WRITE A ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY, Esquemas y mapas conceptuales de Inglés

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ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

ARGUMENTATION

 The aim of writing argumentative essays

is to convince or persuade the reader.

 One attempts to change the reader’s

mind and convince the reader to agree

with the point of view or claim of the

writer.

 So an argumentative essay needs to be

highly persuasive and logical.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF ARGUMENTATION?

 present an opinion on a controversial topic to the reader;

 explain, clarify and illustrate that opinion;

 persuade the reader that the opinion supported in the essay is

valid by:

a. moving the reader to action,

b. convincing the reader that the opinion is correct, or

c. persuading the reader that the opinion is at least worth

considering;

 support the opinion by means of giving evidence : facts,

examples, physical description, support of authority, and

statistics;

 present counterarguments to the thesis and refute them

respectfully and critically.

Sample Essay - Introduction

ADVERTISING MANIPULATES VIEWERS In the simplest form, advertising can be defined as a kind of message or message transmission that is designed to promote a product, service, or an idea. Today this basic marketing strategy has become a natural part of our daily life. Considering that the $ 20 billion spent on advertisements in 1979 had drastically risen to $120 billion in 1999 and that in the course of a lifetime, one will see about three years worth of advertisements on television and approximately 3,000 ads per day, a person may easily acknowledge the impact of advertising (DiChiara, 2008, para. 3). Nonetheless, as Giselle Touzard (2008) explains, advertising, which originally intended to be a source of information for people on the availability of products, “has developed into an industry that shapes people’s identity” (para. 2). Coming in various forms – in print, audio, or visual form – advertisements not only bombard audience with their messages, but they also sell the ideas of who we are and what we should do or be. Thus, advertisements are harmful for the society owing to their disruptive influence.

Thesis statement

authority’s

opinion

definition

facts

Sample Essay – Pro Paragraph

3 It is clear that advertisements manipulate viewers; first of

all, they destroy societal balance as they draw on gender

stereotypes.

4 Frequently advertisements make use of archetypes and

myths for the sake of making the message striking and

memorable. Thus, it is a common practice to represent

women as decorative objects at home who are submissive

to men. Studies have identified that in advertising women

are less often used in work representations compared

with men (as cited in Jacobson & Mazur, 2007, p. 217). In

the advertisements of house appliances, especially,

women are typically equated with housewives and

mothers. Even when women are portrayed in professional

environments, they are often in subordinate positions,

receiving instructions. Hence, professional women are

reduced to order-takers. Men, on the other hand, are

commonly associated with power, leadership, and

efficiency. It is especially in car advertisements that these

features are paired with masculinity. Also, professional

men are shown in powerful and influential positions,

giving orders. It is mostly men who solve the problems,

lead a company or pursue professional goals. This double

standard in the illustration of genders not only reveals the

mainstream view but also affirms it because when consumers

buy the advertised products, one indirectly approves of the

advertisements, and therefore contributes to keeping and

reproducing certain representations. Hence, advertisements

destroy the possibility of a society where both genders are

equal.

Back to the

thesis

statement and

original

argument

Supporting

techniques

(example,

explanation,

authority’s

opinion)

Sample Essay – Pro Paragraph 2 Secondly, advertisements present unattainable body images both for men and women, and thus create an insecure society. Everywhere advertisements tell the audience what it means to be a desirable man or woman, just as directly as the advertisement that claims, “Image is everything”. For a man, the message is: You need to be athletic. It seems that whether a man is twenty or forty, whether he has brown or silver hair, an athletic body is indispensable for a strong, powerful, and confident man. The opposite is a caricature, just like the poor man, the anti-Mr. Muscle in the detergent advertisement. For a woman, too, the message is parallel: You need to be beautiful and skinny. Women are constantly exposed to gorgeous looking women who have the perfect hair or skin, and a body like that of a model. Although all these images are simple illusions, created by skillful makeup artists, photographers, or photo re-touchers who work on these meticulously, women unfortunately ignore this and delve into endless self-scrutiny. As Susan Brownmiller states, a woman is “forced to concentrate on the minutiae of her bodily parts, [and consequently she] is never free of self-consciousness. She is never quite satisfied, and never secure, for desperate, unending absorption in the drive for perfect appearance” (as cited in Jacobson & Mazur, 2007, p. 213). Due to this lack of self- satisfaction, today 25 per cent of women are dieting and another 50 per cent has recently started or quitted a diet (Jacobson & Mazur, 2007, p. 214). Some women take even more dangerous steps to be like the women they see in advertisements. They develop an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. It is quite striking that today approximately one in five women have an eating disorder (p. 214). Hence, advertisements perpetuate disappointment as well as dissatisfaction in both genders.

Another

argument which

is parallel to the

thesis statement

Examples,

explanations,

authority’s

opinions,

statistics to

clarify the topic

sentence

HOW TO WRITE ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS

 STAGE 1: CHOOSING A TOPIC AND

WRITING THE THESIS STATEMENT

• (^) Decide on a controversial topic (debatable and interesting)
• (^) Write an argumentative thesis statement.
• (^) Generate ideas (free writing or brainstorming

The Argumentative Thesis Statement

 The thesis statement should define the

scope of the argument and make an

assertion that is open to debate.

Sample Argumentative Thesis Statements

 CNN is the best TV channel.

This is not an effective thesis statement.

This sentence is not debatable as it

involves personal choice or preference.

Sample Argumentative Thesis Statements  (^) There are 3 ways of media censorship. This is not an argumentative thesis statement as the writer aims at listing the types of media censorship. Therefore, the writer’s purpose of writing this essay is not to persuade the reader but to give information. Also, the ways of media censorship are not open to debate, thus, not suitable for argumentation.

THE EXPOSITORY THESIS STATEMENT VS. THE ARGUMENTATIVE THESIS STATEMENT  (^) Both expository and argumentative thesis statements express a certain opinion about a topic.  (^) However, an expository thesis statement does not include a sharp opinion; rather, it discusses advantages, disadvantages, types, reasons, results, problems, solutions, processes, or categories of an issue often in the form of listing, enumeration, classification, or sequencing.  (^) An argumentative thesis statement, on the other hand, has a clear stance on a debatable topic, fiercely argues that the writer’s opinion is correct and reflects this subjectivity both in its style and tone.

More Examples to Show the Difference  (^) There are three main reasons why the media manipulate the news. This thesis statement is not argumentative. Although the writer has the assumption that the media manipulate the news, the aim of this essay is not to convince the reader on this issue, but to simply list the three reasons for media manipulation. The reader, too, expects to learn the three reasons.

More Examples to Show the Difference  (^) It is essential to be media literate for three reasons. This thesis statement is an expository thesis statement although the sentence includes a strong word, “essential”. The use of this word does not make the thesis statement an argumentative one because the aim here is to inform the reader about the three reasons. The reader, here, expects to read a list of the reasons without being forced to take a side. The writer does not hold a stance in an ongoing discussion.

More Examples to Show the Difference  (^) It is essential that media literacy be taught in schools. This is clearly an argumentative thesis statement. Firstly, the topic is debatable. Secondly, the writer is clear about where in the discussion he stands. Finally, the purpose of the writer is to affect the readers’ ideas on this issue.