Argumentative Essay for ICSE Students - A Complete Guide

What is an Argumentative Essay?

In life, there are many topics people have varying thoughts about. Many times, two or more groups of people are not able to see eye to eye. There are opposing viewpoints between two clashing groups who see things from different perspectives.

An argumentative essay is about putting forth your stance clearly and justifying why your point of view is correct. Further on in the essay, we will be exploring the different methods of writing an argumentative essay.

Thesis Statement

The thesis statement is the crux of your discussion and should be written in a single sentence.

As ICSE students, Imagine you have to write an argumentative essay on how junk food should be banned from schools. Here is an example of a thesis statement:

Yes, I strongly believe that junk food is bad for your health and it needs to be banned from schools.

Thus, as you can see the thesis statement sets in motion the flow of the essay and then the other content follows. It is the basic premise on which the essay will be based. Be sure to incorporate the thesis statement in the first paragraph itself.

Body paragraphs

Now comes the major part of the essay. For your English Language paper, you need a solid reasoning capacity. After the thesis statement you will need to write three or more paragraphs explaining your stance. For example, you agree that junk food is bad for health.

Convince the reader about your viewpoint. Use examples, research material, statistics and citations to support your stance. You can also provide details of studies conducted, etc which show that junk food is bad for your health.

You will need to provide concrete evidence and facts supporting your claim.

Here is an example of how you need to incorporate the statistics that you know:

As per the study done in US adults between the years 2015-18, an average adult ate about 5 junk food items every day, getting almost half of their daily energy from these foods.

Conclusion

Lastly, conclude the essay by restating your thesis and summarising the points mentioned. Avoid introducing new facts. Just end in a way that appeals to the emotions of the reader. You could also mention why you personally agree to this particular viewpoint.

There are 3 Main Argument Types

There are three ways to structure your argumentative essay. You can use one or more of them to persuade your readers.

Classical

This is the easiest line of thinking to follow. You present your main argument, state your opinion and then convince the reader that yours is indeed the best stance to follow. This popular strategy is also called Aristotelian. It is effective when the audience has not yet made up its mind and does not have adequate information.

Rogerian

Following this argument type is best for polarising topics. In this form of argument, you start by presenting the problem. That is the first step. After that, you acknowledge the opposing side of the argument. State your point of view and why it is the best. That is sufficient since it acknowledges both sides and presents the middle ground.

Toulmin

This type of argument is also effective for polarising topics. First you present your claim. Then start presenting appropriate grounds to back up that claim. Then, justify that these grounds do indeed prove your point. In this type of argument, you do not present both sides. Rather you present the facts in such a way that one finds it difficult to believe the opposite view.

You can read the book - Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell to understand better how to structure your point of view for any situation in life. This book teaches you to research topics and how to present one, big complex problem in a nutshell. Thus, you learn to present in a simple yet powerful way.

Thus, you can see that writing an argumentative essay is not difficult. You just need to be proactive and make the best use of grammar and spelling along with neatly listing down your viewpoint and supporting claims. Even the smallest typing error can make a big impact and completely change what you are trying to say. Hence, you have to be very careful while writing.

Final Tips for writing a good argumentative essay

• Brainstorm - Get your classmates together and arrive at a good thesis for the essay if it is not already provided.
• Preparation - Then do your preparation before starting. Collect all relevant material and be ready.
• Drafting - Then make your first draft. List down direct quotes and data as early on as possible.
• Revising - Polish your draft and restructure your arguments if necessary. Check the appropriate word usage, and make sure the language is succinct. Double check your points and counter-arguments.
• Proofreading - Go through what you have written and fix any mistakes. You can take the help of Grammar checking tools. Check the diction.

Thus, you have the complete guide to writing an argumentative essay for ICSE students.