After reading this article, you should be able to write/teach people how to write a decent argumentative essay. For most people, writing such essays is all about stating their point of view and relating to past experiences or some facts he knows that directly relates to the topic. However, that method of writing may only get you a medium or passing grade. In order to fully back up every idea and show your point directly to the reader or grader, you will need to follow a certain format. I will be talking about such format.

Planning:
Most students do not plan before they write, thus their essays will look unorganized and random. For argumentative essays, planning is easy. There are three steps:

1. Choose a stand. Never sit on the fence. It’s either a yes or a no.

2. Find at least 4 main points to back your stand, then 4 sub points to back those 4 points.

3. Organize the points such that the best point comes first.

Introduction:
For every essay, there must be a proper introduction. For an argumentative essay, the introduction is the most important part. It must be short and a brief summary of what you will be writing, thus it is important to have an essay plan. The introduction must be unique, and it will be best if you can add an analogy or two.  If your language skill is not great, it is fine to switch the summary to simply listing the main points of what you are using.

For example:
”I agree that computers one day will run the world. Since the invention of the first computer, we have come a long way to laptops, smartphones and more. Computers are now evolving faster than humans do and it is not soon before the invention of self-sustainable Artificial Intelligence. In my following essay, I will talk about smart homes, digital synchronization, face recognition and the internet.”

The body:
Since there will be at least 4 points you will be arguing about, there must be 8 paragraphs, 2 for each point. One for your main point and another for your backup argument.

1. Topic sentence. Your topic sentence must be located either on the first or second line of the paragraph or the last line of that same paragraph. The topic sentence must be short, clear and concise. It will deliver your point straight to the reader without much thinking process needed.

For example, “In smart homes, everything can be controlled by one click of a mouse.”

2. Use an actual statistic or news article fact, best with a date to proof your point, to show some “impact”.  After stating the fact, relate back to the topic sentence. This should end your paragraph.

3. Counter statement. Now put yourself in the opposition shoes and counter argue yourself in one simple line. For example, “However, critiques may argue…”

4. Sub point to counter the previous statement. Once again, it might be useful to use an actual fact to counter it.

Repeat this systematic process for the rest of the body and you should have a desirable length for the essay as well as stand.

Conclusion:
If you followed the format discussed above, you should have ended the essay with the poorest point. The conclusion will be the paragraph to bring your stand back up. Do a simple summary of the points, somewhat similar to the introduction but this time, relate it to your stand each time. Reinforce the points if needed. Make the conclusion short and sweet, not too long as it will discourage the readers.