Organizing Argumentative Essays

Argumentative Writing (continued)

Organizing Argumentative Essays

Multiple Choice

What part is the argumentative essay on the English Regents exam?

• Part 1

• Part 2

• Part 3

Multiple Choice

What is the HIGHEST SCORE you can get on this essay

• 2

• 4

• 6

• 100

Multiple Choice

After your essay is graded, the essay score is multiplied by ___ for possible score up to ___ points.

• 2, 4

• 4, 24

• 5, 30

• 6, 36

Multiple Choice

How many texts are you given for the argumentative essay?

• 3

• 4

• 5

• 6

Multiple Choice

How many texts MUST you use to get full credit?

• 2

• 3

• 4

• all of them

Multiple Choice

The entire exam is out of ___ points

• 24

• 53

• 56

• 100

Some reminders about the argumentative essay on the Regents:

• This is Part 2 on the exam,

• It is graded on a 0-6 scale,

• You can earn up to 24 points (out of a total of 56) on this essay alone

• You must include evidence from AT LEAST THREE of the four sources, and

• You must cite your sources.

Poll

How confident are you about how to organize your argumentative essay?

• Very! I got this down!

• Pretty good (but there is always room for improvement)

• Meh. I guess I'm okay...

• I really struggle on how to organize these essays.

If you said, "Very! I got this down," then you are done.

Take a nap for the rest of the class.

EVEN IF YOU ARE A GREAT ESSAY ORGANIZER, YOU CAN BENEFIT FROM THESE TIPS!

• (I promise)

Steps to organizing a GREAT Argumentative Essay

Remember that these prompts are OPINION questions.

(and your opinion cannot be wrong!)

Should college be free to all high school graduates?

Poll

As a soon-to-be high school graduate, you obviously ALREADY have an opinion about this.

So do YOU feel that college should be free to all high school graduates?

• Yes, absolutely.

• No, definitely not.

Open Ended

Now formulate that answer into a sentence.

Now write your intro paragraph.

• Start with introducing the debate (1-2 sentences)

• Explain both sides of the issue (2 sentences)

• Give your thesis (your sentence from above).

Now let's COMPLICATE your thesis.

• Usually we like to SIMPLIFY things (hello, algebra) but in this case, complicating our thesis actually HELPS US

Take your thesis statement, but BEFORE it, write

Despite or Although (and then mention the COUNTER ARGUMENT)

Initial thesis statement: "Dogs make better pets than cats."

Now let's COMPLICATE IT:

Despite the popularity of cats, dogs make better pets than cats.

Your THESIS (what you are arguing) should be the LAST sentence in the first paragraph.

REMEMBER: this is an ACADEMIC ESSAY and personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they, him, her, us, and them) do NOT belong here!

​

Open up the dialogic journal template attachment in Google Classroom.

Now read your sources.

There will be FOUR of them. As you read, underline sentences, words, and phrases that prove your thesis.

Poll

How comfortable are you with FINDING EVIDENCE that supports your opinion?

• Very comfortable. It is easy!

• I usually cannot find three pieces of evidence to support my thesis.

• I struggle with this.

Yes, this is an opinion-based essay, BUT in order to give your essay some credibility, you must back that opinion up with fact.

Even if you have PERSONAL EXPERIENCE with this topic, the body of this essay is NOT where you put it.

(if you must, include it in the introduction to give your essay a unique voice)

OPEN THE ATTACHMENT IN GOOGLE CLASSROOM AND LET'S READ THE SOURCES

As we read, HIGHLIGHT TEXT you would use in your argument

(remember, you have to "file" "make a copy" in order to do this.)

Now that you have read the texts, we are going to go back to the thesis and ADD to it.

• Example: Despite cats being a popular pet choice, dogs are superior pets BECAUSE THEY PROMOTE ENCOURAGE SOCIALIATION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.

Poll

Was it easy to find evidence to support your thesis for this example?

• Absolutely.

• I struggled.

Go back to your docs template and cut and paste your EVIDENCE so it coincides with the text number.

​

COUNTERCLAIM PARAGRAPH

Use these sentence starters and use this to bring up the OTHER SIDE of the argument.

one viewpoint is

many people think/support/argue/claim

on one hand

there is some support for the idea that

Granted, some might argue/support/believe

it could be argued that

Example

• Granted, some might argue/support/believe that cats make better pets.

• Now put ONE piece of evidence that supports the OTHER side of the argument.

• Finish with a sentence that says, "However, there is more evidence to suggest that this is not the case."

REMEMBER:

You only need sources from THREE texts. Aim for two pieces of evidence from three of the texts (but one is ok)

Think of the evidence you've collected.

Now rank them from LEAST CONVINCING to MOST CONVINCING and write your reasons in full sentences.

THESE ARE THE FIRST SENTENCES OF EACH OF YOUR BODY PARAGRAPHS.

Put the reason sentences on the Template in Google Doc.

(under the dialogic journals)

Poll

How is this process so far?

• I'm with you, 100%

• Can we slow down so I can catch up?

Now we need to add to our COMMENTARY

This means you need to go back to your dialogic journal and for EACH PIECE OF EVIDENCE, you need to write 2-3 sentences EXPLAINING YOUR EVIDENCE.

Your evidence is how you PROVE your reasons.

Do not fall into the "this means" trap!

Instead of simply explaining what your quote means, delete the words "This means" and just talk about how your evidence proves your point.

Now it is time to take our raw elements and put them into an essay

• Format in paragraph form.

• Put your intro paragraph

• Make sure your last sentence is your COMPLICATED THESIS STATEMENT

PARAGRAPH 2

• Cut and paste your counterclaim paragraph

PARAGRAPH 3

• Put your first ranked (weakest) reason in paragraph three.

• Include your evidence and commentary

• A good practice is to include TWO pieces of evidence and commentary for each reason.

Example:

One reason that dogs are superior pets to cats is that dogs encourage physical fitness. (Reason sentence). "Dogs have to walk, which means you probably get to walk too" (Text 1) (Evidence and citation). Since dogs cannot use a litter box, owners are required to walk them outside, several times a day. This walking is not only healthy for the pet but for the owner as well. (commentary)

Example continued (same paragraph)

Another reason that dogs are a healthier pet choice is that "Kids that get exposure to 'dog dust' might have lower risks of developing asthma and allergies later in their life" (Text 2) (evidence) Asthma and allergies are lifelong health inhibitors. Anything a parent can do to help their child build this immunity is good parenting! (commentary)

Continue this until you have successfully written your three claim paragraphs.

Remember:

Each body paragraph MUST have at least ONE piece of evidence.

You MUST use 3 sources

You MUST cite your sources

Remember:

Sources come AT THE END of the sentence where you have the quotations, NOT BEFORE.

Cite in parenthesis AFTERWARDS like this (Text 1)

NOT

"According to Text 2..."

Poll

How confident are you about writing your essay now?

• I feel MORE confident.

• I feel LESS confident

• I feel EXACTLY THE SAME amount of confidence (but in a good way)

• I feel EXACTLY THE SAME amount of confidence (but in a bad way)