150 Partn IWritingan"Essay
Review
Thesearetheimportantpointscoveredinthischapter.
1.Anargumentativeessayisa kindofessayinwhichyoutrytopersuade
yourreadertoagreewithyouropinionabouta controversialtopic.- Anargumentativeessaycontainsthesefiveelements:
- Anexplanationoftheissue
- Aclearthesisstatement
- Asummm)'oftheopposingarguments
- Rebuttalstotheopposingarguments
- Yourownarguments
- Useeitherablockpatternora point-by-pointpattern.Besuretoincludethe
oppositepointofviewaswellasyourown.
4.Usecontrasttransitionsignalstoconnectopposingargumentsandyour
counter-arguments.
WritingPractice..
Choosetopic 1 or 2 andwriteanm"gumentativeessay.
1.Agreeordisagreewiththefollowingstatement:
It is worththeexpenseandrisktomakea mannedflighttoMars.
2.Agreeordisagreewiththefollowingstatement:
ThefuturestatusofEnglishasthegloballanguageisassured.Writinganargumentativeessayrequiresespeciallycarefulplanning.
Step 1 Clarifyinyourmindwhatthetwosidesoftheargumentare.Decide
whichsideyouagreewith.
Step 2 Writea thesisstatement.Yourthesisstatementcanstateeitherjust
yourpointofvieworbothpointsofview.
Step 3 ResearchthetopictogetideasandSuppOliingreasonsforbothsides
ofthem"gument.Thereadingsforthischapteronpages151-152and
154-155providematerialforyouressay.Readthearticlesanddothe
exercisesforyourtopicbeforeyoubeginthiswritingassignment.You
shouldusequotations,summaries,orparaphrasesfromtheappropriate
p31iSofthereadingstosupportyour3l"guments.Youmayalsouse
matelialfromPractices1,2,and5 inChapter8 inyouressay.
Step 4 Decidewhetheryouwilluseblockorpoint-by-pointorganization.
Thendevelopanoutlinesimilartooneoftheoutlinesonpage143.
Step 5 Writeyourfirstdraft.Writeanexplanatoryoranattention-getting
introduction,asyouprefer.
Step 6 UsetheSelf-EditingWorksheetonpage 329 andreviseyouressayif
neceSS31Y
Step 7 Exchangepaperswitha classmate.Revieweachother'sessaysand
completethePeer-EditingWorksheetonpage330.