Good Thesis Statement for an Argumentative Essay

Are you tired of getting B’s and C’s on your argumentative essays? Your essays cover the same material and subject matter as your classmates, but you consistently score lower. Perhaps your thesis statement is dragging the rest of the essay down. The thesis statement is the end of the beginning, and it sets the tone for the rest of the essay. Writing a good thesis statement for an argumentative essay is not always simple. If you lose your reader’s attention at the thesis statement, there is no way to recover. From the perspective of grading, no other sentence is as important in your argumentative essay as the thesis statement. This one sentence presents your topic, alludes to your position, and focuses the reader. That is a huge amount of information to pack into a small space. You must choose your words carefully and economically. Please consider the following tips for writing a thesis statement for an argumentative essay that will take you to the top of the class. Writing a thesis statement for argumentative essay: Give the reader what they want It might seem trivial, but you will be much more successful with your argumentative essay if you write from the perspective of your audience. People are social creatures, and we like to surround ourselves with people who make us feel comfortable. It might seem counterintuitive to worry about your audience’s comfort level in an argumentative essay, but if the audience identifies with you, they will see the opposing side of the argument as the outsider’s uncomfortable, and wrong. Investigate the topic. Read, talk to subject matter experts. Watch videos and listen to interviews about the topic. Educate yourself with an overview of all sides first. Do any arguments jump out at you? Decide if the topic is debatable. If it is debatable, congratulations you are well on your way to writing an argumentative essay. Having established the topic is debatable it is worth our time to continue and prepare the best thesis statement for argumentative essay. State the claim. The claim is the main argument. Write the claim in a text box or on a note card if you prefer to work with paper. It is important to keep the claim separate and transportable at this stage of thesis statement construction. You will use the claim and other micro documents as points in a thesis statement outline. State the counterclaim. The counterclaim is the main opposing argument. Accurately presenting the counterclaim is incredibly important. Many authors are tempted to present a weakened version of the counterclaim so that they may more easily defeat it. This is intellectually lazy and an educated audience will ignore and discredit the remainder of your work. As with the claim write the counterclaim in a text box or on a note card. If you feel not sure about writing, check the example thesis statement for argumentative essay. Collect, generate and evaluate evidence. Just the facts, and only the facts. The work in this section may be presented in much greater detail in the body of the essay and will be used to support the conclusion. The facts and evidence will fall into one of five categories and should be written in text boxes or on note cards for transportability. The five categories are as follows; Claim Supportive, evidence and facts that support the argument. Claim Refuting, evidence and facts that refute the argument. Counterclaim Supportive, evidence and facts that support the opposing argument. Counterclaim Refuting, evidence and facts that refute the opposing argument. Neutral Imperative, evidence and facts that neither support nor refute the claim or counterclaim, but are Imperative to understanding the arguments Establish a position on the topic. Now that you have defined the claim and counterclaim, collected and evaluated all the evidence it’s time to determine your position on the topic. On the desktop of your computer or on a real desktop place the claim and it’s supporting and refuting evidence in some type of order. I like to place the claim at the top of columns of supporting and refuting the evidence, but the order is a personal choice that should fit your own intuitive style. By organizing your thoughts with the text boxes or note cards, you have a graphic representation of the arguments to be made. Look at the evidence and research in front of you, and decide what should be argued for. Leave any emotional or other non-logical considerations out of the decision-making process. It is very hard sometimes for subjects like animal testing or child welfare, but you must stay detached for now. Be clear and concise, avoid words like should and could. If things are not clear, they don’t make a thesis statement for an argumentative essay effective. Get small. Condense essence of your thesis statement into two words. Choose a noun and a verb that best describe the heart of your argument. The purpose of a thesis statement is to introduce the reader to the topic and your arguments in one sentence. Create a thesis statement for an argumentative essay. A thesis statement for an argumentative essay is the sprout that will grow into a mighty oak tree that will be your essay. But that sprout must grow from a seed, and this root mean cause analysis is the perfect way to focus your attention on the thesis statement. That’s how you make a good thesis statement for an argumentative essay. For example, you have decided to write an essay on tobacco. Your argument is that tobacco can be healthy. On the surface, this argument is ridiculous. Numerous vaccines and cures have been produced using the tobacco plant as a living factory most recently a cure for the Ebola virus was made using the tobacco plant. To break your argument into a noun and a verb we must consider the topic and decide on an action. This results in the following Root Mean Cause (Tobacco Heals) The following are rules to apply to thesis statement construction. Break out your thesaurus. Choosing the correct words is very important. Many times we are guilty of using too many words to describe something. It’s important to use our words precisely and economically. The best writing is done using the flow of consciousness phrasing followed by a considered review. The thesaurus is full of words that are similar to words that you naturally would use in your speaking or conversational voice. A review of your common language often turns up words that can be used instead of phrases. This practice also has the added benefit of increasing your vocabulary. Mix it up. Use logic, emotion, and credibility. It has long been known that the use of logos, pathos, and ethos are the keys to winning arguments. Consider who your audience is and what type of appeal they would be most responsive too. If you’re writing for a scientist with a social conscience you would be wise to add an abundance of logical and credible elements while keeping the emotions to a minimum. On the other hand, if your audience is a poet, emotion should be predominant. Don’t be a jerk. You may be right, you may have deduced something from the evidence you collected that just blows the other side of the argument completely away. Fight the temptation to preach or ridicule. If you are a jerk, it will alienate your audience, and they will see you as a demigod who is unworthy of their further consideration. Outline and combine. Finally, you sit down and write a strong thesis statement for an argumentative essay. You have a position and you know the pros and cons of your argument. You know the pros and the cons of the opposing argument. You have done the research and you are finally prepared. It is now time to outline the thesis statement. Grab your claim and position and place them in the forefront of your desktop. These two elements are the basis of your future paper and should be considered the outline for the thesis statement. Using the root mean cause analysis you performed earlier, combine the claim and the argument. Edit and cut the thesis statement without mercy. Brevity is the soul of wit (Shakespeare, Hamlet.) This part of the process should be started by applying the thesis construction rules. Keep in mind as you apply the rules, your intended audience. Don’t be afraid to generate several alternative thesis statements. Compare and contrast your work before selecting the best. Use the KISS principle combined with the Einstein complexity rule when writing thesis statements. Do not be afraid to be brutal with your cuts. Don’t be afraid to start over. Be honest with yourself and do not settle for a substandard work. An apathetic author gets inferior results! Hopefully, now you know how to make a thesis statement for an argumentative essay! A good way to go can be checking the example of a good thesis statement for an argumentative essay before you start creating your own.