Difference Between Opinion And Argumentative Essay Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

what is the difference between the common core argument and opinion writing? im addressing this with a group of middle school teachers tomorrow and it seems to be a question frequently asked in the field right now. Ive been studying the difference for my own professional growth and thought id share some of my thinking. Btw im considering the terms opinion and persuasive to be the same type of writing. teaching argument writing by george hillocks 2011 is still my go to professional book on this hot common core topic. Hillocks describes the difference between persuasive and argument writing in the following quotes: in a persuasive opinion essay, you can select the most favorable evidence, appeal to emotions, and use style to persuade your readers.

Your single purpose is to be convincing. actually, there hillocks, p. argument, on the other hand, is mainly about logical appeals and involves claims, evidence, warrants, backing and rebuttals argument is at the heart of critical thinking and academic discourse hillocks, 2011, p. Xvii students are used to aggressively convincing a reader to take their side in persuasive opinion writing. It requires the development of both sides of an issue, offering several claims for one side while acknowledging that there are valid counterclaims from the opposition. Argumentative writing is not about winning to get something, but rather giving the reader another perspective to consider on a debatable topic. the link listed above also includes an example of a persuasive essay and an argument on the same topic animal testing with suggestions for how to teach.

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So when were working with students i would start by distinguishing the difference between the persuasive writing they are probably used to and the argument essay which they are most likely less familiar with writing. maybe implement a series of short exercises like comparing the sample essays at the link above would be one. For example, i found a middle school persuasive essay online called cheaper products? but at what cost? there are no counterclaims addressed in this essay. What if middle school students read this one page essay about child labor in other countries and then searched for arguments that describe the vital wages child labor provides to impoverished families and added one paragraph to this essay addressing this counter claim. Hillocks shares several simple ideas for teaching students how to begin to think logically and make arguments based on fact and judgment. what im trying to get at here is that many times we start with writing a whole argument essay. this can be overwhelming for some of our students especially if they are not familiar with this type of writing. instead maybe we try to build background experiences multiple, short encounters with argument essays reading lots of them, talking about the components of these essays what makes them an argument versus a persuasive essay, revising essays that have already been written, making oral arguments and so forth. Im frustrated by the ccss use of the term reasons versus warrants and i think the example of the student sample, grade 7: argument is not an argument at all but instead is a student ranting about his opinion.

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More on that later. the differences between argument and opinion: an analysis of academic and practice perspectives. Opinions and arguments are part and parcel of everyday communication, be they personal, political, in academic circles or in professional practice. The main difference between argument and opinion is 'opinions are personal beliefs' and 'arguments are reasons which can include facts given to support a point of view'. However, when substance, in the form of 'evidence' is applied to these claims, they can become arguments. Inch and warnick 2002, p18 states that evidence consists of facts or conditions that are objectively observable, beliefs or statements accepted as true by the recipients, or conclusions previously established. However it is for this reason the premise of argument exists, to change other people's perspective or view on an issue through consensual belief. What i mean by consensual belief is the audience or recipient's opinion is changed to support that of the arguer through providing evidence to support a particular claim which the recipient or audience believes to be true, thus consenting.

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This is not however, to discount opinion, as difference of opinion is the basis for argument. An example of a historical academic argument can be shown through the difference of opinion on the causes of crime between the two early criminological schools of thought, classicism and positivism. Classicism believed that crime was caused by rational motivation based on costs or benefits. Positivism on the other hand believed that crime was a product of under socialisation of the individual as a result of physiological factors, family background or a lack of consensual values within the criminal's social background. Moving onto looking at practice perspective, we can see that in the context of the probation service, we have moved from being an 'opinion driven' agency, relying on professional judgement and autonomy, to a service which delivers through the use of evidence based practice. The role of the probation officer has moved from the definition discussed by worrall 1997, p66 derived from ' the probation of offenders act 1907', 'whose job it was to advise, assist and befriend offenders placed under their supervision', as opposed to the current 'law enforcement' culture within the service. Through this standardisation, it also meant that performance could be measured effectively.

Guidelines and policies are attached to each process of interaction, with offenders, within the role of the probation officer. When writing 'pre sentence reports' for the courts, to be used to inform sentencing options, it is clear to see the use of argument. Sentencing options can be suggested by the probation officer, based on evidence from pre convictions, crown prosecution papers and various other reliable sources, alongside information gathered from interviews with the offender.

Furthermore it is particularly evident in the current use of the offender assessment system oasys devised to provide standardisation in assessing risk of harm, to both the public and the offender. In conclusion, it is clear to see the differences between opinion and argument in both academic and practice perspectives. We can see how both are utilised in each context and how they shape the process of progress academically and in professional practice.

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Argument is necessary to change opinion and therefore must be reasoned and evidenced. Opinion on the other hand does not need dissonance as opinion merely relies on personal belief. The above preview is unformatted text argumentative essay and expository essay are two types of essays that deal with facts and information. The main difference between argumentative essay and expository essay is that argumentative essay is a genre of writing that attempts to convince the reader to accept writer’s point of view while expository essay is a genre of writing that provide information and explanations in a straightforward manner to the readers.

Expository essay is a type of writing that evaluates and explains a certain issue or a topic. In this type of an essay, the writer should refrain from pointing out his personal ideas and beliefs. The structure of an expository essay includes an introduction containing a thesis/opening statement, a body that contains sufficient facts, information to cover the topic and a conclusion that briefly summarizes all the points explained in the body.

Some expository essay topics include, the role of social media in contemporary society,causes for global warming, analysis of a piece of literature, the economic growth of the country in the last 10 years. An argumentative essay is a type of writing in which the writer attempts to convince his audience that his argument is valid. An argumentative essay contains a combination of facts and writer’s personal ideas. A writer preparing to start an argumentative essay have to do a  lot of research and gather evidence to prove as well as to defend his point. An argumentative essay is biased and subjective, although the writer has to be aware of the opposing views on the subject. Examples for some argumentative essays are should english be the official language in the united states? , is dieting useless ? ,should cigarettes be banned from the society? etc. The main difference between argumentative and expository essay is that an expository essay contains only information, explaining the topic, whereas an argumentative essay contains statistics, facts and writer’s personal ideas.