An argumentative essay is what brings a lot of your skills and knowledge together for you to get the best result. While working on this assignment, you research, analyze, support, think critically, and prove. An essay, especially an argumentative one, helps you with developing various skills that will be useful to succeed not only in education but everyday life. That is because we encounter the use of arguments when persuading someone more often than you may think:
While dealing with an argumentative essay, you have no need to prove that you are smarter than somebody. What matters here is a well-reasoned presentation of a certain point of view and your ability to prove it appropriately. Take the Flat Earth Society, for instance. Its representatives lack reasonable evidence while their overall concept is quite subjective and limited. That makes people doubt the entire idea of this community.
So, you are sitting and asking yourself: "How do I start an argumentative essay?" Start with a good topic. You may think that it is easy to make up an argument and embark on persuasion anywhere and anytime, but this strategy won't always work in your favor. To form a convincing essay, the topic should have good grounds and not be from a subjective viewpoint. The main feature of a good topic for an argumentative essay is that it provokes debate and makes people discuss the issue in different perspectives. Here are two examples of a thesis statement for an argument:
These two variants aren't complete arguments but just provoking statements. And, to prove them, it won't be enough to say "because I think so" or "because that's appropriate." This way, you won't convince the audience. You have to set two different positions and decide which one you are going to prove in your essay. Be careful! Your task is not to compare two opposite statements but stick to one of them.
To be competent in a chosen issue and decide what idea you are going to support, you have to research. This way, you will know what evidence is appropriate to use for a certain topic. If you write an essay on the social or governmental issue, keep in mind that many people already have well-established opinions on these aspects. Usually, they can be influenced by family, friends, public speakers, religious or cultural beliefs, etc. Hence, to form your own opinion well, use only objective, relevant, and up-to-date sources. What if profound research makes you reconsider your opinion?
All the information you want to use as the grounds for your argumentative essay may either break or make the overall statement. To approach your writing properly, you should put aside any citing and analyze all the evidence and facts from your own perspective. How can this or that information prove/challenge your idea?
So, the next question is: what are the good signs of an argumentative essay?
To provide solid support for your essay, consider your answer to the trickiest "what if" question. Try to choose the evidence that will back your challenge/proving from different aspects.
So, you are confident about the chosen topic, you've analyzed the main statement and all the evidence needed to prove it. In conclusion, you have to remind the reader about all the main ideas of your writing and refresh your central viewpoint. Although a conclusion is frequently very similar to the introduction, its purpose is completely different. Here, you have to find a balance between not being repetitive and avoiding any new facts that weren't discussed in the previous paragraphs. Keep in mind one simple tip - provide the reader with a sense of resolution.
