1. ARGUMENTATIVE
WRITING

2. Argumentative Writing
The argumentative mode of writing has specific features that the other modes of writing do not have.
The purpose of argumentative writing is to convince the reader to agree with your opinion on something. You are arguing your point in writing.
Instead of a thesis statement, your argumentative essay will have a CLAIM.

3. What is a claim?
A claim is what you are going to argue or prove in your essay.
It is what you are going to be writing about.
Dogs are the best household pets.
All schools should have dress codes.
Smoking can lead to lung cancer.
These are all claims that you can prove through arguing in an essay.

4. What else goes with the claim?
Once you have your claim statement you will need just a little more to keep your essay organized.
With your claim statement you will need 2 to 3 reasons for your claim.
Dogs make the best household pets because they can serve as watch dogs, can improve a person’s mood, and can motivate a person to exercise.
This claim has 3 reasons to support it and thus provide the topics for the 3 body paragrahs.

5. COUNTERCLAIMS
Along with your claim (what you’re trying to prove) you will need to acknowledge a counterclaim for each reason supporting your claim.
A counterclaim is the opposite opinion from what you’re trying to prove.
Ex.
Dogs make the best household pets because they provide companionship. Although some people believe that cats provide the best companionship to their owners, dogs are more beneficial as companions because they are extremely loyal to their owners.

6. Tone in argumentative
While writing argumentative you will want to make sure that your tone is respectful and professional.
This means that you need to write in formal writing: try not to use slang unless it is in a quotation.
You will need to be respectful in your counterclaims because you want to try to convince your reader to agree with you—not make him angry by saying his opinion is stupid or invalid.

7. How to make your argument strong
To make your claim stronger and to help you convince your readers to agree with you, you will need to use 3rd person point of view while writing.
You have to avoid using words like “I”, “My”, “Me”, “You” and instead use words like “it”, “some people”, “a person” etc.
3rd person point of view makes your argument stronger because the essay stays focused on FACTS instead of just your opinion and the reader is more likely to consider your claim if he knows there are facts to support it and not just statements like, “I think dogs are the best household pets because…”

8. Support with Evidence
You will need to support your claim with evidence.
You may come up with your claim and reasons on your own before doing any research, but you will need to add professional facts to make your argument stronger.
People will be more likely to agree with you if you have proof to back up what you’re saying/arguing. You may be right about your claim, but you need to quote other people who think the same way you do in order to convince your readers to agree with you.

9. Finally
You want to provide a strong conclusion that restates your claim and summarizes your whole argument.
You want to leave your reader thinking about all the good points your made about your opinion and why they should agree with you.