Argumentative Writing
Vee Diagram
How Does it Work?
Simplified the original design for my 6th graders
- Basically I have my students choose, or I give them an issue.
- Then I have students develop two positions on that issue.
- Next the students find 3-4 claims for each issue.
- Then they must find a rebuttal claim for each of their claims.
- Then, if you wish to extend the learning. they have two find evidence to back up each claim
- Finally the students write a position statement.
Using the iPad and the Vee Diagram
Lately I have been using the Vee diagram to support argumentative writing on the iPad. Basically I open the blank diagram in Pages and have it act as a pre-writing guide for my students. I have done variations where the students work in pairs and one student finds the claims for both sides, and the other finds the rebuttals.
Using Pages (or NEU.Annotate) and dropbox (or gDocs, or a WebDav server) the students can send the document back and forth to each other. Once complete I have students write their own position statement that must contain a thesis and their three most powerful claims.
Extending the Learning
Once activity missing from the lesson, and it is critical, is source evaluation. I want to create another section where students must evaluate the source of their claims and evidence. This could be done individually, or better yet, in pairs (small groups) where students try to invalidate each others' sources based on author expertise, publisher affiliation, evidence, etc
"Stand on the Line"
Introduce a controversial topic (old growth logging is one of my favorites; stay away from gun control and abortion) and explain that one end of the room is one extreme view and the other end is the other extreme. I like to elaborate on these extremes humorously. Ask students to stand on the line between the extremes and explain why they chose that point. After each student speaks aloud, encourage the remaining students to shift to the left or right of him/her. After everyone has voiced why they are where they are, send them back to their seats and have them write for ten or fifteen minutes about the issue. This is also a great way to teach concession and refutation, which you can ask them to include in their quickwrites. The game warms them up for writing very nicely.
LearnZillion: PPT
Codes:
LZ1350 Video 1
LZ1351 Video 2
LZ1359 Video 3
LZ1360 Video 4
LZ1379 Video 5
LZ1373 Video 6
LZ1391 Video 7
How to Teach Article
50 Argument Essay Topics
How to Choose a Side
How to Write an Argumentative Essay
Letter of Complaint Argumentative Writing Unit
Informative Wiki/Writing Pacing Guides
Constructing Arguments/NY Times
(Block pattern and Point-by-Point pattern)
Block Pattern
I. Introduction
Explanation of the issue
Thesis statement
II. Body
Block 1
A. Summary of other side’s arguments
B. Rebuttal to the first argument
C. Rebuttal to the second argument
D. Rebuttal to the third argument
Block 2
E. Your first argument
F. Your second argument
G. Your third argument
III. Conclusion – may include a summary of your point of view
Point-by-Point Pattern
I. Introduction
Explanation of the issue, including a summary of the other side’s arguments
Thesis statement
II. Body
A. Statement of the other side’s first argument and rebuttal with your own counterargument
B. Statement of the other side’s second argument and rebuttal with your own counterargument
C. Statement of the other side’s third argument and rebuttal with your own counterargument
III. Conclusion – may include a summary of your point of view
Eleven Elements of Effective Adolescent Writing Instruction
This report identifies 11 elements of current writing instruction found to be effective for helping
adolescent students learn to write well and to use writing as a tool for learning. It is important to note
that all of the elements are supported by rigorous research, but that even when used together, they do
not constitute a full writing curriculum.
1. Writing Strategies, which involves teaching students strategies for planning, revising, and
editing their compositions
2. Summarization, which involves explicitly and systematically teaching students how to
summarize texts
3. Collaborative Writing, which uses instructional arrangements in which adolescents work
together to plan, draft, revise, and edit their compositions
4. Specific Product Goals, which assigns students specific, reachable goals for the writing they
are to complete
5. Word Processing, which uses computers and word processors as instructional supports for
writing assignments
6. Sentence Combining, which involves teaching students to construct more complex,
sophisticated sentences
7. Prewriting, which engages students in activities designed to help them generate or organize
ideas for their composition
8. Inquiry Activities, which engages students in analyzing immediate, concrete data to help
them develop ideas and content for a particular writing task
9. Process Writing Approach, which interweaves a number of writing instructional activities in
a workshop environment that stresses extended writing opportunities, writing for authentic
audiences, personalized instruction, and cycles of writing
10. Study of Models, which provides students with opportunities to read, analyze, and emulate
models of good writing
11. Writing for Content Learning, which uses writing as a tool for learning content material
Writing Next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools
Writing an Essay/Links
Read the following text carefully then answer the questions about it on the next page. You should also print a number of copies of the text in order to complete the tasks on the next page.(Apologies for the slow loading of this page. It is presented as a number of inline images to ensure that the text is formatted the same here as in the answers to the tasks which follow.)
