what is an for and against essay

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Digital tools and ideas to transform education, five steps to writing a good for and against essay.

An essay is a formal piece of writing which describes, analyses or discusses a particular issue.

The most common types are:

Opinion essays. They present the writer’s personal opinion of the topic, supported with examples and reasons.
For and against essays. They present both sides of an issue in a balanced way. In the concluding paragraph you can say why you find one side more convincing than the other.

In this post, I’ll guide you step by step to help you write a good for and against essay.

Step 1. Tips and Guidelines +sample essay (pdf)
Step 2. Presentation + sample essay (reinforcing)
Step 3. Using connectors of contrast
Step 4. Using connectors of purpose
Step 5. Write: 53 topics to write about. (pdf)

Step 1. Tips and guidelines+sample essay

Download pdf

1. The first stage in writing is producing ideas. It’s important to dedicate two or three minutes to carefully planning what you are going to say. Make a list of the points for and against. Remember that the key to writing a good balanced essay is to include as many arguments you disagree with as those you agree with. They should be noted impartially although in your conclusion you can say why you find one side more convincing than the other.

2. Producing and organising ideas is one thing. Shaping ideas and the organisation of your writing is another. But often the most difficult part is starting a first draft.

Once you have your first draft pay attention to how you have organised the information into paragraphs and grouped ideas.

Once this is done you can focus on expression. This means looking at sentence structure, tense usage and vocabulary. It’s important to write clearly and economically. This can mean either rephrasing ideas in two sentences instead of one, or rewriting two longer sentences as one shorter sentence. So, go over your first draft, looking for ways of improving sentence structure, tense usage and vocabulary.

3. Organise your essay into three parts:

Introduction- Paragraph 1- Introduce the topic. The opening should engage the reader’s interest and give a hint of what is to follow.
Main Body- Normally you have two paragraphs. In Paragraph 2, you state your arguments for and in Paragraph 3, your arguments against.
Conclusion– In paragraph 4 you refer back to the topic and summarize. Here you can say why you find one side more convincing than the other.

4. It’s important that you begin each paragraph with a main idea and then develop this idea. For a new idea, begin a new paragraph.

5. This is academic writing, so don’t use informal style ( no contractions, colloquial words, or emotional language).

6. Remember to use a variety of structures and vocabulary adequate to your level.

Step 2. Presentation + sample essay (reinforcing ).

Step 3. Using connectors of contrast.

Using connectors is important to express different relationships between ideas. Here, you’ll learn how to use connectors of contrast.

Read the flyer below to learn how to use: despite/in spite of, nevertheless, however, on the other hand, although, even though, though, yet, still, but and while/whereas.

At the end of the flyer there are some interactive exercises to test your knowledge.

Step 3. Using connectors of purpose.

Now we learn how to express purpose with the following words: to, in order to, so as to, for, so that and in case.

Test your knowledge

Step 5. Write: 53 topics to write about. Pdf here

Are you ready to write now? Here’s a compilation of 53 for and against topics to write about from different sites and course books. Take your pick, follow all the tips and guidelines and good luck!

Should schools start later in the morning?
Benefits of teaching children second languages early on.
The pros and cons of single gender classrooms.
Is sex education the job of parents or of the school?
The pros and cons of reduction of physical education hours in our current school system.
The pros and cons of security cameras in schools.
Pros and cons of a 4-day school week.
Should parents pay students for good grades?
The pros and cons of bilingual or dual language education.
The pros and cons of wearing a uniform.
The pros and cons of banning junk food in schools.
Should sexual education be taught in high schools?
The education a child receives at home from having parents who are positive role models is more important than the academic education a child receives at school. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

HEALTHY ISSUES

Plastic surgery- vanity or need?
Is vegetarianism a healthy diet?
One of the largest parts of government expenditure is health. Some people argue that this money would be better spent on health education on the principle that prevention is better than cure. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

MORAL ISSUES

Should parents be allowed to choose their child’s gender?
Pros and cons of having exotic animals as home pets?
Should advertising for plastic surgery be illegal?
Should priests be celibate?
What does everyone think about zoo animals? Is it a good or a bad thing?
Does legal prostitution reduce crime?
To what extent is the use of animals in scientific research acceptable? Discuss the pros and cons.
Some people argue that the amount of violence shown in films and on television has led to an increase in violent crimes in society. Do you agree with this argument? Should the government control what is shown on television and in the cinema?
Should rich countries forgive all debts for poor countries?
The pros and cons of children under the age of 10 playing video games.
The pros and cons of film, television, and music piracy.
Should kids under the age of 13 have a phone?
Advantages and disadvantages of digital spying on kids and teens.
The pros and cons of owning an electric car.
Have we become too dependent on technology? Discuss the pros and cons.
Should students be allowed to have cell phones in elementary and high schools?
Should we ban the sale of violent video games?
Some people say that the Internet is making the world smaller by bringing people together. To what extent do you agree that the Internet is making it easier for people to communicate with one another?
Should pro wrestling be considered a sport?
Should sport hunting be banned?
Many people want their country to hold the Olympics. Others believe that international sporting events bring more problems than benefits. Discuss both views and state your opinion.
In the future, we will have more and more leisure time as machines replace many of the tasks we do at home and work. Discuss the benefits this will bring and also the problem it will cause.
It is said that travel broadens the mind. What can we learn by travelling to other countries? Should we first explore our own countries? Discuss.
In many countries tourism is a major part of the economy, but it also causes environmental damage and ruins the places it exploits. It is argued that tourists should pay an additional tax to compensate for this damage. Do you agree?
Should museums and art galleries be free of charge for the general public, or should a charge, even a voluntary charge, be levied for admittance? Discuss this issue, and give your opinion.
Unemployment is one of the most serious problems facing developed nations today. What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of reducing the working week to thirty five hours?
Most high level jobs are done by men. Should the government encourage a certain percentage of these jobs to be reserved for women?
Should retirement be compulsory at 65 years of age?

GLOBALISATION:

Differences between countries become less evident each year. Nowadays, all over the world people share the same fashions, advertising, brands, eating habits and TV channels. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?
Television has had a significant influence on the culture of many societies. To what extent would you say that television has positively or negatively affected the cultural development of your society?
Some people like living in a house, while others prefer an apartment. Are there more advantages than disadvantages to living in a house rather than in an apartment?

FAMILY AND RELATIONSHIPS

The pros and cons of gay marriage.
Some parents choose not to have a television at home because of the influence on their children. Is this a good or a bad thing?
Some people believe in the traditional idea that the woman’s place is in the home, while others say that idea is outdated and that women should play an increasingly important role in the workplace of the future. What is your opinion?
People are now living longer than ever before and many old people are unable to look after themselves. Some people believe that it is the responsibility of families to look after the elderly, while others say governments should provide retirement homes for them where they can be looked after properly. Discuss.
Are women better parents than men?
If children behave badly, should their parents accept responsibility and also be punished?

Have you visited my writing section yet ?

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23 thoughts on “ Five Steps to Writing a Good For and Against Essay ”

thanks https://www.cristinacabal.com/ y

Thank you for the information. Really is useful

Thanks for your comment! And also, for the link to the video! Very clear and helpful!

Great article! Thanks! Perhaps this information that I found will be useful as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGU5Tkh-Rvg

Thanks for sharing. This is a very interesting post.

Thank you very much for your comments and post.

Thanks for your comment!

Writing is an art that everyone has but you need to figure it out. You can write any type of essay and article first you need to choose the topic wisely then do research and then start writing. You can choose topics like Fashion, Business, and Environment. Thanks for sharing this information it is interesting.

Hey, Thanks for sharing this information.

Hi Montse Which presentation are you referring to? There are three. I’ve just checked all of them and they seem to be working fine. I suggest you use another browser, just in case!

Thanks very much for sharing your For and Against Presentation but it does not work quite well. Words overlap, some of them are not separated… it is difficult to stop the presentation..

Hi Grace Thanks for your comment!

This is all very useful. Thanks a lot..

Hi Bry Where is “although” hyphenated exactly? I can’t see it anywhere! Thanks

Your rules of hypenation seem to not be for English words and spellings. I think that your current rules are perhaps for Spanish. That makes this kind of hypenation:

Since “th” is a digraph, you have to hyphenate:

FYI, no worries!

–Bry.

This is quite interesting topic and students can have variety of words to write on. Writing an essay just needs clear instruction and valuable content. This is basic requirement of essay because without clear concept we can’t write well. Also i want to say that writing will describe your thinking as well so always try to remain positive and determined to your task.

Thanks a lot, Ann!

Hi Cristina,

Just to let you know that we’ve shortlisted this blog post for this month’s TeachingEnglish blog award and I’ll be putting up a post about it on tomorrow’s TeachingEnglish Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil , if you’d like to check there for likes and comments.

You’re welcome! I am glad you find it useful!

Thanks a lot for sharing us this material. I really appreciate it.

Hi Nad Which powerpoint do you refer to? I’ve tested everything visual on the post and it seems to be working fine.

Hello, The powerpoint like document is not working properly. Some words overlap others and it makes it difficult to read sometimes.

Anyway, thanks for sharing, it’s very useful,

How to write a for-and-against essay?

Download document here.

For-and-Against essay is one of the most popular essay for ESL student around the world of English. You can find many topics and sample essays on the Internet, just Google it. But how can you write such good essay in any written tests?

In this post, the instruction for writing a For-and-Against essay would be introduced. Hope you can find it useful. The attachment above is for those who seek for teaching materials.

Table of Contents

So what is a for-and-against essay?

In short, a for-and-against essay is a formal essay in which ‘pros and cons’ (advantages and disadvantages) points are considered from writer points of view. Students are required to discussing both sides (supporting (for) and opposing (against)) objectively and equally, both directly and indirectly.

How to organise a for-and-against essay?

The ‘for-and-against’ essay should be structured as following:

INTRODUCTION: re-state the topic (in the writing task) with its general information/situation without giving writer’s opinion.
BODY: Student need to provide explanations for the opposing viewpoints/ arguments with relevant reasons, figures, facts and examples. Writer should avoid any strong or emotional language to express writer opinion. – Paragraph 1: Arguments in favour- along with reasons, examples, facts, etc. – Paragraph 2: Arguments against- along with reasons, examples, facts, etc.
CONCLUSION: express the writer’s opinion directly/indirectly and show a balanced view of the topic.

What are the useful language for this type of essay?

Students should avoid using phrases or expressions which have been abused in the past few years on English test in their essay, especially in introductory and concluding paragraphs. E.g.: in modern society, in the current climate, throughout history, etc.

Some of the words and phrases that can be used: To introduce points in favour/against: One point of view in favour of/against is that .. Some experts/scientists advocate/support/oppose the view that..

To point out opposing arguments: Opponents of this idea claim that .. Others oppose this view point .. Some people may disagree with this idea.

To state the conclusion: In my opinion .. Achieving a balance between X and Y would .. In conclusion, I firmly believe that .. On balance, I think it is unfair that ..

To make contrasting points: On the other hand .. However.. It can be argued that .. Although..?

How to self-evaluate the essay?

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to write an a+ argumentative essay.

Miscellaneous

You'll no doubt have to write a number of argumentative essays in both high school and college, but what, exactly, is an argumentative essay and how do you write the best one possible? Let's take a look.

A great argumentative essay always combines the same basic elements: approaching an argument from a rational perspective, researching sources, supporting your claims using facts rather than opinion, and articulating your reasoning into the most cogent and reasoned points. Argumentative essays are great building blocks for all sorts of research and rhetoric, so your teachers will expect you to master the technique before long.

But if this sounds daunting, never fear! We'll show how an argumentative essay differs from other kinds of papers, how to research and write them, how to pick an argumentative essay topic, and where to find example essays. So let's get started.

What Is an Argumentative Essay? How Is it Different from Other Kinds of Essays?

There are two basic requirements for any and all essays: to state a claim (a thesis statement) and to support that claim with evidence.

Though every essay is founded on these two ideas, there are several different types of essays, differentiated by the style of the writing, how the writer presents the thesis, and the types of evidence used to support the thesis statement.

Essays can be roughly divided into four different types:

#1: Argumentative #2: Persuasive #3: Expository #4: Analytical

So let's look at each type and what the differences are between them before we focus the rest of our time to argumentative essays.

Argumentative Essay

Argumentative essays are what this article is all about, so let's talk about them first.

An argumentative essay attempts to convince a reader to agree with a particular argument (the writer's thesis statement). The writer takes a firm stand one way or another on a topic and then uses hard evidence to support that stance.

An argumentative essay seeks to prove to the reader that one argument —the writer's argument— is the factually and logically correct one. This means that an argumentative essay must use only evidence-based support to back up a claim , rather than emotional or philosophical reasoning (which is often allowed in other types of essays). Thus, an argumentative essay has a burden of substantiated proof and sources , whereas some other types of essays (namely persuasive essays) do not.

You can write an argumentative essay on any topic, so long as there's room for argument. Generally, you can use the same topics for both a persuasive essay or an argumentative one, so long as you support the argumentative essay with hard evidence.

Example topics of an argumentative essay:

"Should farmers be allowed to shoot wolves if those wolves injure or kill farm animals?"
"Should the drinking age be lowered in the United States?"
"Are alternatives to democracy effective and/or feasible to implement?"

The next three types of essays are not argumentative essays, but you may have written them in school. We're going to cover them so you know what not to do for your argumentative essay.

