Argumentative essay basics
Argumentative essays
Argumentative essays are close cousins of the persuasive essays you may remember writing, but they are not twins. A persuasive essay may lean on emotion or on the writer’s authority; an argumentative essay convinces readers with reasons and evidence and takes opposing views seriously. The Praxis rewards the second kind, so the job of your essay is to persuade the reader to agree with you by the strength of your reasons.
The Praxis Core Writing test (5723) requires one thirty-minute argumentative essay in which you take a position (your argument) and support it with specific reasons and examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
You should plan to spend five minutes outlining, twenty minutes writing, and five minutes revising.
Outlining
It’s tempting to skip outlining when you feel confident about a topic, but that’s exactly when outlining matters most: until you put your ideas into words, you won’t know which points support your position or how someone might disagree with you.
Best practices for outlining argumentative essays
- List the reasons that support one side of the argument.
- List the reasons that support the other side of the argument.
- Decide which position you agree with.
- Select the two or three best supporting reasons.
Sample prompt
For many people, a reflexive answer leaps to mind: “Of course not! Students need to express themselves and not be forced to wear clothes they don’t like.”
They feel ready to start writing:
- School uniforms should not be required because public school students have a right to free speech. It’s wrong to force them to wear something they don’t like. Also, American students should not be forced to be replicas of kids from other countries.
At this point, many writers get stuck. They have stated their position in three sentences and can’t think where to go next because they have only considered one side. The question they forgot to ask is, “Why would anyone think uniforms are good?”
Make a graphic (a T-chart or two short lists) that allows you to write down two sides of the argument. Fill in as many reasons as you can think of for both sides.
For example:
Oppose uniforms Support uniforms May limit students’ free expression; the Supreme Court has protected some symbolic clothing, such as protest armbands in Tinker v. Des Moines. Prevents bullying or shaming kids who don’t have the “right” clothes. Students express themselves through their clothes. Uniforms protect students who might inadvertently wear gang colors to school. Boring to have to wear the same thing every day. Saves families money because they don’t have to purchase such a large variety of clothing. We don’t want cookie-cutter children. Uniforms build school pride. Some schools require girls to wear 1960s-style mini skirts—in the wintertime. They should at least be able to wear pants! Uniforms help teachers and adults identify students quickly in a crowd. Students get beaten up if they wear their uniforms on public transportation. I know someone this happened to. They also help students who are lost find their groups because looking for a uniformed group is easier than locating individuals in a crowd.
This chart lists more reasons than you need. All you have to do now is decide what your argument is going to be and select the two or three reasons that best support it.
Choosing the strongest reasons
Not every item on your chart is equally useful. The strongest reasons are directly relevant to the prompt, backed by a specific example or fact you can develop in a paragraph, and convincing to an audience of educated adults rather than just emotionally satisfying. In the chart above, “Uniforms protect students who might inadvertently wear gang colors to school” is strong because it’s specific and easy to support with real-world examples. “Students get beaten up if they wear their uniforms on public transportation. I know someone this happened to” is weak because it relies on a single secondhand anecdote rather than a pattern you can support.
Example: From T-chart to outline
Position: American public schools should not require uniforms.
- Reason 1: Uniforms limit students’ free expression, such as a student’s choice to wear clothing tied to their culture or religion.
- Reason 2: Requiring uniforms adds an expense for families who already own everyday clothes, on top of whatever the school assigns.
- Opposing point to acknowledge: Supporters argue uniforms cut down on bullying over clothing, but a dress code can address that concern without requiring identical outfits.
The next chapter, Worked example: school uniforms, walks through turning an outline into paragraphs.
Outlining practice
Use your own scratch paper to develop a T-chart outline in response to each of the following essay prompts. Support your arguments with examples, facts, and details from your experiences, reading, and observations. Compare your T-chart outline for each topic to the model in the answers.
| Voting should be mandatory | People have the right not to vote |
|---|---|
| We would know that elections represented the will of ALL the people. | Having the right to free speech includes the right not to speak. |
| It would help everyone feel like they had a stake in the outcome of the election. | If we force people to vote, they may just pick randomly because they haven’t followed the issues/campaign. |
| Now that we can computerize voting, people could do it online—with certain protocols and safeguards. | Some people just don’t care what the government does. |
| The “demos” in democracy means “the people,” so democracy means “rule by the people.” If people don’t participate, they aren’t supporting democracy. | Not everyone has easy access to polling places. |
| If people had to vote, maybe they would get involved and educate themselves. | Forcing people to express an opinion is undemocratic. The government does not have the right to force people to say what they think. |
| Expel bullies | Don’t expel bullies |
|---|---|
| School needs to be safe for all children. | Many bullies are also victims of bullying—often at home. |
| Expulsion from school forces parents to deal with their kids. | “Bullies” are still kids. They need a caring response, not a punishment. |
| Some kids who are bullied commit suicide, so we should take no chances. Too much is at stake! | Bullies who dislike school might view expulsion as a reward for their behavior. |
| Alternative schools exist for students with behavior problems, so bullies who are expelled aren’t left without any education options. | It seems unnecessarily cruel to expel kids who say mean things or spread rumors. Violence is different. |
Chosen position: Schools should not expel bullies outright.
- Reason 1: Many bullies are themselves victims of bullying or mistreatment at home, so removing them from school removes one of the few places they get consistent adult supervision.
- Reason 2: Expulsion is too severe a response to verbal bullying or rumor-spreading; reserving it for violent behavior keeps the punishment proportional to the offense.
- Opposing point to acknowledge: Schools still need to protect students’ safety, so expulsion should remain available for severe or repeated cases.