Structuring Your Argument

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Structuring Your Argument
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• You must also submit a plan before you begin to
  write your essay. The following plan STRUCUTRE is
  the most straightforward
• Paragraph 1 State your opinion
• Paragraph 2 Present your first point in support
  of your position and develop the paragraph with
  evidence, quotations, etc.
• Paragraph 3 State your next point in support of
  your position and develop.
• Paragraph 4 State your next point in support,
  etc.
• Paragraph 5 Introduce an argument/arguments
  against your position but refute this argument,
  countering it with appropriate, balanced
  arguments.
• Paragraph 6 Restate your opinion. Draw on some of
  arguments/summarise your strongest points in
  order to finish in the strongest possible way.

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• Marking criteria
• Techniques your marker will be looking for in
  persuasive essays
• Formal language
• Emotive language
• Linking words and phrases
• Persuasive words
• Facts, opinions, statistics, quotations
• Direct language

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Argumentative Writing

• The main requirements of the argumentative essay
  are that it will
• Communicate a clear line of thought
• Present two sides of an argument
• Convey a tone which is measured, reasonable yet
  carries personal conviction
•  
• You will have to prepare thoroughly before you
  begin. Be sure to choose a topic you are
  passionate about, research it and plan it.

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• The following plan for argumentative writing is
  most straightforward
• Paragraph 1 Introduce your subject and outline
  the issues you intend to discuss. You could even
  open with a strong fact, opinion or statistic.
• Paragraph 2 Introduce one side of the argument,
  give evidence to support it, and comment or
  evaluate the evidence. (FOR)
• Paragraph 3 Introduce another argument to support
  this side of the argument, give evidence and
  comment or evaluate. (FOR)
• Paragraph 4 Introduce the opposing side of the
  argument, give evidence to support it and comment
  or evaluate. (AGAINST)
• Paragraph 5 Introduce another argument that
  opposes the argument, give evidence and comment.
  (AGAINST)
• Paragraph 6 Summarise the opposing viewpoints and
  balance out your evidence. Conclude your essay
  coming to some sort of opinion. You do not have
  to take a side, your decision can be neutral.
• (OR your plan can be FOR, AGAINST, FOR, AGAINST.
  As long as it is balanced!)

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• Marking criteria
• Techniques your marker will be looking for in
  argumentative essays
• Formal language
• Linking words
• Facts, statistics, quotations
• Persuasive language
• Objective tone

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Give reasons for your opinions!
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• Smoking Pollution
• Smoking ban Gambling
• Nuclear power Substance abuse in sport
• Nuclear arms Arming the police
• Animal experiments Bigfoot real or hoax?
• Euthanasia Stem cell research
• Capital punishment Cervical cancer jab for teens
• Vegetarianism Designer babies (to prevent
  disease)
• Third world debt MMR jab
• Scottish independence Cigarette companies
  advertising abroad
• Iraq war Fox hunting
• Legalisation of cannabis NHS vs Private Health
  Care
• Private Education Immigration
• Asylum Seekers The car
• Computer games Arranged marriages
• Marriage relevant today Having children is not
  always a good thing
• School uniforms Climate change
• Religious dress Violence on TV
• Genetic food engineering Military/community
  service for all school leavers

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Example Topic Outline
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• Euthanasia, legalisation of?
•  
• Para 1 Growing popularity and support
• Para 2 first and foremost its a human right.
  Develop argument about humans having the right to
  choose anything. Give other medical examples.
• Para 3 Dignity in death. Case studies? Ending
  life without dignity.
• Para 4 Aside from individual arguments in
  support, significant potential advantage for
  society. Saves money for NHS. Facts and figures
  for terminal care costs.
• Para 5 Comparison of UK to other countries where
  euthanasia is legal. Statistics, quotations,
  safeguards and laws.
• Para 6 Objections from moral and religious
  points of view? However
• Para 7 Conclusion.

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Consider...

• a) Is this an example of a persuasive plan or an
  argumentative plan?
• b) In your group, can you rework this plan to
  change it into a persuasive or argumentative plan
  instead? You can add other arguments if you can
  think of more.

