is invalid. A strong refutation will address the argument and prove it is not logical, there is a better answer, or it is not true. Your students should spend one paragraph on the refutation, and it should come after the arguments in favor of their positions on the topic.
They will want to remind the reader of their points and end with . The overall tone of the essay should be logical and not emotional or manipulative. If your students are able to write this way, their essays will be convincing and effective.
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Arguably, everything we ask students to do in the classroom–even beyond argumentative essay and persuasive writing– touches on argumentation in some way.
Indeed, inherent in all–nay, to be safe and more solid in my argument, let me adjust–inherent in most tasks in English and Language Arts is argumentation .
As such, it pays great dividends for students to be skilled in the art of argumentation and writing argumentative essays . This process often begins with finding the right argumentative essay topics.
With argumentative essay topics top-of-mind here, let’s start by finding inspiration for argument.
I would contend–here I go making an argument–that one can find topics for argument anywhere (and yes, I meant to use the absolute anywhere there to make a point).
This, then, provides opportunity for students to find real-world argumentative essay topics and for us to meet students where they are at: on social media. Indeed, since students are sucking up screen time, we can use it as a tool for learning (instead of a tool to cyberbully others while negatively impacting their self-esteem and sleep cycles) and get argumentative essay ideas .
Here’s an idea: students could open their social media app of choice and scroll through the news of the day.
They might find, at the local level , discussion over what to do with the old, abandoned mall–should it be plowed over and made into a car wash or a mattress store, for example?
Or they might find, at the international level , debate over how best to address nuclear weapons–should we join this arms agreement or should we sanction this country for its nuclear desires, for instance?
Students can consider these argumentative essay topics that pop up in their feed and be challenged to become an active participant in these conversations rather than a passive consumer mindlessly scrolling past important subjects to find the next TikTok trend.
Or, conversely, one could have students USE something like TikTok trends to find argumentative essay topics.
What’s a trend on TikTok (or any other platform)? Students could take a trend–say trending videos related to “glow-ups”–and weigh in on the trend, arguing a number of angles.
Here’s another idea to generate argumentative essay topics–have students choose a tweet, a truth, a blog post, really anything someone’s posted or shared online with an audience publicly. Students can then write an argumentative essay as a response to this person’s post.
For instance, students could pick the latest post by polarizing figures like Elon Musk or Donald Trump. Students can begin by considering the rhetorical situation of the posts:
With this understanding, students can anticipate what they could add to the conversation in an argumentative essay (where they might, for example, disagree with Elon Musk’s latest tweet on artificial intelligence).
Then, with a topic selected, students can begin considering an argumentative essay’s structure and an argumentative essay’s outline .
Once a student has chosen a topic, the next consideration for an argumentative essay is its argumentative essay thesis and the writer’s approach to the subject and the discourse surrounding it. In other words, what does the writer want to argue?
Sometimes it’s helpful to guide students to absolutes and extremes (the pro-con, the true-false, the right-wrong) and then have them consider alternative, more nuanced perspectives in between. Students can view subjects on a spectrum, like a number line in math, that encompasses a variety of viewpoints.
Certainly, for instance, someone could argue no one at any time should possess or use a gun or that, on the other hand, everyone should proudly brandish a machine gun everywhere they go–but for most, their position falls somewhere in between. Instead of a yes or no , it’s a yes, but . . . or a no, but . . . . Instead of an always or never , it’s a most often or rarely .
Here, then, might be some example thesis statements :
Students must then decide where they can make the strongest argument, which is often where they have the most relevant, sufficient, and accurate evidence.
With an argumentative essay thesis and evidence in mind, students can begin to shape their line of reasoning and their argumentative essay’s structure and outline .
One could pose this to students like giving directions on a map, leading someone from point A to point B.
Students can begin to lay out their reasoning in a way that makes sense for them and for the readers.
For example, does the writer want to argue why America needs gun reform before or after contending the solution to the problem? In this case, it would make more sense for the writer to build the need for the argument by arguing why it’s a problem before contending how to fix it.
Once students have the order of their points in mind, they can begin to add evidence to their argumentative essay outline .
For many students, they will view outlining their ideas as a 1-to-1 ratio of reason to evidence: one reason in one paragraph equals one quote, paraphrase, or summary . While this 1:1 approach might be effective in some cases, it’s important for students to understand that arguments are situational ; there are no universal rules for argument such as: “every argument needs to be five paragraphs” or “a direct quote is all you need.”
