How to Write an Argumentative Essay

By: Jasemine Neely

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Getting Started!
When arguing or debating with someone, you
may not always have the opportunity to yell at
them face to face or try to poke their eye out.
This tutorial will explain to you how to set up an
argument that has to be written. In this type of
argument, you will only be able to use facts and
evidence to advance your opponent. You will be
given samples of how each portion of your
argument should look. Use this feature to assess
yourself. At the end of the tutorial you will be able
to win any battle by simply using pen and paper.

Navigation
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tutorial. Throughout the tutorial, click the buttons
to perform the following actions.
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View examples of the process in order to check your own work.
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Argumentative Essays Include:

Introduction Paragraph (Claim)
Counter Claim
Pro Argument
Rebuttal
Conclusion

Tips:
When writing your own argument, use this tutorial
to check and double check the validity of each
portion of your argument.

The Introduction Paragraph

The beginning of your essay should immediately
let the readers know your claim. The claim is
simply your opinion or position on a controversial
issue that will get the readers attention. Your
claim must be supported with evidence(quotes,
facts, data). Each piece of your evidence must be
explained.
Be sure to include a thesis statement so that your
audience will know your position.

Sample Introduction Paragraph

ADVERTISING MANIPULATES VIEWERS

In the simplest form, advertising can be defined as a

kind of message or message transmission that is
designed to promote a product, service, or an idea.
Today this basic marketing strategy has become a
natural part of our daily life. Considering that the $ 20
billion spent on advertisements in 1979 had drastically
risen to $120 billion in 1999 and that in the course of a
lifetime, one will see about three years worth of
advertisements on television and approximately 3,000
ads per day, a person may easily acknowledge the
impact of advertising (DiChiara, 2008, para. 3).
Nonetheless, as Giselle Touzard (2008) explains,
advertising, which originally intended to be a source of
information for people on the availability of products,
has developed into an industry that shapes peoples
identity (para. 2). Coming in various forms in print,
audio, or visual form advertisements not only
bombard audience with their messages, but they also
sell the ideas of who we are and what we should do or
be. Thus, advertisements are harmful for the
society owing to their disruptive influence.

Does your paragraph look like this?

definition
facts
opinion
Thesis statement

Paragraph 2: Counter Claim

A counter claim paragraph describes possible
arguments for your claim. Within this section, you
will consider the opposite side and argue against
your initial claim.
Here, you will turn against your own claim to
challenge it. You will simply start by stating the
opposite of your thesis statement. After stating the
opposite, you will add facts that will make the
opposite opinion weak. In order to complete the
paragraph, you will need to repeat these steps
twice.

Sample Counter Claim Paragraph

Some may argue that advertisements are
beneficial. It is the contention of these supporters that
advertisements are essential in keeping the market
alive and rivalry hot. They believe that it is thanks to
advertisements that companies working on the same
line can display their products on the market equally
and fairly. However, this idea cannot go further than
being an immature claim because this rivalry is unfair.
It is only the companies who can afford broadcasting
strong propaganda of their product that can actually survive
in this competitive environment. In that sense, small
companies are destined to be wiped out from the market.
Proponents of advertisements may also assert that
consumers become more aware and conscious.
This position goes on to say that advertisements help
the undecided customers come to a decision seeing all
the available products on the media.This point has
merits on the surface and could be acceptable to an
extent. It is true that advertisements inform the
consumers on the availability and variety of goods. Yet,
serious doubts can be raised against this view when
one considers the shortcomings of the messages the
viewers are exposed to.

Does your paragraph look like this?

An idea that is
contrary to the
thesis statement

Another opposing claim

Showing the
weaknesses of this
opposite argument

Paragraph 3: Pro-Argument
Paragraph
In this paragraph you will go back to your original
stance or position. This is where you will discuss
additional reasons that prove you are correct. This
paragraph will also need explanations, examples,
facts, and evidence.
Be sure that you include facts and pieces of
evidence that are reliable and clear. If your
evidence is weak, your argument will not be able
to stand strong.

Sample Pro-Argument Paragraph

It is clear that advertisements manipulate viewers;
first of all, they destroy societal balance as they
draw on gender stereotypes. Frequently
advertisements make use of archetypes and myths
for the sake of making the message striking and
memorable. Thus, it is a common practice to
represent women as decorative objects at home
who are submissive to men. Studies have identified
that in advertising women are less often used in
work representations compared with men (as cited
in Jacobson & Mazur, 2007, p. 217). In the
advertisements of house appliances, especially,
women are typically equated with housewives and
mothers. Even when women are portrayed in
professional environments, they are often in
subordinate positions, receiving instructions.
Hence, professional women are reduced to ordertakers. Men, on the other hand, are commonly
associated with power, leadership, and efficiency. It
is especially in car advertisements that these
features are paired with masculinity. Also,
professional men are shown in powerful and
influential positions, giving orders. It is mostly men
who solve the problems, lead a company or pursue
professional goals. This double standard in the
illustration of genders not only reveals the mainstream
view but also affirms it because when consumers buy
the advertised products, one indirectly approves of the
advertisements, and therefore contributes to keeping
and reproducing certain representations. Hence,
advertisements destroy the possibility of a society
where both genders are equal.
Does your paragraph look like this?

