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The Argumentative Essay,. Main communicative purposes of the argumentative essay: To convince or persuade to agree with an opinion; to defend an opinion; to attack an opinion you believe to be misguiding, untrue, or evil,. Basic features The argumentative essay must take a controversial issue for an open debate, i.e., the issue must be arguable; The argument cannot be general belief; personal preference ; or fact,Two sides are generally involved: proponents ( those in favor of the issue) and opponents ( those against the issue); The thesis must take a side of an issue, and frequently proposes a course of action; The argumentative essay are highly persuasive and logical ( often expressed with the modal “should”); Good logic is the heart of the argumentative essay.,. Strategies for logical persuasion Be fully aware of your audience or reader; As the purpose of an argumentative essay is to convince the reader of your position, you should address your reader by writing objectively, logically, and respectfully.,Try to identify and understand your opponents point of view You cannot just present your own opinion in argumentation. This can never convince the reader. You have to consider the point of view of your opponents.,3. Use two forms of logical reasoning: induction and deduction. Induction（归纳）: the process of reasoning from the particular details to the general conclusion. It involves examining particular details such as specific cases, facts, or examples. The conclusion is made based on the evidence coming from the specific details.,Deduction（演绎）: the process of reasoning from the general to the specific. It begins with a generalization and is applied in a specific case. The conclusion is drawn based on a generalization.,Deduction involves a three-step form of reasoning called Syllogism（三段论）: Major Premise ( the initial generalization), Minor Premise ( the specific case ), and Conclusion ( the resulting statement). This three-step form can be illustrated as follows: Major Premise: Dogs bark. Minor Premise: Little Brown is a dog. Conclusion: Therefore, Little Brown barks.,To be more specific, the major premise is a generalization that you and your reader can both agree on, whether it is a generally accepted statement or whether you have already proved it earlier in the argument. The minor premise is the part that you need to prove in your argument.,e.g. If the issue is about nuclear power plant construction, you may take the three-step form of reasoning like this: Major premise: Only safe sources of energy should be developed. Minor premise: Nuclear power plants are safe sources of energy. Conclusion: Therefore, nuclear power plants should be constructed. （Notice: Some complex issues require more than one premise to be proved.),To avoid being illogical in this reasoning process, you need to keep the following points in mind: The major premise and the minor premise must be true if the conclusion is to be valid; e.g., All people like to suffer. ( MaP ) Jonny is a person. ( MiP ) Jonny likes to suffer. ( C ) The above reasoning process appears illogical since the major premise is not based on the truth.,The major premise and the minor premise must be set up to follow the correct logical order; The correct logical order is as follows: A = B All automobiles have wheels. C = A Honda is an automobile. C = B Therefore, Honda has wheels.,An incorrect logical order is as follows: All A = B All automobiles have wheels. C = B Honda has wheels. C = A Therefore, Honda is automobile. (Such an illogical order makes the conclusion invalid, for Honda might be a motorcycle or a wagon.),The terms in one premise must be used the same way in the other premise. Look at the following examples: Some vegetarians eat eggs. John is a vegetarian. John eats eggs. All Americans speak English. Mary is a South American. Mary speaks English.,. Planning an argumentative essay When you plan an argumentative essay, keep in mind the following points: The argumentative essay should introduce and explain the issue or case; The essay should offer adequate reasons and support the reasons with good evidence;,The essay should refute opposing arguments. This is a very particular characteristic which distinguishes argumentative essays from expository essays. You must not only present your own point of view and prove it, but also refute your opponents view and prove that yours is more valid or superior.,. Organizing an argumentative essay (1) Introduction To make a good beginning of such an essay, you should first introduce the problem and the thesis to clarify the controversial issue to your reader. Then you should provide background information.,(2) The developmental part Confirmation (2-3 paragraphs) and refutation (1-3 paragraphs )are required in developing the main part of the essay. To confirm your personal point of view, you need to give reasons to support your thesis;,the reasons must be convincing evidence which is normally from examples facts authoritative or expert opinions statistical findings personal experience or observations,To refute opposing views, you should consider your opponents point of view at the same time; acknowledge the good points of opponents views first, explain why your opponents views are not good enough.,In developing the main part of the argumentative essay, you may choose any pattern or combine the patterns to further develop the thesis as we deal with cause-and-effect genre writing ( description, narration, definition, classification, exemplification, causal analysis, comparison & contrast, etc.),(3) The Concluding part To better conclude the essay, you should restate your thesis summarize your main points urge your reader to take action predict the future,. Some transitional words and phrases Chronological order first of all/first, after that/second, then/next, last/finally Exemplification to illustrate this point, can be illustrated as follows, a good case in point is Addition besides that, apart from this, in addition (to), furthermore, whats more, moreover Comparison & contrast likewise/similarly, in the same way, similar to, conversely/on the contrary, in contrast (to), on the other hand, different from,. Some typical sentence patterns for argumentation It can be argued that People argue/maintain /believe that Some people argue/claim that But more often than not, the reverse/ the opposite is usually the case/true. Some assume that , however, this proves to be the contrary/the opposite/the other way around. They are right in, but It is true that, but it does not necessarily follow that,Writing assignment: Nowadays smoking is overwhelmingly threatening peoples health. More and more people are becoming the victims of smoking. It is proposed that smoking should be banned in public places throughout the country. What is your point of view towards this proposal? Should smoking be banned in public places? Discuss with your peers and write an argumentative essay within 500 words. Have peer review after you finish your writing. You may refer to the peer review checklist in your handout (pp.350-351). Submit your essay next time for the class.,
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