A reliable rule of argument to follow is that every argument is different , so when students make argumentative essay outlines, they need to be reflective, critical thinkers , asking themselves questions like: how much and what evidence is enough for each reason to prove and support their claims and thesis.
A teacher could explain this to students using a courtroom analogy : if someone’s accused of a crime, how much evidence and what kind of evidence is needed to prove the person’s guilt?
Students can treat their claims/thesis/evidence for an argumentative essay like courtroom attorneys, roleplaying a skeptical audience in need of persuasion.
Or they don’t need to pretend! If it’s the goal of our students to write a convincing argumentative essay , the argumentative essay topics , argumentative essay format , argumentative essay ideas , etc. don’t matter if they don’t share their writing with an audience.
Arguments don’t exist in a vacuum.
They exist in relationships between writers and readers –so your students, as writers, need readers. They need readers to react, to question, to disagree, to agree, to (perhaps above all else) be real.
As such, it’s important for writers to share their writing with others.
One way to share student argument writing, for example, would be during peer reviews in the classroom where a writer could elect to share their favorite sentence, favorite paragraph, or favorite page of a piece of writing.
With these favorite selections, students could consider the purpose of their writing and how they are appealing to their audience.
For rhetorical appeals – logos, ethos, and pathos – students need to consider closely how they can touch the heads and hearts of their readers.
Indeed, oftentimes an effective argumentative essay is one in which the writer appeals to the readers’ emotions (pathos) through things like anecdotes and figurative language, appeals to the readers’ sense of logic (logos) through things like analogies and statistics, and appeals to the relationship between reader and writer (ethos) through things like addressing a counterargument and establishing common ground.
Finding the most effective combination of appeals can help create an effective argumentative essay .
Perhaps now, at this point in the writing process, is an opportunity to give readers a chance to either use or design an argumentative essay rubric that measures the effectiveness of different parts of an argumentative essay like its rhetorical appeals and rhetorical techniques or thesis .
For instance, a teacher could give students four blank columns , labeled with “Yes, consistently” all the way to “No, not really” and ask them to fill in the blank boxes with descriptions, qualifiers, and notes that help differentiate different levels of quality for an aspect of an argumentative essay.
So, with thesis , for example, students might write under the “Yes, consistently” column that an effective thesis takes a clear position that the writer’s audience is likely to disagree with or question.
For “No, not really,” students might write the thesis shares a fact or summary (like social media can be an issue for teens today ) rather than an arguable assertion.
With this student-created argumentative essay rubric , then, students can reflect on their own argumentative essay and share feedback on the writing of others through this framework.
In doing so, students can improve their argumentative essay’s effectiveness.
Lindsay has been teaching high school English in the burbs of Chicago for 19 years. She is passionate about helping English teachers find balance in their lives and teaching practice through practical feedback strategies and student-led learning strategies. She also geeks out about literary analysis, inquiry-based learning, and classroom technology integration. When Lindsay is not teaching, she enjoys playing with her two kids, running, and getting lost in a good book.
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Teaching argumentative writing in middle school ela: part one.
If you teach middle school, you know that teenagers have a lot of opinions! Luckily, you can use that to your advantage when teaching students how to write an argumentative essay. The key is to help students learn to craft well-written arguments with evidence (not just arguing for the sake of it, which middle schoolers can be prone to).
While learning to craft argumentative essays will help students in school, being able to craft and defend an argument is also an important skill for the real world. Writing an argumentative essay or having a debate requires critical thinking skills and the ability to take a stance and back it up.
In order for students to understand how to write an argumentative essay, they need to understand what argumentative writing is.
Argumentative essays usually require that students do some investigation or research on a topic and then choose a clear stance. When writing, students will spend the body of the essay explaining points and providing evidence that supports their stance. A counterargument is also typically given as a way to counteract how “nay-sayers” would disagree with the writer. At the end of the essay, students will restate their argument and summarize their evidence.
Now that we know what to expect from argumentative writing, we can get into how to write an argumentative essay. You’ll want to start by introducing argumentative writing, which I liked to do through debates. Just like in an essay, to successfully debate a topic, students must do some investigation, choose a stance, and then argue their point in a meaningful way. Holding a class debate is a great place to start when introducing argumentative writing. Debating a topic verbally can actually be used as a brainstorming session before students ever even put pen to paper. For students new to argumentative writing, this takes some of the pressure off of jumping right into the writing process and helps them generate ideas.