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Activity

• Look at the following structure of an
  argumentative essay on handguns
• Introduction The issue of handgun ownership. A)
  Some believe individuals should not own handguns
  B) Others believe it is a personal right like any
  other
•  Disadvantages Both adults and children can
  have accidents. People can use guns for crime.
•  Advantages People can protect themselves from
  intruders. People may want to use them for
  recreational purposes.
•  Conclusion Summarise and evaluate. Accidents
  and crime could be prevented so this would make
  any arguments for handgun ownership very hard.
  Gun ownership should not be allowed in order for
  a better society to be created.

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• Using the above structure as a rough example of a
  plan, you are going to draft a discursive essay
  about car use. You will be given the arguments
  for and against. THIS EXAMPLE IS ARGUMENTATIVE,
  providing two sides of the topic.

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• Step 1 GATHERING/SORTING INFORMATION

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• Read through the following notes.
•  
• Identify the arguments FOR car use with a tick.
• Identify the arguments AGAINST car use with a
  cross.

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• Not restricted with timetables and schedules as
  you are with public transport
• Comfortable (spacious and cool, radio, etc.)
• They cause air pollution/contributes to global
  warming
• Roads deface natural landscape wildlife
  habitats
• Fast/less time-consuming
• Car parks take up valuable space which could be
  used for better things
• Cheap to run
• Car accidents cause death and injury
• Modern fuel is getting cleaner
• Traffic jams lead to stress and road rage (road
  rage stats crimes committed?)
• Cars contribute to a faster pace of life, causing
  high blood pressure and heart disease

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• Now that you have sorted the arguments into for
  and against you can divide your whole essay
  into advantages and disadvantages. Both
  sections need further divided into topics. Each
  topic will become a paragraph. Some of your
  arguments from Activity 1 will be
  topics/paragraphs in themselves, but some will be
  combined into paragraphs with other similar
  topics.
•  
• Take the advantages (all of those with a tick)
  and arrange them into two topics
• 1) convenient and
• 2) efficient
• Take all of the disadvantages (all of those with
  a cross) and arrange them into two topics
• bad for the environment and
• stressful and dangerous

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• Step 2 MAKING ARGUMENTS FLOW/LINK

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• More sophisticated paragraphs begin with topic
  sentences and linking words. This contains the
  main ideas of the paragraph that is about to
  follow. It must then be followed by illustrations
  or examples (quotations, statistics, facts, cases
  studies, etc).
•  
• Write a topic sentence for each of your headings
  in Activity 2 (Convenient, Efficient, etc). For
  example, Cars are extremely possible because
  they are so convenient
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• Do not be satisfied with the first thing you
  write. Share it with your group, reword each
  others, pick the best one.

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• The three functions of a topic sentence are
• It introduces the new argument
• It refers to the task or has the wording of the
  task
• It links to the previous paragraph

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• You should also use linking phrases and words in
  order to make your essay flow well. Decide which
  of these words or phrases goes under each
  heading.
• Copy the table into your jotter

Contrasts Reasons Results Additions Conclusions Examples comparisons

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• Likewise By way of illustration In the same
  way Over and above Similarly In brief
  Inevitably For this purpose
• In spite of this On the contrary
  For all that As a result
• Moreover To conclude In other words
  In the same way For example For
  instance Similarly Finally
• Additionally Besides
  this Accordingly
  Consequently
• Nevertheless Nonetheless In spite of
  this But
• For all that Despite this Although Also
• As a consequence Therefore To this end
  Yet
• However Hence
  Furthermore

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Step 3 STRUCTURING YOUR ESSAY
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• The structure of your essay will be
• Para 1 introduction
• Para 2 Convenient
• Para 3 Efficient
• Para 4 Bad for the environment
• Para 5 Dangerous
• Para 6 Stressful
• Para 7 Conclusion
• OR you can start with the disadvantages first. It
  is up to you. However, there needs to be a
  structure to your introduction and conclusion
  too.

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• Step 4 INTRODUCTION

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• Your introduction will state that there are
  advantages and disadvantages to car use. However,
  this must sound sophisticated. It makes a
  stronger impact if you start with a bold or
  surprising statement, or even a striking
  statistic. Just saying There are advantages and
  disadvantages to car use and you should never
  say In this essay I am going to write about the
  advantages and disadvantages of car use.
•  
• Example opening
• We have become extremely dependent on cars there
  were 580 million worldwide in 2007 and it is
  estimated that this figure will grow to 816
  million by 2010.

