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-STEPHANIE OWEN and ISABEL SAWHILL, Should Everyone Go to College? Their position is clear: higher education is not always a good investment. Notice, however, how careful they are to qualify their argument, noting that while college graduates earn more on average, it is not universally so, and that in certain cases college may not be a smart investment. By saying that higher education may not be a good investment, the authors have limited their position to one they will be able to support.

Even in everyday arguments-say over a claim that Impossible Burgers are ten times better than the real thing-you'd better be prepared to prove that the new meatless wonders are really, really good-or face skeptics who will say, simply, Says who? or Can you prove it? Answering such questions persuasively is the key to supporting your claim.

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle long ago wrote that we should use all the available means we can to persuade an audience and suggested three in particular: providing good reasons and evidence, demonstrating credibility, and appealing to emotion. You're entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. -DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN Provide good reasons and evidence Whatever your thesis, it needs to be backed up by reasons why you take that position.

One way to think about that is to write out your thesis and then answer the question why? For example: Artificial intelligence may well be the death of humans as we know them. Why? Because robots will be able to do what humans now do-and more. Too often today, professional athletes are shuffled around like pawns. Why? Because most contracts give more rights to teams and owners than to players. COVID-19 will change many aspects of our lives. Why?

Because experts including physicians and epidemiologists say that old behaviors won't work in a post-pandemic world. If you can't come up with good reasons, you may need to revise your thesis-or find another topic. But once you have a list of reasons, think about which ones best suit your PURPOSE , and which ones your AUDIENCE is likely to accept. Then you need to provide evidence to support those reasons.

While there are many kinds of evidence you can use to good advantage, we'll focus here on five common ones: facts and statistics, expert testimony, narrative, examples, and personal experience. See pp. 85-90 for more on finding evidence. Facts and statistics. Facts are ideas that have been proven to be true; because they can be verified, they serve as a kind of evidence that an audience will accept. Statistics are numerical data gathered from research or experimentation.

See how a report about World Water Day provides both facts and statistics to support what it says about the importance of clean water: A staggering 844 million people live without access to clean water. That's roughly 1 in 10 people on earth, or about twice the population of the United States. March 22nd is World Water Day 2018, a day to pause, consider the impact of clean water in the world, and make a difference.

A stunning statistic-that one in ten people in the world don't have access to clean water-leads to a description of ten facts about the water crisis: 1. 100 million families are stuck in a cycle of poverty and disease because they don't have access to safe water. 2. More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war. 3. 2.4 billion people, 1 in 3, lack access to a toilet. 4. Water-borne diseases kill more children under the age of 5 than malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS-combined.

5. In developing countries, as much as 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions. 6. Women and girls spend up to 6 hours every day walking to get water for their families. 7. The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 3.7 miles. That is 19,500 steps, every day, just to get water that is making them sick. 8. 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases. 9.

Time spent gathering water around the world translates to $24 billion in lost economic benefits each year, furthering the cycle of poverty. 10. Every dollar invested in safe water and improved hygiene and sanitation results in 8 dollars of increased economic activity. -World Water Day 2018: 10 Facts about the Water Crisis Women in Tanzania carrying containers of water. The writers of this report take care to show that these are indeed facts by linking to a Water Crisis Fact Sheet.

Facts and statistics like these can help you make sound and believable arguments. But you'll want to make sure that any facts or numbers you cite are accurate, and think about whether they'll be accepted by your readers. You'll want to be especially careful with statistics, which can all too easily be manipulated or taken out of context. Expert testimony. One of the most persuasive kinds of evidence is the direct testimony of experts on the issue you're writing about.

Citing authorities also demonstrates that you've researched the topic and know what you're talking about, adding to your CREDIBILITY as an author. For an article on the dangers concussions cause to many athletes, Kristin Sainani, a professor of health policy, interviewed David Camarillo, a professor of bioengineering whose lab focuses on understanding and preventing head injuries.

