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What is an argumentative essay.
An argumentative essay requires the writer to investigate a specific topic by collecting and evaluating evidence to establish a position on the subject matter.
When preparing to compose a good argumentative essay, utilize the following steps:
Step 1: Select a topic.
Step 2: Identify a position.
Step 3: Locate appropriate resources.
Step 4: Identify evidence supporting the position. ( NOTE: If there is little evidence in support of the claim, consider re-examining the main argument.)
When gathering evidence, use credible sources . To determine the credibility of the source, consider authority, currency, accuracy, and objectivity:
Who is the author ? Are they an expert in the field? Has a reputable publisher published the work?
How current is the information in the source? Does the currency of the source matter? Does the age of the source impact the content? Is there newer information that disproves the source’s information?
Can other sources verify the accuracy of the information? Does the information contradict that found in other commonly accepted sources?
Is there any evidence of bias, or is the source objective ? Is the research sponsored by an organization that may skew the information?
The following are typically recognized as providing appropriate, credible research material:
Peer-reviewed journals/research papers
Government agencies
Professional organizations
Library databases
Reference books
Writers should avoid using the following sources:
Social media posts
Out-of-date materials
Step 5: Utilize the research to determine a thesis statement that identifies the topic, position, and support(s).
Step 6: Use the evidence to construct an outline, detailing the main supports and relevant evidence.
After gathering all of the necessary research, the next step in composing an argumentative essay focuses on organizing the information through the use of an outline:
Introduction
Attention Grabber/Hook
Background Information: Include any background information pertinent to the topic that the reader needs to know to understand the argument.
Thesis: State the position in connection to the main topic and identify the supports that will help prove the argument.
Topic sentence
Identify evidence in support of the claim in the topic sentence
Explain how the evidence supports the argument
Evidence 3 (Continue as needed)
Support 2 (Continue as needed)
Restate thesis
Review main supports
Concluding statement
Invite the audience to take a specific action.
Identify the overall importance of the topic and position.
Regardless of the writer’s topic or point of view, an argumentative essay should include an introductory paragraph, body paragraphs, a conclusion, and works cited.
Background information
Body Paragraphs
Analysis of evidence
Rephrased thesis
Review of main ideas
Call to action
Works Cited
The introduction sets the tone for the entire paper and introduces the argument. In general, the first paragraph(s) should attract the reader’s attention, provide relevant context, and conclude with a thesis statement.
To attract the reader's attention , start with an introductory device. There are several attention-grabbing techniques, the most common of which consist of the following:
The writer can emphasize the topic’s importance by explaining the current interest in the topic or indicating that the subject is influential.
Pertinent statistics give the paper an air of authority.
There are many reasons for a stimulating statement to surprise a reader. Sometimes it is joyful; sometimes it is shocking; sometimes it is surprising because of who said it.
An interesting incident or anecdote can act as a teaser to lure the reader into the remainder of the essay. Be sure that the device is appropriate for the subject and focus of what follows.
Provide the reader with relevant context and background information necessary to understand the topic.
Conclude with a thesis statement that identifies the overall purpose of the essay (topic and position). Writers can also include their support directly in the thesis, which outlines the structure of the essay for the reader.
Avoid the following when writing the introduction to argumentative writing:
Starting with dictionary definitions is too overdone and unappealing.
Do not make an announcement of the topic like “In this paper I will…” or “The purpose of this essay is to….”
Evidence supporting or developing the thesis should be in the body paragraphs, not the introduction.
Beginning the essay with general or absolute statements such as “throughout history...” or “as human beings we always...” or similar statements suggest the writer knows all of history or that all people behave or think in the same way.
The thesis statement is the single, specific claim the writer sets out to prove and is typically positioned as the last sentence of the introduction . It is the controlling idea of the entire argument that identifies the topic, position, and reasoning.