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• You will follow this with a summary of the main
  arguments contained in the essay. Present these
  in the order they will appear in the essay.
• Continue the example opening in your jotter by
  adding sentences from the jumbled list below.
  Present them in the order that they should
  appear, according to the plan above.
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• Thirdly, some people argue that they contribute
  to the frantic, unhealthy pace of modern life.
• On the other hand, there are powerful arguments
  against car use.
• Firstly, they damage the environment.
• Clearly cars are so popular because they are both
  convenient and efficient.
• Secondly, they kill and main large numbers of
  people.

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• Step 4 THE BODY OF THE ESSAY

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• Now write the paragraphs out (paragraphs 2-6)
  from the plan above. Each paragraph should
  already have a topic sentence. Use this too. This
  means that you will have to support each point
  with illustrations, examples and evidence.
•  
• Example
• Cars are extremely popular because they are so
  convenient. They allow us more freedom than
  public transport, which is often unreliable, slow
  or even unavailable. Given a choice between
  walking in the rain to join a bus queue or
  stepping straight into the car and driving
  directly to ones destination, who would prefer
  the latter? Furthermore, cars are more
  comfortable than buses or trains since they are
  less cramped and have luxuries such as an air
  conditioner and a sound system. (This would be
  even better if you could add quotations and a
  source!)

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• Now use the points below to complete paragraphs
  3-6. On this occasion we will not add
  quotations/evidence, but you can do that in your
  own essay.
• Fast, less time-consuming than public transport
• Fairly cheap to run, especially if you use a
  small model
• Modern fuels are lead-free and do not cause as
  much pollution as they used to
• They cause air pollution (exhaust emissions
  contribute to global warming and health problems
  such as asthma)
• Roads spoil the natural landscape and disturb
  wildlife habitats
• Car parks take up valuable space in cities that
  could otherwise be used for recreation
• Car accidents result in many deaths and injuries
  (approximately 125,000 people were killed in road
  crashes in 1999, according to This is
  enough to fill 3 jumbo jets).
• Traffic jams lead to stress and therefore road
  rage (angry drivers attacking others)
• Car use contributes to a faster, less natural
  pace of life that often results in high blood
  pressure and heart disease
• You will need to use some of your linking words
  and phrases from Activity 4!

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• Step 5 CONCLUDING YOUR ESSAY

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• Finally, you need a conclusion. Avoid a weak
  sitting on the fence conclusion. Instead, come
  to YOUR conclusion, summing up the arguments you
  have already covered and stating whether you
  agree or disagree. What argument out-weighs the
  other?

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• It may be effective to present the arguments with
  the weakest first. For example
• In conclusion, car ownership has several negative
  effects, including stress, road accidents and
  destruction of the natural environment.
  Nevertheless, we have become highly dependent on
  cars because of the comfort and freedom they
  offer. A total ban seems out of the question.
  Governments could not afford to replace them with
  such an up-dated public transport system for a
  start. But, for the sake of our health and the
  health of future generations and this planet, we
  MUST reduce our useage. Public transport systems
  need to be improved in order for this to happen
  and common sense, such as car pooling, surely
  isnt too hard to manage for the sake of at least
  one persons health.

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Step 6 WRITING YOUR ESSAY
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• You are now going to write a discursive essay of
  your own choice. You will need to gather as much
  information (through the internet, newspapers,
  magazines, etc). This should be your homework.
• When you have gathered all of your information
  you should see how much you have for each side
  and decide whether it will be persuasive or
  argumentative.
• Your teacher will show you some exemplar essays
  before you begin.

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• Step 7 DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING?

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• Your teacher will give you an exemplar essay to
  read.
• You must check that it contains some of the
  elements of effective discursive (persuasive or
  argumentative) writing.
• 1) Firstly, decide whether your essay is
  persuasive or argumentative.
•  
• 2) Now look for these things
•  
• Rhetorical questions
• Power of three
• Emotive words
• Bibliography
• Repetition of words
• Refutation of ideas
• Topic sentences
• Contrasts (achieved by inserting opposing
  arguments)
• Use of pronouns

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Summary

• Now you need to SORT your information into for
  and against, GROUP similar arguments into same
  paragraph. Then RANK their importance (important
  arguments back up what you are saying, use them
  first) and BALANCE them against each other
  (similar fors and against will go into same
  paragraphs).