How long is an argumentative essay

But even when conflicting loyalties can lead to potentially physical, rather than just mental, consequences, people will always make a choice to fall on one side or other of a dividing line. Though the Catholic church dictated specific scientific teachings, Copernicus' loyalty to his own observations and scientific evidence won out over his loyalty to his country's government and belief system. When he published his heliocentric model of the solar system--in opposition to the geocentric model that had been widely accepted for hundreds of years Hannam, -- Copernicus was making a choice between his loyalties.

In an attempt t o maintain his fealty both to the established system and to what he believed, h e sat on his findings for a number of years Fantoli, But, ultimately, Copernicus made the choice to side with his beliefs and observations above all and published his work for the world to see even though, in doing so, he risked both his reputation and personal freedoms.

These two paragraphs provide the reasons why the author supports the main argument and uses substantiated sources to back those reasons. The paragraph on cognitive dissonance theory gives both broad supporting evidence and more narrow, detailed supporting evidence to show why the thesis statement is correct not just anecdotally but also scientifically and psychologically.

First, we see why people in general have a difficult time accepting conflicting loyalties and desires and then how this applies to individuals through the example of the cult members from the Dr. Festinger's research. The next paragraph continues to use more detailed examples from history to provide further evidence of why the thesis that people cannot indefinitely maintain conflicting loyalties is true. Some will claim that it is possible to maintain conflicting beliefs or loyalties permanently, but this is often more a matter of people deluding themselves and still making a choice for one side or the other, rather than truly maintaining loyalty to both sides equally.

For example, Lancelot du Lac typifies a person who claims to maintain a balanced loyalty between to two parties, but his attempt to do so fails as all attempts to permanently maintain conflicting loyalties must. Lancelot tells himself and others that he is equally devoted to both King Arthur and his court and to being Queen Guinevere's knight Malory, But he can neither be in two places at once to protect both the king and queen, nor can he help but let his romantic feelings for the queen to interfere with his duties to the king and the kingdom.

Ultimately, he and Queen Guinevere give into their feelings for one another and Lancelot—though he denies it—chooses his loyalty to her over his loyalty to Arthur.

This decision plunges the kingdom into a civil war, ages Lancelot prematurely, and ultimately leads to Camelot's ruin Raabe, Though Lancelot claimed to have been loyal to both the king and the queen, this loyalty was ultimately in conflict, and he could not maintain it.

Here we have the acknowledgement of a potential counter-argument and the evidence as to why it isn't true. The argument is that some people or literary characters have asserted that they give equal weight to their conflicting loyalties. The refutation is that, though some may claim to be able to maintain conflicting loyalties, they're either lying to others or deceiving themselves.

The paragraph shows why this is true by providing an example of this in action. Whether it be through literature or history, time and time again, people demonstrate the challenges of trying to manage conflicting loyalties and the inevitable consequences of doing so.

Though belief systems are malleable and will often change over time, it is not possible to maintain two mutually exclusive loyalties or beliefs at once. In the end, people always make a choice, and loyalty for one party or one side of an issue will always trump loyalty to the other. The concluding paragraph summarizes the essay, touches on the evidence presented, and re-states the thesis statement. If you have the option to pick your own argumentative essay topic which you most likely will , then choose one or two topics you find the most intriguing or that you have a vested interest in and do some preliminary research on both sides of the debate.

Do an open internet search just to see what the general chatter is on the topic and what the research trends are. Did your preliminary reading influence you to pick a side or change your side? Without diving into all the scholarly articles at length, do you believe there's enough evidence to support your claim? Have there been scientific studies? Does a noted scholar in the field agree with you? If not, you may need to pick another topic or side of the argument to support. Now's the time to pick the side of the argument you feel you can support the best and summarize your main point into your thesis statement.

Your thesis will be the basis of your entire essay, so make sure you know which side you're on, that you've stated it clearly, and that you stick by your argument throughout the entire essay. You've taken a gander at what the internet at large has to say on your argument, but now's the time to actually read those sources and take notes.