Persuasive Essay

Persuasive essays are similar to argumentative essays, so it can be easy to get them confused. But knowing what makes an argumentative essay different than a persuasive essay can often mean the difference between an excellent grade and an average one.

Persuasive essays seek to persuade a reader to agree with the point of view of the writer, whether that point of view is based on factual evidence or not. The writer has much more flexibility in the evidence they can use, with the ability to use moral, cultural, or opinion-based reasoning as well as factual reasoning to persuade the reader to agree the writer's side of a given issue.

Instead of being forced to use "pure" reason as one would in an argumentative essay, the writer of a persuasive essay can manipulate or appeal to the reader's emotions. So long as the writer attempts to steer the readers into agreeing with the thesis statement, the writer doesn't necessarily need hard evidence in favor of the argument.

Often, you can use the same topics for both a persuasive essay or an argumentative one—the difference is all in the approach and the evidence you present.

Example topics of a persuasive essay:

"Should children be responsible for their parents' debts?"
"Should cheating on a test be automatic grounds for expulsion?"
"How much should sports leagues be held accountable for player injuries and the long-term consequences of those injuries?"

Expository Essay

An expository essay is typically a short essay in which the writer explains an idea, issue, or theme , or discusses the history of a person, place, or idea.

This is typically a fact-forward essay with little argument or opinion one way or the other.

Example topics of an expository essay:

"The History of the Philadelphia Liberty Bell"
"The Reasons I Always Wanted to be a Doctor"
"The Meaning Behind the Colloquialism ‘People in Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones'"

Analytical Essay

An analytical essay seeks to delve into the deeper meaning of a text or work of art, or unpack a complicated idea . These kinds of essays closely interpret a source and look into its meaning by analyzing it at both a macro and micro level.

This type of analysis can be augmented by historical context or other expert or widely-regarded opinions on the subject, but is mainly supported directly through the original source (the piece or art or text being analyzed) .

Example topics of an analytical essay:

"Victory Gin in Place of Water: The Symbolism Behind Gin as the Only Potable Substance in George Orwell's 1984"
"Amarna Period Art: The Meaning Behind the Shift from Rigid to Fluid Poses"
"Adultery During WWII, as Told Through a Series of Letters to and from Soldiers"

There are many different types of essay and, over time, you'll be able to master them all.

A Typical Argumentative Essay Assignment

The average argumentative essay is between three to five pages, and will require at least three or four separate sources with which to back your claims . As for the essay topic , you'll most often be asked to write an argumentative essay in an English class on a "general" topic of your choice, ranging the gamut from science, to history, to literature.

But while the topics of an argumentative essay can span several different fields, the structure of an argumentative essay is always the same: you must support a claim—a claim that can reasonably have multiple sides—using multiple sources and using a standard essay format (which we'll talk about later on).

This is why many argumentative essay topics begin with the word "should," as in:

"Should all students be required to learn chemistry in high school?"
"Should children be required to learn a second language?"
"Should schools or governments be allowed to ban books?"

These topics all have at least two sides of the argument: Yes or no. And you must support the side you choose with evidence as to why your side is the correct one.

But there are also plenty of other ways to frame an argumentative essay as well:

"Does using social media do more to benefit or harm people?"
"Does the legal status of artwork or its creators—graffiti and vandalism, pirated media, a creator who's in jail—have an impact on the art itself?"
"Is or should anyone ever be ‘above the law?'"

Though these are worded differently than the first three, you're still essentially forced to pick between two sides of an issue: yes or no, for or against, benefit or detriment. Though your argument might not fall entirely into one side of the divide or another—for instance, you could claim that social media has positively impacted some aspects of modern life while being a detriment to others—your essay should still support one side of the argument above all. Your final stance would be that overall , social media is beneficial or overall , social media is harmful.

If your argument is one that is mostly text-based or backed by a single source (e.g., "How does Salinger show that Holden Caulfield is an unreliable narrator?" or "Does Gatsby personify the American Dream?"), then it's an analytical essay, rather than an argumentative essay. An argumentative essay will always be focused on more general topics so that you can use multiple sources to back up your claims.

Good Argumentative Essay Topics

So you know the basic idea behind an argumentative essay, but what topic should you write about?

Again, almost always, you'll be asked to write an argumentative essay on a free topic of your choice, or you'll be asked to select between a few given topics . If you're given complete free reign of topics, then it'll be up to you to find an essay topic that no only appeals to you, but that you can turn into an A+ argumentative essay.

What makes a "good" argumentative essay topic depends on both the subject matter and your personal interest —it can be hard to give your best effort on something that bores you to tears! But it can also be near impossible to write an argumentative essay on a topic that has no room for debate.

As we said earlier, a good argumentative essay topic will be one that has the potential to reasonably go in at least two directions—for or against, yes or no, and why . For example, it's pretty hard to write an argumentative essay on whether or not people should be allowed to murder one another—not a whole lot of debate there for most people!—but writing an essay for or against the death penalty has a lot more wiggle room for evidence and argument.

A good topic is also one that can be substantiated through hard evidence and relevant sources . So be sure to pick a topic that other people have studied (or at least studied elements of) so that you can use their data in your argument. For example, if you're arguing that it should be mandatory for all middle school children to play a sport, you might have to apply smaller scientific data points to the larger picture you're trying to justify. There are probably several studies you could cite on the benefits of physical activity and the positive effect structure and teamwork has on young minds, but there's probably no study you could use where a group of scientists put all middle-schoolers in one jurisdiction into a mandatory sports program (since that's probably never happened). So long as your evidence is relevant to your point and you can extrapolate from it to form a larger whole, you can use it as a part of your resource material.

And if you need ideas on where to get started, or just want to see sample argumentative essay topics, then check out these links for hundreds of potential argumentative essay topics.

101 Persuasive (or Argumentative) Essay and Speech Topics

301 Prompts for Argumentative Writing

Top 50 Ideas for Argumentative/Persuasive Essay Writing

[Note: some of these say "persuasive essay topics," but just remember that the same topic can often be used for both a persuasive essay and an argumentative essay; the difference is in your writing style and the evidence you use to support your claims.]

KO! Find that one argumentative essay topic you can absolutely conquer.

Argumentative Essay Format

Argumentative Essays are composed of four main elements:

A position (your argument)
Your reasons
Supporting evidence for those reasons (from reliable sources)
Counterargument(s) (possible opposing arguments and reasons why those arguments are incorrect)

If you're familiar with essay writing in general, then you're also probably familiar with the five paragraph essay structure . This structure is a simple tool to show how one outlines an essay and breaks it down into its component parts, although it can be expanded into as many paragraphs as you want beyond the core five.

The standard argumentative essay is often 3-5 pages, which will usually mean a lot more than five paragraphs, but your overall structure will look the same as a much shorter essay.

An argumentative essay at its simplest structure will look like:

Paragraph 1: Intro

Set up the story/problem/issue
Thesis/claim

Paragraph 2: Support

Reason #1 claim is correct
Supporting evidence with sources

Paragraph 3: Support

Reason #2 claim is correct

Paragraph 4: Counterargument

Explanation of argument for the other side
Refutation of opposing argument with supporting evidence

Paragraph 5: Conclusion

Re-state claim
Sum up reasons and support of claim from the essay to prove claim is correct

Now let's unpack each of these paragraph types to see how they work (with examples!), what goes into them, and why.

Paragraph 1—Set Up and Claim

Your first task is to introduce the reader to the topic at hand so they'll be prepared for your claim. Give a little background information, set the scene, and give the reader some stakes so that they care about the issue you're going to discuss.

Next, you absolutely must have a position on an argument and make that position clear to the readers. It's not an argumentative essay unless you're arguing for a specific claim, and this claim will be your thesis statement.

Your thesis CANNOT be a mere statement of fact (e.g., "Washington DC is the capital of the United States"). Your thesis must instead be an opinion which can be backed up with evidence and has the potential to be argued against (e.g., "New York should be the capital of the United States").

Paragraphs 2 and 3—Your Evidence

These are your body paragraphs in which you give the reasons why your argument is the best one and back up this reasoning with concrete evidence .

The argument supporting the thesis of an argumentative essay should be one that can be supported by facts and evidence, rather than personal opinion or cultural or religious mores.

For example, if you're arguing that New York should be the new capital of the US, you would have to back up that fact by discussing the factual contrasts between New York and DC in terms of location, population, revenue, and laws. You would then have to talk about the precedents for what makes for a good capital city and why New York fits the bill more than DC does.

Your argument can't simply be that a lot of people think New York is the best city ever and that you agree.

In addition to using concrete evidence, you always want to keep the tone of your essay passionate, but impersonal . Even though you're writing your argument from a single opinion, don't use first person language—"I think," "I feel," "I believe,"—to present your claims. Doing so is repetitive, since by writing the essay you're already telling the audience what you feel, and using first person language weakens your writing voice.

For example,

"I think that Washington DC is no longer suited to be the capital city of the United States."

"Washington DC is no longer suited to be the capital city of the United States."

The second statement sounds far stronger and more analytical.

Paragraph 4—Argument for the Other Side and Refutation

Even without a counter argument, you can make a pretty persuasive claim, but a counterargument will round out your essay into one that is much more persuasive and substantial.

By anticipating an argument against your claim and taking the initiative to counter it, you're allowing yourself to get ahead of the game. This way, you show that you've given great thought to all sides of the issue before choosing your position, and you demonstrate in multiple ways how yours is the more reasoned and supported side.

Paragraph 5—Conclusion

This paragraph is where you re-state your argument and summarize why it's the best claim.

Briefly touch on your supporting evidence and voila! A finished argumentative essay.

Your essay should have just as awesome a skeleton as this plesiosaur does. (In other words: a ridiculously awesome skeleton)

Argumentative Essay Example: 5-Paragraph Style

It always helps to have an example to learn from. I've written a full 5-paragraph argumentative essay here. Look at how I state my thesis in paragraph 1, give supporting evidence in paragraphs 2 and 3, address a counterargument in paragraph 4, and conclude in paragraph 5.

Topic: Is it possible to maintain conflicting loyalties?

Paragraph 1

It is almost impossible to go through life without encountering a situation where your loyalties to different people or causes come into conflict with each other. Maybe you have a loving relationship with your sister, but she disagrees with your decision to join the army, or you find yourself torn between your cultural beliefs and your scientific ones. These conflicting loyalties can often be maintained for a time, but as examples from both history and psychological theory illustrate, sooner or later, people have to make a choice between competing loyalties, as no one can maintain a conflicting loyalty or belief system forever.

The first two sentences set the scene and give some hypothetical examples and stakes for the reader to care about.

The third sentence finishes off the intro with the thesis statement, making very clear how the author stands on the issue ("people have to make a choice between competing loyalties, as no one can maintain a conflicting loyalty or belief system forever." )

Paragraphs 2 and 3

Psychological theory states that human beings are not equipped to maintain conflicting loyalties indefinitely and that attempting to do so leads to a state called "cognitive dissonance." Cognitive dissonance theory is the psychological idea that people undergo tremendous mental stress or anxiety when holding contradictory beliefs, values, or loyalties (Festinger, 1957). Even if human beings initially hold a conflicting loyalty, they will do their best to find a mental equilibrium by making a choice between those loyalties—stay stalwart to a belief system or change their beliefs. One of the earliest formal examples of cognitive dissonance theory comes from Leon Festinger's When Prophesy Fails . Members of an apocalyptic cult are told that the end of the world will occur on a specific date and that they alone will be spared the Earth's destruction. When that day comes and goes with no apocalypse, the cult members face a cognitive dissonance between what they see and what they've been led to believe (Festinger, 1956). Some choose to believe that the cult's beliefs are still correct, but that the Earth was simply spared from destruction by mercy, while others choose to believe that they were lied to and that the cult was fraudulent all along. Both beliefs cannot be correct at the same time, and so the cult members are forced to make their choice.

But even when conflicting loyalties can lead to potentially physical, rather than just mental, consequences, people will always make a choice to fall on one side or other of a dividing line. Take, for instance, Nicolaus Copernicus, a man born and raised in Catholic Poland (and educated in Catholic Italy). Though the Catholic church dictated specific scientific teachings, Copernicus' loyalty to his own observations and scientific evidence won out over his loyalty to his country's government and belief system. When he published his heliocentric model of the solar system--in opposition to the geocentric model that had been widely accepted for hundreds of years (Hannam, 2011)-- Copernicus was making a choice between his loyalties. In an attempt t o maintain his fealty both to the established system and to what he believed, h e sat on his findings for a number of years (Fantoli, 1994). But, ultimately, Copernicus made the choice to side with his beliefs and observations above all and published his work for the world to see (even though, in doing so, he risked both his reputation and personal freedoms).

These two paragraphs provide the reasons why the author supports the main argument and uses substantiated sources to back those reasons.

The paragraph on cognitive dissonance theory gives both broad supporting evidence and more narrow, detailed supporting evidence to show why the thesis statement is correct not just anecdotally but also scientifically and psychologically. First, we see why people in general have a difficult time accepting conflicting loyalties and desires and then how this applies to individuals through the example of the cult members from the Dr. Festinger's research.

The next paragraph continues to use more detailed examples from history to provide further evidence of why the thesis that people cannot indefinitely maintain conflicting loyalties is true.