Showing you are aware of both sides of the issue - questions
The text you have just studied on the previous page is an expanded version of the argumentative text on childcare that you studied in the previous section. It still has the same number of paragraphs but the paragraphs are all longer (except for the conclusion). Make sure you print a few copies of the text out before you complete the following tasks - you'll be writing on them when you complete the tasks.If you need to return to the original copy of the text click here.
Task 1: The Main Premise
First we will look at paragraph 1: the introduction. In the previous version of this text paragraph 1 was made up of only one sentence. This sentence was the main premise. Now the paragraph is much longer but the main premise is still only one sentence. What is the main premise? Draw a circle around it and write Main Premise in the margin next to it
Check your answer Answer to Task 1: The Main Premise
Task 2: Paragraph Topics
Paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 all cover different topics related to the issue of childcare. Describe the topic of each paragraph in four words or less and write the description in the margin next to each paragraph (The topic of paragraph 2 is: Effects on early learning)
Check your answer Answer to Task 2: Paragraph Topics
These are only possible topic descriptions for each paragraph. If you have used words with the same or similar meanings you are still correct.
Task 3: Opposing Arguments and Supporting Arguments
Paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 don't just contain arguments that support the main premise. They also contain arguments that oppose the main premise. It is important to include opposing arguments to show your reader that
2. / you are able to anticipate and criticise any opposing arguments before they are even stated.
Draw a circle around the opposing arguments in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4. (They are in blocks of 1-3 sentences at the beginning of each paragraph). Then write "opposing arguments" in the margin next to each.
Answer to Task 3: Opposing Arguments and Supporting Arguments
Task 4: Problematising the Opposing Arguments
Its important that the reader knows that when you write opposing arguments you do not agree with them. You have to make it very clear that you are presenting these arguments only to show that you understand the issue from both sides, that you have anticipated the opposing arguments and wish to criticise them.
In order to signal this you need to use special phrases to problematise the opposing statements. (To problematise something means to make it seem like a problem, to make it seem untrue). We can problematise arguments by making them appear to be debatable opinions and not facts (see Debatable and non-debatable statements earlier in this unit) A common way to do this is to explicitly mark the statement as an argument.
Example (sentence 1, paragraph 2)It has been argued that children who attend childcare centres at an early age miss out on important early learning that occurs in parent-child interaction.
By including the phrase "It has been argued that" in the above statement the writer is problematising the statement below:
Children who attend childcare centres at an early age miss out on important early learning that occurs in parent-child interaction.
When there is no problematising phrase, the statement appears non-debatable.The writer is presenting it as a fact.
Find the other problematising phrases in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of the text. They will all be in the areas of the paragraphs where the opposing arguments are located (i.e. in the first part of each paragraph). Draw a circle around them.
Check you answer Answer to Task 4: Problematising the Opposing Arguments
The problematising phrases are all circled below
You can find more problematising phrases on the next page
Task 5: Shifting from Opposing Arguments to Supporting Arguments.
You can also signal the difference between opposing and supporting arguments by clearly marking the point in each paragraph where you shift from one to the other. You can use contrasting connectives to mark this point. The most common of these contrasting connectives is "However".
Find the point in each of paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 where the writer shifts from opposing arguments to supporting arguments. Draw a circle around the contrasting connective used to mark the point in each paragraph.
Check you answer Answer to Task 5: Shifting from Opposing Arguments to Supporting Arguments
The contrasting connectives which mark the shifts from opposing arguments to supporting arguments are all circled below:
more problematising phrases
Language Summary: other ways of showing that you are aware of the opposing opinion
1. / When you can think of the opposing opinion but you have not seen it written anywhere:It / may be / argued / that...... / However,......
asserted
could be / contended
maintained
might be / claimed
said
2. / When you have seen the opposing opinion written in another text:
It / has been / argued / that...... / However,......
asserted
contended
maintained
claimed
said
It / is / argued / that...... / However,......
asserted
contended
It / is / argued / that...... / However,......
asserted
contended
maintained
claimed
said
A model argumentative essay
This page contains a longer, complete argumentative essay. The issue covered by the essay is Should marine mammals be kept in captivity in marine parks? This essay can be a model for your own argumentative essay that you need to complete for the course that you are studying. But before you can use it as a model you will need to study it carefully.However, when you read the essay you will see that you have already studied a lot of the language and paragraph structures that are used in it earlier in this unit. Also, you have already seen the full text of paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this essay on the previous page. All these language features that you have studied are written in color and in italics. So a lot of your work is already done.
