Writing an argumentative essay involves a series of steps:


These essays are built around a central argument. The arguments must be supported by logical evidence and facts. The primary purpose of an argumentative essay is to persuade readers to accept the writer's point of view on a particular topic.


Again, almost always, you'll be asked to write an argumentative essay on a free topic of your choice, or you'll be asked to select between a few given topics. If you're given complete free reign of topics, then it'll be up to you to find an essay topic that no only appeals to you, but that you can turn into an A+ argumentative essay.

Thirdly, an outline provides a perfect opportunity to change the essay’s parts without rewriting the paper. Are you unsure of specific details? Not a problem. Change them in the outline without ruining the text.

How to Write an Article: Simple Steps for Success

Students often mix up argumentative essays and . The big difference is that an argumentative essay uses strong evidence and facts to prove a point, while a persuasive essay tries to convince readers by appealing to their emotions and beliefs.

If your argument is one that is mostly text-based or backed by a single source (e.g., "How does Salinger show that Holden Caulfield is an unreliable narrator?" or "Does Gatsby personify the American Dream?"), then it's an analytical essay, rather than an argumentative essay. An argumentative essay will always be focused on more general topics so that you can use multiple sources to back up your claims.

What makes a "good" argumentative essay topic depends on both the subject matter and your personal interest—it can be hard to give your best effort on something that bores you to tears! But it can also be near impossible to write an argumentative essay on a topic that has no room for debate.

Secondly, it lets the writer figure out what evidence suits what argument most. Before writing, draft your essay first. Put examples, facts, etc. in the right parts of the paper. Then, write the entire text.


5 Paragraph Argumentative Essay Example

have all of the elements that you would normally include in a paper: an , , and a . However, arguments require two elements that you don’t need in an informative essay: an and a . Keep reading to learn about the elements of the argumentative essay, as well as a structure you can use for writing your arguments.

Example Of Argumentative Essay Grade 10

Argumentative essays are the most common type of essays for High School and College students. These essays require strong critical thinking skills and the ability to analyze a topic at a deeper level.

An argumentative essay typically follows this structure:

The majority of students tend to underestimate the power of outlining. Don’t do this! An argumentative essay outline is a helpful tool for planning, structuring, and composing.

230+ Argumentative Essay Topics for All Students | 2024

A good topic is also one that can be substantiated through hard evidence and relevant sources. So be sure to pick a topic that other people have studied (or at least studied elements of) so that you can use their data in your argument. For example, if you're arguing that it should be mandatory for all middle school children to play a sport, you might have to apply smaller scientific data points to the larger picture you're trying to justify. There are probably several studies you could cite on the benefits of physical activity and the positive effect structure and teamwork has on young minds, but there's probably no study you could use where a group of scientists put all middle-schoolers in one jurisdiction into a mandatory sports program (since that's probably never happened). So long as your evidence is relevant to your point and you can extrapolate from it to form a larger whole, you can use it as a part of your resource material.

How to Write an Informative Essay: A Crash Course

The first step of writing an argumentative paper is an in-depth investigation of the topic. To validate your arguments, you have to refer to credible resources. The essay will look more professional if you use reliable sources in it.

Fill in the missing element in the argumentative essay structure:

And if you need ideas on where to get started, or just want to see sample argumentative essay topics, then check out these links for hundreds of potential argumentative essay topics.