As this lesson demonstrates, building a successful argument requires you to plan ahead and, sometimes, to do some additional research. Before you finish this lesson, build an argument related to an issue that interests or concerns you. (The issue should be something that would also interest your audience--classmates and your teacher. Therefore, issues that relate to you alone--such as whether or not you should be allowed to purchase a used motorcycle or stay out all night--are not appropriate for this assignment.)
Use the tabs below to review the strategies for building an argument. Then use the Planning an Argument worksheet to select a position that you will argue and to identify the basic parts of your own argument. Be sure to choose a position, or claim, that you can support with logical reasons and convincing evidence.
Your Claim
Your Reasons
The Evidence
Activity
What issues do you care about? Usually, if you care about an issue, you have an opinion about it also. You may or may not have logical reasons or verifiable evidence for your opinion, however. You may just feel or believe something that causes you to have that opinion.
For this course, the issue you choose as a topic for your written argument should be one for which you have a well-founded position--not just an opinion. A position is supported by logical reasons that you have thought about carefully as well as evidence that can be verified as factual by your readers. The issues below are ones that many people your age tend to have strong opinions about. These issues are also well-researched enough that you can defend your position on each one with facts and statistics.
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| Should teens be allowed to make their own entertainment choices, without restrictions from adults? | How much does human behavior affect climate change? | At what age should children be allowed (or expected) to work? |
You can write your claim about one of the issues above, or you can choose a completely different issue that interests you.
The best question to ask yourself about a reason that you plan to use in your argument is "Will my readers be convinced by this reason?" Most readers are convinced by reasons that seem logical and that are related to the claim.
Your reasons for believing what you do about an issue may be based on your feelings about the issue, but personal feelings and beliefs tend to be less convincing in a formal argument. Why? Because not all readers will have those same feelings and beliefs about the issue. On the other hand, almost all readers see cause-and-effect relationships as logical or "reasonable." Which of the reasons below is based on a logical relationship between events, rather than an emotional reaction? Click on the Show Me button to reveal the answer.
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| Teenagers are old enough to make their own decisions about what they see and hear! I always make good choices about what I listen to or watch on television, and I don't let entertainment affect my behavior. | Most societies allow or even expect teenagers to work and care for younger siblings, and those things involve decisions that are much more important than what teens see or hear from entertainment companies. | |
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| This statement expresses a strong feeling but does not provide a reason based on logic. | This statement compares other things that teenagers do with choosing entertainment options, suggesting that if teens are responsible enough to do those other things, they are responsible enough to make decisions about entertainment. |
Regardless of how reasonable your argument sounds, most readers are going to want to see some proof that your position is based on real-world facts and statistics. Evidence can take many forms--not just facts and statistics. Review the possibilities in the chart below as you work on building your own argument.
| common knowledge--things that everybody, or at least everybody in your audience, knows to be true |
| charts, statistics, or numerical data from current, reliable sources |
| expert opinions from specialists in the field, quoted or paraphrased correctly and cited appropriately |
| primary research--an explanation and discussion of your own research findings and how they relate to your topic |
| anecdotes--stories that illustrate your point and bring your argument to life |
Your work on this assignment will be graded according to the following rubric.
| Criteria | |
| Claim 2 points |
1 Point: You list two or more issues that could become topics for your argument, and you clearly state your position on each issue. |
| 1 point: Your claim is debatable and supportable with reasons and evidence. (It’s not merely an opinion.) | |
| Reasons and Evidence 2 points |
1 Point: You identify at least four logical reasons in support of your claim. |
| 1 Point: You list plenty of evidence that supports your reasons or your claim. | |
| Connections 1 point |
1 Point: You connect each piece of evidence to either a reason or your overall claim, and you explain that connection. |
