English 12P: Writing about Ethics
Writing an Argumentative Essay
- An essay is an argument in narrative form. An argument is a specialized form of communication intended to convince one or more people of the validity or plausibility of a case. A narrative is a piece of communication with a beginning, a middle, and an end that conveys a message. Many types of communication can serve either of these functions, but an argumentative essay serves both. Scholars use argumentative essays to share the results of their research with each other by attempting to convince each other of the plausibility of a certain case—the effectiveness of a drug therapy or an explanation for Huck Finn’s trip down the Mississippi, for example.
- How to construct an argumentative essay in six (relatively) easy steps:
- Analyze the assignment: What is the topic? What is the task: to argue, to defend, to analyze, to explain, or to compare? Who is the audience? What style is appropriate? Answering these questions determines the type of research necessary to conduct and determines the tone of the argument.
- Learn about the topic: In the case of a research paper, conduct research in the manner most appropriate to the assignment. Depending on the discipline, research can take on a variety or forms, but in most cases you will, at least, seek to familiarize yourself with the work of other scholars in the field. Aphorism for the day: the edifice of new knowledge is built on the foundation of existing knowledge.
- Develop a working thesis: When you feel comfortable with the topic, choose an angle of inquiry to explore. Formulate a hypothesis to test or phrase a question to answer. Either way, this sentence should guide the direction of your paper. Realize, however, that a thesis statement will continue to develop over the course of writing the paper, so the final statement may have little in common with the working thesis. In other words, be flexible about your ideas until you have adequate evidence to support them.
- Assemble premises: What reasons support your working thesis?Say to yourself, I believe this working thesis to be the case because of these reasons. The reasons will become your premises, and explaining and supporting them will occupy the majority of the space in the essay. Depending on the length of the essay and the amount of research conducted, you may have any number of premises, but you should always have at least two.
- Identify evidence: What types of appeals support this argument? What evidence supports the premises? Evidence comes in many forms, and a combination of forms will often be most persuasive, but academic writing tends to privilege logical appeals, so they should be the crux of your argument.
- Create structure: Layout the argument in a logical blueprint form. State claim, put premises in order, and note evidence that accompanies premises. Analyze the evidence by explaining how it supports the premise.