The General Outline of an Argument Paper
Summary
When writing an argument paper, you may consider having an introduction, body and conclusion for your paper. This allows you to put all your argumentative paper ideas into perspective and have a paper that is well organized and easy for your audience to comprehend. However, this does not mean that you cannot alter the outline to suit the needs of the person reading your paper. In this way, you will be able to communicate your argument paper ideas in a more precise manner.
Introduction
The introduction of argument papers serves the purpose of alerting your audience on the topic you will be dealing with and may also be used for argumentation definition. When you introduce your paper, you notify your audience on the aspects you are about to tackle and this helps them to set their mind and help them anticipate what you are about to communicate to them. An introduction should answer the following questions for the target audience;
- What is it that I am reading?
- Why should I read it?
- What do I do after reading it?
You should also ensure that you give a general overview on what you are going to tackle. This can be done by making the reader aware of your thoughts and this will help them anticipate your topic. Secondly, you should keep the reader interested in your paper and give them a reason to carry on reading. If this is not done, the reader may as well discard your paper since there is nothing drawing them to your work. Lastly, you may consider stating your stand on the topic you are handling and ensure that you have supporting evidence for your claims. An ethos argument may help with this and the reader will have an idea on what your stand is. In this way, you will have a classical argument that is supported fully by sources you have picked out. These can be stated at the end of the paper as your evidence for taking your stand.
Forecasting Your Paper
When presenting your arguments, it is important to forecast the points and views you wish to make to the audience or reader of your work. This is however dependent on the type of paper you are writing. For research papers, you are not required to speak in first person as in exploratory essays. The best way to handle argumentative research would be take a stand on the matter and then state the already existing facts on that subject. This will help to establish the background or history of the topic you are writing on. You may then need to state the supporting evidence of your stand and provide proof for the information you wish to give. This will help to show that you took your time to research on the matter and that your stand is based on consideration of different facts that you came across. Lastly, you may consider outlining the opposing facts of your ideas and give reasons as to why they do not carry any weight. A classical argument structure always goes a long way in ensuring that your paper materializes and reaches the goal you set out. The reader of your paper will be able to follow and will be glad to read your paper.
Checking Your Thesis
When writing your thesis, there are several guidelines that you may consider following to ensure that it is appealing to the reader;
Your thesis should be precise and you should avoid beating around the bush. Try to arrange your arguments in a precise manner to ensure that whoever is reading your essay follows well. You might consider revising some argumentative writing prompts before writing your paper.
It is also important to be specific and state your facts outright. This will show the reader that you are sure of what you are saying thereby eliminating any doubt of guessing. The reader of the paper need to be convinced that your take is based on factual argument rather than taking a stand that is easier to prove. You should also know that a thesis needs proof for all your arguments and these should come out clearly in the entire paper.