How to write an argumentative essay

How to write an argumentative essay

There is a moment in every student’s life when they need to write an essay. However, it is not as easy as it sounds. Many people do not know the whole essay structure and they make crucial mistakes. How to turn your blank page into something special? Let us help you to find out.

The Essay Structure

The important factor of writing any essay is to know its structure. According to the type, each essay has its own organization.

An argumentative essay can be divided into four basic sections:

Introduction
Developing Your main idea
Refuting Opponents’ Arguments
Conclusion

If you wondered how to write an argumentative essay than take a look at the next picture which is the best example of an argumentative essay outline.

All of your four sections must contain some important elements. More about that below.

Section 1: Introduction

In the introduction, you write the main arguments of the essay’s idea. There must be a hook, some background information, and a thesis statement.

Hook. You are not familiar with a term “hook”? It is easy. A hook is the combination of sentences where you attract reader’s attention to your essay like an eloquent orator attracts public’s attention to his speech.

Let’s suggest, you want to write an essay about American movies. Your hook must be interesting for movie fans. If you face problems with creating a good hook, check out next useful on how to write good hook sentences.

Background information. In order to write this section properly, you need to give a detailed information on your argumentative essay topics. Might be helpful to find answers to such questions as: Why is the issue at hand? Who cares? Where is this issue prevalent? Why is it important?
Thesis. In many cases, a thesis is that point, where you can end your introduction by stating the main position of the future essay topic and by giving the strong reasons for your stance. The verb “should” might be very helpful to use in order to support your stance on the main arguments.

Section 2: Developing your arguments

The moment you have finished the main points of your topic in the introduction, you develop your main arguments. On the picture above, you can see three evidence points to write in the argument essay. However, you can present only two claims in order to support the main idea. The number is not a factor you have to focus on while writing an essay.

A claim. In terms of writing an essay, a claim must be a statement where you strongly support your arguments. After you wrote down a claim, the next step is to show your evidence.
Evidence. When making your claims don’t forget to support it by existed evidence. It can be an information from trustworthy sources. If you have gathered enough evidence to support your claims, you can work on the next step: refuting your opponents’ arguments.

Section 3: How to refute opponents’ arguments

The next part is the point, where you offer counter-evidences to your opponents’ views. Make sure you use the real facts in your essay. Go through the reliable sources and find the strong arguments to destroy your opponent’s evidence. This can be the main weapon for your argumentative essay in this format. By finishing this part, you are reaching the last stage.

Section 4: Conclusion

There are two important tasks for you to handle in your conclusion.

Restate the main argument. The same action what you did in the introduction, where you want to underline the importance of your topic.
Paint a picture of the world. You can do this to make sure your argument is implemented. That is also an important factor for you to hold the reader’s attention. The good question can be helpful to achieve it. You also may create a picture of the world to support all written arguments before.