Throughout her article, Sainani cites information she learned from Camarillo as evidence that wearing a helmet does little to prevent concussions and to convince readers that equipment to protect against concussions needs to be better. Even as a professor of health policy herself, Sainani made her argument more persuasive by citing someone with more expertise on her topic-and you can do the same by citing experts in fields you write about. Narrative.

We all know that stories matter-and that a powerful story can engage audiences and help support an argument. Be sure, however, that any story you tell is pertinent to your point-and that it is not the only evidence you provide. Advertisements often use narrative to get our attention, as in the ad below from a bus stop in New York for Feeding America, an organization that provides a nationwide network of food banks.

With just two sentences, the ad tells a story that supports the argument that hunger is something that needs to end. Examples. Good examples make abstract ideas more concrete and easier to understand-and can provide specific instances to back up a claim.

See how one author uses a specific example to support his argument that resolving lawsuits against opioid producers with large cash settlements has made those drug companies big winners: Consider the case of Florida, which in 2001 became one of the first states to investigate Purdue Pharma. Its attorney general at the time, Robert Butterworth, pointing to a growing number of overdose deaths, declared that he would discover when Purdue Pharma first knew about OxyContin's abuse. That never happened.

Instead, state investigators interviewed only a single former OxyContin sales representative, and Mr. Butterworth, who was running for a State Senate seat, ended the case soon after it was filed. He lost his election and the case's settlement proved empty. While Purdue Pharma agreed to pay $2 million to fund a system that would monitor how Florida doctors prescribed opioids, state legislators blocked its creation.

David Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, told me that nearly all of the $2 million was returned to the drug company, and Florida went on to become a major center of the opioid crisis.

-BARRY MEIER, Opioid Makers Are the Big Winners in Lawsuits This example provides concrete evidence to show one instance when a drug manufacturer actually benefited, unfairly and mightily, from a settlement-and how Florida went on to become a major center of the opioid crisis. Personal experience can sometimes provide powerful support for an argument since it brings a kind of eyewitness evidence.

See how Louie Lazar, a journalist who's fascinated by both basketball and Buddhism, opens an article about the surprising popularity of basketball in Tibet with a personal ANECDOTE about how he came to research that topic: A few years ago, while living in Queens, I began to wonder whether any Buddhist monks played hoops. I'd loved the sport since childhood and had recently become fascinated by practitioners of Buddhism. And while the pairing may seem far-fetched, it made a certain sense to me.

Devotion to the sport involves countless hours in the solitude of echoing, dimly lit places . . . where one undergoes a genuinely meditative sensory experience: the rhythmic bounding of a ball, the mental focus and repetition essential for knocking down free throws, the visualizations, such as imagining oneself sinking a last-second shot. There's a reason Phil Jackson-a.k.a. the Zen Master-didn't coach football.

I visited a few Buddhist monasteries in the New York area, where I was met with a consistent response from the polite but puzzled residents: No, monks don't play basketball . That seemed to be that. But there's always the Internet. Late one evening in 2017, I googled basketball and Buddhist monk and eventually found a Facebook page on which a grainy video had been posted. It showed a red-robed monk on an outdoor court effortlessly leaping up, grabbing the rim, and shattering the backboard.

-LOUIE LAZAR, How Tibet Went Crazy for Hoops Buddhist monks shooting hoops in Tibet. This personal anecdote contributes to Lazar's article in two respects: by providing evidence that some Buddhist monks do in fact play basketball, and also by demonstrating that Lazar has done his homework and knows what he's writing about. In your own writing, make sure that any personal experience you cite is pertinent to your argument and will serve your purpose.

For another example, take a look at David French's article in the National Review about the virtues of traditional masculinity and his decision to become more fit. He describes being on a Cub Scout trip when his son suffered a serious head injury. When medics were unable to reach the bottom of the ravine, French picked up his son and ran up a steep incline, something he would have been unable to do had he not been so fit.

Reflecting on this life-threatening event, French explains: But I answered the call of my traditional masculinity and got stronger not because I wanted to look good or attract women or be fit but because something inside me whispered that an able-bodied man should not be weak.