Read the essay carefully and then go on to the next page where you will be asked to answer some questions about it.
Marine Parks
The issue of whether we should allow marine parks to stay open has been widely debated in our community recently. It is an important issue because it concerns fundamental moral and economic questions about the way we use our native wildlife. A variety of different arguments have been put forward about this issue. This essay will consider arguments for having marine parks and point to some of the problems with these views. It will then put forward reasons for the introduction of laws which prohibit these unnecessary and cruel institutions.It has been argued that dolphin parks provide the only opportunity for much of the public to see marine mammals (Smith, 1992). Most Australians, so this argument goes, live in cities and never get to see these animals. It is claimed that marine parks allow the average Australian to appreciate our marine wildlife. However, as Smith states, dolphins, whales and seals can be viewed in the wild at a number of places on the Australian coast. In fact, there are more places where they can be seen in the wild than places where they can be seen in captivity. Moreover, most Australians would have to travel less to get to these locations than they would to get to the marine parks on the Gold Coast. In addition, places where there are wild marine mammals do not charge an exorbitant entry fee - they are free.
Dr Alison Lane, the director of the Cairns Marine Science Institute, contends that we need marine parks for scientific research (The Age, 19.2.93). She argues that much of our knowledge of marine mammals comes from studies which were undertaken at marine parks. The knowledge which is obtained at marine parks, so this argument goes, can be useful for planning for the conservation of marine mammal species. However, as Jones (1991) explains, park research is only useful for understanding captive animals and is not useful for learning about animals in the wild. Dolphin and whale biology changes in marine park conditions. Their diets are different, they have significantly lower life spans and they are more prone to disease. In addition, marine mammals in dolphin parks are trained and this means that their patterns of social behaviour are changed. Therefore research undertaken at marine parks is generally not reliable.
It is the contention of the Marine Park Owners Association that marine parks attract a lot of foreign tourists (The Sun-Herald 12.4.93). This position goes on to assert that these tourists spend a lot of money, increasing our foreign exchange earnings and assisting our national balance of payments. However, foreign tourists would still come to Australia if the parks were closed down. Indeed, surveys of overseas tourists show that they come here for a variety of other reasons and not to visit places like Seaworld (The Age, Good Weekend 16.8.93). Tourists come here to see our native wildlife in its natural environment and not to see it in cages and cement pools. They can see animals in those condition in their own countries Furthermore, we should be promoting our beautiful natural environment to tourists and not the ugly concrete marine park venues.
Dolphin parks are unnecessary and cruel. The dolphins and whales in these parks are kept in very small, cramped ponds, whereas in the wild they are used to roaming long distances across the seas. Furthermore, the concrete walls of the pools interfere with the animals' sonar systems of communication. In addition, keeping them in pools is a terrible restriction of the freedom of fellow creatures who may have very high levels of intelligence and a sophisticated language ability. Moreover, there are many documented cases of marine mammals helping humans who are in danger at sea or helping fisherman with their work.
In conclusion, these parks should be closed, or at the very least, no new animals should be captured for marine parks in the future. Our society is no longer prepared to tolerate unnecessary cruelty to animals for science and entertainment. If we continue with our past crimes against these creatures we will be remembered as cruel and inhuman by the generations of the future.
Bibliography
The Age, 19.2.93
The Age Good Weekend, 16.8.93
Jones, G. (1991). The Myths about Animal Research in Marine Parks. InScientific Australian. Vol 12, No 3.
Smith, H. (1992). Marine Parks: Good for Business, Good for Australia. In Leisure Business Review. Vol 24, No. 4
The Sun-Herald, 12.4.93
Getting an overview of the model essay
On this page you will look closely at the overall structure of the model essay on the previous page so that you can use the same or a similar structure in the essay you need to complete for your course. (You should print the page out and write your answers on the printout.)Task 1: Identifying the main premise, paragraph structure and paragraph topics
Answer the following questions about the model essay.