You can also search individual university or school libraries and websites to see what kinds of academic articles you can access for free. Keep track of your important quotes and page numbers and put them somewhere that's easy to find later. Before you begin to flesh out the essay, take a look at what you've got.

Is your thesis statement in the first paragraph? Is it clear? Is your argument logical? Does your supporting evidence support your reasoning? By outlining your essay, you streamline your process and take care of any logic gaps before you dive headfirst into the writing. This will save you a lot of grief later on if you need to change your sources or your structure, so don't get too trigger-happy and skip this step. Now that you've laid out exactly what you'll need for your essay and where, it's time to fill in all the gaps by writing it out.

Take it one step at a time and expand your ideas into complete sentences and substantiated claims. It may feel daunting to turn an outline into a complete draft, but just remember that you've already laid out all the groundwork; now you're just filling in the gaps. If you have the time before deadline, give yourself a day or two or even just an hour! Looking it over with fresh eyes will allow you to see errors, both minor and major, that you likely would have missed had you tried to edit when it was still raw.

Take a first pass over the entire essay and try your best to ignore any minor spelling or grammar mistakes—you're just looking at the big picture right now. Does it make sense as a whole? Part 1: Claim. A claim is a statement you make to support your argument. Applying sin tax to products based on the amount of sugar will directly reduce the excessive consumption of heavily sugary products amongst consumers.

Every claim made should be supported by relevant evidence and explanation of how that evidence supports your claim. This is where you insert the findings of your research from credible sources. Example: Case study of where sin tax resulted in lower consumption. The measure imposes a tax of one cent per ounce on the distributors of specified sugar-sweetened beverages such as soda, sports drinks, energy drinks, and sweetened iced teas.

Part 3: Tie-back to thesis. This demonstrates that imposing a sin tax on sugary drinks is one way to reduce the consumption of sugar-based products. A ssuming that your thesis is about reducing consumption of sugary products and ways to do it. A good argumentative essay will also have paragraphs that address counterarguments.

This demonstrates your knowledge of the topic and awareness of existing opposing arguments, which will impress most readers. However, if you are writing at the university level, this will almost always be expected of you.

Conclusion: Summarising and Closing with Impact. The conclusion summarises your thesis statement and main arguments and tries to convince the reader that your argument is the most valid. Here are some ideas on how to conclude your essay:.

When to use it: showing both sides of an argument as valid or when presenting to a mixed audience. In form, it follows a five-step structure:.

Validate their points when correct. Present a middle ground where both viewpoints coexist. The thesis, or argument, is the cornerstone of any good essay. If your thesis is weak or full of holes, not even a perfect essay structure can save you. The thesis itself should be the one takeaway you want your readers to leave with.

What are you trying to convince them of, or what do you want them to remember after reading? Knowing this informs all other aspects of writing your essay, including the best structure and format, not to mention which evidence to collect.

It helps if your argument is specific; having a broad or general argument means more facets to examine, which can make for a wordy essay. It also helps to consider your audience. Above all, choose a thesis with sufficient evidence. Argumentative essays follow the same recommended writing process as other kinds of writing, albeit with more emphasis on researching and preparing. Because proof is key to argumentative essays, set aside ample time for research until you have all the support you need.

Have a language expert improve your writing. Check your paper for plagiarism in 10 minutes. Do the check. Generate your APA citations for free! APA Citation Generator. Home Knowledge Base Essay How to write an argumentative essay. How to write an argumentative essay Published on July 24, by Jack Caulfield. What is your plagiarism score? Compare your paper with over 60 billion web pages and 30 million publications.

When do I need to cite sources? When do I write an argumentative essay? Is this article helpful? He writes and edits for Scribbr, and reads a lot of books in his spare time. Other students also liked. How to write a thesis statement A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your essay.

It usually comes at the end of the introduction. How to write topic sentences A topic sentence sums up the main point of each paragraph. Use topic sentences to structure your ideas and keep your paragraphs focused.