The Ultimate Guide To Writing An Argumentative Essay That Stands Out

Writing an argumentative essay is the most challenging task for students in their academic years. Presenting the best arguments in your essay requires persuasion, in-depth knowledge, and creative writing skills. This blog will uncover some of the best techniques provided by top experts to use and ensure top grades. 

What is an Argumentative Essay?

An argumentative essay is an assignment that requires you to present your arguments on any subject or topic. You need to provide logic and persuade your readers, listeners, and audience to accept your point of view rather than opposing ones.

Purpose of the Argumentative Essay

The entire purpose of this assignment is to make students eligible and confident for public speaking and class debates. Thorough research and critical thinking help you demonstrate perfect essay writing skills.

Basic Elements of an Argumentative Essay

An argumentative essay has many basic parts that form the entire narrative and skeleton of your essay. These parts consist of the following pieces;

• Claim

• Reason

• Evidence

• Counterclaim

• Rebuttal

A claim is an argument the writer has presented in their essay based on reason/s. Reasons are formed when evidence is observed and analyzed by the writer. Evidence can be a book, journal, interview, general or specific survey, etc. 

Counterclaims are opposing arguments on the topic or subject. A rebuttal is the writer’s response to opposing claims that refute or nullifies the effects of opposing claims.

Secret Steps to Writing an Argumentative Essay

There are many steps and suggestions for developing argumentative essays for college assignments. These essential steps help to guide you in composing your essay in an organized structure without mistakes. Let’s look at them thoroughly for better understanding.

Choosing a Suitable Topic

The first step students must take is to find a suitable topic for their essay. It’s a challenging job and requires information you must possess on the arguments presented in the content. While selecting the topic of your essay, you need to follow a few guidelines for streamlining the process, such as;

Narrowing down the Topic

Narrowing down the topic means you must start from a broader search to a more precise one. After multiple searches and changes, you will find a more suitable topic to define your essay appropriately. For example, for arguments on high school body shaming incidence, you will start with bullying, body shaming, and then prominent cases that occurred at high schools, etc. 

From this point onward, you will get a better idea of how to choose which school or state that has seen the worst incidence and suicides of body shaming, etc. This way, your topic will be precise and on point.

Brainstorming Ideas

Brainstorming for choosing a good topic will improve your work and your understanding of it. This step will enhance your analytical skills and give you a better output of your time spent on new ideas.

Understanding the Audience

The last step to help you find a good topic is understanding your target audience. When you have a clear idea of your audience, topic selection will be a piece of cake. Audience centric approach helps make your argumentative essay outline with precision and perfection. 

For example, if the audience is college professors, your essay will be more thorough and detailed with evidence than just fancy words. Therefore it’s important to know that the audience drives the narrative of your arguments, and you need to understand their needs precisely.

Researching After Topic Selection

The second step is to start your research on the topic by expanding your sources of information. Research is the most important factor in establishing your work as authentic and solid. Some ways will help you take steps in the right direction. Let’s focus on why research is so crucial for essay writing.

Importance of Research

Research is the key to a successful academic career. The more research you do, the more confidence and value you’ll get. Additionally, research provides information that helps you broaden your vision to a new perspective. Concrete research makes your entire work undisputed, and your arguments are easily accepted. Since an argumentative essay is about presenting your arguments with reasons and research, your writing becomes more fruitful. 

Types of Sources

When writing an argumentative essay and researching, it’s important to know what sources you have at your disposal. Also, the types of sources allow you to formulate your arguments accordingly. When doing deep research, your sources of information may be composed of various things such as newspapers, magazines, research articles, blogs, interviews and journals etc. 

A credible research paper writing service helps you from writing to presenting rebuttals to counterarguments. This step will further endorse your composing skills and change your impression of a good to an excellent student.

Reliable Sources

While researching, it’s important to gather reliable sources only. The value of arguments loses quickly if inauthentic sources are used. Reliable sources are not only hard to get but hard to refute as well. Therefore, always focus on using reliable sources because they will provide you with genuine research and data. 

Organizing Research by Taking Notes

The final step in doing effective research is to organize your research by making notes. These notes will help you compose your persuasive essay in a structured and organized form. Organizing also helps in jotting down important and relevant research from irrelevant ones. You may also organize notes in a hierarchy so the important ones come first and the least at the bottom.

Creating an Outline

Outlining your essay is an essential step you need to take because it provides you with a structure to follow. Let’s look at why creating an outline is important.

Why an Outline is Essential

An outline is a structure on which your essay will stand. With this, there is organized content; every statement becomes clear and needs more cohesion. To achieve top grades, your content should be structured in a proper outline that defines the essay’s purpose. Due to its importance in the academic world, it’s essential to any content writing. 

Types of Outlines

There are typically two types of outlines writers can use for argumentative writing essays: topic outline and sentence outline. Topic outlines are used to outline the topic and its headings; on the other hand, sentence outline is used prominently in outlining sentences of the essay.

