Provide Significant Refutations Auburn Career Cen

Structure

As we learn the basics of argumentation and academic research, we will also learn how we might structure and develop arguments for our audiences. As we will see, there are many ways to invent and structure arguments.

Introduction: Your audience may not know the context of your issue or how the debate has taken place and the different positions on the issue. You will definitely want to set up this context in the introduction of your essay. In addition, you will want to develop your purpose by explaining to your audience how your perspective on the issue connects to or advances their understanding of the issue. Draw from the rich context of your synthesis essay to develop your discussion of these perspectives. Your introduction should demonstrate that you are entering a conversation that includes competing perspectives.

Thesis: At the end of the introduction, you will want to develop an arguable thesis that clearly maps out your focused claim about the issue, supports this claim with reason(s) and evidence. In addition, you will want to lead up to your thesis in a way that shows how your claim connects to the context or ongoing discussion of the issue.

Body Paragraphs: Each of your body paragraphs will need to have a strong Point or Topic Sentence that states the main idea of the paragraph and establishes how this idea supports the thesis. In each body paragraph, your purpose will be to provide a precise Reason that supports your thesis. In addition, you will need to draw heavily on your research for Evidence that support the arguments of your paragraphs. This is crucial to arguing your position successfully. In addition, you will want to develop Explanations/Concluding Ideas that explain your illustrations and also help your paragraphs pass the “So What?” test by pointing to the importance of the information in the paragraph for your thesis.

Body Paragraphs: In addition to the elements above, you will need to develop one or two body paragraphs that anticipate objections from your audience, and provide significant refutations to strengthen your position. This means that you will want to explain to your readers why these counter-arguments do not weaken or disqualify your position, or why they should still accept your argument.

Conclusion: The conclusions to arguments are crucial, as they are often the place where the author spells out the implications of their arguments. This means that the author connects the argument to the real world of the reader, informing them of the applications of the arguments for their own lives or perspectives. While this essay does not require you to recommend solutions or courses of action, you may want to emphasize the need for action.

Grade distribution

Introduction and conclusion: 30 points; thesis: 15; organization and development: 100; grammar and mechanics: 15; research and citation: 30 points; self-evaluation: 10.