Academic Vocab: Argument

anecdote

• The author’s position or perspective on a specific subject

• A brief entertaining story used to connect with the audience or capture their attention

• Tells what something is about but does not use opinions or irrelevant details

• A sentence that expresses the main idea of the paragraph; also the first sentence of the paragraph

An opening sentence or paragraph designed to grab the reader’s (or audience’s) attention and make them want to continue reading or listening

• objective summary

• thesis

• hook

• anecdote

rhetorical question

• Words or stories used to evoke a strong feeling in the reader or audience

• A collection of information used to support an author’s idea (or claim)

• An obvious opinion given to one person, group, or idea; often considered to be unfair

• A question asked for effect or to make a point, rather than to be answered

The author’s position or perspective on a specific subject

• counterclaim

• claim

• statistics

• topic sentence

thesis

• A statement or theory made that an author attempts to prove with research

• A sentence that expresses the main idea of the paragraph; also the first sentence of the paragraph

• An opening sentence or paragraph designed to grab the reader’s (or audience’s) attention and make them want to continue reading or listening

• Numerical data used to prove or disprove an argument

A collection of information used to support an author’s idea (or claim)

• topic sentence

• anecdote

• emotional language

• evidence

Words or stories used to evoke a strong feeling in the reader or audience

• bias

• emotional language

• thesis

• evidence

statistics

• An opening sentence or paragraph designed to grab the reader’s (or audience’s) attention and make them want to continue reading or listening

• Tells what something is about but does not use opinions or irrelevant details

• Numerical data used to prove or disprove an argument

• An argument that opposes the author’s theory or idea

An obvious opinion given to one person, group, or idea; often considered to be unfair

• bias

• claim

• thesis

• anecdote

topic sentence

• Tells what something is about but does not use opinions or irrelevant details

• The author’s position or perspective on a specific subject

• A sentence that expresses the main idea of the paragraph; also the first sentence of the paragraph

• A question asked for effect or to make a point, rather than to be answered