Paragraph 4

Some will claim that it is possible to maintain conflicting beliefs or loyalties permanently, but this is often more a matter of people deluding themselves and still making a choice for one side or the other, rather than truly maintaining loyalty to both sides equally. For example, Lancelot du Lac typifies a person who claims to maintain a balanced loyalty between to two parties, but his attempt to do so fails (as all attempts to permanently maintain conflicting loyalties must). Lancelot tells himself and others that he is equally devoted to both King Arthur and his court and to being Queen Guinevere's knight (Malory, 2008). But he can neither be in two places at once to protect both the king and queen, nor can he help but let his romantic feelings for the queen to interfere with his duties to the king and the kingdom. Ultimately, he and Queen Guinevere give into their feelings for one another and Lancelot—though he denies it—chooses his loyalty to her over his loyalty to Arthur. This decision plunges the kingdom into a civil war, ages Lancelot prematurely, and ultimately leads to Camelot's ruin (Raabe, 1987). Though Lancelot claimed to have been loyal to both the king and the queen, this loyalty was ultimately in conflict, and he could not maintain it.

Here we have the acknowledgement of a potential counter-argument and the evidence as to why it isn't true.

The argument is that some people (or literary characters) have asserted that they give equal weight to their conflicting loyalties. The refutation is that, though some may claim to be able to maintain conflicting loyalties, they're either lying to others or deceiving themselves. The paragraph shows why this is true by providing an example of this in action.

Paragraph 5

Whether it be through literature or history, time and time again, people demonstrate the challenges of trying to manage conflicting loyalties and the inevitable consequences of doing so. Though belief systems are malleable and will often change over time, it is not possible to maintain two mutually exclusive loyalties or beliefs at once. In the end, people always make a choice, and loyalty for one party or one side of an issue will always trump loyalty to the other.

The concluding paragraph summarizes the essay, touches on the evidence presented, and re-states the thesis statement.

How to Write an Argumentative Essay: 8 Steps

Writing the best argumentative essay is all about the preparation, so let's talk steps:

#1: Preliminary Research

If you have the option to pick your own argumentative essay topic (which you most likely will), then choose one or two topics you find the most intriguing or that you have a vested interest in and do some preliminary research on both sides of the debate.

Do an open internet search just to see what the general chatter is on the topic and what the research trends are.

Did your preliminary reading influence you to pick a side or change your side? Without diving into all the scholarly articles at length, do you believe there's enough evidence to support your claim? Have there been scientific studies? Experiments? Does a noted scholar in the field agree with you? If not, you may need to pick another topic or side of the argument to support.

#2: Pick Your Side and Form Your Thesis

Now's the time to pick the side of the argument you feel you can support the best and summarize your main point into your thesis statement.

Your thesis will be the basis of your entire essay, so make sure you know which side you're on, that you've stated it clearly, and that you stick by your argument throughout the entire essay .

#3: Heavy-Duty Research Time

You've taken a gander at what the internet at large has to say on your argument, but now's the time to actually read those sources and take notes.

Check scholarly journals online at Google Scholar , the Directory of Open Access Journals , or JStor . You can also search individual university or school libraries and websites to see what kinds of academic articles you can access for free. Keep track of your important quotes and page numbers and put them somewhere that's easy to find later.

And don't forget to check your school or local libraries as well!

#4: Outline

Follow the five-paragraph outline structure from the previous section.

Fill in your topic, your reasons, and your supporting evidence into each of the categories.

Before you begin to flesh out the essay, take a look at what you've got. Is your thesis statement in the first paragraph? Is it clear? Is your argument logical? Does your supporting evidence support your reasoning?

By outlining your essay, you streamline your process and take care of any logic gaps before you dive headfirst into the writing. This will save you a lot of grief later on if you need to change your sources or your structure, so don't get too trigger-happy and skip this step.

Now that you've laid out exactly what you'll need for your essay and where, it's time to fill in all the gaps by writing it out.

Take it one step at a time and expand your ideas into complete sentences and substantiated claims. It may feel daunting to turn an outline into a complete draft, but just remember that you've already laid out all the groundwork; now you're just filling in the gaps.

If you have the time before deadline, give yourself a day or two (or even just an hour!) away from your essay . Looking it over with fresh eyes will allow you to see errors, both minor and major, that you likely would have missed had you tried to edit when it was still raw.

Take a first pass over the entire essay and try your best to ignore any minor spelling or grammar mistakes—you're just looking at the big picture right now. Does it make sense as a whole? Did the essay succeed in making an argument and backing that argument up logically? (Do you feel persuaded?)

If not, go back and make notes so that you can fix it for your final draft.

Once you've made your revisions to the overall structure, mark all your small errors and grammar problems so you can fix them in the next draft.

#7: Final Draft

Use the notes you made on the rough draft and go in and hack and smooth away until you're satisfied with the final result.

A checklist for your final draft:

Formatting is correct according to your teacher's standards
No errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation
Essay is the right length and size for the assignment
The argument is present, consistent, and concise
Each reason is supported by relevant evidence
The essay makes sense overall

#8: Celebrate!

Once you've brought that final draft to a perfect polish and turned in your assignment, you're done! Go you!

Be prepared and ♪ you'll never go hungry again ♪, *cough*, or struggle with your argumentative essay-writing again. (Walt Disney Studios)

Good Examples of Argumentative Essays Online

Theory is all well and good, but examples are key. Just to get you started on what a fully-fleshed out argumentative essay looks like, let's see some examples in action.

Check out these two argumentative essay examples on the use of landmines and freons (and note the excellent use of concrete sources to back up their arguments!).

The Use of Landmines

A Shattered Sky

The Take-Aways: Keys to Writing an Argumentative Essay

At first, writing an argumentative essay may seem like a monstrous hurdle to overcome, but with the proper preparation and understanding, you'll be able to knock yours out of the park.

Remember the differences between a persuasive essay and an argumentative one, make sure your thesis is clear, and double-check that your supporting evidence is both relevant to your point and well-sourced . Pick your topic, do your research, make your outline, and fill in the gaps. Before you know it, you'll have yourself an A+ argumentative essay there, my friend.

What's Next?

Now you know the ins and outs of an argumentative essay, but how comfortable are you writing in other styles? Learn more about the four writing styles and when it makes sense to use each .

Understand how to make an argument, but still having trouble organizing your thoughts? Check out our guide to three popular essay formats and choose which one is right for you.

Ready to make your case, but not sure what to write about? We've created a list of 50 potential argumentative essay topics to spark your imagination.

Courtney scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT in high school and went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology. She is passionate about bringing education and the tools to succeed to students from all backgrounds and walks of life, as she believes open education is one of the great societal equalizers. She has years of tutoring experience and writes creative works in her free time.

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IELTS Essay – For and Against

By ieltsbhai

“For and against” essays are one type of discursive writing in which you discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a specific topic. 📍 You can find this type of writing in articles and newspapers, magazines, etc. A “For and against” essay should consist of: a) an introduction in which you present the topic, making a general remark about it without giving your opinion; b) a main body in which you present the points for and the points against, in separate paragraphs, supporting your arguments with justifications/ examples; c) a conclusion which includes your opinion (e.g. In my opinion/ view, I believe/ think, etc) or a balanced summary of the topic. 🎙 You must not include opinion words (I believe , I think, etc) in the introduction or the main body. Opinion words can only be used in the final paragraph, where you may state your opinion on the topic. ⚠️ “For and against” essays are normally written in a formal style ; therefore you should avoid using strong language (I know, I am sure, etc), short sentences, colloquial expressions or idioms.

Tags: forandagainst , writingtask2

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The Key to an Interesting For-Against Essay

Table of Contents

There are many types of essays, each with a different purpose and style. Argumentative essays are particularly tricky because they ask students to go beyond being informative. They require students to present arguments on a subject and support them with evidence. This guide will provide readers with a for and against essay outline and explain a few basic concepts.

If you want to learn how to write potent essays and arguments, read on!

What is a For and Against Essay?

A for-and-against essay is an argumentative essay that requires writers to formulate arguments for and against the main topic. After presenting both arguments, the author will then choose a side and explain the reason for their decision.

A for and against essay follows the standard five-paragraph format but dedicates each body paragraph to a different stance on a topic. The key components of a for and against essay are:

Introduction paragraph
[For topic] Body Paragraph
[Against topic] Body Paragraph
[Writer’s Opinion] Body Paragraph

Conclusion Paragraph

The main point of a for and against essay is to explore both sides of an argument and teach students to exercise sound judgment. Moreover, it also cultivates their ability to assert their stance and express their opinion.

The act of taking a stance is as much a mental exercise as it is a writing exercise. It encourages students to commit to an argument and to defend that stance.

While there are only five paragraphs in a for and against essay, it can still get complicated. This is especially true when there are a lot of ideas and topics involved.

The best way to create a clear and strong essay is to start with an outline.

The Importance of an Essay Outline

An essay outline gives writers a full view of their topics . It helps them identify the key angles of approach and direction of their topics. Outlines help writers draw connections between topics, which creates a sense of coherence and progression.

It allows them to ease the reader’s transition from one key topic to another by priming them for the upcoming information.

Outlines also simplify the discussion of topics by narrowing the scope per section. It simplifies essays into sections and subsections that have a focal point and function.

The next section provides a sample for-and-against essay outline .

A Basic For and Against Essay Outline

Remember that the main premise of a for and against essay is to explore both sides of a topic. We will delve into each paragraph’s purpose and components. Let’s begin.

Introduction

Start with a hook and introduce the main topic.
Provide background information on the main topic.
Provide a brief explanation of the writer’s hypothesis.
State your claim at the end of the paragraph.

First Body Paragraph

Start with a topic sentence that explains the benefits of the main topic.
Include at least two sentences that support your argument for the main topic.
Explain your supporting sentences using facts, examples, anecdotes, quotations, and statistics.

Second Body Paragraph

Start with a topic sentence explaining the risks related to the main topic.
Include at least two sentences that support your arguments against the main topic.
Explain your supporting sentences through facts, examples, anecdotes, and other credible sources of evidence.

Third Body Paragraph

Start the paragraph with a topic sentence stating your position on the topic.
Provide at least two sentences to support your stand.
Explain supporting details using credible sources.
Restate your argument and supporting evidence.
Give a balanced consideration for both sides of the main topic
State your final opinion.

Outlines simplify all types of essay writing by helping writers organize and plan the logical flow of their content . Outlines create a workflow that identifies the key topics writers must emphasize in each essay paragraph. If you’re unsure of how to start an essay, you can always start by writing an outline.o

Remember that effective writing is all about proper planning and presenting the right ideas in the right order. Outlines are as essential to writers as scripts are to actors.

The Key to an Interesting For-Against Essay

Abir Ghenaiet

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

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Transcription

For and Against Discussion Essays (FADEs)

Learners working in English for Academic Purposes are not alone in needing the skills to write FADEs. They are also important in business, education, government and other fields where the ability logically and dispassionately to set out arguments for and against a proposal or situation is valued. The social sciences, in particular, value written, balanced arguments. For this reason, this guide is linked from both the EAP sections and the general skills and discourse indexes.

It is important to be clear about what FADEs are not. They are not:

Expositions which require the writer to set out one side of an argument and attempt to persuade the reader of a point of view.
Reports which require the writer to set out facts in logical stages with some discussion of each.
Problem-Solution texts which require the writer to set out the problems and suggest solutions for each which are evaluated in terms of effectiveness, advantages and drawbacks.

Confusing the text types will bewilder learners.

All texts have purposes. One definition of genre is that it contains texts which share the same cultural purposes. Discussion is no exception so we need to identify what exactly the purpose of a FADE is. We will start with this definition of purpose:

to look at more than one side of an issue: to explore various perspectives before coming to an informed decision Butt et al , 2001:9

and unpack it a little:

more than one side ... various perspectives : A common error in students' writing (and in some teaching) is to see dichotomies where none exists or even to invent them. Few important issues have only two sides and there are shades of opinion and many perspectives which need to be considered.
to explore : This requires the writer to identify, discuss and exemplify a point of view, not simply state it.
an informed decision : so not a simple statement of a point of view uninfluenced by facts and research. The coda (at the end of the essay) needs to refer to the facts that have been set out.

The result of bearing these three issues in mind is that an essay will impress the reader with the depth of thought that lies behind it and gets away from some people think X, some people think Y but I agree with Z .

This guide is ordered as follows according to the key skills that are required. They cannot be taught in a single lesson.

Organisation This involves the knowledge, some of it cultural, of the conventional staging of information in a FADE.
using appropriate verbal processes
selecting appropriate tense structures
using lexis concerning the register
syntax and punctuation
knowing who will read the text
selecting an appropriate style (tenor)
content knowledge (field)

We'll take the sections one at a time.

The staging of a discussion in English (not necessarily in the languages of other cultures) is, on the face of it, quite simple. It comes in two basic options:

The first and last stages are common to both forms and, in fact, the last, the Coda, is often optional. The other stages are not.

A classic error is to mix the structures and, for example, start with structure 1 and give a bunch of arguments for and then confuse the reader by transitioning to structure 2 and mix the points up. That disconcerts, disorientates and displeases.

We can break all this down and exemplify what is meant. As an example, we will take a topic in a field in which there are few technical terms and special registers to be considered.

Only at very low levels should this be a one-sentence section. It involves two parts and each should be properly refined and defined:

The particular topic of the essay needs, of course, to be stated clearly both in the title and the introductory paragraph but then the issue has to be set in its wider context and properly defined.
The importance of the issue has to be stated in general terms and then has to be further refined to set out what is meant by importance: to whom, in what circumstances, says who?

