Writer’s Task:
Argument means “to make a claim about a debatable issue and to provide a reasoned defense of your claim”. For this argument assignment, you will select an issue to debate.
To write a successful academic argument in which you state what you think and why, consider
the following steps:
Define your issue, demonstrating your awareness that you are entering a conversation that contains competing perspectives on the issue;
Make a focused claim about your issue (i.e., state an arguable thesis that locates your stance among the competing perspectives);
Provide reasons that support your thesis;
Provide evidence for each of your reasons
Anticipate objections from people with other perspectives and, when necessary, provide refutations;
Be aware of the unspoken/unwritten assumptions (values and beliefs) underlying both your claims and reasons as well as the claims and reasons of competing perspectives.
POSITION ESSAY LOGIC
You will be writing an argumentative essay that requires you to express your opinion on a topic of your choice and support that opinion with strong logic and scholarly weight. THIS IS A REFUTATION. YOUR THESIS MUST BE STATED AS A REFUTATION.You are inviting your readers to consider your view and think about their own. Here in your argumentative essay, you will explore an issue, sharing information and your perspective to help your readers think critically and make informed choices.
You will take a very controversial topic with rigorous and sometimes rancorous debate already conducted in the social arena and in scholarly literature. Your goal will be to convince your readers that your position is absolutely the strongest, and they should change their minds and take action on this issue as per your lead.
Note how similar argumentative essays and persuasive essays are. They can both be considered “position” essays. For an in-depth and focused discussion on the fine art of writing academic essays, see: http://www.rfwp.com/samples/essayvoyage-sample-.
Position Essay Checklist
• Is my thesis statement concise and clear and stated at the end of my introduction?
• Does it present my point of view on a subject?
• Are my points presented in a logical sequence in the body of my paper?
• Have I made my points clear and backed up with scholarly sources?
• Does the conclusion wrap-up my essay and re-state the thesis with a satisfying closure?
• Have I checked for run-on or unfinished sentences?
• Are there any unnecessary or repetitious words?
• Do I use a variety of sentence lengths?
• Does one paragraph or idea flow smoothly into the next?
• Have I looked for spelling or grammatical errors?
• Are my quotations accurate in source, spelling, and punctuation?
• Is my references list correct according to MLA?
