Argumentative Essay Guidelines for Writing a Perfect Paper

The argumentative essay, also known as the persuasive essay, is meant to convince the reader to agree or at least accept your opinion or point of view on a given topic or issue. This is among the most common writing assignments you will see in school. Here’s what you need to know about it:

The Building Blocks of a Perfect Argumentative Essay

There are some basic building blocks you will need to create a perfect paper: 1) you need to establish sound facts to support your argument; 2) you need to clarify your views for the reader; 3) you need to structure your paper efficiently; 4) you need to state a clear and direct conclusion; and 5) you need to have confidence in your opinion and argument.

Choosing a Great “Hot Button” Topic for Your Essay

So, what topics make for a great argumentative essay? “Hot button” topics are those that elicit strong emotional reactions from people on different sides of a particular issue. Preemptive military strikes. Abortion. Capital Punishment. These are all issues that people are highly opinionated about, and are therefore great options for this kind of writing.

Conducting Your Background and Academic Research

You can start your background search for some of the key terms and surrounding issues by looking online. Next, take your in-depth search to the school library where you will have access to academic resources. Try to stick with current material that is not older than three years.

Writing the First Draft of the Argumentative Essay

Don’t wait until the last minute to get started on the first draft. Too many students are hesitant to begin because they feel they have to get the words perfect the first time around. The truth is that the first draft should be written to get your ideas down as they come up in your head, so there are going to be plenty of mistakes. And this is perfectly okay.

Revising, Editing and Proofreading the Final Version

After you are done with your first draft set it aside for a few days. This allows you to return to it with a fresh perspective. You can revise more critically, ensuring that you find plenty of content that can be improved through with rewrites. Be sure you edit for sentence and word clarity; and proofread to fix all of the common errors writers make in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.