Argumentative Essay Topic & Thesis

It is now time for you to choose a topic and develop a working thesis statement for the argumentative essay assignment described in the course syllabus. This is the very first step in the writing process for this assignment. Choose your topic wisely, as you will not be able to change it in the future.

Note: The topic you choose here will be the topic you will continue to work on until the end of the semester. You are free to choose a topic not on the list below; however, you must obtain permission from me first before proceeding. This topic will become your outline and then your essay, so choose wisely!

You are encouraged to choose a topic that you are interested in, feel strongly about, and have some background knowledge on. No matter the topic you decide on, you will need to make sure it is:

Significant: Does an essay on this topic have the potential to contribute to a field of study? Will it make an impact? This does not mean every essay has to change lives, but it needs to be something relatively important. For example, a significant topic would be to convince your reader that eating at fast-food restaurants is detrimental to people's cardiovascular systems, as opposed to why one fast-food restaurant is better than another.

Singular: This means you need to focus on one topic. Using the fast-food example, if you were to focus on both the effects on the cardiovascularandendocrine systems, the essay would lose that singular focus, and there would be too much for you to cover.

Specific: Similar to the point above, your topic needs to be narrow enough to allow you to really discuss the topic within the essay parameters (i.e., word count).

Supportable: Does evidence for what you want to discuss exist from credible sources? Opinions posted on a blog do not count as credible support for your ideas.

Here are some contemporary topics you may be interested in arguing about, either for or against. You are also welcome to choose a topic that does not appear in this list:

• Fast fashion and the environment
• Chatbots in education
• Veganism
• Animal rights
• Vaping

Part 1

First, choose your argumentative essay topic. Then practice two prewriting techniques (brainstorming, clustering, freewriting, mind mapping, etc.) to determine the thesis of your essay.Finally, work on the thesis statement for your essay.

Your thesis statement must follow the rules:

Remember that athree-point thesis statement must:

1. State the claim you are makingfor example, "People should become vegan, as it has many benefits."
2. Provide three supporting ideas that support this claim:

(a) Veganism is healthier

(b) Veganism is less expensive

(c) Veganism is better for the planet

Of course, there are many other supporting ideas I could include, but you are limited to three, so choose your supporting ideas wisely!

If I put these together into a proper thesis statement, I would say:

People should become vegan, as it has many benefits, including thatit is healthier for people, better for the planet, and cheaper than the regular diet.

NOTE: If your thesis statement is not done properly, your entire essay will be incorrect; the thesis statement is the most important sentence in the entire essay as it sets up the rest of the essay.

Do not begin writing your essay at this stage. You will first be creating an outline, and only after that will you begin write your essay.

In your discussion post:

1. Describe the effectiveness of theprewritingtechniques you tried in two hundred fifty words. Did one work better than another for this type of essay? Have you used one or the other in the past? Have you sometimes skipped this part of the process and started writing the essay? Be sure to attach your prewriting document(s), such as a Word document, picture, and/or screen capture.
2. Include a draft of the three-point thesis statement you plan to use for your argumentative essay. Include the three-point thesis statement onlynothing else at this stage.