Here's an example of the introduction to a FADE of the pros and cons of allowing smoking in public spaces:

This essay concerns whether smoking should be allowed in public spaces and attempts to set out the arguments that have been proposed for and against permitting it. This is a social, legal and public health issue and in what follows these aspects of the subject will be taken in turn. For the purposes of this essay, public spaces are defined as any areas outside private homes which are open to the public either free of charge or on payment of an entrance fee. It includes, therefore, open spaces, shops, bars, public houses, services and utilities such as airports and train stations as well as public roads and streets. Excluded from consideration are private spaces although consideration will be given to borderline cases such as hotel rooms, hostels, prisons and private vehicles. Smoking is defined as the use of tobacco in pipes, cigarettes and cigars but excludes other, non-smoking ways of ingesting tobacco. Consideration will also be given to the recent development of e-cigarettes. The issue is important for three reasons. Firstly, there are public health concerns regarding the use of tobacco and its effects both on individuals and those around them. This includes the resources devoted to the care of those whose illnesses may have been caused or exacerbated by smoking. Secondly, it is a social issue in which the rights of individuals need to be balanced against the rights of others and society as a whole. Thirdly, it is a legal and ethical issue insofar as it concerns the extent to which the law should be used as a social engineering tool to encourage, enforce or prohibit the activities of individuals.

This is a rather sophisticated introduction written by a competent user of English and learners are unlikely to be able to produce writing of this sort without a good deal of help and teaching. However, such a text may serve as a model for learners to encourage them to say more than just what the essay is about and to define their terms from the outset. A check-list is helpful for this:

State the topic
organisational
public health
industrial etc.
What terms do you need to define?
Give two reasons why the issue is important.

Given such a list, even learners at lower levels can begin to develop an introduction that is more than a title.

These lie at the core of the essay and should be carefully constructed. If the introduction has successfully previewed the areas into which the arguments fall, organisation becomes significantly easier. The most important issue here is to avoid what has been termed spaghetti writing characterised by rambling sentences, short unconnected points or a stream-of-consciousness approach. Good advice is to confine each argument to four paragraphs:

the issue and examples
the argument
the evaluation of the strength of the argument
the evaluation of any weaknesses in the argument

The damage to health that smoking causes is no longer seriously debated by health professionals and other experts. It has been shown in numerous well-conducted studies that smoking tobacco has a range of detrimental effects including but not limited to cancer, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory illnesses, reduced fertility and damage to unborn babies. For this reason, there are many who argue that an absolute ban on smoking in public spaces is required to protect individuals from the effects of smoking. Banning smoking, it is argued, will reduce the amount people smoke, encourage abstinence and reduce the costs to the health care services as well as improving the population's overall fitness. This is a strong point because the costs to individuals and society can be readily estimated and the potential health benefits of a non-smoking society are also quantifiable in terms of health service, insurance and other costs. However, this argument relies on the assumption that it is society's right and duty to protect individuals from their own actions. Extended logically, the argument might just as well apply to banning dangerous sports, such as mountaineering or solo yachting, boxing and even horse riding, rugby, judo and other contact sports, all of which cause thousands of deaths and injuries worldwide every year and all of which people take part in voluntarily despite the risks. These activities, too, involve costs for health services and the emergency services whose members own safety may be put at risk rescuing others from the results of their own choices of recreational activities.

Again, only advanced learners are likely to be able to produce such a sophisticated text but, as before, such texts can be used as models to develop their own writing.

State the field in which the argument lies (financial, health, social, legal etc.)
State the argument clearly
State the argument's strength
State the argument's weakness

A coda may be defined as a concluding remark . The word conclude , of course, also implies arriving at an opinion by deduction (not just stating a view) so the section needs attention.

Here, the job of the writer is to draw the reader' attention to the points which need to be emphasised and convince them that a just and fair conclusion has been arrived at by weighing the facts and arguments that have been identified. It comes in four parts:

Identification of the main issue
Identification of difficulties
Reiteration of the strongest points
Statement of view

Here's an example to treat in the same way as the previous ones. It's more than can be expected of all but the strongest students but would serve as a model.

Whether smoking should be banned in all public spaces is by no means an easy issue to determine. Firstly, there is a tension between the public and private spheres regarding the extent to which the rights of smokers may be subordinated to the rights of others to breath clean air. Secondly, there is the issue of social costs and how far only one type of potentially dangerous voluntary activity should be controlled because of the costs that may be involved to society as a whole. Thirdly, there is the ethical issue of how far the law should be involved in the private decisions and choices of individuals. Arguments on both sides have merits and there are many intermediate points of view that lie between no control at all and an outright, universal ban. On balance, it seems that the costs to society and to the health of its members are more important than the respect we owe to allowing individuals to make informed choices concerning their own lives. Smoking is not an activity which only affects the smoker. Others are affected by the degradation of their surroundings, damage to their own health and costs to society as a whole to which all taxpayers contribute. A reasonable position to take, advocated here, is to limit smoking in circumstances which most affect non-smokers but to allow individuals to make choices in other settings. This will mean banning smoking in enclosed public spaces such as shops, bars, cafés, cinemas, theatres and so on but permitting it in private spaces and in the open air where the risk of damage caused to others is either voluntarily run or negligible.

In what follows, we will draw on the examples already given to see what linguistic issues underlie the ability to construct a FADE. As it is unlikely that the ability to write a discussion is something you would teach to lower-level learners, we shall assume from the outset that the learners can competently produce acceptable syntax, control most of the tense structures of English, can make passive and active voice sentences and use a range of conjunction. We shall not assume that they are familiar with complex pre- and post-modification or the large range of discoursal features that are needed in a FADE.

Here's one short paragraph from the example used above:

The first sentence in this section is, structurally, about as simple as we get in English and akin to, for example: The book is published because it consists of a subject, a copular verb and an attribute. The fact that the attribute is a participle so the sentence is also analysable as a passive is actually not very important. It breaks down like this:

and we can do exactly the same to the longer, apparently more complex sentence, like this:

A feature of many academic texts and of FADEs in particular is that noun, verb and adjective phrases often contain a good deal of pre- and post-modification to make the expression of the data more concise and accessible. We can of course, avoid most of this with shorter, less informative sentences and could produce a paragraph such as:

Smoking causes damage to health. The damage used to be debated. The damage is not debated now. Health professionals do not debate this. Other experts do not debate this.

but the outcome is clumsy and inefficient.

A primary teaching aim is to focus, therefore, on how pre- and post-modification of items is achieved in English. There are guides to modification elsewhere on this site so the point will not be discussed at length here. See the links to related guides at the end.

However, to teach this kind of structure is not as hard as it may seem. We can start with something easy, like this and proceed as suggested:

Homework is useful Add a relative clause to say what sort of homework:
Homework which is set by the teacher is useful Add an adverb and another verb to make a phrase:
Homework which is usually set and marked by the teacher is useful Add an adjective phrase for the subject:
Subject-related homework which is usually set and marked by the teacher is useful Add a prepositional phrase to say who benefits:
Subject-related homework which is usually set and marked by the teacher is useful for school children
Now add a conjunction and another clause to say why this is true: Subject-related homework which is usually set and marked by the teacher is useful for school children because it helps them to learn

Once learners get the hang of doing this to simple and undemanding sentences, they can revisit their own writing to see how to compress more data into each clause and make the writing more sophisticated and interesting as well as densely informative.

Once complexity is built into clauses, we can move on to how clauses are connected to make complex and compound sentences. Here is another example taken from the texts we have already used:

Firstly, there is a tension between the public and private spheres regarding the extent to which the rights of smokers may be subordinated to the rights of others to breath clean air. Secondly, there is the issue of social costs and how far only one type of potentially dangerous voluntary activity should be controlled because of the costs that may be involved to society as a whole.

There are three systems at work here: prepositional links, conjunctions and conjuncts and they need to be handled separately.

Conjuncts Confusing conjuncts with conjunctions is a major source of error for learners trying to write formally. They are superficially attractive because their use is often a sign of sophisticated writing but they need to be handled with some care. Errors such as: *The problem is severe moreover it is difficult to solve *The problem is severe. Although it is not difficult to solve. are common outcomes of confusing conjunct with conjunction. Examples of conjunct use from above are: Secondly, there is the issue of social costs On balance, it seems that For this reason, there are many However, this argument relies on Conjuncts expressing the following concepts are frequently needed in FADEs:

It should be emphasised that teaching this kind of idea linking should precede the demand for learners to produce fully finished essays.

Here we are on simpler ground.

The following sorts of verbal processes are common to many differently focused FADEs.

Existential: These are almost always introduced by it or there followed by a simple copular verb. They are easy enough to deploy but learners often need help in noticing the need for them. For example, from the texts above: there are many who argue that an absolute ban on smoking in public spaces is required it seems that the costs to society and to the health of its members are more important It has been shown in numerous well-conducted studies that
Relational: As the name suggests, these verbal processes link two items. Examples from above include: areas outside private homes which are open to the public points of view that lie between no control at all and an outright, universal ban costs to society and to the health of its members are more important than Arguments on both sides have merits Setting up relationships between ideas is central to the role of writing a good FADE.
Material and behavioural processes: These refer either to how people or things act. Example from above include: The damage to health that smoking causes the law should be used as a social engineering tool illnesses may have been caused or exacerbated by smoking banning smoking in enclosed public spaces Which verbs learners will need will depend greatly on the topic under discussion, of course. That they will need to deploy verbs relating to material and behavioural processes is not in doubt.
Projecting: These refer to what people believe or say and are central. Examples from above include: no longer seriously debated there are many who argue that Smoking is defined as

Tense use is also predictably simple.

Almost all the verbs in the examples given above are in the present simple because the discussion involves a current situation. Occasionally, the present perfect may be used to refer to a previous event that has significant present consequences, as in, for example: It has been shown in numerous well-conducted studies that Otherwise, the simple present is conventionally used throughout.

Passive-voice clauses serve to distance the writer from the topic by implying that it is the action that is important, not who did it and that is conventionally how the tone of FADEs is achieved. For example, from above: public spaces are defined as not: I am defining ... voluntary activity should be controlled not: The state should control etc. There are many more examples and if you use a model text as a teaching tool, it is worth taking the time to notice the frequency and effect of the structures.

Modal auxiliary verbs are used sparingly and generally confined to their function as hedging tactics or to express degrees of certainty. For example: Banning smoking, it is argued, will reduce a predictive use. whose illnesses may have been caused a hedging use. Occasionally, usually hedged, modal auxiliary verbs of obligation are used but almost never ones which express absolute obligation (deontic modality, in the trade). For example in

all the uses are putative rather than expressing obligation per se . Modality in FADE writing is usually focused on the likelihood of a proposition being true. That is epistemic modality and there is a link below which will take you to a guide.

Circumstances refer to concepts such as location in time or space, contingency, cause, matter, means and angle. Many of these, including contingency, matter, angle and cause have been considered above under conjunction and prepositional links. However, the discussion would not be complete without some consideration of how adverbials and prepositional phrases in particular are used in a FADE. Here are some key examples:

There is a guide, linked below, to how theme-rheme structures are achieved in writing. Here it will be enough to consider two aspects only and we'll take this paragraph as the example:

On balance, it seems that the costs to society and to the health of its members are more important than the respect we owe to allowing individuals to make informed choices concerning their own lives. Smoking is not an activity which only affects the smoker. Others are affected by the degradation of their surroundings, damage to their own health and costs to society as a whole to which all taxpayers contribute.:

The topic sentence It is not invariably the case that every paragraph in a well-written FADE will begin with a topic sentence to alert the reader to its contents but that is the way most texts work and, for novice writers in particular, a safe way to proceed. In our example, the first two word of the first sentence, the conjunct, to give it its proper name, tell the reader what this paragraph will do: sum up and conclude.
The theme and the rheme The theme of the first sentence is the subject of the verb (excluding the hedging in it seems ). That subject is: the costs to society and to the health of its members and its rheme, which follows is are more important than the respect we owe to allowing individuals to make informed choices concerning their own lives The reference to individuals is taken up as the theme of the next sentence with Smoking is not an activity which only affects the smoker and that rheme, only affects the smoker , becomes the theme of the next sentence with: Others are affected and so the coherence of the whole paragraph is maintained.

Simple approaches to teaching in this area involve:

Recognition, noticing and analysis using cut-up paragraphs for re-sorting, jumbled sentences for re-ordering and so on. The aim is to get learners to notice how topic sentences are used in the first instance.
Giving learners paragraphs without topic sentences and getting them to compose something suitable.
Analysing theme-rheme structures by tracing connections, underlining links and so on.
Getting learners to write short paragraphs of their own and analysing them to see how (and whether) the theme-rheme links are working.

Short-term, the goal of learners' writing is probably for some kind of assessment purpose, either of their language skills or their subject knowledge and ability to construct rational arguments. The target audience is often, therefore, a single teacher or tutor rather than the audience one imagines for most essays in non-educational settings which may be somewhat wider. However, a long-term objective is to apply the skills learned in real-world settings for true communicative purposes. Possible audiences include, therefore:

a teacher or tutor
higher management
policy makers
readers of newspaper or magazine articles
readers of technical or trade journals
readers of academic journals
website visitors to serious sites
website visitors to blog sites (although few of these contain argued discussion, normally being just unsupported bluster)

The nature of the audience will determine a number of issues and can affect the choice of lexis as well as the choice of grammatical structures. For example:

Writing well in this genre is not achievable overnight or in a lesson or two. Teaching demands consistency in planning and delivery over a series of lessons with sensible and achievable tasks to be accomplished along the way. You may decide, based on your reading, the nature of the learners and your own propensities, to adopt a product, process or genre approach to teaching writing skills but whichever approach you take, you will almost certainly have to find or compose model texts which can be drawn on for examples of the language that needs to be used. There are examples which you are welcome to use above. An outline syllabus might appear something like:

This is by no means a simple syllabus to design because, although the general structure of FADE writing can be explained and exemplified quickly and will lead naturally to some level of coherence, achieving cohesion involves weaving together the seven issues identified on the right into a series of lesson focusing on the elements on the left.