There are a few ways you can use debates. For instance, you can choose a topic you’d like students to debate or let them choose a topic they’re already passionate about.
I liked to give students a few minutes to think through the topic and prep on their own, and then I partner them up. They can either debate the topic with their partner, or they can work together with their partner to debate another pair.
Depending on your class size, you could also split the class in half and make it a whole group debate. As long as students are researching or investigating in some way, choosing a stance, and finding reasons to back up their position, there is no wrong way to hold a debate in your class – and you can try out a few different formats to see what works best.
After the debates, it’s a great idea to debrief. This is a good time to bring in some key vocabulary and reinforce how to write an argumentative essay. For example, you can look over some of the evidence presented and ask students to rate the “strength” of the argument. You can also brainstorm a counterargument together.
After students debate, they move on to the flash draft. A flash draft is essentially a giant brain dump. Students do not have to worry about spelling, grammar, organization, or even structure. They will simply be taking their thoughts from the debate and getting them down on paper.
One benefit to the flash draft is it removes the barrier of intimidation for a lot of students. For many kids, the actual work of starting to write can be daunting. A flash draft removes that intimidation of perfection and just requires something to be on the page. Again, the flash draft portion can be completely tailored to best suit your students and classroom. You can set a timer for a specific amount of time, you can provide students with an outline or guiding questions, or you can give them sentence stems to start.
If you have access to technology in your classroom, you can even let students verbalize their flash draft and use transcription technology to get it on paper.
By now, you might be wondering when you’ll actually dive deeper into how to write an argumentative essay. That will start with a mini-lesson. These mini-lessons should cover the key parts of argumentative essays, like how to take a stance, ways to support your position, how to transition between thoughts, and even how to craft a counterargument.
You could have a mini-lesson before each flash draft to focus on a particular skill, or you can hold the mini-lesson after the flash draft and let students focus on that skill during revisions. During mini-lessons, I highly suggest using mentor texts, guided examples, or other reference materials. When it comes to writing, many students need to see the process in action, so modeling and having a place for them to reference will be super key to their success.
Want support putting together your argumentative essay unit? My done-for-you Argumentative Writing Unit scaffolds how to write an argumentative essay for you and your students.
The unit includes 23 full lesson plans, slide presentations, notebook pages for students, teacher keys and examples, student references pages, and more for a well-rounded unit.
Plus, this unit goes through the exact process I talked about in the blog, using debate, flash drafts, and mini-lessons to scaffold students through the writing process.
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Step 2: Informal Argument, Freestyle. Although many students might need more practice in writing an effective argument, many of them are excellent at arguing in person. To help them make this connection, I would have them do some informal debate on easy, high-interest topics.
Step 1: Start with Casual Augmentation. Engage your students in a low-stakes debate before formally teaching argumentative essay writing. This approach will help get students in the right mindset as you begin to lay the foundation for effective argumentation. Don't even mention the word essay at this point.
I teach students how to write a step-by-step 5 paragraph argumentative essay consisting of the following: Introduction: Includes a lead/hook, background information about the topic, and a thesis statement that includes the claim. Body Paragraph #1: Introduces the first reason that the claim is valid. Supports that reason with facts, examples ...
4. Identify claims and evidence. Related Article Tim Lahan. The Common Core Standards put argument front and center in American education, and even young readers are now expected to be able to ...
Extending: Adding commentary to the conversation on the issue at hand. Countering: Addressing opposing arguments with valid solutions. Teaching students to identify these moves in writing is an effective way to improve reading comprehension, especially of nonfiction articles. Furthermore, teaching students to use these moves in their own ...
Mentor Texts are Golden. Structure is Everything. Research is Key. The Little Details Matter. Checklists are a Must. Mentor Texts are Golden. A great way to introduce the argumentative essay is through mentor texts. Mentor texts help students see distinct elements of craft, tone, and structure within a piece.
In " 10 Ways to Teach Argument-Writing With The New York Times ," you'll find resources for: Exploring the role of a newspaper opinion section. Understanding the difference between fact and ...
