Many of my students these days come from a journalism background, and so they are more familiar with that genre; a genre that emphasizes exposition over argumentation. It has been hard for me to get across the idea of how to write an argumentative essay, in part because I don’t think I’ve ever taught that before. So, I think maybe I should just provide a Mad Libs version:
X is true. It is true for 3 reasons.
1. A is true. Here are a couple of famous scholars who say it’s true. A is an important part of X.
2. B is true. Here are some examples of B happening every day. If B is true, it makes it more likely that X is the case.
3. C is true. Here is a collection of evidence from scholars and the media. C is a result of X being true, and further strengthens my argument.
4. Bob suggests that X cannot be true, because Charles was a Communist. While it is the case that Charles is a communist, we should still believe him, and there are lots of non-communists who have also determined that X is true.
5. “Some people” might argue that Y is the case, rather than X. There are some good arguments for Y. Here is some evidence from Danny. Someday, we may have more evidence to demonstrate Y, like D, E, or F. But until we find D, E, and F to be the case, X best explains the issue.
6. I’ve shown above how A, B, and C provide a strong case for X. It’s important that we understand X is true, because it will allow us to do something about it, like P. We might also want to research Q, to better understand X.
Mad Libs argumentative essays
Many of my students these days come from a journalism background, and so they are more familiar with that genre; a genre that emphasizes exposition over argumentation. It has been hard for me to get across the idea of how to write an argumentative essay, in part because I don’t think I’ve ever taught that before. So, I think maybe I should just provide a Mad Libs version:
X is true. It is true for 3 reasons.
1. A is true. Here are a couple of famous scholars who say it’s true. A is an important part of X.
2. B is true. Here are some examples of B happening every day. If B is true, it makes it more likely that X is the case.
3. C is true. Here is a collection of evidence from scholars and the media. C is a result of X being true, and further strengthens my argument.
4. Bob suggests that X cannot be true, because Charles was a Communist. While it is the case that Charles is a communist, we should still believe him, and there are lots of non-communists who have also determined that X is true.
5. “Some people” might argue that Y is the case, rather than X. There are some good arguments for Y. Here is some evidence from Danny. Someday, we may have more evidence to demonstrate Y, like D, E, or F. But until we find D, E, and F to be the case, X best explains the issue.
6. I’ve shown above how A, B, and C provide a strong case for X. It’s important that we understand X is true, because it will allow us to do something about it, like P. We might also want to research Q, to better understand X.
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