Elements of an Outline

An outline consists of three elements: introduction, body paragraph and conclusion. An introduction is the first or starting paragraph of your arguments introducing your audience to the topic. A body paragraph is the second paragraph that contains arguments and counter-arguments, thus considered the heart of the essay. The last element is a conclusion paragraph that summarizes the entire discussion and provides closure for the audience.

Writing the Introduction

The next important step in writing an argumentative essay is composing an introduction to the essay. It’s the starting part, so that it will be composed with as much perfection as possible. Read the points below to understand the introduction part of an essay better.

The Importance of a Good Introduction

The introduction is the most important part of the essay; it sets the scene for the entire discussion, piques the reader’s interest, and provides value to its content. An essay is incomplete without an intro paragraph and fails to capture attention. The introduction is considered the best tool to evaluate a student’s skills and capabilities in academic writing. 

Components of an Introduction

An introduction of an essay consists of three essential elements. The first intro is a hook sentence, the second is background information, and the third is the thesis statement. Together these three parts work with synergy to bring a strong emotional appeal to your audience. 

A hook sentence is the first sentence of your introduction that intrigues readers to read more and sparks their interest in the topic. Background information provides details on the topic in a historical context and from the writer’s perspective. A thesis statement is the author’s research on the topic and allows the audience to see the subject from the writer’s eyes. 

Writing a Thesis Statement

Writing a thesis statement takes time and research techniques. Therefore it is only possible to write an outstanding one once you have completed all the research on the topic. 

Secondly, there are a few rules that students should follow. These rules and techniques include making your thesis statement concise and enriched with information. Also, a thesis should be relevant to the topic, research, and applications. The last thing you need to remember when writing a thesis is to make it contentious and debatable in light of the evidence you have collected.

Tips for Writing a Compelling Introduction

There are many tricks and tips for writing a compelling introduction for an argumentative essay. Let’s look at some of the best ones for writing introductory paragraphs.

1. The thesis statement should be topic-specific and talk only about the evidence and details in the essay.

2. It should entail your research and its crux.

3. Relevant to your topic and its outcome.

4. The thesis should have no ambiguity and clearly state the evidence.

5. It should be written at the end of the introduction. 

6. If it’s lengthy, make a separate paragraph where all the details and evidence can be displayed in your thesis.

Developing the Body Paragraphs

The next step after you write an introduction to the argumentative essay is to develop the essay’s body paragraphs. This step is crucial because your fundamental research, opposing arguments and rebuttal will be featured here. Let’s understand this part of the essay from a closer view. 

Understanding the Purpose of Body Paragraphs

Understanding the purpose of body paragraphs is important because it will help you write the best argumentative essay. A body paragraph’s main purpose is to highlight the arguments presented here, their evidence, counter-arguments and rebuttal. Keeping this understanding in mind, you need to compose this paragraph with exceptional details.

Building Strong Arguments

As soon as you understand the purpose of a body paragraph, you need to write strong arguments in your paragraphs. Building powerful arguments is the key to winning the debate. Your arguments must be backed by evidence and valid reasons. Invalid arguments will not only make you lose your credibility but also make the essay less desirable.

Presenting Evidence

Evidence collected by the writer on a specific topic needs to be added in the body paragraphs. They need to present them with the help of topic sentences. A topic sentence summarizes the paragraph content in a short statement and then introduces the evidence. This way, evidence is backed by reasons and research and informs the audience appropriately.

Counterarguments and Refutations

Counter-arguments are also essential to the body paragraph, and you must present at least one. An absence of this feature will make your argumentative essay dull composition of a single narrative and a monologue. Collect the most relevant arguments against your topic and present a rebuttal refuting the opposing claims.

Tips for Writing Effective Body Paragraphs

The following tips are helpful when writing an argumentative essay for college assignments. These tips will let your craft an outstanding body paragraph for argumentative essay.

1. The body paragraph should start with a topic sentence that summarizes the paragraph.

2. After starting with a topic sentence, add a supportive sentence or your evidence collected through research.

3. The last part of writing a body paragraph is a concluding sentence that combines a topic sentence and a supportive sentence. The concluding sentences are also used to transition into the next paragraph or to a new idea.

Following the above structure, you can easily develop and present a body paragraph without much effort.

Writing the Conclusion

The last step in writing an argumentative essay is composing the conclusion after completing the introduction and body paragraphs. The following points will inform you about the usage, components and common mistakes in the conclusion in more detail.

The Role of a Conclusion

A conclusion plays a vital role in closing a lengthy debate and ending the discussion. It helps you 4to summarize the entire essay into main points, restate the thesis statement, and ensures the audience accepts only your point of view. 

Furthermore, a conclusion also plays a pivotal role in ensuring your audience feels a long-lasting effect on their mind. These attributes make the concluding paragraphs a game-changer for essay writing. 

