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Argumentative Paper Instructions
Write an Argumentative Paper. The paper MUST be 2 – 3 pages (no fewer than 500
words).
I- Pattern of Development: Argumentative
II-Select one of the debatable topics provided by your professor to write your
argumentative essay.
III- Students must choose a clear position on the issue and present a sound argument
to support their stance.
IV- The thesis statement/claim must include 3 reasons to support your claim.
V. The supporting paragraphs must include topic sentences and research evidence (i.e.
facts, statistics, expert opinions, etc.) to support the claim.
VI- The body of the paper must have a counterargument paragraph with two opposing
views with refutations for each opposing view.
VII- Support your claim with at least 5 credible sources from the LIRN databases. Do
NOT use Wikipedia as a source.
VIII – All sources of information must be cited in APA in-text and a separate reference
page should be included.
Students/ evaluators must focus on the following:
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• Content development: Formal and informal rules that constitute what is seen
generally as appropriate within different academic fields (e.g., introductory strategies,
use of passive voice or first person point of view, expectations for thesis or hypothesis,
expectations for kinds of evidence and support that are appropriate to the task at hand,
use of primary and secondary sources to provide evidence and support arguments and
to document critical opposing perspectives/counter argument on the topic). Writers will
incorporate sources according to disciplinary and genre conventions, according to the
writer’s purpose for the text. Through increasingly sophisticated use of sources, writers
develop an ability to differentiate between their own ideas and the ideas of others, credit
and build upon work already accomplished in the field or issue they are addressing, and
provide meaningful examples to readers.
• Context of and purpose for writing: The purpose for writing is the writer’s
intended effect on an audience. The ways in which the text explores and represents its
topic in relation to its audience and purpose. Writers aim to persuade by using
persuasive strategies to clarify complexity or confusion on an issue. They might want to
argue with other writers or connect with other writers and the audience by way of
conveying urgency or need for an action to take place.
Disciplinary/Genre conventions: Formal and informal rules for particular kinds of texts
that guide formatting, organization, and stylistic choices
• Evidence and Sources: Source material that is used to extend, in purposeful
ways, writers’ ideas in a text (i.e. statistics, case studies, expert opinions, facts,
examples, etc.). This includes written or visual texts retrieved from academic databases
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(scholarly journals, indexes, documentaries, news articles) that writers draw on as they
work for a variety of purposes—to extend, argue with, develop, define, or shape their
ideas, for example.
