Introduction to Argumentative Writing

In this lesson, students and teachers uncover the basic process and vocabulary for making an argument supported by evidence.

In this lesson, students and teachers look closely at the attributes that make a claim strong and set the focus for the rest of an argument.

In this lesson, students will examine how reasons, evidence, and reasoning work together to support a claim. Students will begin the session by identifying reasons that maintain focus on given claims. Later students and teacher will discuss good and bad evidence and will practice selecting evidence and explaining reasoning to support claims, both in groups and individually. The lesson will end with a full-group debate activity.

In this lesson, students will examine the organization of an essay to make an effective argument. Teacher and students will examine and practice both essay-level and paragraph-level organization.

In this lesson, students will examine the effect of audience on writing style, and will discover the differences between formal and informal writing.