An argumentative essay is a special piece of formal academic writing, in which a topic is developed in the way that two opposing sides of an argument are presented. Specific feature of the topic presentation lies in certain peculiarities of the essay outline.
In order to be awarded with a positive mark, an argumentative essay must consist of:
- Introduction, which states the topic, developing a certain background for the following detailed analysis without stating the personal opinion of the author.
- Main body, which usually consists of two separate paragraphs, providing the arguments for and against together with their justifications, explanations and personal life examples.
- Conclusion, which provides either the opinion of the author, explaining why the advantages outweigh the disadvantages or vice versa, or simply restates the topic in a form of a balanced consideration.
When writing an argumentative essay, it is important to observe several simple recommendations for the best possible result:
- First of all, after you have brainstormed the ideas, organize them into a list of negative and positive points.
- Then, write well-developed paragraphs with a clear justification and examples and make sure that each paragraph has more than one sentence.
- Avoid informal style and do not use contractions and slang expressions.
- Begin each paragraph with a clear topic sentence, which formulates its main idea.
- If appropriate, use quotations and statistics, but always mention the origin of the data.
- Use a good variety of linking words to introduce the points, list them, introduce examples and conclude.
Follow these simple rules and you will soon find out that your writing skills have improved drastically, bringing high academic results with them. Soon, you will be surprised recollecting the time when writing an essay was a nightmare.
Example of argumentative essay written in the proper manner can be found here.