Here are four ways to build your students' ability to write arguments through close reading. Choose Text Wisely. I don't think I can say it enough: The most important part of planning close reading is choosing the text. If you want students to be able to create and support an argument, the text has to contain evidence—and lots of it.
Teaching Argument Essay Writing Step 1: Develop the Claim. One of the first steps in helping students write an argument essay is developing the claim. Students need to understand that a claim is a debatable statement that they can back up and support using evidence and reasoning. Once students have a good idea about their essay's claim, they ...
Make a claim. Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim. Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim) Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives. The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays.
Step 1: Start with Analyzing Arguments. The first and most important step when teaching argumentative writing is to teach argumentative analysis. Students must have a background in what makes a strong argument before they can write a strong argument. I wrote all about how I teach argumentative analysis here.
There are many engaging activities to use when teaching argumentation and persuasion beyond the classic essay. While the argumentative essay can certainly be effective, try something new with one of these 6 engaging activities. Your students will be excited and eager to apply argumentation and persuasion in the classroom and beyond.
Learn what elements every argumentative essay should include and how to structure it depending on your audience in this easy step-by-step guide. When you're writing a persuasive essay, you need more than just an opinion to make your voice heard. Even the strongest stance won't be compelling if it's not structured properly and reinforced ...
The Purpose of Argumentative Writing. While the challenge is in the time it takes to grade the essays, the excitement is within teaching argumentative writing. The purpose of argumentative writing is to defend a position on a particular subject with the goal of persuading readers to accept or at least consider the argument.
Information is used, but it is organized based on these major components of an argument: claim, reason, evidence, counter-claim, and rebuttal. Here are simple descriptions of these components to share with your students: Claim: the position taken by the writer; what the writer is trying to prove or argue. Reason: provided to support a claim ...
WORD CHOICE. When students are ready to revise, word choice lessons can make a big difference! I like to cover formal vocabulary options throughout the research unit so that students have an opportunity to use the new words they are learning in writing.. Each day, students learn two formal word options that can replace common cliches in writing.
We build to the essays. After practicing a thesis and topic sentence and a body paragraph for a couple prompts, students are comfortable writing essays in response to an argument essay prompt. With my AP ® Lang students, I like to do timed essays throughout the year to help them learn to pace for the exam. For the first timed essay, they know ...
1. Give students engaging, relevant texts. In order for students to make an evidence-based argument, they have to care about the topic. Use texts that are at an appropriate level of complexity for the student; that are high-quality, such as from respected publications like The New York Times or National Geographic; and that are relevant to ...
In this blog post, I'm going to share five strategies that help students not just identify, but analyze arguments so that they're primed and ready to write their own strong arguments at the conclusion. 1. Differentiate strong claims from weak claims with small group work.
To prepare to write the persuasive essay, challenge your students to make two lists. One list should be reasons that they hold their opinion (or the pro side of the argument ), and the other list should be reasons that the opposition holds their opinion about the issue (or the con side of the argument ). If you are teaching a simple argument ...
Then, with a topic selected, students can begin considering an argumentative essay's structure and an argumentative essay's outline. Thesis Statements for Persuasive Writing Once a student has chosen a topic, the next consideration for an argumentative essay is its argumentative essay thesis and the writer's approach to the subject and ...
Here are the 4 steps (plus a bonus ) I use to teach my students the basics of how to identify and analyze arguments and claims. Step 0: Vocabulary. It is essential that everyone has the same understanding of key vocabulary words so this is always the foundation of my lesson. For this unit, students need to know and understand - Argument, Claim ...
My done-for-you Argumentative Writing Unit scaffolds how to write an argumentative essay for you and your students. The unit includes 23 full lesson plans, slide presentations, notebook pages for students, teacher keys and examples, student references pages, and more for a well-rounded unit. Plus, this unit goes through the exact process I ...
The argument is often the most difficult of essays for students to begin. We are many times as unsure of our positions as we are of our reasons for our positions on controversial topics. "Because that's what I believe" is only the starting point. Explaining why you believe in your position is the task of the argument.
Resources for Educators & Students K-12 Education The AHA strives to ensure that every K-12 student has access to high quality history instruction. We create resources for the classroom, advise on state and federal policy, and advocate for the vital importance of history in public education. Learn More Undergraduate Education…
To get high scores at essay writing tests, learners of English as a foreign language need to focus on good arguments more than on complex grammar. The finding challenges conventional approaches to ...