Back to the thesis

statement and original
argument

Supporting techniques
(example, explanation,
authoritys opinion)

Paragraph 4: ULTIMATE Rebuttal

For the rebuttal, you will responds to and refute
issues presented by the counterclaim. Your
rebuttal paragraph needs to be different from your
argument-pro paragraph. The difference will only
be highlighted when you include another
argument that is parallel to your thesis statement.
However, this argument should be bigger and
better than your first pro-argument example. You
will include your BIG BANG in this section of your
argumentative essay. The facts and evidence
should be stronger and more valid as well.

Sample ULTIMATE Rebuttal Paragraph

Secondly, advertisements present
unattainable body images both for men and
women, and thus create an insecure society.
Everywhere advertisements tell the audience what it
means to be a desirable man or woman, just as directly
as the advertisement that claims, Image is everything.
For a man, the message is: You need to be athletic. It
seems that whether a man is twenty or forty, whether
he has brown or silver hair, an athletic body is
indispensable for a strong, powerful, and confident
man. The opposite is a caricature, just like the poor
man, the anti-Mr. Muscle in the detergent
advertisement. For a woman, too, the message is
parallel: You need to be beautiful and skinny. Women
are constantly exposed to gorgeous looking women
who have the perfect hair or skin, and a body like that
of a model. Although all these images are simple
illusions, created by skillful makeup artists,
photographers, or photo re-touchers who work on these
meticulously, women unfortunately ignore this and
delve into endless self-scrutiny. As Susan Brownmiller
states, a woman is forced to concentrate on the
minutiae of her bodily parts, [and consequently she] is
never free of self-consciousness. She is never quite
satisfied, and never secure, for desperate, unending
absorption in the drive for perfect appearance (as cited
in Jacobson & Mazur, 2007, p. 213). Due to this lack of
self-satisfaction, today 25 per cent of women are
dieting and another 50 per cent has recently started or
quitted a diet (Jacobson & Mazur, 2007, p. 214). Some
women take even more dangerous steps to be like the
women they see in advertisements. They develop an
eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. It is quite
striking that today approximately one in five women
have an eating disorder (p. 214). Hence,
advertisements perpetuate disappointment as well
as dissatisfaction in both genders.

Does your paragraph look like this?

Another argument
which is parallel to
the thesis statement

Examples,
explanations,
authoritys
opinions,
statistics to
clarify the topic
sentence

Paragraph 5: Final Conclusion

In the final conclusion, you will signify to your
audience that your argument is about to come to
an end. All of the main points you mentioned
previously will be mentioned once again. This
time, you will present them in a different format.
The new format will be a summarization of each
of those points. Quoting an authoritys opinion will
be essential in concluding your essay. Finally, to
leave a lasting impression, you will have to
include a final warning. The final warning needs to
connect to your audience on a personal level in
order to bring the connection home.

Sample Conclusion Paragraph

All in all, attempts trying to justify
the benignity of advertisements are
destined to being feeble because
advertisements cause apparent harms
on public. These written, audio or
visual messages reinstate stereotypes
and consequently annihilate gender
equality. They also portray impossible
body images for men and women,
which eventually manipulates the
public and shakes self-esteem. Finally,
advertisements exploit the future
generations for their own end and
cause irreversible impairment on their
health and psychology.
As Sarah Bernhardt (n.d, para. 3)
remarks, The monster of
advertisement... is a sort of octopus
with innumerable tentacles. It throws
out to right and left, in front and behind
its clammy arms, and gathers in,
through its thousand little suckers, all
the gossip and slander and praise
afloat, to spit out again at the public.
Therefore, we need to save ourselves
from the evil tentacles of this monster
and learn to make our own free
choices, before it is too late.

Linker signalling
the conclusion +
summary of the
main points

Authoritys opinion

Does your paragraph look like this?

warning

Before Publishing
The only thing left to do is to have your masterpiece checked accuracy.
After you allow a peer to read through your argument, fix all necessary
issues within your paper. Now, you will submit your argument to the
executives who will decide rather or not your argument is substantial
enough for final publication.

After writing the perfect argument, enjoy

your $10,000 bonus!!!!