A written argument should be clearly phrased and supported with authoritative sources. Look for keywords in the prompt, and use them to determine the specific task you are being asked to perform. Keywords are often action words such as support, refute or qualify that signal what kind of critical argument the prompt is asking for. Determine how the central arguments of the source text connect to the task you are required to do.

Make sure you are focusing on what the text is arguing, rather than how the text is arguing. This argument must question and evaluate, rather than summarize, the source text’s central arguments. This sentence must be simple to understand, yet represent the culmination of your ideas.

Creating an outline or flow chart of your ideas and the evidence you found to back them up helps you organize your thoughts and ensure that you have sufficient evidence. Create an introduction that explains why the topic is important, states your thesis, and outlines your argument. The introduction serves to spark readers’ interest in your paper and shows them what to expect from your argument. Make sure your conclusion offers a new interpretation of your thesis, rather than just summarizing your argument.

Below is our sample argument topic, which we’ve been working with throughout this chapter: studies show that, as we’ve become more technically advanced, our health has deteriorated rapidly. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and virtually every major ailment are far more common today than they were thirty years ago. The primary reason for this deterioration is the sedentary lifestyle associated with today’s high tech jobs. Clearly, our health will continue to decline as long as we persist in our technological advances. As you read the sample response, notice how we’ve marked certain sentences and paragraphs to illustrate where and how the essay conforms to our template.

The info in brackets should remind you of what your own argument essay needs to include. The conclusion of this argument, clearly, our health will continue to decline as long as we persist in our technological advances, rests weakly on three primary assumptions. Thesis statement topic’s conclusion first, it assumes that advances in medicine will not counteract the detrimental effects of a lack of exercise. Reason 1 second, it requires the tacit belief that the effect of a proper diet on health is insignificant in comparison to the effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Reason 2 finally, it presumes that whatever holds true for the past and present will also hold true for the future. Reason 3 the argument assumes that the positive effects of regular exercise on health override any positive effects resulting from advances in medicine. Topic sentence for reason 1 as society becomes increasingly high tech, we might plausibly argue that medicine will similarly develop and advance.

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Nonetheless, the validity of the author’s argument depends on the idea that medicine will not advance as rapidly as technology or, at the very least, on the idea that any advance in medicine will have a relatively insignificant effect on health, compared to the effects of regular exercise. Five sentences that develop analyze reason 1 similarly, the argument’s conclusion depends on the assumption that improvements in diet will not prevent or stave off the decline in wellness that results from working at a high tech job. Topic sentence for reason 2 whether it’s reasonable to expect our diets to improve as technology advances is irrelevant to this argument the fact remains that the author assumes that diet has little to no impact on the general well being of a person who gets no exercise. In fact, if a good diet could be shown to improve one’s health, then it would be unreasonable to conclude that a sedentary lifestyle automatically leads to poor health and increased disease in everyone. There would be no easy way to show such a correlation between exercise and health. Indeed, a sedentary lifestyle coupled with a good diet might lead to good health.

Five sentences that develop analyze reason 2 the most significant assumption made by the author to arrive at the conclusion is that the past and present are reliable indicators of the future. Topic sentence for reason 3 specifically, the author assumes that since our overall health has declined as technology has improved, this pattern will continue. Such an assumption is unwarranted many trends reverse direction entirely or eventually cease. For example, the rapid rise and success of high tech companies in the late ‘90s eventually came to a screeching halt, almost without warning. If the trend toward technological advancements and the sedentary lifestyles with which they are associated came to a similar halt, it would be illogical to conclude that our health would also continue to decline. Four sentences that develop analyze reason 3 in sum, this argument relies heavily on its assumptions, perhaps too heavily. Denying any one of these assumptions results in a weakened or, in some cases, invalid conclusion.

Nevertheless, the conclusion that our health is in jeopardy may in fact be true, despite its not being proven with the premises given and assumptions made by the author. Recap to strengthen the argument, the author would need to not only address these three assumptions but also to more firmly establish a link between deteriorating health and technological advances. In the words of hippocrates, a wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings.

An argument conclusively linking rising technology to failing health would be a strong argument indeed. Expands position now we’ll take a look at what makes this essay so deserving of a 6. First, we need to assess whether this essay contains proper structure, as well as the cast of characters needed for a 6 argument essay.

Here they are again: last spring, i went to daytona beach for my seventeenth consecutive year as a reader of the ap english language and composition exam. I keep going back because the reading provides a rare opportunity to engage with college and high school colleagues in a rigorous professional task. We create and sustain a consensus on writing quality and apply it to over 400,0 student essays fairly, consistently, and quickly. This year, i was assigned to read question three, which called for students to write an argument. Then write an essay in which you support, refute, or qualify sontag's claim that photography limits our understanding of the world. There followed a provocative and somewhat cryptic three paragraph excerpt from on photography.

This question was not merely an invitation to write discursively on the subject of photography. The word claim in the prompt should have alerted students to the need for writing in argumentative form. This point was reinforced by the explicit mention of argument in the last sentence. The question requires that students understand what an argument is and know how to construct one. The words support, refute, or qualify are technical terms that were not decoded in the question.