The Ultimate Guide for Writing Argumentative Essays

When writing an argumentative essay there are certain steps you should follow in order for it to make sense to be able to argue your case is strongly as possible. You want the essay to back up the viewpoint that you are arguing; however, you will also want to include arguments from the opposing case, rather than using just one-sided viewpoint. A one-sided viewpoint leaves the essay open to debate by those reading it, whereas, including opposing views and then counteracting them further enhances the viewpoint you’re trying to make.

Picking the right topic

Before you can start the essay you need a topic to write about. You can’t just pick any topic, you want one that you are interested in to start with, but more importantly it needs to have at least two conflicting sides that you can argue about; you will also want to have side with a viewpoint of either one side or the other that you are arguing towards.

The topic doesn’t have to be controversial; however, it does have to be one that carries conflicting views. Without this, is a potentially very dull and pointless argumentative essay to make; it takes much skill as a writer to argue well when there are conflicting views to the contrary.

Researching the topic

When doing the research you should be particularly thorough and use all means necessary. This can include using past literature or other writing as well as carrying out your own research via interviews, surveys or anything else. The better you research the topic the easier it will be to argue both sides, including the viewpoint that you want to take.

As with most things, essay writing is all about good preparation, and this means good research.

Writing the essay

When it comes to writing the essay it should be logically structured into three well-defined parts:

  • The introduction - which will lay out a brief explanation of the arguments you will be making and generally give an overview of the essay itself
  • The main body - this is where the majority of the writing takes place and will be where you lay out both sides of the arguments, concentrating on the stance that you wish to take but including the other side as well as, in order to counteract any points it may raise
  • The conclusion - this will bring the whole piece together based on the arguments that you have made throughout the rest of the essay and define why you’ve taken your particular viewpoint, based on the evidence
 
 
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