First you need to send a prospectus of the Argumentative essay (200 words), then you need to send a draft of the essay and then send the Revised version of the argumentative essayProspectus – Argumentative Essay
Part I
Your prospectus should include what you plan to argue, the three reasons you have to support your thesis statement, as well as the counter argument you plan to respond to or confront.
Structurally, the argumentative essay should begin with an acknowledgement of your critics followed by a thesis statement that looks something like “I believe X, because PQR.”
In this formula, “X” is your main claim and PQR are the three distinct reasons that you will use to support X.
For example: Hancock is a racist movie about a black superhero (X) because Will Smith plays a lazy drunk (P), he needs a small white man (Jason Bateman) to interpret his actions and intentions for other white people so they accept him (Q), and finally, his kryptonite is literally a white woman (R).
First, you need an introduction:
The introduction sets the context and scope of your argument. It also (usually at the very end) includes a thesis statement that asserts the claim you plan to defend / support. The best way to do this is to start with criticisms to which you plan to respond. For the sake of examples, I’m going to take you through a truncated version of an essay titled “Roddenbery Vs. Disney: Why the Star Trek franchise is light years beyond Star Wars.” (Note about the importance of titles: They are the first place you get to do meta-commentary — the first place you get to talk, outside of the text, what your text is about.).
There are countless reddit arguments, movies and documentaries, and angsty fans who worship both of the “Star -” franchises. People love these Star Wars and Star Trek so much that arguing about which is better, is often a commonplace occurrence at game tables and dinner tables across the country; verily, the globe. Wars fans are dazzled and compelled by the age-old story about good versus evil and the magical powers of sabre-wielding aliens. To date, the Wars franchise is worth more money and according to some various wikipages, boasts a larger fan-base. That said, I maintain that Trek is the superior franchise because it takes place in a Marxist utopia where humans are no longer interested in the pursuit of individual wealth, it is vastly more complex than the tired Christian morality tale of good vs. evil, and most importantly, the Roddenberry estate didn’t sell out to Disney and watch its once great franchise turn into the hollowed out shell of hot garbage that now takes its place.
Agree or disagree, this is a good introduction paragraph because it establishes context, it acknowledges points that the other side might make in its defense, and it clearly establishes my position while offering distinct reasons for support. I like thesis statements like this because they are direct, but because they also structure the subsequent body paragraphs that will follow. In other words, my next paragraph is going to be about the “Marxist utopia.” The third paragraph will be about the tired cliche and repetitious plot lines. The fourth paragraph will be about how Disney is terrible and a plague upon culture. The reader should expect this structure to follow from that kind of thesis statement.
There should be a sustained counter argument. Around paragraph 5 or so, you need to have a fair counter argument wherein you make certain concessions. Finally, you need a conclusion. Now, here’s where things might get a little different. I assume most of you have been told that a conclusion needs to reiterate and restate your main points. THIS IS WRONG. Do not do this. My attention span is longer than 5 pages, and I will remember what you said in your introduction. More importantly, there are simply better ways to end an argument than to repeat yourself. The conclusion should serve as a Call To Action. In other words, what do you want your audience to do now, as a result of reading your argument? In most academic settings, this is a call for more research and another concession that some things are beyond the scope of this paper. For your purposes, a call to action can go one of two ways — positive or negative. You can tell people what they will gain if they simply accept your position, or you can tell people what they stand to lose. You can use hope. You can use fear. Ethically speaking, people generally are more keen to hope, but fear is not without its usefulness and we would be fools to underestimate it. I’m not going to write a conclusion for my Star Trek / Star Wars argument, because for this assignment, you will do it.
Here is another example of an argumentative essay: Why a Fish is Not a Good First Pet Revised (1).docx
Sample Solution
