The Argumentative Essay

1. TheArgumentative Essay Your OWN argument rather than somebody else’s

2. AP Free Response Questions • ANALYTICAL ESSAY • Analyze how an author achieves his purpose in a passage • Periodical Project, Hamlet test essay, in-class prompts from 1st quarter, 1st semester final exam essay • ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY • Defend, qualify, or refute a claim. • Hamlet essay • SYNTHESIS ESSAY • Take a position on an issue, incorporating material from a set of 5-7 sources • Saint or Ain’t, CARP

3. The Argumentative Essay • Presents an opinion/question and asks you to: • Argue for, (support, defend, etc.) • “YES” • Qualify/Modify • “YES, BUT” • Argue against(deny, refute, etc.) • “NO” • Support with your reading, observation, or experience

4. The Art of Persuasion in Action • Everything we have studied about rhetoric comes into play here. • Rhetorical strategies • Any strategy that can be analyzed in other essays can be employed here BY YOU! • 3 Appeals (Pathos, Logos, Ethos) • Details/facts, examples, analogy, personal experience • Patterns of development • Style: diction, tone, syntax, tropes and schemes!

5. The Format for Your Essay • Present a context for your claim. • State your claim. Be clear about your position in reference to the topic/quote. • Support your claim. • Acknowledge/Refute opposition. • Summarize and conclude. • Not a be-all, end-all formula.

6. An Argumentative Prompt • Affirm, deny, or qualify the following statement. Support your position with material from your reading, observation, or experience. • Illinois schools should eliminate the current three-month summer break and adopt a system of year-round schooling, in which students attend school for six weeks at a time, interspersed with two-week breaks.

7. As You Plan, Consider… • Implications/Consequences • If this happens, what might follow? • The Big Picture • Who/what else might be affected? • Counter-Arguments • What are the downsides to my proposal/position? • Grouping/Structure • What ties my points together? • Context!—more on that in a minute

8. Argumentative Contexts • Context: a unified angle or domain of support • Is there a _________ argument to be made about this issue? • You can argue a position from a number of contexts. This helps you to focus your argument, so that you can cogently and logically accomplish your task within the 40-min. time frame. • Your support need not all fall under one context, but frame it in terms of an overarching one

9. e.g. “Cars Should Be Banned.”

10. As You Write… • Consider organizing by context, by chronology, by importance, or by scale (small picturebig picture) • Avoid fallacies, especially generalizations & overstatements • Avoid lazy/meaningless statements • Nature or nurture? “It’s mostly based on what you do as a person.” • You can’t BS your way through this. You must show an ability to think maturely about an issue.

11. Literature, Imagination, Memories, Events The “Theoretical” Prompt • Sometimes the prompt won’t present an “issue,” but a provocative quote. • It’s been said that “good can come from evil.” Write a well-organized essay that affirms, denies, or modifies this statement. Support your position using material from your reading, observation, or experience. • “Reading, observation, experience” LIME!