Components of a Conclusion

A conclusion has the following parts that jointly work to make your essay perfect. 

1. Restating thesis statement 

2. Main points summary

3. Final thoughts 

4. Concluding statement 

Restating the thesis statement works by emphasizing your thesis and connecting the conclusion directly with it. Summarizing the main points shortens the statements and evidence in the essay. Final thoughts are the writer’s opinion that gives closure on the topic. The concluding statement ends the discussion and leaves a strong imprint on your readers.

Writing a Strong Conclusion by Avoiding Common Mistakes

Although students find it difficult and unattainable to write a breathtaking conclusion, you can make the best one to ensure long-lasting effects on the audience’s mind. Here are some common mistakes you can avoid in writing an astonishing conclusion.

1. Refrain from rephrasing the main points but compose new words with the same meaning.

2.  Must restate your thesis so the conclusion and its content seem connected 

3. Your final thoughts should be conclusive, leaving no doubt in the reader’s mind.

4. Repeating the same words in the introduction and body paragraphs makes the concluding paragraph redundant. 

5. The concluding statement should be your final words that provide an end to the discussion; they should be brief, not lengthy.

6. The conclusion must be four to five sentences long; having lengthy paragraphs makes the concluding paragraph lose its value.

Polishing Your Essay

After writing the conclusion, it’s time to polish your argumentative essay. There are many steps to polishing an argumentative essay. Let’s look at these closely.

Reviewing and Revising Your Draft

After finishing your draft, you can ask your close friends, family member or your professor to have a look at it. They might provide you with a better and more neutral perspective from the reader’s point of view. Reviewing the essay will provide you with thorough information on where the issue lies. In light of the review, you can start revising your content structurally, grammatically, or contextually.

Editing Your Essay

After you revise your document, you can edit the content based on the suggestions. These suggestions related to grammar, structure or context might change the meaning of a paragraph or the entire content. So, make them appropriately where necessary and do proofread them after applying for maintenance of cohesion throughout the essay.

Tips for Polishing Your Essay

Here are the tips that will help you polish your work into a nice and mistake-free essay.

1. Only review your document after a few hours of completion or a minimum after a day.

2. Try to ask if someone else can review your essay to avoid biases in the revision.

3. Apply changes that seem logical and practical. Any change that compromises the meaning and purpose of the essay should be ignored.

4. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and tired, hire a research paper writing service for more professional help and appropriate assistance.

5. Only submit your argumentative essay by proofreading your essay for mistakes and errors.

Citation and Referencing

Citation and referencing your essay make it valid and authentic. You must mention all the sources and references used in your essay. Here are important points to remember while doing citations.

Importance of Citation and Referencing

Citations and references play an important role in essay writing because they provide authenticity and credibility to your content. Without using credible sources in your essay, your arguments will be just words without reasons and evidence. For graded assignments, it’s essential to add references to your content. 

Types of Citation Styles

For writing an argumentative essay, there are many types of citation formats that you may use for references. The important ones used extensively by college students are mentioned below.

1. APA style formatting (American Psychological Association)

2. MLA style formatting (Modern Language Association)

3. Chicago/Turabian style formatting

How to Cite Sources

There are many ways you can cite your sources. The following format will provide the basic structure for citing sources in your write-up.

1. Author’s Surname

2. Author’s first name 

3. Title of source (book, journal, newspaper, magazine, interview etc.)

4. Title of container (page number, chapter, topic name etc.)

5. Publisher, publishing authority name 

6. Date and year of publishing

Common Citation Mistakes

Students need to correct many citation mistakes when they write their assignments. The most common ones are mentioned here.

1. Not including citations at the end at all.

2. Missing or incomplete

3. Failing to add the author’s name and just adding the book name and pages etc.

4. Not using alphabetical order for the organization of the references.

5. Failing to mention all the sources and only adding a few sources.

6. Using invalid, unauthentic and word of mouth as references.

Tips for Accurate Referencing

For accurate referencing, students must follow the tips for accurate reference techniques to fulfill the assignment requirements. These tips are mentioned below.

1. Always note down the references while researching to avoid organizational issues at the end.

2. Ensure the general population and experts validate and consider your references authentic.

3. Ask your college professor or institution’s governing body what sources are credible in their opinion.

4. Always cite sources alphabetically to avoid deviation and sorting issues.

5. Use one formatting style throughout the document; if you use MLA format, use it for the entire essay or paper.

6. It’s a good practice to mention all the sources you’ve used or taken information from to give credit to its authors.

Conclusion

All students must follow the tips mentioned in this guide for writing an argumentative essay. This guide provides a broader perspective on essay writing techniques for college assignments. However, there are many other ways to write an excellent essay, such as using a hire a essay writer. Students will get bundles of offers by using essay writing help.

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• Free and countless revisions

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