References: Butt, D, Fahey, R, Feez, S, Spinks, S and Yallop, C, 2001, Using Functional Grammar: an explorer's guide. Sydney: NCELTR Burns, A, 2001, Genre-based Approaches to Writing , in Candlin, C and Mercer, N (Eds.), English Language Teaching in its Social Context . Abingdon, UK: Routledge Halliday, M, 1994, An introduction to functional grammar: 2nd edition. London: Edward Arnold Tribble C, 1997, Writing . Oxford: Oxford University Press

The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

What this handout is about

This handout will define what an argument is and explain why you need one in most of your academic essays.

Arguments are everywhere

You may be surprised to hear that the word “argument” does not have to be written anywhere in your assignment for it to be an important part of your task. In fact, making an argument—expressing a point of view on a subject and supporting it with evidence—is often the aim of academic writing. Your instructors may assume that you know this and thus may not explain the importance of arguments in class.

Most material you learn in college is or has been debated by someone, somewhere, at some time. Even when the material you read or hear is presented as a simple fact, it may actually be one person’s interpretation of a set of information. Instructors may call on you to examine that interpretation and defend it, refute it, or offer some new view of your own. In writing assignments, you will almost always need to do more than just summarize information that you have gathered or regurgitate facts that have been discussed in class. You will need to develop a point of view on or interpretation of that material and provide evidence for your position.

Consider an example. For nearly 2000 years, educated people in many Western cultures believed that bloodletting—deliberately causing a sick person to lose blood—was the most effective treatment for a variety of illnesses. The claim that bloodletting is beneficial to human health was not widely questioned until the 1800s, and some physicians continued to recommend bloodletting as late as the 1920s. Medical practices have now changed because some people began to doubt the effectiveness of bloodletting; these people argued against it and provided convincing evidence. Human knowledge grows out of such differences of opinion, and scholars like your instructors spend their lives engaged in debate over what claims may be counted as accurate in their fields. In their courses, they want you to engage in similar kinds of critical thinking and debate.

Argumentation is not just what your instructors do. We all use argumentation on a daily basis, and you probably already have some skill at crafting an argument. The more you improve your skills in this area, the better you will be at thinking critically, reasoning, making choices, and weighing evidence.

Making a claim

What is an argument? In academic writing, an argument is usually a main idea, often called a “claim” or “thesis statement,” backed up with evidence that supports the idea. In the majority of college papers, you will need to make some sort of claim and use evidence to support it, and your ability to do this well will separate your papers from those of students who see assignments as mere accumulations of fact and detail. In other words, gone are the happy days of being given a “topic” about which you can write anything. It is time to stake out a position and prove why it is a good position for a thinking person to hold. See our handout on thesis statements .

Claims can be as simple as “Protons are positively charged and electrons are negatively charged,” with evidence such as, “In this experiment, protons and electrons acted in such and such a way.” Claims can also be as complex as “Genre is the most important element to the contract of expectations between filmmaker and audience,” using reasoning and evidence such as, “defying genre expectations can create a complete apocalypse of story form and content, leaving us stranded in a sort of genre-less abyss.” In either case, the rest of your paper will detail the reasoning and evidence that have led you to believe that your position is best.

When beginning to write a paper, ask yourself, “What is my point?” For example, the point of this handout is to help you become a better writer, and we are arguing that an important step in the process of writing effective arguments is understanding the concept of argumentation. If your papers do not have a main point, they cannot be arguing for anything. Asking yourself what your point is can help you avoid a mere “information dump.” Consider this: your instructors probably know a lot more than you do about your subject matter. Why, then, would you want to provide them with material they already know? Instructors are usually looking for two things:

Proof that you understand the material
A demonstration of your ability to use or apply the material in ways that go beyond what you have read or heard.

This second part can be done in many ways: you can critique the material, apply it to something else, or even just explain it in a different way. In order to succeed at this second step, though, you must have a particular point to argue.

Arguments in academic writing are usually complex and take time to develop. Your argument will need to be more than a simple or obvious statement such as “Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect.” Such a statement might capture your initial impressions of Wright as you have studied him in class; however, you need to look deeper and express specifically what caused that “greatness.” Your instructor will probably expect something more complicated, such as “Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture combines elements of European modernism, Asian aesthetic form, and locally found materials to create a unique new style,” or “There are many strong similarities between Wright’s building designs and those of his mother, which suggests that he may have borrowed some of her ideas.” To develop your argument, you would then define your terms and prove your claim with evidence from Wright’s drawings and buildings and those of the other architects you mentioned.

Do not stop with having a point. You have to back up your point with evidence. The strength of your evidence, and your use of it, can make or break your argument. See our handout on evidence . You already have the natural inclination for this type of thinking, if not in an academic setting. Think about how you talked your parents into letting you borrow the family car. Did you present them with lots of instances of your past trustworthiness? Did you make them feel guilty because your friends’ parents all let them drive? Did you whine until they just wanted you to shut up? Did you look up statistics on teen driving and use them to show how you didn’t fit the dangerous-driver profile? These are all types of argumentation, and they exist in academia in similar forms.

Every field has slightly different requirements for acceptable evidence, so familiarize yourself with some arguments from within that field instead of just applying whatever evidence you like best. Pay attention to your textbooks and your instructor’s lectures. What types of argument and evidence are they using? The type of evidence that sways an English instructor may not work to convince a sociology instructor. Find out what counts as proof that something is true in that field. Is it statistics, a logical development of points, something from the object being discussed (art work, text, culture, or atom), the way something works, or some combination of more than one of these things?

Be consistent with your evidence. Unlike negotiating for the use of your parents’ car, a college paper is not the place for an all-out blitz of every type of argument. You can often use more than one type of evidence within a paper, but make sure that within each section you are providing the reader with evidence appropriate to each claim. So, if you start a paragraph or section with a statement like “Putting the student seating area closer to the basketball court will raise player performance,” do not follow with your evidence on how much more money the university could raise by letting more students go to games for free. Information about how fan support raises player morale, which then results in better play, would be a better follow-up. Your next section could offer clear reasons why undergraduates have as much or more right to attend an undergraduate event as wealthy alumni—but this information would not go in the same section as the fan support stuff. You cannot convince a confused person, so keep things tidy and ordered.

Counterargument

One way to strengthen your argument and show that you have a deep understanding of the issue you are discussing is to anticipate and address counterarguments or objections. By considering what someone who disagrees with your position might have to say about your argument, you show that you have thought things through, and you dispose of some of the reasons your audience might have for not accepting your argument. Recall our discussion of student seating in the Dean Dome. To make the most effective argument possible, you should consider not only what students would say about seating but also what alumni who have paid a lot to get good seats might say.

You can generate counterarguments by asking yourself how someone who disagrees with you might respond to each of the points you’ve made or your position as a whole. If you can’t immediately imagine another position, here are some strategies to try:

Do some research. It may seem to you that no one could possibly disagree with the position you are arguing, but someone probably has. For example, some people argue that a hotdog is a sandwich. If you are making an argument concerning, for example, the characteristics of an exceptional sandwich, you might want to see what some of these people have to say.
Talk with a friend or with your teacher. Another person may be able to imagine counterarguments that haven’t occurred to you.
Consider your conclusion or claim and the premises of your argument and imagine someone who denies each of them. For example, if you argued, “Cats make the best pets. This is because they are clean and independent,” you might imagine someone saying, “Cats do not make the best pets. They are dirty and needy.”

Once you have thought up some counterarguments, consider how you will respond to them—will you concede that your opponent has a point but explain why your audience should nonetheless accept your argument? Will you reject the counterargument and explain why it is mistaken? Either way, you will want to leave your reader with a sense that your argument is stronger than opposing arguments.

When you are summarizing opposing arguments, be charitable. Present each argument fairly and objectively, rather than trying to make it look foolish. You want to show that you have considered the many sides of the issue. If you simply attack or caricature your opponent (also referred to as presenting a “straw man”), you suggest that your argument is only capable of defeating an extremely weak adversary, which may undermine your argument rather than enhance it.

It is usually better to consider one or two serious counterarguments in some depth, rather than to give a long but superficial list of many different counterarguments and replies.

Be sure that your reply is consistent with your original argument. If considering a counterargument changes your position, you will need to go back and revise your original argument accordingly.

Audience is a very important consideration in argument. Take a look at our handout on audience . A lifetime of dealing with your family members has helped you figure out which arguments work best to persuade each of them. Maybe whining works with one parent, but the other will only accept cold, hard statistics. Your kid brother may listen only to the sound of money in his palm. It’s usually wise to think of your audience in an academic setting as someone who is perfectly smart but who doesn’t necessarily agree with you. You are not just expressing your opinion in an argument (“It’s true because I said so”), and in most cases your audience will know something about the subject at hand—so you will need sturdy proof. At the same time, do not think of your audience as capable of reading your mind. You have to come out and state both your claim and your evidence clearly. Do not assume that because the instructor knows the material, he or she understands what part of it you are using, what you think about it, and why you have taken the position you’ve chosen.

Critical reading

Critical reading is a big part of understanding argument. Although some of the material you read will be very persuasive, do not fall under the spell of the printed word as authority. Very few of your instructors think of the texts they assign as the last word on the subject. Remember that the author of every text has an agenda, something that he or she wants you to believe. This is OK—everything is written from someone’s perspective—but it’s a good thing to be aware of. For more information on objectivity and bias and on reading sources carefully, read our handouts on evaluating print sources and reading to write .

Take notes either in the margins of your source (if you are using a photocopy or your own book) or on a separate sheet as you read. Put away that highlighter! Simply highlighting a text is good for memorizing the main ideas in that text—it does not encourage critical reading. Part of your goal as a reader should be to put the author’s ideas in your own words. Then you can stop thinking of these ideas as facts and start thinking of them as arguments.

When you read, ask yourself questions like “What is the author trying to prove?” and “What is the author assuming I will agree with?” Do you agree with the author? Does the author adequately defend her argument? What kind of proof does she use? Is there something she leaves out that you would put in? Does putting it in hurt her argument? As you get used to reading critically, you will start to see the sometimes hidden agendas of other writers, and you can use this skill to improve your own ability to craft effective arguments.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. 2016. The Craft of Research , 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ede, Lisa. 2004. Work in Progress: A Guide to Academic Writing and Revising , 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Gage, John T. 2005. The Shape of Reason: Argumentative Writing in College , 4th ed. New York: Longman.

Lunsford, Andrea A., and John J. Ruszkiewicz. 2016. Everything’s an Argument , 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Rosen, Leonard J., and Laurence Behrens. 2003. The Allyn & Bacon Handbook , 5th ed. New York: Longman.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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160 Good Argumentative Essay Topics for Students in 2024

April 3, 2024

The skill of writing an excellent argumentative essay is a crucial one for every high school or college student to master. In sum, argumentative essays teach students how to organize their thoughts logically and present them in a convincing way. This skill is helpful not only for those pursuing degrees in law , international relations , or public policy , but for any student who wishes to develop their critical thinking faculties. In this article, we’ll cover what makes a good argument essay and offer several argumentative essay topics for high school and college students. Let’s begin!

What is an Argumentative Essay?

An argumentative essay is an essay that uses research to present a reasoned argument on a particular subject . As with the persuasive essay , the purpose of an argumentative essay is to sway the reader to the writer’s position. However, a strong persuasive essay makes its point through diligent research and emotion while a strong argumentative essay should be based solely on facts, not feelings.

Moreover, each fact should be supported by clear evidence from credible sources . Furthermore, a good argumentative essay will have an easy-to-follow structure. When organizing your argumentative essay, use this format as a guide:

Introduction
Supporting body paragraphs
Paragraph(s) addressing common counterarguments

Argumentative Essay Format

In the introduction , the writer presents their position and thesis statement —a sentence that summarizes the paper’s main points. The body paragraphs then draw upon supporting evidence to back up this initial statement, with each paragraph focusing on its own point. The length of your paper will determine the amount of examples you need. In general, you’ll likely need at least two to three. Additionally, your examples should be as detailed as possible, citing specific research, case studies, statistics, or anecdotes.

In the counterargument paragraph , the writer acknowledges and refutes opposing viewpoints. Finally, in the conclusion , the writer restates the main argument made in the thesis statement and summarizes the points of the essay. Additionally, the conclusion may offer a final proposal to persuade the reader of the essay’s position.

How to Write an Effective Argumentative Essay, Step by Step

Choose your topic. Use the list below to help you pick a topic. Ideally, a good argumentative essay topic will be meaningful to you—writing is always stronger when you are interested in the subject matter. In addition, the topic should be complex with plenty of “pro” and “con” arguments. Avoid choosing a topic that is either widely accepted as fact or too narrow. For example, “Is the earth round?” would not be a solid choice.
Research. Use the library, the web, and any other resources to gather information about your argumentative essay topic. Research widely but smartly. As you go, take organized notes, marking the source of every quote and where it may fit in the scheme of your larger essay. Moreover, remember to look for (and research) possible counterarguments.
Outline . Using the argument essay format above, create an outline for your essay. Then, brainstorm a thesis statement covering your argument’s main points, and begin to put your examples in order, focusing on logical flow. It’s often best to place your strongest example last.
Write . Draw on your research and outline to create a first draft. Remember, your first draft doesn’t need to be perfect. (As Voltaire says, “Perfect is the enemy of good.”) Accordingly, just focus on getting the words down on paper.
Does my thesis statement need to be adjusted?
Which examples feel strongest? Weakest?
Do the transitions flow smoothly?
Do I have a strong opening paragraph?
Does the conclusion reinforce my argument?