When constructing a thesis for an argumentative paper, make sure it contains a side of the argument, not simply a topic. An argumentative thesis identifies the writer’s position on a given topic. If a position cannot be taken, then it is not argumentative thesis:
Topic: Capital punishment is practiced in many states.
Thesis: Capital punishment should be illegal.
While not always required, the thesis statement can include the supports the writer will use to prove the main claim. Therefore, a thesis statement can be structured as follows:
TOPIC + POSITION (+ SUPPORTS)
No Supports: College athletes (TOPIC) should be financially compensated (POSITION).
Supports: College athletes (TOPIC) should be financially compensated (POSITION) because they sacrifice their minds and bodies (SUPPORT 1), cannot hold
Body paragraphs can be of varying lengths, but they must present a coherent argument unified under a single topic. They are rarely ever longer than one page, double-spaced; usually they are much shorter.
Lengthy paragraphs indicate a lack of structure. Identify the main ideas of a lengthy paragraph to determine if they make more sense as separate topics in separate paragraphs.
Shorter paragraphs usually indicate a lack of substance; there is not enough evidence or analysis to prove the argument. Develop the ideas more or integrate the information into another paragraph.
The structure of an argumentative paragraph should include a topic sentence, evidence, and a transition.
The topic sentence is the thesis of the paragraph that identifies the arguable point in support of the main argument. The reader should know exactly what the writer is trying to prove within the paragraph by reading the first sentence.
The supporting evidence and analysis provide information to support the claim. There should be a balance between the evidence (facts, quotations, summary of events/plot, etc.) and analysis (interpretation of evidence). If the paragraph is evidence-heavy, there is not much of an argument; if it is analysis-heavy, there is not enough evidence in support of the claim.
The transition can be at the beginning or the end of a paragraph. However, it is much easier to combine the transition with the concluding observation to help the paragraphs flow into one another. Transitions in academic writing should tell the reader where you were, where you are going, and relate to the thesis.
Some essays may benefit from the inclusion of rebuttals to potential counterarguments of the writer’s position.
The conclusion should make readers glad they read the paper. It can suggest broader implications that will not only interest readers but also enrich their understanding in some way. There are three aspects to follow when constructing the conclusion: rephrase the thesis, synthesize information, and call the reader to action.
Rephrased the thesis in the first sentence of the conclusion. It must be in different words; do not simply write it verbatim.
Synthesize the argument by showing how the paper's main points support the argument.
Propose a course of action or a solution to an issue. This can redirect the reader's thought process to apply the ideas to their life or to see the broader implications of the topic.
Avoid the following when constructing the conclusion:
Beginning with an unnecessary, overused phrase such as "in conclusion," "in summary," or "in closing;" although these phrases can work in speeches, they come across as trite in writing
Introducing a new idea or subtopic in the conclusion
Making sentimental, emotional appeals that are out of character with the rest of the paper
Including evidence (quotations, statistics, etc.) that should be in the body of the paper
Examples of argumentative essays vary depending upon the type:
Academic essays differ based upon the topic and position. These essays follow a more traditional structure and are typically assigned in high school or college. Examples of academic argumentative essay topics include the following:
Advantages or disadvantages of social media
Animal testing
Art education
Benefit or detriment of homework
Capital punishment
Class warfare
Immigration
School uniforms
Universal healthcare
Violence in video games
Argumentative literary essays are typically more informal and do not follow the same structure as an academic essay. The following are popular examples of argumentative literary essays:
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Death of the Moth” by Virginia Woolf
“Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell
“Thoughts for the Times on War and Death” by Sigmund Freud
“Does the Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization” by Carl Sagan
“Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Published on February 4, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.
A good introduction paragraph is an essential part of any academic essay . It sets up your argument and tells the reader what to expect.
The main goals of an introduction are to:
This introduction example is taken from our interactive essay example on the history of Braille.
The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.
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Step 1: hook your reader, step 2: give background information, step 3: present your thesis statement, step 4: map your essay’s structure, step 5: check and revise, more examples of essay introductions, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about the essay introduction.