In other words, I tried my best to become a true grown man. -DAVID FRENCH, Grown Men Are the Solution, Not the Problem Demonstrate your credibility You need to establish your own AUTHORITY as a writer: to show that you know what you're talking about by citing trustworthy sources, and to demonstrate that you're fair by representing other positions evenhandedly and accurately. Be careful, though, not to overdo it, especially when you need to demonstrate respect as well as credibility.

You don't want to come across as boastful. You might want to acknowledge those you've learned from, noting that you're building on their work. When Jaron Lanier, often said to be the father of virtual reality, decided that social media-for which he'd been an advocate-have become a monster we now can't control, he wrote a book called Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Account RIGHT NOW .

Anticipating criticism of his position, Lanier acknowledged and addressed that criticism in the opening chapter: Plenty of critics like me have been warning that bad stuff was happening for a while now. . . . For years, I had to endure quite painful criticism from friends in Silicon Valley because I was perceived as a traitor for criticizing what we were doing. Lately I have the opposite problem.

I argue that Silicon Valley people are for the most part decent, and I ask that we not be villainized; I take a lot of fresh heat for that. Whether I've been too hard or too soft on my community is hard to know. The more important question now is whether anyone's criticism will matter. It's undeniably out in the open that a bad technology is doing us harm, but will we-will you, meaning you , be able to resist and help steer the world to a better place?

-JARON LANIER, Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Account RIGHT NOW In this passage, Lanier comes across as straightforward and honest: he's telling it like it is, even if he gets criticized for doing so.

But then he takes an unexpected turn: rather than condemning Silicon Valley, he argues that most people working there are in fact decent (and he includes himself in this we) but then points to an even larger issue: Is it possible that by now, no one will be able to make bad stuff stop happening? Lanier suggests that such a goal can only be achieved if everyone who uses social media takes action, and he closes by addressing us directly-as you .

Readers will know Lanier's credentials: they are detailed on the inside cover of the book. This passage increases his credibility by including himself in the group he's criticizing and by accepting responsibility, suggesting that we can trust him to be giving us his most thoughtful and best advice.

Appeal to your audience's emotion Good reasons and evidence provide powerful support for an argument, but sometimes it helps to appeal to an audience's emotions as well-appealing to their hearts as well as their minds. Emotional appeals can be a powerful means of supporting an argument, stirring feelings and sometimes invoking values that those in your audience can be assumed to hold.

Images are especially effective in conveying emotion and in stirring emotion in others, as did this photo of a dazed and wounded child, pulled from the rubble after air strikes in Aleppo. This photo galvanized millions to protest the war in Syria, to donate to charitable organizations trying to help, and to change their attitudes about the role the United States has played in that war. A young boy just rescued after an air strike in Aleppo, Syria.

Be careful when you make an emotional appeal that it suits your argument and purpose, and think about what you want your audience to think or do in response. Also, take care not to overdo it, pulling at their heartstrings so hard that your audience feels manipulated or that you have in some way taken advantage of your subject's vulnerability. Remember that if used inappropriately, emotional appeals may turn your audience off!

Consider other perspectives respectfully, and look for common ground No matter what your position, others may have different views or even offer COUNTERARGUMENTS . You need to acknowledge views other than your own accurately and respectfully and to answer any objections-whether to explain why you disagree, concede that they have a point, or some of each.

Doing so shows that you've done your homework and are aware of what else has been said, enhancing your authority to write on the topic and demonstrating to your readers that you're a writer they can trust. And including views that are contrary to your own shows you to be confident enough of your own views to acknowledge other perspectives that are also worth considering.

Acknowledging the views of others is also a way of establishing COMMON GROUND with those who hold positions different from yours-and showing that you're trying to understand where they're coming from will increase the likelihood that they'll take seriously what you say. And finding some point of agreement will always increase the likelihood that your own argument will be heard. Successful arguments include a healthy consideration for other views.