Tips for Revising an Argument Essay

Evaluating your own work can be difficult, so you might consider the following strategies:

Read your work aloud to yourself.
Record yourself reading your paper, and listen to the recording.
Reverse outline your paper. Firstly, next to each paragraph, write a short summary of that paragraph’s main points/idea. Then, read through your reverse outline. Does it have a logical flow? If not, where should you adjust?
Print out your paper and cut it into paragraphs. What happens when you rearrange the paragraphs?

Good Argumentative Essay Topics for Middle School, High School, and College Students

Family argumentative essay topics.

Should the government provide financial incentives for families to have children to address the declining birth rate?
Should we require parents to provide their children with a certain level of nutrition and physical activity to prevent childhood obesity?
Should parents implement limits on how much time their children spend playing video games?
Should cell phones be banned from family/holiday gatherings?
Should we hold parents legally responsible for their children’s actions?
Should children have the right to sue their parents for neglect?
Should parents have the right to choose their child’s religion?
Are spanking and other forms of physical punishment an effective method of discipline?
Should courts allow children to choose where they live in cases of divorce?
Should parents have the right to monitor teens’ activity on social media?
Should parents control their child’s medical treatment, even if it goes against the child’s wishes?
Should parents be allowed to post pictures of their children on social media without their consent?
Should fathers have a legal say in whether their partners do or do not receive an abortion?
Can television have positive developmental benefits on children?
Should the driving age be raised to prevent teen car accidents?
Should adult children be legally required to care for their aging parents?

Education Argument Essay Topics

Should schools ban the use of technology like ChatGPT?
Are zoos unethical, or necessary for conservation and education?
To what degree should we hold parents responsible in the event of a school shooting?
Should schools offer students a set number of mental health days?
Should school science curriculums offer a course on combating climate change?
Should public libraries be allowed to ban certain books? If so, what types?
What role, if any, should prayer play in public schools?
Should schools push to abolish homework?
Are gifted and talented programs in schools more harmful than beneficial due to their exclusionary nature?
Should universities do away with Greek life?
Should schools remove artwork, such as murals, that some perceive as offensive?
Should the government grant parents the right to choose alternative education options for their children and use taxpayer funds to support these options?
Is homeschooling better than traditional schooling for children’s academic and social development?
Should we require schools to teach sex education to reduce teen pregnancy rates?
Should we require schools to provide sex education that includes information about both homosexual and heterosexual relationships?
Should colleges use affirmative action and other race-conscious policies to address diversity on campus?
Should public schools remove the line “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance?
Should college admissions officers be allowed to look at students’ social media accounts?
Should schools abolish their dress codes, many of which unfairly target girls, LGBTQ students, and students of color?
Should schools be required to stock free period products in bathrooms?
Should legacy students receive preferential treatment during the college admissions process?
Are school “voluntourism” trips ethical?

Government Argumentative Essay Topics

Should the U.S. decriminalize prostitution?
Should the U.S. issue migration visas to all eligible applicants?
Should the federal government cancel all student loan debt?
Should we lower the minimum voting age? If so, to what?
Should the federal government abolish all laws penalizing drug production and use?
Should the U.S. use its military power to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan?
Should the U.S. supply Ukraine with further military intelligence and supplies?
Should the North and South of the U.S. split up into two regions?
Should Americans hold up nationalism as a critical value?
Should we permit Supreme Court justices to hold their positions indefinitely?
Should Supreme Court justices be democratically elected?
Is the Electoral College still a productive approach to electing the U.S. president?
Should the U.S. implement a national firearm registry?
Is it ethical for countries like China and Israel to mandate compulsory military service for all citizens?
Should the U.S. government implement a ranked-choice voting system?
Should institutions that benefited from slavery be required to provide reparations?
Based on the 1619 project, should history classes change how they teach about the founding of the U.S.?
Should term limits be imposed on Senators and Representatives? If so, how long?
Should women be allowed into special forces units?
Should the federal government implement stronger, universal firearm licensing laws?
Do public sex offender registries help prevent future sex crimes?
Should the government be allowed to regulate family size?
Should all adults legally be considered mandated reporters?
Should the government fund public universities to make higher education more accessible to low-income students?
Should the government fund universal preschool to improve children’s readiness for kindergarten?

Health/Bioethics Argumentative Essay Topics

Should the U.S. government offer its own healthcare plan?
In the case of highly infectious pandemics, should we focus on individual freedoms or public safety when implementing policies to control the spread?
Should we legally require parents to vaccinate their children to protect public health?
Is it ethical for parents to use genetic engineering to create “designer babies” with specific physical and intellectual traits?
Should the government fund research on embryonic stem cells for medical treatments?
Should the government legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill patients?
Should organ donation be mandatory?
Is cloning animals ethical?
Should cancer screenings start earlier? If so, what age?
Is surrogacy ethical?
Should birth control require a prescription?
Should minors have access to emergency contraception?
Should hospitals be for-profit or nonprofit institutions?

Good Argumentative Essay Topics — Continued

Social media argumentative essay topics.

Should the federal government increase its efforts to minimize the negative impact of social media?
Do social media and smartphones strengthen one’s relationships?
Should antitrust regulators take action to limit the size of big tech companies?
Should social media platforms ban political advertisements?
Should the federal government hold social media companies accountable for instances of hate speech discovered on their platforms?
Do apps such as TikTok and Instagram ultimately worsen the mental well-being of teenagers?
Should governments oversee how social media platforms manage their users’ data?
Should social media platforms like Facebook enforce a minimum age requirement for users?
Should social media companies be held responsible for cases of cyberbullying?
Should the United States ban TikTok?
Is social media harmful to children?
Should employers screen applicants’ social media accounts during the hiring process?

Religion Argument Essay Topics

Should religious institutions be tax-exempt?
Should religious symbols such as the hijab or crucifix be allowed in public spaces?
Should religious freedoms be protected, even when they conflict with secular laws?
Should the government regulate religious practices?
Should we allow churches to engage in political activities?
Religion: a force for good or evil in the world?
Should the government provide funding for religious schools?
Is it ethical for healthcare providers to deny abortions based on religious beliefs?
Should religious organizations be allowed to discriminate in their hiring practices?
Should we allow people to opt out of medical treatments based on their religious beliefs?
Should the U.S. government hold religious organizations accountable for cases of sexual abuse within their community?
Should religious beliefs be exempt from anti-discrimination laws?
Should religious individuals be allowed to refuse services to others based on their beliefs or lifestyles? (As in this famous case .)
Should the US ban religion-based federal holidays?
Should public schools be allowed to teach children about religious holidays?

Science Argument Essay Topics

Would the world be safer if we eliminated nuclear weapons?
Should scientists bring back extinct animals? If so, which ones?
Should we hold companies fiscally responsible for their carbon footprint?
Should we ban pesticides in favor of organic farming methods?
Should the federal government ban all fossil fuels, despite the potential economic impact on specific industries and communities?
What renewable energy source should the U.S. invest more money in?
Should the FDA outlaw GMOs?
Should we worry about artificial intelligence surpassing human intelligence?
Should the alternative medicine industry be more stringently regulated?
Is colonizing Mars a viable option?
Is the animal testing worth the potential to save human lives?

Sports Argument Essay Topics

Should colleges compensate student-athletes?
How should sports teams and leagues address the gender pay gap?
Should youth sports teams do away with scorekeeping?
Should we ban aggressive contact sports like boxing and MMA?
Should professional sports associations mandate that athletes stand during the national anthem?
Should high schools require their student-athletes to maintain a certain GPA?
Should transgender athletes compete in sports according to their gender identity?
Should schools ban football due to the inherent danger it poses to players?
Should performance-enhancing drugs be allowed in sports?
Do participation trophies foster entitlement and unrealistic expectations?
Should sports teams be divided by gender?
Should professional athletes be allowed to compete in the Olympics?
Should women be allowed on NFL teams?

Technology Argumentative Essay Topics

Should sites like DALL-E compensate the artists whose work it was trained on?
Should the federal government make human exploration of space a more significant priority?
Is it ethical for the government to use surveillance technology to monitor citizens?
Should websites require proof of age from their users? If so, what age?
Should we consider A.I.-generated images and text pieces of art?
Does the use of facial recognition technology violate individuals’ privacy?
Is online learning as effective as in-person learning?
Does computing harm the environment?
Should buying, sharing, and selling collected personal data be illegal?
Are electric cars really better for the environment?
Should car companies be held responsible for self-driving car accidents?
Should private jets be banned?
Do violent video games contribute to real-life violence?

Business Argument Essay Topics

Should the U.S. government phase out the use of paper money in favor of a fully digital currency system?
Should the federal government abolish its patent and copyright laws?
Should we replace the Federal Reserve with free-market institutions?
Is free-market ideology responsible for the U.S. economy’s poor performance over the past decade?
Will cryptocurrencies overtake natural resources like gold and silver?
Is capitalism the best economic system? What system would be better?
Should the U.S. government enact a universal basic income?
Should we require companies to provide paid parental leave to their employees?
Should the government raise the minimum wage? If so, to what?
Should antitrust regulators break up large companies to promote competition?
Is it ethical for companies to prioritize profits over social responsibility?
Should gig-economy workers like Uber and Lyft drivers be considered employees or independent contractors?
Should the federal government regulate the gig economy to ensure fair treatment of workers?
Should the government require companies to disclose the environmental impact of their products?
Should companies be allowed to fire employees based on political views or activities?
Should tipping practices be phased out?
Should employees who choose not to have children be given the same amount of paid leave as parents?
Should MLMs (multi-level marketing companies) be illegal?
Should employers be allowed to factor tattoos and personal appearance into hiring decisions?

In Conclusion – Argument Essay Topics

Using the tips above, you can effectively structure and pen a compelling argumentative essay that will wow your instructor and classmates. Remember to craft a thesis statement that offers readers a roadmap through your essay, draw on your sources wisely to back up any claims, and read through your paper several times before it’s due to catch any last-minute proofreading errors. With time, diligence, and patience, your essay will be the most outstanding assignment you’ve ever turned in…until the next one rolls around.

Looking for more fresh and engaging topics for use in the classroom? You might consider checking out the following:

125 Good Debate Topics for High School Students
150 Good Persuasive Speech Topics
7 Best Places to Study
Guide to the IB Extended Essay
How to Write the AP Lang Rhetorical Analysis Essay
AP Lit Reading List
How to Write the AP Lang Synthesis Essay
49 Most Interesting Biology Research Topics
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Lauren Green

With a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from Columbia University and an MFA in Fiction from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin, Lauren has been a professional writer for over a decade. She is the author of the chapbook A Great Dark House (Poetry Society of America, 2023) and a forthcoming novel (Viking/Penguin).

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25 For and Against Essay Topics and Ideas that Double as Conversation Topics

25 for and against essay topics that can be also used for class debates.

For and against essay topics: layout.

• The first paragraph should be the introduction. Include a thesis statement, which summarises the main issue.

In the past, most people lived with their parents until they got married. But in the modern world, it is more common to leave home and share accommodation with friends. This choice has both positive and negative aspects.

• The second paragraph should focus on the advantages. Include at least two arguments, if possible. Give examples where appropriate, introduced by phrases like For example or For instanc e.

There are several advantages to sharing with friends. Firstly, it gives you the opportunity to spend time with your friends and to build strong relationships with them. Secondly, it allows you to develop some of the practical skills that you will need as an independent adult. For instance, you will learn how to manage household bills, how to shop and cook, and so on. And thirdly, it makes living in your own home more affordable, and the more people who share, the more cost-effective it is. For instance , a shared house for six people is far cheaper than two houses for three people.

• The third paragraph should focus on the disadvantages. Include at least two arguments, if possible. Begin the third paragraph with a phrase like On the other hand or Howeve r,.. to express contrast with statements in the previous paragraph.

On the other hand , sharing a home has its disadvantages. Sharing a house can often cause disagreements. For instance, housemates often argue about household chores. What is more, it can be difficult to have time alone when you need it. And finally, the houses which young people share are sometimes in poor condition and landlords are not always good at repairing appliances when they break down.

• The fourth paragraph should be the conclusion. State your own opinion and decide whether the arguments for outweigh the arguments against the thesis statement or the other way around.

Although sharing a house with other young people is not always easy, the advantages definitely outweigh the problems. It is certainly something I would like to do in a few years’ time.

Source: Solutions Upper-Intermediate

For and against essay topics

Having a role model can affect someone negatively.
Should dyed hairstyles be allowed in school?
Can a bad upbringing be an excuse for a felony?
Social media – a blessing or a curse?
It’s possible to learn to love somebody.
You don’t need a college degree to be successful.
Your past does not define you.
Does watching fantasy films affect our perception of reality?
Should there be a mandatory number of trees per square kilometer?
Should people older than 65 be able to be politicians?
Should healthcare be state-owned or privatized?
Is immortality a blessing or a curse?
Is the sous-vide method of preparing meals worth trying?
Should self-driving cars be illegal?
Should sharing hoaxes and false information on the Internet be severely punished?
Should students do a part-time job while they are still studying?
Sessions with a therapist should be mandatory for kids and teens
Every country in the world should ban cigarettes.
Every country in the world should stop producing and selling plastic bags and bottles.
Field trips to prisons should be mandatory to help lower the crime rate.
Scientists should pair people up for marriage based on DNA.
A new universal language should be taught in every school.
Should universities be apolitical?
Do orphans have the same opportunities to be successful as children from complete families?
Should the state have more control over our privacy?

