Argumentative Essay

• English
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Welcome to Today's English Lesson

Today's Lesson Overview

• To review the plan for the next two weeks
• Understand the steps to write an argumentative essay.
• start writing a proper plan to prepare for writing the essay

Plans for the Next TWO Weeks

This week: Writing a plan and an  Argumentative Essay (The focus is to prepare you for the writing test), hand in the plan

Next Week: write the essay in the lesson, based on your plan and evaluate, give and get feedback

Note: study advanced grammar and idiom/synonyms

This Week's Lesson Goals

Main Goal: You can compose an argumentative essay of 225-250 words

Sub Goals: 

• You can understand the purpose of writing an argumentative essay
• You will know and understand the structure of an argumentative essay
• You can write a thesis statement
• You can understand the common mistakes to avoid while writing essays
• You can understand the essay writing assessment criteria
• You can apply the above elements when writing an essay

Logical argumentation in day-to-day life

 To provide logical reasons to prove our points

To make sense during a conversation (written or spoken)

Overall, it improves your thinking process and the quality of conversation

Write an argument
Scenario: You want to go on a vacation with your friends, which your parents think is both expensive and risky. Give a good argument defending each point. Why should they allow you to go? (5 minutes)

Purpose of Argumentative Essay

• To convince or persuade the reader that your position is valid
• To influence the reader's opinion through your logical reasoning.

How do you provide logical argumentation?

By clearly justifying your position with facts, examples, and expert opinions. 

Remember: An argumentative essay is not simply a presentation of facts or a comparison of two objects or concepts. 

Structure of Argumentative Essay

Introduction Paragraph 

• Begin with a clear title that accurately describes your position.
• To pique the reader's interest, use a hook or attention-grabbing statement.
• Provide the necessary context, including definitions for any relevant keywords.
• End the introduction paragraph with a thesis statement that states your position concisely.

Body Paragraph (Next Slide)

Conclusion

• Summarize by going over your most persuasive arguments for taking a position on an issue.
• Utilize words that strengthen your argument, such as "clearly, obviously, therefore, there can be no doubt, without immediate action, research strongly supports. "
• Refute potential opposition in the conclusion

Structure of the body paragraph

Body Paragraph

• T (Topic Sentence): This is where you state the topic of the paragraph.
• E (Explain): In this section, you will expand on your topic and inform the reader. 
• X (Example): This is the point at which your paragraph becomes critical. You will need to provide a real-world example.  You will not be evaluated solely on the content of the reference, but on how you utilize it to support your argument. 
• A (Analysis): This section discusses how your example supports your argument.
• S (Summarize): This frequently requires restating your Topic statement in a more affirmative tone (bevestigende toon).

Thesis Statement

What is the purpose of a thesis statement? 

• Indicates the essay's main points 
• To present a targeted argument on the subject, offering an opinion, a claim, or an interpretation. The objective is to convince the reader that the claim will be backed up by factual evidence.

How to Formulate a Thesis Statement?

State the main idea and give a reason to support the main idea. 

The government should/should not restrict smoking in all public places.

Example: The government should/must restrict smoking in public areas because everyone has a right to breathe fresh air and certain types of cancer will be reduced as a result of the restriction. 

Create a thesis statement with two arguments.
Should all students who graduate from high school be required to attend university?

Identify the structure

The purpose of this task is to assess your ability to recognize the structure of an argumentative essay.

Go to the google quiz below and follow the instructions on the activity page to do the task. (10 minutes)

CLICK HERE

What do you know so far

You know the purpose and structure of an argumentative essay

You know how to write a thesis statement

Common mistakes to avoid

• Use of informal language: A) Nothing can't be done about it (Formal: There is nothing that can be done about it. B)Global warming can't be real (Formal: Global warming is unlikely). C) I think the government should prohibit smoking in public places (Formal: The government, in my opinion, should outlaw smoking in public places.)
• Either no or excessive use of linking words: Firstly, Secondly, In addition to, Therefore, Thus, Overall etc. 
• Use of pronouns (I, you, he/she, they, him, his) 
• Sentence fragments: For better or worse ( What is better or worse? What is it modifying?), Because many people now have easy access to the internet (, the information is at your fingertip)
• Using small letters for nouns (Name or Place etc.): Paris (not "paris"), George (not "george")

Criteria for assessment

1. The plan to prepare the essay AND class work!

2. Structure and content of your essay
2. Language: Use formal language (avoid common mistakes), advanced grammar and idiom (use of synonyms)

3. Coherence: is the essay logical & are linkers used correctly?

4. Word count (220-260)

Time to Write an essay

Topic: Drug abuse is rife in many countries and governments spend millions to deal with this problem. What could be an effective approach? 

Should drugs be legalized? Argue for/against legalizing drugs.

1. Write a plan first, and hand in! (Class work)

lesson evaluation: Mention 2 points that are crucial to essay writing

How many words can you use?

What is your homework?