Your first sentence sets the tone for the whole essay, so spend some time on writing an effective hook.
Avoid long, dense sentences—start with something clear, concise and catchy that will spark your reader’s curiosity.
The hook should lead the reader into your essay, giving a sense of the topic you’re writing about and why it’s interesting. Avoid overly broad claims or plain statements of fact.
Take a look at these examples of weak hooks and learn how to improve them.
The first sentence is a dry fact; the second sentence is more interesting, making a bold claim about exactly why the topic is important.
Avoid using a dictionary definition as your hook, especially if it’s an obvious term that everyone knows. The improved example here is still broad, but it gives us a much clearer sense of what the essay will be about.
Instead of just stating a fact that the reader already knows, the improved hook here tells us about the mainstream interpretation of the book, implying that this essay will offer a different interpretation.
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Next, give your reader the context they need to understand your topic and argument. Depending on the subject of your essay, this might include:
The information here should be broad but clearly focused and relevant to your argument. Don’t give too much detail—you can mention points that you will return to later, but save your evidence and interpretation for the main body of the essay.
How much space you need for background depends on your topic and the scope of your essay. In our Braille example, we take a few sentences to introduce the topic and sketch the social context that the essay will address:
Now it’s time to narrow your focus and show exactly what you want to say about the topic. This is your thesis statement —a sentence or two that sums up your overall argument.
This is the most important part of your introduction. A good thesis isn’t just a statement of fact, but a claim that requires evidence and explanation.
The goal is to clearly convey your own position in a debate or your central point about a topic.
Particularly in longer essays, it’s helpful to end the introduction by signposting what will be covered in each part. Keep it concise and give your reader a clear sense of the direction your argument will take.
Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:
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As you research and write, your argument might change focus or direction as you learn more.
For this reason, it’s often a good idea to wait until later in the writing process before you write the introduction paragraph—it can even be the very last thing you write.
When you’ve finished writing the essay body and conclusion , you should return to the introduction and check that it matches the content of the essay.
It’s especially important to make sure your thesis statement accurately represents what you do in the essay. If your argument has gone in a different direction than planned, tweak your thesis statement to match what you actually say.
To polish your writing, you can use something like a paraphrasing tool .
You can use the checklist below to make sure your introduction does everything it’s supposed to.
My first sentence is engaging and relevant.
I have introduced the topic with necessary background information.
I have defined any important terms.
My thesis statement clearly presents my main point or argument.
Everything in the introduction is relevant to the main body of the essay.
You have a strong introduction - now make sure the rest of your essay is just as good.
This introduction to an argumentative essay sets up the debate about the internet and education, and then clearly states the position the essay will argue for.
The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment.
This introduction to a short expository essay leads into the topic (the invention of the printing press) and states the main point the essay will explain (the effect of this invention on European society).
In many ways, the invention of the printing press marked the end of the Middle Ages. The medieval period in Europe is often remembered as a time of intellectual and political stagnation. Prior to the Renaissance, the average person had very limited access to books and was unlikely to be literate. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century allowed for much less restricted circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation.
This introduction to a literary analysis essay , about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein , starts by describing a simplistic popular view of the story, and then states how the author will give a more complex analysis of the text’s literary devices.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale. Arguably the first science fiction novel, its plot can be read as a warning about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, and in popular culture representations of the character as a “mad scientist”, Victor Frankenstein represents the callous, arrogant ambition of modern science. However, far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to gradually transform our impression of Frankenstein, portraying him in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.
If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!
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Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:
The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .
The “hook” is the first sentence of your essay introduction . It should lead the reader into your essay, giving a sense of why it’s interesting.
To write a good hook, avoid overly broad statements or long, dense sentences. Try to start with something clear, concise and catchy that will spark your reader’s curiosity.
A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.
The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:
Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.
The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.
The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
McCombes, S. (2023, July 23). How to Write an Essay Introduction | 4 Steps & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 19, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/introduction/
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Background essay: declaration of independence.