Download the worksheet.

Other resources:

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Storytelling Cards: Imaginative Speaking and Writing Activity

Questions for ESL Conversation: 60 Questions Based on Vogue Interviews

ESL/EFL Speaking Activity: Role Play Debate

47 Interactive and Online ELT Resources for Teachers

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I sometimes watch, or more accurately, watched (because Covid) Netflix with friends. We always use English subtitles, as my friends want to improve their English. Sometimes they ask me to translate a word or a phrase, sometimes I don’t mind and sometimes it bothers me. But my lack of patience…

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Unfinished sentences ESL speaking activity is great for revising grammar, as a warm-up or a conversation starter. It can be used with groups of various sizes as well as in one to one classes. Finish the sentence. Tell your story. 1. I was very surprised when__________________________________________________. 2. What I…

Comments (4)

I like the idea of essay topics that focus on the student’s own experiences. This can be a great way to show that the student has been thinking about the material and is not just reading about it.

Thank you 🙂

Thank you for this!! (emil du suger rövhål)

Excellent topics Helped me giving topics to students ……..

FOR AND AGAINST ESSAY

Created on April 26, 2022

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For and Against Essay

For and against essay / Pros and cons essay / Argumentative essay / Advantages and disadvantages essay, they all mean the same. This type of essay is not the same as an Opinion essay. As you can see, in this PAU exam from 2021, you have both options.

From this list you can later choose 2-3 arguments for each side that are more relevant to you, to include them in your essay.

The first thing to do when you know the topic you will talk about is to make a list of the pros and cons of this topic..

This is an example of a for and against essay. Although it is not recommended to include your opinion in the Introduction or the Body of the essay, this example does that by saying "Firstly, I think that there is a lot of variety in reality TV". You should try to avoid saying I think/I believe/I feel, In my opinion, As far as I'm concerned, As I see it, Personally speaking, ...., except for the Conclusion, where it is possible to specify your own opinion after the summary of the for and against arguments.

don't use contractions!

In addition, Furthermore, Moreover, Besides, Apart from (V-ing), What is more, On top of that, as well as, Not to mention (the fact) that, also, Not only ... but also, also, both … and, There is another side to the issue/question/argument that..., etc.

The main/greatest/most important/most serious/first disadvantage/drawback/downside of ...;One/Another/A further/An additional (major) disadvantage/ drawback/downside of ...;One point/argument against...;One (very convincing) point/argument against ...;Another negative aspect of ...;Some/Many people/experts/scientists/critics/sceptics are against... / disagree/ are opposed to.../of the opinion that/convinced that...;Opponents of ... argue/believe/claim that ...A further common criticism of ...;It could be argued that ...;(*) You can use some of the previous ones for disadvantages too.

List disadvantages

Connectors, Phrases and Linking words

The first/main/most important advantage of…;One/Another/An additional advantage of /regarding/concerning …;One point of view in favour of…; One (very convincing) point/argument in favour of...;Another positive aspect is ...;Another major advantage (regarding/concerning...) is…;One further benefit is…;It is widely/generally/often claimed/suggested/argued/believed/said that…;It could be argued that...;Some/Many people/experts/scientists suggest/claim/think/believe/agree/support/feel/argue/say that…;Some/Many people are of the opinion that/in favour of/are convinced that....;Another reason why ... is beneficial/good for...;A further common advantage of ...;

List advantages

First/Firstly/In the first place/To start/begin with …; Second/Secondly; Thirdly; Finally/Last/Lastly; Last but not least; etc.

List points

In other words, that is to say, which means that...

Explain/clarify a point

to a certain extent / to some extent / to a limited extent, in a way/sense, this is partly true (but), there is some truth in (this), in some cases

Make partially correct statements

In fact, the fact (of the matter) is, actually, in practice, it is a fact that

Express reality

It is clear/obvious that, Clearly, Obviously, Naturally, Needless to say, Of course, Indeed, etc.

In general, Generally, As a (general) rule, On the whole, Overall, In most cases, For the most part, etc.

Make general statements

For example, For instance, like, such as, in particular / particularly, specially, specifically, in this case, This is clearly illustrated / shown by (the fact that)...,

Introduce examples

On the one hand ... On the other hand, However, Nevertheless, Nonetheless, Although, Though, Even though, Even so, Despite/In spite of (the fact that), Regardless of (the fact that), still, yet, but, while/whilst/whereas, In contrast / Contrary to..., etc.

Contrast points

In my opinion..., As far as I'm concerned..., As I see it..., From my point of view..., If you ask me..., Personally speaking / Personally, I think/believe that..., I strongly believe that..., It is clear to me that..., I feel that..., I agree with.../I completely disagree with..., It seems to me that ..., I am sure that..., etc.

Express your opinion

To, So as to, In order to, So that, With the intention of (V-ing)

Express intention or purpose

In conclusion, To conclude, To sum up, Overall, All in all, All things considered, On the whole, Taking everything into account/into consideration, as was previously stated, On balance, etc.

Therefore, Thus, So, As a result/consequence, For this reason, If ... were to happen ... the effect/result would be ...

Express result/consequence

Because (of), Due to (the fact that), Owing to, Given that, As, Since

Express cause

In the following slides you will see several examples on how to write for and against essays on different topics.

List of Essay titles in

Also, take a look at these two links:

P.74 student's book, p.153 student's book.

The advantages and disadvanteges of computer gamesIntroduction (states the issue/topic)If you ask teenagers about the negative effects of computer games, most will deny there's a problem. However, many psicologists say that teenager's behaviour is influenced by the long hours they spend playing computer games.Body (presents arguments for and against, giving reasons, examples, facts, etc.; in this example it starts with the disadvantages and then continues with the advantages)Although not all computer games are violent, about 85% of all of them are. Many educators believe that teenagers who spend their time playing computer games find it difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality. In addition, they don't know how to react in social situations because they spend little time with friends or they don't have real friends as a result of this addictive hobby.On the other hand, teenagers claim that computer games help them relax after a long day at school. They say that these games are exciting and are cheap and entertaining. In fact, some games are educational and teach players to focus, concentrate and even solve problems.Conclusion (summarises the topic or/and states the writer's opinion, in this case only the opinion is described)From my point of view, computer games are a problem for the mental health of young people. Therefore, if I were a parent, I would limit the amount of time my children played these games and I would always supervise what kind of games they play.

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Is There a Constitutional Right to Talk About Abortion?

A woman peering over a barrier with an empty speech bubble coming out of her mouth.

By Linda Greenhouse

Ms. Greenhouse, the recipient of a 1998 Pulitzer Prize, reported on the Supreme Court for The Times from 1978 to 2008 and was a contributing Opinion writer from 2009 to 2021.

There has hardly ever been as fierce a defender of free speech as the current Supreme Court.

Since John Roberts became chief justice almost 19 years ago, the court has expanded the protective net of the First Amendment to cover such activities as selling videos depicting animal torture, spending unlimited amounts of money in support of political candidates and refusing to pay dues (or a dues-like fee) to a public employee union.

This last decision, Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, overturned a 41-year-old precedent and led a dissenting justice, Elena Kagan, to accuse the majority of “weaponizing the First Amendment.” In the 303 Creative case last year, the court gave a Christian web designer the First Amendment right not to do business with would-be customers whose same-sex wedding websites would violate her views about marriage.

The court’s version of free speech has become a powerful tool against government regulation. Six years ago, effectively striking down a California law, the court gave so-called crisis pregnancy centers — offices that try to imitate abortion clinics but strive to persuade women to continue their pregnancies — a First Amendment right not to provide information on where a woman could actually get an abortion. The state said the notice was needed to help women who came to such centers under the false impression that they provided abortions. In his majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the “unduly burdensome” requirement amounted to unconstitutionally compelled speech.

Now the question is whether the court’s solicitude toward those who would rather not talk about abortion extends in the other direction. What about state laws that prohibit rather than require offering information about where to get an abortion?

While there is not yet such a case on the Supreme Court’s docket, lower courts have been tightening a First Amendment noose around efforts by anti-abortion states to curb the flow of information about how to obtain legal abortion care across state lines. Federal District Courts in Indiana and Alabama both ruled this month that while states in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s demise can ban abortion, they cannot make it illegal to give abortion-related advice, including advice to minors seeking abortions without parental consent.

A federal magistrate judge issued a similar ruling last November on Idaho’s abortion law, one of the most extreme in the country, which makes it a crime to assist a minor in obtaining an abortion in any state without a parent’s consent. Idaho could criminalize abortion, the judge, Debora Grasham, wrote. “What the state cannot do,” she went on, “is craft a statute muzzling the speech and expressive activities of a particular viewpoint with which the state disagrees under the guise of parental rights.” The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard Idaho’s appeal on May 7.

With the Supreme Court extremely unlikely to revisit its decision 23 months ago in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that eradicated the constitutional right to abortion, the question of how far states can go to prevent their citizens from finding alternative ways to terminate a pregnancy will become increasingly urgent. In his concurring opinion in the Dobbs case, Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised the question of whether a state could now “bar a resident of that state from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion.” The answer was “no,” he continued, “based on the constitutional right to interstate travel.” It is worth noting that Justice Kavanaugh wrote only for himself; none of the other conservatives who made up the Dobbs majority joined him. “Other abortion-related legal questions may emerge in the future,” Justice Kavanaugh offered noncommittally.

The future arrived quickly enough in the form of the two abortion-related cases awaiting decision before the court’s current term, which concludes at the end of June or in early July. Both are anomalous in that they involve questions of federal rather than state authority.

One, Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , concerns the government’s approval of the expanded use of the medication that first received F.D.A. approval 24 years ago. Medication abortion now accounts for more than half of abortions in the United States. The case contains an off-ramp for the court that, based on the argument in March, the justices appear likely to take: Because the anti-abortion doctors, dentists and medical groups who challenged the F.D.A. suffered no harm from the availability of the medication, and are unlikely to suffer harm in the future, they never had standing to bring the case in the first place.

The other, Moyle v. United States, results from a clash between the federal government and Idaho over whether federal law requires the state to provide emergency abortion care in its hospitals. The outcome largely depends on whether the court accepts the Biden administration’s view that there is no abortion exception to the law at issue, which prohibits hospitals from turning away people who need emergency care.

In the abortion cases in Indiana, Idaho and Alabama that may yet find their way to the Supreme Court, the justices would face the acute dilemma of reconciling their fealty to the First Amendment with the profound anti-abortion sentiment the Dobbs majority opinion displayed.

In defending their laws, the states argue that what they are prohibiting is not actually speech but conduct, namely inducing criminal activity. Rejecting this argument in the Indiana case, Judge Sarah Evans Barker of Federal District Court wrote that the Planned Parenthood affiliate that challenged the law simply “seeks to provide truthful information to clients regarding out-of-state options and medical referrals to out-of-state providers for abortion services that are legal in those states.” A prohibition on providing such information, the judge said, “does not further any interest Indiana may have in investigating criminal conduct within its borders.” In the Alabama case, another Federal District Court judge, Myron Thompson, observed that “unable to proscribe out-of-state abortions, the attorney general interprets state law as punishing the speech necessary to obtain them.”

From the cases they are in the process of deciding this term, the justices are well aware that their effort to wash their hands of the nettlesome business of abortion has failed. One or more of the First Amendment cases is likely to reach the court during its next term. I wonder if the justices have a clue about how much pain lies ahead when they have to decide whether the right to speak inevitably encompasses the right to choose.

Linda Greenhouse, the recipient of a 1998 Pulitzer Prize, reported on the Supreme Court for The Times from 1978 to 2008 and was a contributing Opinion writer from 2009 to 2021.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

Letitia James Asked to Turn Over Documents

R epresentative Jim Jordan is asking New York Attorney General Letitia James to hand over documents and communications related to a prosecutor working on former President Donald Trump 's hush money case.

Jordan, the Ohio Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to James requesting all documents and communications about Matthew Colangelo, an attorney working for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg previously employed by James' office and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Bragg's office is trying Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to an alleged hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Bragg alleged the payment was meant to prevent her from speaking publicly about her claims of having an affair with the former president.

Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels and pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges. He maintains his innocence and has accused Bragg and other prosecutors of targeting him for political purposes, criticizing the trial as a form of election interference.

Trump supporters have raised concerns about Colangelo's previous experience at the DOJ, where he also worked on cases involving the former president.

Republicans have accused prosecutors of unjustly targeting Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, for political purposes. Some conservatives have also spread claims that the connection is evidence that President Joe Biden is behind the prosecution, but no evidence has been presented to support those allegations.

Jordan's committee has been probing what he views as the "weaponization" of the legal system against Trump and other conservatives. His letter to James comes amid his efforts to look into these concerns. In the letter, he expressed concerns about "the perception that the Justice Department is assisting in District Attorney Bragg's politicized prosecution."

"The fact that a former senior Biden DOJ official—whose previous employment consisted of leading 'a wave of state litigation against Trump administration policies'—is now leading the prosecution of President Biden's chief political rival only adds to the perception that the Biden DOJ is politicized and weaponized," Jordan wrote.