-JOHN DUFFY Sometimes building common ground is a matter of choosing the right words. Calling someone who doubts the existence of climate change a climate denier, for example, is likely to end the conversation. Better instead to say they're skeptical of the scientific forecasts and to avoid any labels.

See how journalist Clive Thompson considers other points of view and builds common ground in arguing that technology is making our minds and our lives better: Some people panic that our brains are being deformed on a physiological level by today's technology: spend too much time flipping between windows and skimming text instead of reading a book, or interrupting your conversations to read text messages, and pretty soon you won't be able to concentrate on anything-and if you can't concentrate on it, you can't understand it either.

In his book The Shallows , Nicholas Carr eloquently raised this alarm, arguing that the quality of our thought, as a species, rose in tandem with the ascendance of slow-moving, linear print and began declining with the arrival of the zingy, flighty Internet. I'm not thinking the way I used to think, he worried. I'm certain that many of these fears are warranted. . . . Today's multitasking tools really do make it harder than before to stay focused. . . .

One of the great challenges of today's digital thinking tools is knowing when not to use them, when to rely on the powers of older and slower technologies, like paper and books.

-CLIVE THOMPSON, Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better The title of Thompson's book lets readers know that he is an advocate for new technologies: they are changing our minds for the better. Yet he takes time to seek out those like Nicholas Carr who disagree with him, considering his opinion and quoting him, letting Carr speak for himself-a sign of respect. Thompson goes on to build common ground with those readers by acknowledging Carr's position as worthy of respect.

He even heeds Carr's warning to some degree, noting that it's important to know when and when not to use digital tools. Present your position as a response to what others say Whatever your topic, you will rarely if ever be the first one to say something about it. What you say will be part of a larger conversation, one that began before you got there. It's a good idea, therefore, to start your essay by noting something else that has been said about the issue and then presenting your position as a response.

In the following example from an op-ed column in the New York Times arguing that community colleges need more support, the president of LaGuardia Community College opens by noting something that many of those who read the Times probably assume about American college students: that they divide their time between classes, parties, and extracurricular activities: You might think the typical college student lives in a state of bliss, spending each day moving among classes, parties and extracurricular activities.

But the reality is that an increasingly small population of undergraduates enjoys that kind of life. Of the country's nearly 18 million undergraduates, more than 40 percent go to community college, and of those, only 62 percent can afford to go to college full-time. By contrast, a mere 0.4 percent of students in the United States attend one of the ivies. The typical student is not the one burnishing a fancy rsum with numerous unpaid internships.

It's just the opposite: Over half of all undergraduates live at home to make their degrees more affordable, and a shocking 40 percent of students work at least 30 hours a week. About 25 percent work full-time and go to school full-time.

-GAIL O. MELLOW, The Biggest Misconception about Today's College Students Mellow responds to what readers might think by questioning that assumption, noting that very few students live that kind of life-and that more than 40 percent attend a community college and work at least thirty hours a week.

She then points out that public funding for community colleges is significantly less than for 4-year colleges-and states her position clearly and explicitly: Community colleges need increased funding, and students need access to more flexible federal and state financial aid, enhanced paid internships and college work-study programs. . . .

It's time to put public and private money where more and more students are educated, and remove the real, but surmountable, obstacles that stand between them and a degree. Students at LaGuardia Community College. Whenever you argue a position, you're responding to something someone else said or did that has motivated you to speak up. Especially in academic writing, you're expected to do more than just assert your own position; you need to let your readers know what larger conversation you're responding to.

Establish a responsible stance and a trustworthy tone In a time of arguments based on fake news, misleading headlines, and downright lies, it's more important than ever that you aim for honesty and truth, take full responsibility for what you say, and establish a reasonable, trustworthy tone.

After all, your audience must trust that you know what you're talking about and believe that you have their best interests at heart if they're to listen carefully to what you say, much less accept what you want them to think or do. See how Kamala Harris establishes a trustworthy tone in a commencement address at Howard University, a school that she herself attended: I've had the honor of speaking at many commencements. But this one is particularly special for me.

