Argument Essay

A Note to Instructors . . .

COMPSS (Composition Open Materials Promoting Student Success) is a collection of free, high-quality course materials—readings, videos, discussion prompts, group activities, and sample assignment guidelines—available to you as you design and lead low- or no-cost courses in any modality (face-to-face, online, or hybrid). Almost everything about COMPSS can be adjusted to fit the goals of your courses. COMPSS materials can be used instead of or in addition to traditional textbooks; like traditional textbooks, COMPSS materials supplement (but do not replace) the lectures, activities, and other content you develop for your course. 

This unit contains five sections, and each section includes materials for at least one week of instruction. Because one of the guiding principles behind COMPSS is choice, we have provided an abundance of content for you to sort, adopt, adapt, or reject at your discretion. Some sections include more materials than you might typically choose to assign; we invite you to make use of as many or as few of these materials as you like.

All materials created by the COMPSS team are licensed CC-BY and can be adopted, remixed, or shared at will as long as the materials are attributed (see items in bold font with the * symbol next to them); some linked materials may have stricter licensing guidelines, although they are all free to use.

One final note: Students who have already completed another COMPSS unit may already be familiar with some of the materials included here.  

We hope you and your students will benefit from using these free, high-quality OER! 

 

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  Major Assignment: Argument Essay

  These guidelines provide possible choices for instructors assigning argument essays. They include options for proposal arguments, definition arguments, and causal arguments. You are encouraged to adopt, adapt, or remix these guidelines to suit your goals for your class. 

  • Assignment Guidelines

Students will . . .  

• Define Argument.
• Identify topics that genuinely interest them.
• Optional: Begin conducting preliminary research, using a research log to organize and engage with sources. 

• Readings
  • Major Assignment Guidelines: Argument Essay *
  • "De-Coding Assignment Guidelines" *  
  • "What is 'Academic' Writing?"
  • "Exigency: What Makes My Message Indispensable to my Reader"
  • "An Introduction to and Strategies for Multimodal Composing"
  • "Understanding and Using the Library and the Internet for Research" 
  • Research Log Guidelines * 
• Videos
  • "Decoding Assignment Guidelines" *
    • Accompanying article: "De-Coding Assignment Guidelines" *
  • "What Is an Argument?"
  • "Picking Your Topic Is Research"
    • Activity: See discussion options 1 and 2 below.
  • "Critical Thinking in College Writing: From the Personal to the Academic"
  • "Proposal Structure" 
  • "Definition Structure" 
  • "Causal Structure"
• Discussion prompts and/or group activities

  Option 1: Topic Generator *  

  • Initial post: Students complete the activity to generate a total of 25 potential topics.
  • Responses: Students select 3-5 posts with potential topics they think are most interesting and write 5 questions about each potential topic for a total of 15-25 questions.

  Option 2: Topic Generator with Photos *

  • Initial post: Students consider 5 photos (provided) come up with five topic ideas for each photo, for a total of 25 potential topics.
  • Responses: Students select the 3-5 posts with potential topics they think are most interesting and write 5 questions about each potential topic for a total of 15-25 questions. 
• Activities and low-stakes writing assignments
  • Fables Activity *
  • Brainstorming Activity *

 

Students will . . .

• Learn about classical/Aristotelian argument structure.
• Learn about different types of claims.
• Develop working thesis statements and begin drafting their argument essays.

• Readings
  • Crafting a Thesis Statement *
  • "Aristotelian Argument"
  • "Evaluating Sources"
  • "Assessing Source Credibility"
  • "Clash"
  • "Introduction to primary research: Observations, Surveys, Interviews"
  • "Googlepedia: Turning Information Behaviors into Research Skills"
• Video
  • "Organizing Body Paragraphs with the MEAL Plan" *  
    • Corresponding readng: "MEAL Plan" *
  • "Types of Arguments [deductive and inductive reasoning]"
• Discussion prompts and/or group activities
  • Essay Outline Discussion *  
  • Discussion of readings *  
    • In 6-8 thoughtful sentences, respond to this section's readings. Have fun with this discussion, and keep in mind that we want to read about your ideas and thoughts about the texts. You might do any or all of the following:
      • Ask questions and try to answer them.
      • Consider the meanings of the ideas in the texts.
      • Find an interesting quotation to examine.
      • Note connections you observe.
• Activities and low-stakes writing assignments

  • Keyword Search Technique * 

  • Research Log with 3+ sources *

 

Students will . . .

• Learn about and practice identifying logical fallacies.
• Continue drafting their argument essays. 

• Readings
  • "Integrating Sources" * 
  • "Annoying Ways People Use Sources"
  • "Constructing Scholarly Ethos in the Writing Classroom"
  • "Establishing Ethos"
  • Book of Bad Arguments
  • "Logical Fallacies"
• Videos
  • "Five Fallacies" 
  • "Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research"
• Discussion prompts and/or group activities
  • Anticipating Opposition Discussion Post 
  • Check-in discussion: * 
    • In 6-8 thoughtful sentences (total), address all of the following questions: 
      • What research questions do you hope your sources will help answer? 
      • What are you most interested in learning more about?
      • What concerns do you have at this point?
• Activities and low-stakes writing assignments
  • Logical Fallacy Activity *
  • Source Integration Activity *
  • Begin or continue composing the argument essay—a complete first draft will be due in the next section for peer review.

 

Students will . . .

• Submit complete first drafts of their argument essays.
• Engage in peer review. 
• Revise their argument essays.

• Readings
  • "Avoiding Plagiarism" *
  • "Revision" *
  • "Reverse Outlining" *  
  • "Grammar, Rhetoric and Style"
  • "How to Write Meaningful Peer Response Praise"
  • "Giving and Receiving Feedback" 
• Videos
  • "No One Writes Alone: Peer Review in the Classroom, A Guide for Students"
    • Activity: Peer Review—see discussion prompt below.
  • "Counterclaims"
• Discussion prompts and/or group activities

  Argument Essay Peer Review *

• Activities and low-stakes writing assignments
  • Reverse Outlining + Revision *
  • Peer review of argument essay—see discussion prompt above. *

Students will . . .

• Reflect on their peer review and revision processes. 
• Edit and proofread their argument essay drafts.
• Submit the final drafts of their argument essays.

• Readings
  • "Editing" *  
  • "Proofreading" * 
  • "The Evolution of Imitation: Building Your Style"
  • "Beyond Black on White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom"
• Video

  "The Magic of Revision"

• Discussion prompts and/or group activities

  Discussion of peer review and subsequent revision experience  *

  • Initial post: Consider your experience conducting peer review last week. In 5-7 thoughtful sentences, consider some or all of the following:
    • What specific element(s) did your peer reviewer help you improve in your draft?
    • What specific element(s) were you able to identify and highlight in your peer’s writing to help them improve, and how successful do you think you were in helping them improve?
    • In what way(s) did reviewing and providing structured feedback on your peer’s writing help you look at your own writing with fresh or wizened eyes?
    • What do you now understand or appreciate about the process, benefits, or challenges of peer review that you will carry with you as you tackle future writing assignments?
  • Response: Respond to the person you partnered with for peer review.
• Activities and low-stakes writing assignments

  Letter to the Reader

• Major assignment

  Argument Essay: Final Draft *

These materials were compiled by the COMPSS team. All materials created by the COMPSS team (see items in bold with the * symbol next to them) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and are free to use: they can be adopted, remixed, and shared at will as long as the materials are attributed. Some linked materials may have stricter licensing guidelines, although they are all free to use.