Guiding Question: What were the philosophical bases and practical purposes of the Declaration of Independence?
set free | |
an event in which American colonists threw chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company into Boston harbor as a form of protest against British taxation | |
to lead or contribute to a desired outcome | |
given | |
a series of acts passed by British Parliament designed to punish Boston after the Boston Tea Party | |
a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that expressed the desire for colonial independence from Britain | |
a conference of delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies that discussed ways to oppose the Coercive Acts | |
closed down | |
to take something away from someone | |
foreign paid soldiers | |
future generations of people | |
to have soldiers live on the property of citizens | |
Government and citizens all abide by the same laws regardless of political power. Those laws must be stable and justly applied. | |
possessing ultimate power | |
an act passed by British Parliament that taxed all forms of paper in the American colonies, ranging from newspapers to playing cards | |
brought to an end | |
a series of acts passed by British Parliament that attempted to raise taxes and punish colonial assemblies that refused to follow other laws Parliament had passed | |
illegal seizures of powers | |
a document drafted in 1776 to proclaim the natural rights that all people are entitled to |
Directions: As you read the essay, highlight the events from the graphic organizer in Handout B in one color. Think about how each of these events led the American colonists further down the road to declaring independence. Highlight the impacts of those events in another color.
In 1825, Thomas Jefferson reflected on the meaning and principles of the Declaration of Independence. In a letter to a friend, Jefferson explained that the document was an “expression of the American mind.” He meant that it reflected the common sentiments shared by American colonists during the resistance against British taxes in the 1760s and 1770s The Road to Independence
After the conclusion of the French and Indian War, the British sought to increase taxes on their American colonies and passed the Stamp Act (1765) and Townshend Acts (1767). American colonists viewed the acts as British oppression that violated their traditional rights as English subjects as well as their inalienable natural rights. The colonists mostly complained of “taxation without representation,” meaning that Parliament taxed them without their consent. During this period, most colonists simply wanted to restore their rights and liberties within the British Empire. They wanted reconciliation, not independence. But they were also developing an American identity as a distinctive people, which added to the anger over their lack of representation in Parliament and self-government.
After the Boston Tea Party (1773), Parliament passed the Coercive Acts (1774), punishing Massachusetts by closing Boston Harbor and stripping away the right to self-government. As a result, the Continental Congress met in 1774 to consider a unified colonial response. The Congress issued a declaration of rights stating, “That they are entitled to life, liberty, & property, and they have never ceded [given] to any sovereign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent.” Military clashes with British forces at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill in Massachusetts showed that American colonists were willing to resort to force to vindicate their claim to their rights and liberties.
In January 1776, Thomas Paine wrote the best-selling pamphlet Common Sense which was a forceful expression of the growing desire of many colonists for independence. Paine wrote that a republican government that followed the rule of law would protect liberties better than a monarchy. The rule of law means that government and citizens all abide by the same laws regardless of political power.
The Second Continental Congress debated the question of independence that spring. On May 10, it adopted a resolution that seemed to support independence. It called on colonial assemblies and popular conventions to “adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce [lead] to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular and America in general.”
Five days later, John Adams added his own even more radical preamble calling for independence: “It is necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority under the said Crown should be totally suppressed [brought to an end].” This bold declaration was essentially a break from the British.
On June 7, Richard Henry Lee rose in Congress and offered a formal resolution for independence: “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved [set free] from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” Congress appointed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence, while states wrote constitutions and declarations of rights with similar republican and natural rights principles.
On June 12, for example, the Virginia Convention issued the Virginia Declaration of Rights , a document drafted in 1776 to proclaim the natural rights that all people are entitled to. The document was based upon the ideas of Enlightenment thinker John Locke about natural rights and republican government. It read: “That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights … they cannot by any compact, deprive or divest [take away] their posterity [future generations]; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
The Continental Congress’s drafting committee selected Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence because he was well-known for his writing ability. He knew the ideas of John Locke well and had a copy of the Virginia Declaration of Rights when he wrote the Declaration. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were also members of the committee and edited the document before sending it to Congress.