Because decades ago, I sat just where you sit now, feeling the embrace of my Howard family. Our Howard family. And a family, at its best, shares common values and aspirations. . . . A family looks for ways to support and inspire one another. . . . You are . . . part of a legacy that has now endured and thrived for 150 years. Endured when the doors of higher education were closed to Black students. Endured when segregation and discrimination were the law of the land.

But over the last 150 years, Howard has endured and thrived. Generations of students have been nurtured and challenged here-and provided with the tools and confidence to soar. -KAMALA HARRIS, Howard University commencement address It's not hard for Harris to win her audience's trust, having graduated from Howard University herself.

But she makes the most of it, noting that she's had the honor of speaking at many commencements, but that this one is particularly special. In fact, she still recalls feeling the embrace of Our Howard family. A family shares common values and aspirations, and her words suggest that she and her audience have much in common beyond having attended the same school.

And when she tells them they have the tools and confidence to soar, she speaks from personal experience: she's been where they are now and assures them that they have what it takes to soar. Her words demonstrate that she knows what she's talking about-and both understands and cares about the members of her audience. There are other ways to establish trustworthiness and credibility, of course.

Harris could have, for example, cited statistics about how many generations of successful graduates Howard has sent forth to uphold its values. Or she could have drawn on testimony from other respected and knowledgeable scholars who can also speak to Howard's ability to help students soar. But in this instance, she draws on her own authority-as a highly successful former prosecutor, attorney general of California, and senator-and her own experience to build a sense of trust with her audience. REFLECT!

Find a speech on YouTube given by someone who interests you, perhaps an author or a candidate for office, and listen for how that speaker establishes credibility-or not. What does the speaker do (or fail to do) to come across as trustworthy (or not)? Invite response Whatever your topic, you are not likely to be the first one to write about it.

If in writing about an issue, you're joining a larger conversation, then you should invite your readers to do the same-to respond to what you say and add their voices to that conversation.

One way to do this is to conclude by calling on readers to do something specific, as civil rights activist Michelle Alexander does in the introduction to her book The New Jim Crow : A new social consensus must be forged about race and the role of race in defining the basic structure of our society, if we hope ever to abolish the New Jim Crow. This new consensus must begin with dialogue, a conversation that fosters a critical consciousness, a key prerequisite to effective social action.

My writing is an attempt to ensure that the conversation does not end with nervous laughter. -MICHELLE ALEXANDER, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Here Alexander calls on readers to act, to join a conversation that she hopes her book will begin, one that she says is prerequisite to effective social action. Now see how she concludes an op-ed on the same topic published in the New York Times .

Like many newspapers, the Times explicitly invites readers to respond by sending in letters to the editor or posting comments online, and Alexander concludes by naming specific goals and how they should be met-and then challenging her readers to respond to a direct question: If our goal is not a better system of mass criminalization, but instead the creation of safe, caring, thriving communities, then we ought to be heavily investing in quality schools, job creation, drug treatment and mental health care in the least advantaged communities rather than pouring billions into their high-tech management and control.

Fifty years ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned that when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered. We failed to heed his warning back then. Will we make a different choice today?

In this conclusion, Alexander calls directly on readers to reject mass criminalization and instead to invest in education, job creation, and health care as the best way to create safe . . .

communities. To underscore this position, she notes that citizens failed to act when Martin Luther King Jr. urged them to take action against the giant triplets that have led to mass criminalization, closing with a potent rhetorical question she very much hopes will be answered by a resounding yes. Read your draft with a critical eye, get response-and revise Now's the time to read over what you've written to see that you've made your position clear, supported it with good reasons and evidence, and considered carefully what others have said-and then to ask a classmate to read it over as well.

