How to Write an Argumentative Essay
Argumentative essay is a type of written assignment where you are expected to give your opinion on a certain matter and provide evidence that supports your opinion. Writing an argumentative essay may sound easy in theory, but many student writers have difficulties providing sound argumentation for their statement. That is why you can now get your essay online from the most qualified writers on the internet!
Choose Argumentative Essay Topics and Arguments
The correctly chosen topic amounts 50% of the success of your argumentative essay. You need to not only guess what people want to read about, but also choose a topic that matches the specific format of the essay. Here are some tips on how to find good topics for your writing! Need help with paper? Don’t hesitate to contact us!
Finding Ideas to Write About
When choosing a topic for your argumentative essay, it’s important to maintain a balance. The first balance you need to maintain is the balance between popular and rare topics. Popular topics are easier to write about because there are plenty of sources to support your statement, but from a reader’s point of view, a popular essay topic isn’t exactly useful. An experienced reader may have read essays arguing the same popular opinions several times.
Rare topics are much more interesting both from the viewpoint of the reader and the writer. For the reader it’s a chance to discover something they’ve never dealt with before. For you, as the writer, an uncommon argumentative essay topic is a challenge that you’ll be very satisfied to complete. However, rare essay topics put you under the risk of not locating enough credible sources for supporting your statement. This is why it’s best to choose a topic that lies somewhere in between.
The second balance to maintain is the balance between your own interests and what the audience wants to see. It’s easy to become distracted and write about a topic you’re personally passionate about, but without the interest towards the subject from the public your argumentative essay is not likely to be a success.
Sample Topic Questions
While argumentative essays can be written on a variety of different topics, most of them fall under several distinctive categories, which includes:
- Environment;
- Education;
- Military;
- Social issues;
- Internet and social media;
- Race and gender;
- Immigration;
- Culture.
If you’re tasked with writing an argumentative essay in one of the categories listed above, you can find a myriad of sources for your inspiration. Those issues are frequently discussed in scientific publications and online, which means you can come across an idea of the right argumentative essay topics almost accidentally. Here are just a few sample topic questions for you to consider:
- How can we prevent child obesity?
- Is there a way to lower unemployment in youth?
- Should education cost as much as it does now?
- How do mobile phones affect interpersonal relationships?
- Should parents control their children’s internet use?
- Why do child actors get into trouble in adult life?
- Pro-life and pro-choice: can they work together?
These are only a few of the questions you can base your argumentative essay upon – if you think about, there are millions other statements you can argue for that make great essay topics!
5 Types of Argument Claims
Despite the popular myth, a good argumentative essay is more than simply trying to prove your point with a few arguments. In fact, all the argumentative essays follow one of the five common models that can help you with the construction of the main essay question and the way you support your claims. Here they are:
- Value: how important is the topic you’re writing about?
- Fact: is the main statement of the essay true or false?
- Policy: what can be done about the issue and are we doing enough?
- Definition: what does the main statement of the essay really mean?
- Cause and effect: what causes the issues described in the statement and what are its effects?
How to Start an Argumentative Essay
Before beginning to work on your argumentative essay, first make sure you have your sources and references in order. It’s also important to create an outline for the essay to know your plan for working on the paper and divide the information you want to present between the sections of the essay.
Introduction and Conclusion
One of the most essential parts of argumentative essays is the introduction. An introduction of an argumentative essay shouldn’t be long, but it should grip the attention of the reader from the first few sentences. That is why it’s a good idea to include a hook into the beginning of the introduction so that the readers get encouraged to carry on reading.
If you look at the examples of argumentative essays written by other students, you will notice that the introduction doesn’t follow a strict pattern. However, what your introduction should definitely include is a little insight into why you chose this particular topic. Talk about whether the topic is a pressing issue that is commonly discussed in society. Plus, remember that you’re writing an argumentative essay, which means you should mention what you stand for in the first part of the introduction.
As the closing part of your argumentative essay, the conclusion has as much importance for the success of your paper as the start of the essay. In your conclusion, briefly list your arguments once again to restate your point. You can once again cover your topic and why it’s so important, but what you should focus on are the arguments that support your opinion.
The success of an argumentative essay and its conclusion in particular can be easily measured by the reader’s reaction. By the time the reader has finished looking through your essay, their opinion on the matter should either match yours completely or be noticeably shifted.
Outlining Your Paper
The structure of a written argumentative essay stems from its objective. If you’re following the classic essay structure like narrative essay, your outline should look like this.
- Introduction.
- Body, which should include the reasons for your opinion and support for it, as well as possible opposite opinions and objections to your statement.
- Conclusion.
Work with Your Arguments
The way you present your arguments to the audience are far from random: there are strict guidelines for writing what you’re trying to argue.
3 Argument Strategies
Throughout the history of writing argumentative essays, scholars have developed a system for presenting their arguments. This system is known as the three primary argument strategies: Classical, Rogerian, and Toulmin. Here is a little information on each one.
Classical Argument Strategy
The classical argument strategy is used when you feel very confident about the topic you’re arguing for and want to convince the reader that your point of view is the correct one. You can follow the traditional essay structure if you choose this strategy.
Rogerian Strategy
The Rogerian strategy is different from the Classic: here you’re not trying to persuade the reader at all costs; rather, you’re ready to compromise and even change your opinion if the opponent presents persuasive arguments.
