The Argumentative Essay 2

The argumentative essay
In an argumentative essay, you present and justify your own point of view on a statement such as “A woman’s place is in the home”. You have to consider the argument for and against the views expressed in the statement, and try to persuade your readers to agree with you.
Focus on skills: planning an argumentative essay.
1. An argumentative essay should begin with introduction which refers to the title and briefly states your point of view.
2. The main body of the essay is divided into paragraphs. Each relevant point should be developed into a paragraph.
3. The essay should end with a conclusion in which you sum up your views.

Writing task:
1. Write your essay plan
2. Write your introduction, try to write your essay with a sentence which grabs your reader’s attention.
3. Write the body- develop the relevant points.
4. Write your conclusion. Restate your point of view clearly and sum up briefly the points that justify it. (Begin the conclusion in this way- to sum up…, in conclusion…, I believe that…)
5. Revise the draft of the first draft of your essay and write a neat copy.
6. Proofread your essay
Sample essay:
Discuss your views in the following statement: ‘students should not be required to wear uniforms to school.’ Should uniforms be abolished? This is a question of great interest to school students. Should they be expected to conform and look alike, or should they be allowed to express their personalities through what they wear? Some people claim that it would be cheaper to allow students to wear their own clothes to school. This could save parents the expense of buying to sets of clothes, one for school, and one for leisure. In reality, if students choose their own clothes to wear to school it would cost parents a lot more money. No one would want to wear the same outfit day after day. Another reason given in favor of abolishing school uniforms is student should not be forced to wear the same thing, but should be allowed to express their individuality. What this means in practice is students would compete with one another to wear the most popular brand names. Going to school would turn into a fashion parade. There is plenty of time for students to show off their clothes when school is over. One of the great advantages of school uniforms is everyone looks the same. It is not possible to pick out those students who have wealthy parents who can buy them the latest fashion, and those who have very little. If school uniforms were abolished, students who are less well-off might feel embarrassed about their clothes. Some people claim that students feel more relaxed wearing their own clothes and will therefore perform much better at school. This is simply not true. They would all be looking around to see what others are wearing. Wearing uniforms encourages students to concentrate on their studies instead of thinking about clothes. In conclusion, I believe that students should continue to wear uniforms to school. This will encourage them to focus on their studies rather on what they wear, and it will save their parents money as well. After all, if students are proud of their school, they should be proud of wearing school uniform.
Tasks:
1. Teachers should be allowed to ban computers in the classroom.