The following questions can help you or someone else to read over a draft that takes a position: Have you DESCRIBED the issue clearly and in a fair-minded way? Have you stated your POSITION explicitly and as a response to what others have said about the topic? Is there a THESIS -and if not, is one needed? What good REASONS have you given for your position, and what EVIDENCE have you provided as support? Is your evidence factually accurate? How likely is it that your AUDIENCE will find it persuasive?

What's your STANCE ? Is it trustworthy and appropriate to your audience and purpose? What background information have you provided? What more might your readers need? How reliable are any sources you've cited? What kinds of sources are they-scholarly? popular? Who published or sponsored them? What's their purpose-to inform? sell? persuade? entertain? What can you learn about them? Do other sources say the same thing?

What COUNTERARGUMENTS and other perspectives have you considered, and have you described them fairly and accurately? How have you addressed what they say? How will your OPENING make your audience want to read on? How else might you begin? Is it clear why the issue matters? Why do you care, and who else should care? Does the CONCLUSION make clear what you want readers to think or do? Have you invited them to respond? Is your argument easy to follow? If not, would it help to add TRANSITIONS or headings?

Consider your title. Does it tell readers what the topic is, and will it make them want to read on? Now's the time to think about whether there's a better title. Now take a deep breath-and REVISE ! If you've analyzed your draft and gotten advice from others, you've got a plan. You know what you need or want to do. But remember: you're writing an ARGUMENT , which needs to take a clear POSITION supported by REASONS and EVIDENCE -and to acknowledge other positions as well.

That said, here's what you think and why! REFLECT! Examine something that you've written-an essay, an email, a presentation, whatever. Have you made clear that what you wrote about mattered to you, and should matter to others? If not, how would you now revise what you wrote to make that explicit? Glossary CLAIM, 84-85, 103-5 A statement of a belief or POSITION . In an ARGUMENT , a claim needs to be stated in a THESIS or clearly implied, and requires support by REASONS and EVIDENCE .

REASONS, 105-8 Support for a CLAIM or a POSITION . A reason, in turn, requires its own support. EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS . Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making).

THESIS, 84-85 A statement that identifies the topic and main point of a piece of writing, giving readers an idea of what the text will cover. QUALIFY, 84, 104-5 To limit a CLAIM -saying, for example, that most people like cake rather than people like cake. Words like frequently, often, generally , or sometimes can help you qualify what you claim-and make it something you'll be able to support.

PURPOSE, 25 In writing, your goal: to explore a topic, to express an opinion, to entertain, to report information, to persuade, and so on. Purpose is one element of the RHETORICAL SITUATION . CREDIBILITY, 164-66, 297-98 The sense of trustworthiness that a writer conveys through the text. ANECDOTE, 85, 412 A brief NARRATIVE used to illustrate a point. AUTHORITY, 57, 112-13, 142-43 A person or text that is cited as support for an ARGUMENT .

A structural engineer may be quoted as an authority on bridge construction, for example. Authority also refers to a quality conveyed by writers who are knowledgeable about their subjects. COUNTERARGUMENT, 16, 90-91, 265 In ARGUMENT , an alternative POSITION or objection to the writer's position. The writer of an argument should not only acknowledge counterarguments but also, if at all possible, accept, accommodate, or refute each counterargument. COMMON GROUND, 9, 37-40, 114-16 Shared values.

Writers build common ground with AUDIENCES by acknowledging their points of view, seeking areas of compromise, and using language that includes, rather than excludes, those they aim to reach. DESCRIPTION, 86 A STRATEGY that tells how something looks, sounds, smells, feels, or tastes. Effective description creates a clear DOMINANT IMPRESSION built from specific details. Description can be objective, subjective , or both. Description can serve as the organizing principle for a paragraph or whole text.

POSITION, 43-44 A statement that asserts a belief or a CLAIM . In an ARGUMENT , a position needs to be stated in a THESIS or clearly implied and to be supported with REASONS and EVIDENCE . THESIS, 84-85 A statement that identifies the topic and main point of a piece of writing, giving readers an idea of what the text will cover. REASONS, 105-8 Support for a CLAIM or a POSITION . A reason, in turn, requires its own support. EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS .

Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making). AUDIENCE, 25-26 Those to whom a text is directed-the people who read, listen to, or view the text. Audience is a key part of any RHETORICAL SITUATION .

AUDIENCE, 25-26 Those to whom a text is directed-the people who read, listen to, or view the text. Audience is a key part of any RHETORICAL SITUATION . STANCE, 17-19, 26-27 A writer's attitude toward the subject-for example, reasonable, neutral, angry, curious. Stance is conveyed through TONE and word choice. COUNTERARGUMENT, 16, 90-91, 265 In ARGUMENT , an alternative POSITION or objection to the writer's position.

The writer of an argument should not only acknowledge counterarguments but also, if at all possible, accept, accommodate, or refute each counterargument. OPENING, 146, 410-12 The way a text begins, which plays an important role in drawing an AUDIENCE in. Some ways of beginning an essay: with a dramatic or deceptively simple statement, with something others have said about your topic, with a provocative question or a startling CLAIM , or with an ANECDOTE .

CONCLUSION, 92, 211, 417-18 The way a text ends, a chance to leave an AUDIENCE thinking about what's been said. Some ways of concluding an essay: REITERATING your point, discussing the implications of your ARGUMENT , proposing some kind of action, inviting response. TRANSITIONS, 424 Words or phrases that help to connect sentences and paragraphs and to guide readers through a text.

Transitions can signal COMPARISONS ( also, similarly, likewise, in the same way ); CONTRASTS ( but, instead, although, however, nonetheless ); examples ( for instance, in fact, such as ); place or position ( above, beyond, near, elsewhere ); sequence ( finally, next, again, also ); SUMMARIES or CONCLUSIONS ( on the whole, as we have seen, in brief ); time ( at first, meanwhile, so far, later ); and more.

REVISING, 93-94 The process of making substantive changes, including additions and deletions, to a DRAFT so that it contains all the necessary information in an appropriate organization. Revision generally moves from whole-text issues to details with the goals of sharpening the focus and strengthening the ARGUMENT . See also response and revision ARGUMENT, 99-131 Any text that makes a CLAIM supported by REASONS and EVIDENCE . A GENRE that uses REASONS and EVIDENCE to support a CLAIM .

Key Features: an explicit POSITION - a response to what others have said - appropriate background information - a clear indication of why the topic matters - good REASONS and EVIDENCE - attention to more than one POINT OF VIEW - an authoritative TONE - an appeal to readers' values POSITION, 43-44 A statement that asserts a belief or a CLAIM . In an ARGUMENT , a position needs to be stated in a THESIS or clearly implied and to be supported with REASONS and EVIDENCE .

REASONS, 105-8 Support for a CLAIM or a POSITION . A reason, in turn, requires its own support. EVIDENCE, 85-90 In ARGUMENT , the data you present to support your REASONS . Such data may include statistics, calculations, examples, ANECDOTES , QUOTATIONS , case studies, or anything else that will convince your readers that your reasons are compelling. Evidence should be sufficient (enough to show that the reasons have merit) and relevant (appropriate to the argument you're making).

PERSPECTIVES, 90-91, 29-41 Viewpoints, an important part of a writer's STANCE . As a writer and a researcher, you should always strive to seek, think about, and work to understand multiple perspectives. A STUDENT ARGUMENT GABRIELA MORO Minority Student Clubs: Segregation or Integration? Gabriela Moro wrote this essay in her first-year composition class at the University of Notre Dame. It was later published in Fresh Writing , an online archive of exemplary first-year writing by students at Notre Dame.

Moro graduated in 2018 with a major in neuroscience and behavior and is pursuing a career in medicine. Provides background information and introduces topic. Minority representation on US college campuses has increased significantly in recent years, and many schools have made it a priority to increase diversity on their campuses in order to prepare students for a culturally diverse US democratic society (Hurtado and Ruiz 3-4).