Toulmin Strategy
The Toulmin strategy is widely used in debates where the opponents categorically disagree with each other. With the help of carefully selected qualifiers and sound logic, your job is to find the points you and your opponent can agree upon.
Work with Opposing Views
As we’ve already stated, the job of your argumentative essay is to convince the reader your point of view is the correct one. In most cases it may include gently refuting the possible arguments of your opponents and presenting yours as the more concise ones.
There is no need to be exceptionally passionate in this part or showing more emotion than in the rest of your paper. Clear and sound logic works better in this case – by methodically presenting your arguments you will create a complete picture and win the virtual debate.
Make a Conclusion
The conclusion of your argumentative essay should serve one purpose: to convince your readers once again to adopt your opinion on that matter. Listing your arguments with support is the most effective way to do it.
Reread Finished work
There is nothing more harmful for the success of your argumentative essay than submitting a beautifully structured and argued work that is riddled with mistakes. Check the spelling and the grammar once again before handing in your essay in and make sure it follows the guidelines given by your professor.
80 Best Argumentative Essay Topics
Are you struggling with finding the perfect topic for your next argumentative essay? Here is a list of topics for your inspiration!
- Can the death penalty be effective?
- Is buying a lottery ticket a good idea?
- Is competition really good?
- Is religion the cause of war?
- Which secondary languages are worth studying today?
- Is it true that life 100 years ago was easier?
- What are the drawbacks of a democratic political system?
- What is cultural shock and how does it impact our perception of other people’s cultures?
- Is fashion really important?
- Young people must have the right to choose when it comes to military.
- Each student must have the right to pick only those disciplines he or she is interested in.
- What are the advantages US educational system offers to international students?
- Should working moms be given special privileges?
- Should there still be any quotas for accepting people from minorities?
- What is the real relationship between food, fitness, and weight?
- Does social media fame impact one’s life?
- Will we ever be able to stop using social media from our own free will?
- Can humanity get rid of the Internet and continue developing?
- Are reading ebooks worse than reading paper books?
- Death sentence should be activated in every country of the world.
- Smoking in public places has to be banned.
- Alcohol usage should be controlled.
- What are the negative effects of diets?
- Society should fight with anorexia
- To regulate health issues, people should think about their sleep more.
- Is golf still demanded?
- Are we too dependent on computers?
- Do technologies that ease housekeeping, such as a robotic vacuum cleaner, make people too idle?
- Who is responsible for the excessive amount of abusive language in comments (under blogs and social media posts, videos, etc.) on the Web?
- What is the impact of technology on people’s ability to create?
- It should be forbidden to use species of animals for research purposes and cruel experiments.
- Are cell phones really dangerous?
- They should not sell alcohol beverages after 11 P.M.
- Energetic drinks should be banned and made illegal
- Should court proceedings be documented for television?
- Will paper money be substituted by electronic money?
- Does a constant social media connection make people feel more lonely and stressed?
- Should rainforests destructions be punished?
- To what extent are electric vehicles a solution to global pollution?
- Pros and cons of globalisation.
- Was Roosevelt right about building a Panama Canal?
- Are you on the side of King-Kong or militaries who interrupted his world to study it using violent measures?
- Should torture be acceptable?
- Should people help the poor?
- Earthquakes and their consequences.
- Tsunami: the death wave.
- Beautiful forests of Amazonia.
- Which species should be included in the Red Book (Liber Novus)?
- How can students add up to the social movement for nature’s safety?
- Should pregnant women who don’t have enough money for living opt for an abortion?
- Does a person with a physically or mentally disabled significant other have a moral right to cheat?
- Is it ethical to tell someone else’s secret to a person involved in that secret (for example, if you discover that your friend has been cheated on)?
- Do paparazzi violate the private lives of celebrities?
- Is it fair that people with no special skills get famous and rich from social media?
- Is it a good idea to start a diary?
- Is it fair to control the time a teenager dedicates to playing computer games or using the Internet?
- Is killing a murderer immoral?
- Are some political authorities engaged in illegal activities in the US?
- Should people with physical disabilities be accepted by the government?
- At what age should sex education be introduced at schools?
- Does the amount of information we have to learn in school get bigger? Is this good or bad?
- Does home schooling undermine a child’s ability to learn how to socialize?
- If college education is made free, will it be more or less qualitative?
- If compulsory homework is canceled, would children stop learning at all?
- Should children be taught at school about gender nonconformity and various types of sexual orientation?
- Should people use animal tested cosmetics and drugs to protect themselves from dangerous consequences?
- Is it moral to refuse to save someone’s life if there’s any risk for your own?
- Is gun control an effective way to control the crime?
- Are standardized tests a good way to evaluate someone’s knowledge?
- Should children be occasionally tested for drugs at school?
- If a child doesn’t like the subject, can a school administration absolve him or her from studying the subject on the parents’ demand?
- Should all subjects be optional?
- Government should forbid same-sex marriages
- Society is turning over-regulated.
- The countries with the highest levels of corruption.
- Are people becoming technological zombies?
- Will humanity reach the time when there will be no more technological advancement?
- Influences of mobile phones: pros and cons.
- Technology and education.
- Should school teachers and staff members be allowed to socialize with students after school?
Argumentative Essay Examples
See what other people’s argumentative essays look like to get a better idea of how to write your own! Check out the examples of argumentative essays on our website.