An argument is an opinion that is supported with evidence on a debatable topic. That means someone else might have a different opinion than you. The goal of argumentative writing or speaking is to convince that other person, called an opponent, that your opinion is right. This will require providing evidence for your side of the argument and showing why your opponent's side of the argument is wrong or at least not as good as your side. To do this you will need to effectively communicate why your opinion is great and theirs is not.

When you make an argument, you can make one of three basic kinds of argument. You can defend an opinion, challenge an opinion, or qualify an opinion (Gaughen, n.d.).  

Parts of an Argument

Whichever argument you choose to make, you will need to use reasons and evidence as well as acknowledge the opposition with a counterclaim which you will address with a rebuttal to bring readers to agree with your position. There are some specific parts of an argument that you should know and be able to purposefully use.

(Oxford University Press, 2022)

*Why you think your opinion 

Claim

A claim is an argument that you are trying to prove. Most importantly a claim is an argument, not an assertion. An assertion is an opinion without any evidence or proof ("Arguments, non-arguments and evidence", n.d.). For example, if a writer says "Students should walk more to reduce stress." that is their opinion and just an assertion. Why should the reader believe it? There is no evidence. 

Your claim should be an argument. An argument is an opinion supported with evidence or proof. You will probably state your claim in your thesis statement and topic sentences, but for them to be real arguments, not just assertions, you will need to back them up with proof in the supporting sentences. 

Reason

Reasons are the thoughts behind why you believe something. For example, you could explain the claim "Students should walk more to reduce stress" by giving the reason "Walking can cause chemical changes in the brain which reduce stress." This is more specific than the claim and provides the start of supporting detail. These may be your own ideas or they may be paraphrased ideas from your research.

Evidence

Evidence is the proof behind your claim. It may also give objective backing to your own ideas or the paraphrased research ideas found in the reason. Evidence are often facts, statistics, statements from experts, definitions, examples, etc.

For example, "Research has shown that walking promotes the release of brain chemicals called endorphins that stimulate relaxation and improve our mood. Walking does not have to be done at a fast pace to have stress-relieving benefits. Even a stroll at a comfortable pace promotes relaxation, studies indicate." (Crawford, 2011, para. 4) is information that could be quoted or paraphrased as evidence. 

It is important to find and use evidence that is honest and trustworthy. Evaluate the sources of your evidence to decide if it is trustworthy enough to use. 

Counterclaim

The counterclaim is your opponent's claim that goes against your own claim. The argument is like a sword fight. The opponent is countering your attack with an attack of their own. The counterclaim will show what the other side of the debate thinks. This can be done in its own body paragraph, an opposition paragraph (Kevin deLamplante, 2009), or as part of one of the regular supporting body paragraphs. 

For example, "Walking might reduce stress chemically, but many people do not live in peaceful areas for walking so it might actually increase stress for those people." this would be a counterargument to the claim "Walking reduces stress." The counterclaim can be the exact opposite "Walking does not reduce stress." or just a sort of opposite "Walking is sometimes good, but [insert any problem with walking here]"

Rebuttal

The rebuttal follows the counterclaim. The rebuttal shows why the counterclaim is actually not that good of an opinion. For example, "Although some areas are not peaceful to walk in, people can either travel to areas that are peaceful or they can use a treadmill. While not everyone may be able to enjoy the benefits of walking due to their location, the stress-reducing benefits of walking still exist. Students just need to find a place to walk to access them."

Essay Structure

You may notice that the vocabulary for structuring an argument is different than the words usually used for structuring an essay. You will use the regular parts of an essay like thesis statements, topic sentences, and so on to express your ideas about your claim and reasons and evidence etc. The parts of an essay are the tools you will use to show your argument to the reader. 

There is not one set way to write an argumentative essay. You can use the parts of an essay and specific types of sentences to show your argument in your own way. You will probably still have an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You will probably still use thesis statements, topic sentences, supporting sentences, concluding sentences, restated thesis statements, etc. However, you choose how to arrange those to show your argument in a way that the reader will understand the best. 

These are just a few ways you could arrange the building blocks of an argument into a complete essay. You may find that the parts you need to best defend your idea are different or would be more effectively arranged in a different order. That is okay. This ability to move things around and make your own decisions about the structure of the essay is part of what makes writing a creative process. Your argumentative essay structure will use the building blocks of an argument in a way that may be unique to you and your personal writing style. 

Effective Rhetoric

One last thing to consider when creating your argument is what type of appeal you will use to convince your reader your opinion is correct. You will need to use affective rhetoric to convince the reader.

Rhetoric is "the art of speaking or writing effectively" using principles of composition made by ancient critics to communicate and persuade (Merriam-Webster, 2022). Rhetoric was created by the ancient Greeks to effectively communicate and persuade (Sloane and Perelman, 2022). Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher, divided rhetorical appeals into what we now call ethos, pathos, and logos (Sloane and Perelman, 2022). 

Ethos is the appeal to authority. This is where you use experts or show yourself to be an expert in order to get the reader to trust you and believe your opinion. An example would be a commercial for basketball shoes that features a celebrity basketball player saying how great the shoes are. 

Pathos is the appeal to emotion. This is where you use the emotions of the reader, specifically their emotional response to what you write, to convince them that your argument is right. An example would be telling a sad story about dogs in animal shelters to convince people not to give dogs as surprise presents. 

Logos is the appeal to logic. This is where you use logical reasoning and evidence to show readers why they should believe your argument. This is one of the most common appeals you will use in academic writing. An example of logos is explaining that everyone should drive more carefully in winter weather because accidents increase by X% with snow on the roads. 

As you make your argument to your reader, you can use these appeals to convince them. You can use one, two, or all of the appeals in the defense of your opinion. 

References:

Arguments, non-arguments and evidence. Academic Skills Hub - University of Galway. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2022, from https://edtechbooks.org/-MGMy

Crawford, E. (Ed.). (2011, August 8). Walking can help relieve stress. Plone site. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/news/newsreleases/2011/aug-8-2011/walking-can-help-relieve-stress/#:~:text=Research%20has%20shown%20that%20walking,pace%20promotes%20relaxation%2C%20studies%20indicate.

Gaughen, M. (n.d.). Defend Challenge qualify. Google Slides. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17oS33-4R23LzFUmwcXskXqJrHZsgJdrfKuKrb5BcN6w/htmlpresent

Kevin deLamplante. How to Write a Good Argumentative Essay: Logical Structure. (2009). YouTube. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAmgEa1B1vI.

Merriam-Webster. (2022). Rhetoric definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetoric

Oxford University Press. (2022). claim. Oxford Learner's Dictionary. Retrieved December 11, 2022, from https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/claim_1?q=claim.