To complement this increase, many schools have implemented minority student clubs to provide safe and comfortable environments where minority students can thrive academically and socially with peers from similar backgrounds. However, do these minority groups amplify students' tendency to interact only with those who are similar to themselves? Put another way, do these groups inhibit students from engaging in diverse relationships? Summarizes what others say. States claim as a response to what's been said.

Many view such programs to be positive and integral to minority students' college experience; some, however, feel that these clubs are not productive for promoting cross-cultural interaction. While minority clubs have proven to be beneficial to minority students in some cases, particularly on campuses that are not very diverse, my research suggests that colleges would enrich the educational experience for all students by introducing multicultural clubs as well. Discusses opposing views.

To frame my discussion, I will use an article from College Student Journal that distinguishes between two types of students: one who believes minority clubs are essential for helping minority students stay connected with their cultures, and another who believes these clubs isolate minorities and work against diverse interaction among students.

To pursue the question of whether or not such groups segregate minorities from the rest of the student body and even discourage cultural awareness, I will use perspectives from minority students to show that these programs are especially helpful for first-year students. I will also use other student testimonials to show that when taken too far, minority groups can lead to self-segregation and defy what most universities claim to be their diversity goals.

Findings from research will contribute to a better understanding of the role minority clubs play on college campuses and offer a complete answer to my question about the importance of minority programs.

Defines key term, diversity . Before I go further, I would like to differentiate among three kinds of diversity that Gurin and colleagues identify in their article Diversity and Higher Education: Theory and Impact on Educational Outcomes. The first type is structural diversity , the numerical representation of diverse [racial and ethnic] groups. The existence of structural diversity alone does not ensure that students will develop valuable intergroup relationships.

Classroom diversity , the second type, involves gaining content knowledge or a better understanding about diverse peers and their backgrounds by doing so in the classroom. The third type of diversity, informal interactional diversity , refers to both the frequency and the quality of intergroup interaction as keys to meaningful diversity experiences during college. Students often encounter this kind of diversity in social settings outside the classroom (Gurin 332-33).

Informal interactional diversity is the focus of my research, since it is the concept that leads colleges to establish social events and organizations that allow all students to experience and appreciate the variety of cultures present in a student body. Cites evidence from published studies. In a study published in College Student Journal , three administrators at Pennsylvania State University explore how biracial students interact with others on a college campus.

The authors conclude that views of minority clubs and related programs, which the authors call race-oriented student services, tend to fall into two groups: Although some argue that these race-oriented student services are divisive and damage white-minority relations, others support these services as providing a safe place and meeting the needs of minority students to develop a sense of racial pride, community and importance (Ingram et al. 298).

I will start by examining the point of view of those associate minority clubs with positive outcomes. Cites evidence showing benefits of minority clubs. A study by Samuel Museus in the Journal of College Student Development finds that minority student programs help students to stay connected with their culture in college and help ease first-year minority students' transition into the college environment.

The study also shows that ethnic student organizations help students adjust and find their place at universities that have a predominantly white student body (584). Museus concludes that universities should stress the importance of racial and ethnic groups and develop more opportunities for minority students to make connections with them. This way, students can find support from their minority peers as they work together to face academic and social challenges.

Museus's findings suggest that minority student groups are essential for allowing these to preserve and foster connections to their own cultures. Cites further evidence of positive effects. In another study, Wendell Hall and colleagues evaluated how minority and non-minority students differ in their inclinations to take part in diversity activities and to communicate with racially and ethnically diverse peers at a predominantly white university.

These scholars conclude that engagement [with diverse peers] is learned (434). Students who engaged with diverse students before going to college were more likely to interact with diverse peers by the end of their sophomore year. Minority students were more predisposed than their white peers to interact with diverse peers during their freshman year (435).

These findings indicate that minority student clubs can be helpful for first-year minority students who have not previously engaged with other minority students, especially if the university has a predominantly white student body. Quotes student testimony on the benefits of such clubs. Professors and scholars are not the only ones who strongly support minority clubs.