He argued that Colangelo's employment shows an alleged "obsession with investigating a person rather than prosecuting a crime."

Jordan requested all documents and communications since January 1, 2017, between Colangelo and any employee of the Manhattan DA's Office, the Fulton County DA's Office in Georgia (where Trump is facing election interference charges), the DOJ, the Democratic National Committee or Biden for President referring to or related to Trump, The Trump Organization and any other entity associated with Trump, according to the letter.

He also requested all personnel files related to Colangelo's hiring, employment or termination at the AG's office. Jordan asked James to deliver all files to him by May 29, 2024, at 5 p.m.

Newsweek reached out to James' and Bragg's offices for comment via email.

Colangelo spent two years in a senior position at the DOJ , overseeing the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax divisions, according to a press release announcing his hiring in December 2022

In the press release, Bragg wrote: "Matthew Colangelo brings a wealth of economic justice experience combined with complex white-collar investigations, and he has the sound judgment and integrity needed to pursue justice against powerful people and institutions when they abuse their power."

It also noted that Colangelo worked at the New York State Office of the Attorney General, where he investigated the Trump Foundation.

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New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference in New York City on February 16, 2024. Representative Jim Jordan requested James send him documents related to former President Donald Trump’s hush money payment.

One of the budget papers will be all about women. Here's what you need to know

Katy Gallagher, sitting with Jim Chalmers, holds the women's economic budget statement

For the fourth consecutive year, the pile of budget papers deposited on the desks of journalists this afternoon will contain a booklet dedicated exclusively to women.

Inflation is making everything more expensive, including essentials women can't avoid buying.

On top of that, on average women are earning less than a man in the same sector and doing more of the work that they don't get paid for at home too.

And that's before you get to facing an increased risk of violence and chronic shortages of essential products women need.

For women of colour, those with disabilities or from low-income backgrounds, these problems are even greater.

The booklet will detail how the government plans to improve their lives and how particular measures will help 51 per cent of the country's population.

But how much of a difference will that actually make to most women? And what do we know about what's already inside?

Shout-out to the ladies

The Women's Budget Statement, first introduced in the 1980s by the Hawke government, was a longtime fixture of budget day. It was then stopped by the Abbott government, resumed in the last years of the Morrison government, and has been a consistent feature under the Albanese government.

Most budget measures are not specific to women, so the women's budget statement is often used as a place for the government to spruik the ones that stand out as benefiting them, or to reframe general policies in terms of their benefit to women.

For example, the first item mentioned by Treasurer Jim Chalmers in a Mother's Day message about the women's statement was "a bigger tax cut for more than 90 per cent of women", a cut which also applies to men.

But the Albanese government has also used the statements to highlight targeted changes to address economic gender equality.

Katy Gallagher and Jim Chalmers walk on the grass on top of Parliament House

Super on paid parental leave

As first announced on International Women's Day, the government will pay superannuation on the publicly funded Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme starting in the 2025-26 financial year.

That's a proposal the government says will help close the gender gap in retirement incomes, since the vast majority of the 180,000 who receive the payment every year are women.

Labor first promised the move at the 2019 election, then ditched it at the 2022 election owing to its cost. Previous modelling suggested it would cost about $200 million a year, but the government confirmed on Sunday it would cost $623.1 million a year.

That's in part because the government is in the process of increasing the number of weeks that can be accessed under the scheme, up to 26 by 2026. There will also be incentives for parents to share more leave.

Higher wages in aged care and child care

The budget will also provision a "multi-billion-dollar" amount for higher wages in two female-dominated workforces, aged care and child care.

In both cases, its hand has been forced by the Fair Work Commission (FWC), which approved a pay rise for aged care workers in 2023 and is expected to do the same for childcare workers in June. The government supported both cases before the FWC.

Other female-dominated workforces will get support targeted at the trainee level through the introduction of paid placements in teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work courses, each to the value of $319.50 a week and benefiting an estimated 73,000 students.

But Students Against Placement Poverty has criticised the measure as insufficient, saying the commitment amounts to about $8 an hour for a full work week, and many students will miss out because it's means-tested.

Beyond that, the government has pointed to a range of general measures which will disproportionately benefit women, such as the decision to reduce indexation of HELP debts and other student loans, since 58.5 per cent of outstanding debt is held by women.

Endometriosis funding

The government has already announced that longer specialist consultations for women with endometriosis and other complex gynaecological conditions such as chronic pelvic pain and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) will now be covered under Medicare from July next year.

Two new rebates will be added to the Medicare Benefits Schedule, enabling extended consultation times and increased rebates for specialist care.

The $49.1 million investment is expected to provide about 430,000 more services to women across the country.

Including this new funding, the federal government has committed a total of $107 million in endometriosis support for women since coming to government, including by establishing endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics across the country and providing funding for research and awareness.

They've also flagged a scholarship fund to encourage nurses and midwives to get a higher qualification so they have the power to prescribe, order pathology and give their patients referrals.

The Primary Care Nursing and Midwifery Scholarship Program will run for four years, costing the government $50 million.

In May 2023, a Senate inquiry found women around Australia were facing major challenges to accessing abortion, contraception, pregnancy and birth care.

Health Minister Mark Butler and Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney said a recent Senate inquiry into access to reproductive and sexual healthcare would help inform how those commitments would be reached.

The government's response to the report's recommendations is now nearly a year overdue.

Woman curling up on bed while clutching her stomach

Violence against women and their children

The government has promised additional measures to support women's safety, building on the already-announced $915 million over five years to make permanent a trial program which has seen women fleeing violence paid up to $5,000 in financial support.

But this has been heavily criticised as not going far enough to protect some of those most vulnerable to violence because it only covers violence by an intimate partner — not a carer or family member.

Women with disabilities say they're being left behind , while the federal government says they should approach Centrelink or the NDIS if they're being abused by a carer.

And Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has said the government has no plans to expand that eligibility.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has also said there will be "additional steps" on welfare payments, the level of which is often identified as a barrier to women seeking to leave violent relationships.

But it's not clear whether this will include an increase to the JobSeeker unemployment benefit or the Single Parenting Payment.

Instead, the government has hinted it is likely to increase the more narrowly available Commonwealth Rent Assistance payment.

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COMMENTS

A for and against essay
Worksheets and downloads. A for and against essay - exercises 945.25 KB. A for and against essay - answers 293.66 KB. A for and against essay - essay 786.07 KB. A for and against essay - writing practice 497.45 KB.
A for and against essay
A for and against essay - a balanced essay List three advantages and three disadvantages. The first thing you have to do before writing a for and against essay is make a list of three advantages and three disadvantages. For example, we are going to write an balanced essay about the pros and cons of streaming video platforms like Netflix or HBO.
For and Against Essays
A "for and against" essay is a formal piece of writing in which a topic is considered from opposing points of view. You should present both sides in a fair way by discussing them objectively and in equal detail. A good essay of this type should consist of: a) an introductory paragraph in which you clearly state the topic to be discussed ...
Five Steps to Writing a Good For and Against Essay
An essay is a formal piece of writing which describes, analyses or discusses a particular issue. The most common types are: Opinion essays. They present the writer's personal opinion of the topic, supported with examples and reasons. For and against essays. They present both sides of an issue in a balanced way.
How to Write an Argumentative Essay
Make a claim. Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim. Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim) Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives. The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays.
How to write a for-and-against essay?
Writer should avoid any strong or emotional language to express writer opinion. - Paragraph 1: Arguments in favour- along with reasons, examples, facts, etc. - Paragraph 2: Arguments against- along with reasons, examples, facts, etc. CONCLUSION: express the writer's opinion directly/indirectly and show a balanced view of the topic.
PDF Writing skills practice: A for and against essay writing practice
Write a for and against essay. Think about these questions: What topic will you write about? What are the arguments for it? What are the arguments against it? What's your opinion about it? Writing skills practice: A for and against essay - writing practice
How to Write an A+ Argumentative Essay
An argumentative essay attempts to convince a reader to agree with a particular argument (the writer's thesis statement). The writer takes a firm stand one way or another on a topic and then uses hard evidence to support that stance. An argumentative essay seeks to prove to the reader that one argument —the writer's argument— is the ...
The Four Main Types of Essay
An essay is a focused piece of writing designed to inform or persuade. There are many different types of essay, but they are often defined in four categories: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive essays. Argumentative and expository essays are focused on conveying information and making clear points, while narrative and ...
IELTS Essay
A "For and against" essay should consist of: a) an introduction in which you present the topic, making a general remark about it without giving your opinion; b) a main body in which you present the points for and the points against, in separate paragraphs, supporting your arguments with justifications/ examples; ...
The Key to an Interesting For-Against Essay
A for-and-against essay is an argumentative essay that requires writers to formulate arguments for and against the main topic. After presenting both arguments, the author will then choose a side and explain the reason for their decision. A for and against essay follows the standard five-paragraph format but dedicates each body paragraph to a ...
ELT Concourse: writing for and against essays
Good advice is to confine each argument to four paragraphs: the issue and examples. the argument. the evaluation of the strength of the argument. the evaluation of any weaknesses in the argument. The damage to health that smoking causes is no longer seriously debated by health professionals and other experts.
How to Structure an Essay
The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and ...
Argument
In order to succeed at this second step, though, you must have a particular point to argue. Arguments in academic writing are usually complex and take time to develop. Your argument will need to be more than a simple or obvious statement such as "Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect.". Such a statement might capture your initial ...
How to Write a ""For and Against Essay"" ---Tips and Phrases
In this video, you'll learn all the details about "For and Against Essay Writing". Whether you're a student preparing for an exam or someone simply intereste...
160 Good Argumentative Essay Topics for Students in 2024
An argumentative essay is an essay that uses research to present a reasoned argument on a particular subject. As with the persuasive essay, the purpose of an argumentative essay is to sway the reader to the writer's position.
For and Against Essay Topics and Ideas
For and against essay topics: layout. • The first paragraph should be the introduction. Include a thesis statement, which summarises the main issue. In the past, most people lived with their parents until they got married. But in the modern world, it is more common to leave home and share accommodation with friends.
OPINION VS FOR AND AGAINST ESSAYS
AN OPINION ESSAY: You need to present your opinion, providing examples and reasons to support it. A FOR AND AGAINST ESSAY: You need to present both sides of an issue. In the main body you pay attention to each side, providing reasons and examples. Le porta placerat nisl arcu ultricies , Continuar.
FOR AND AGAINST ESSAY
For and Against Essay. start! +info. For and against essay / Pros and cons essay / Argumentative essay / Advantages and disadvantages essay, they all mean the same. This type of essay is not the same as an Opinion essay. As you can see, in this PAU exam from 2021, you have both options.
Examining admissions essays post-affirmative action
A new analysis of selective colleges' applications found that many added essay prompts centered around identity and diversity after the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision. When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in two lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last ...
City of Grants Pass v. Johnson: Does Enforcing Camping Ordinances
In City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Supreme Court is asked to address the applicability of the Eighth Amendment's bar on cruel and unusual punishments 1 Footnote U.S. Const. amend. VIII (cruel and unusual punishments [shall not be] inflicted). to city ordinances that impose fines, bans from public property, or prosecutions for criminal trespass on individuals who camp in public parks.
Opinion
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Representative Jim Jordan is asking New York Attorney General Letitia James to hand over documents and communications related to a prosecutor working on former President Donald Trump 's hush money ...
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But Students Against Placement Poverty has criticised the measure as insufficient, saying the commitment amounts to about $8 an hour for a full work week, and many students will miss out because ...

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23 thoughts on “ Five Steps to Writing a Good For and Against Essay ”

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How to write a for-and-against essay?

So what is a for-and-against essay?

How to organise a for-and-against essay?

What are the useful language for this type of essay?

How to self-evaluate the essay?

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What Is an Argumentative Essay? How Is it Different from Other Kinds of Essays?

Argumentative Essay

Persuasive Essay

Expository Essay

Analytical Essay

A Typical Argumentative Essay Assignment

Good Argumentative Essay Topics

Argumentative Essay Format

Paragraph 1: Intro

Paragraph 2: Support

Paragraph 3: Support

Paragraph 4: Counterargument

Paragraph 5: Conclusion

Paragraph 1—Set Up and Claim

Paragraphs 2 and 3—Your Evidence

Paragraph 4—Argument for the Other Side and Refutation

Paragraph 5—Conclusion

Argumentative Essay Example: 5-Paragraph Style

How to Write an Argumentative Essay: 8 Steps

#1: Preliminary Research

#2: Pick Your Side and Form Your Thesis

#3: Heavy-Duty Research Time

#4: Outline

#7: Final Draft

#8: Celebrate!

Good Examples of Argumentative Essays Online

The Take-Aways: Keys to Writing an Argumentative Essay

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IELTS Essay – For and Against

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For and Against Discussion Essays (FADEs)

What this handout is about

Arguments are everywhere

Making a claim

Counterargument

Critical reading

Works consulted

160 Good Argumentative Essay Topics for Students in 2024

What is an Argumentative Essay?

Argumentative Essay Format

How to Write an Effective Argumentative Essay, Step by Step

Tips for Revising an Argument Essay

Good Argumentative Essay Topics for Middle School, High School, and College Students

Education Argument Essay Topics

Government Argumentative Essay Topics

Health/Bioethics Argumentative Essay Topics

Good Argumentative Essay Topics — Continued

Religion Argument Essay Topics