Teaching Argumentative Paragraphs

ARGUMENTATIVE paragraphs

Argumentative paragraphs

• Topic

• Opinion-position-point of view

• Agree-Disagree

• Justify. Don't overgeneralise.

• Convince

Argumentation

• Clearly stated topic sentences: your claim or thesis

• Not only giving plain information

• Present your point of view, defend it, give evidence.

• Not only giving definitions

Structure of an argumentative paragraph

• Topic sentence--> claim or thesis

• Supporting details of different kinds:

• Evidence/facts

• Logical analyses, explanations

• Exemplifying

• Contextualising, scenarios

• etc

Some types of evidence or support

• Primary documens issued by specialists, governments, corporations, organisations

• Advantage: Reliable

• Disdvantage:: Difficult to interpret

Types of evidence or support

• Testimonies: statements by experts, quoting, interviews, authorities' words

• Advantage: Human connection, interest.

  
  

• Disadvantage: bias, anecdotal

Types of evidence and support

• Hard facts and statistics: Objective data, numbers, stock data

• Advantage: Offer objective support.

• Disadvantage: less impressive, may be hard to understand.

Types of support

• Polls and surveys: Measurements of people's opinion

• Advantage: Insigth on people's mindsets

• Disadvantage: Biased, misinterpreted.

Types of support

• Media reports: newspapers, TV, radio, media coverage.

• Advantage: short and factual accounts. Often reliable.

• Disadvantage: Hasty, may be inaccurate or incomplete.

Multiple Choice

What support is this?

BBC world news

• Polls and surveys

• Media reports

• Testimony

Multiple Choice

What support is this?

A quotation from a famous virus expert.

• Facts or statistics

• Testimony

• Primary document

Multiple Choice

What support is this?

Mineduc standards

• Testimony

• Facts or statistics

• Primary documents

Multiple Choice

...written to meet deadlines, this type of support has the disadvantage to sometimes be inaccurate/incomplete.

The type is:

• Media reports

• Testimonies

• Polls

Multiple Choice

...they can lack a strong impact on audiences or they can be too hard to understand.

This disadvantage corresponds to:

• Surveys

• Primary sources

• Facts and statistics

Multiple Choice

Topic sentences in argumentative paragraphs must give a complete definiton.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Topic sentences in argumentative paragraphs must state an accurate point of view.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Giving support in argumentative paragraphs means giving only factual information.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Giving support in argumentative paragraphs can never involve proposing a scenario (hypothetical situation)

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Argumentative paragraphs need: a well-developed thesis statement or claim, enough supporting details and a well crafted concluding sentence.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Supporting details are basically different types of support related to the writer's viewpoint.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

A claim needs one specific type of support; writers shouldn't use different types of evidence in their argumentative paragraphs.

• True

• False