Still, the desire for independence was not unanimous. John Dickinson and others still wished for reconciliation. On July 1, Dickinson and Adams and their respective allies debated whether America should declare independence. The next day, Congress voted for independence by passing Lee’s resolution. Over the next two days, Congress made several edits to the document, making it a collective effort of the Congress. It adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The document expressed the natural rights principles of the independent American republic.
The Declaration opened by stating that the Americans were explaining the causes for separating from Great Britain and becoming an independent nation. It stated that they were entitled to the rights of the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”
The Declaration then asserted its universal ideals, which were closely related to the ideas of John Locke. It claimed that all human beings were created equal as a self-evident truth. They were equally “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” So whatever inequality that might exist in society (such as wealth, power, or status) does not justify one person or group getting more natural rights than anyone else. One way in which humans are equal is in possession of certain natural rights.
The equality of human beings also meant that they were equal in giving consent to their representatives to govern under a republican form of government. All authority flowed from the sovereign people equally. The purpose of that government was to protect the rights of the people. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The people had the right to overthrow a government that violated their rights in a long series of abuses.
The Declaration claimed the reign of King George III had been a “history of repeated injuries and usurpations ” [illegal taking] of the colonists’ rights. The king exercised political tyranny against the American colonies. For example, he taxed them without their consent and dissolved [closed down] colonial legislatures and charters. Acts of economic tyranny included cutting off colonial trade. The colonists were denied equal justice when they lost their traditional right to a trial by jury in special courts. Acts of military tyranny included quartering , or forcing citizens to house, troops without consent; keeping standing armies in the colonies; waging war against the colonists; and hiring mercenaries , or paid foreign soldiers, to fight them. Repeated attempts by the colonists to petition king and Parliament to address their grievances were ignored or treated with disdain, so the time had come for independence.
In the final paragraph, the representatives appealed to the authority given to them by the people to declare that the united colonies were now free and independent. The new nation had the powers of a sovereign nation and could levy war, make treaties and alliances, and engage in foreign trade. The Declaration ends with the promise that “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Americans had asserted their natural rights, right to self-government, and reasons for splitting from Great Britain. They now faced a long and difficult fight against the most powerful empire in the world to preserve that liberty and independence.
America's Founders looked to the lessons of human nature and history to determine how best to structure a government that would promote liberty. They started with the principle of consent of the governed: the only legitimate government is one which the people themselves have authorized. But the Founders also guarded against the tendency of those in power to abuse their authority, and structured a government whose power is limited and divided in complex ways to prevent a concentration of power. They counted on citizens to live out virtues like justice, honesty, respect, humility, and responsibility.
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Have you ever been asked to explain your opinion on a controversial issue?
Proving your point in an argumentative essay can be challenging, unless you are using a proven formula.
In the image below, you can see a recommended structure for argumentative essays. It starts with the topic sentence, which establishes the main idea of the essay. Next, this hypothesis is developed in the development stage. Then, the rebuttal, or the refutal of the main counter argument or arguments. Then, again, development of the rebuttal. This is followed by an example, and ends with a summary. This is a very basic structure, but it gives you a bird-eye-view of how a proper argumentative essay can be built.
Writing an argumentative essay (for a class, a news outlet, or just for fun) can help you improve your understanding of an issue and sharpen your thinking on the matter. Using researched facts and data, you can explain why you or others think the way you do, even while other reasonable people disagree.
An argumentative essay is an explanatory essay that takes a side.
Instead of appealing to emotion and personal experience to change the reader’s mind, an argumentative essay uses logic and well-researched factual information to explain why the thesis in question is the most reasonable opinion on the matter.
Over several paragraphs or pages, the author systematically walks through:
At the end, the author leaves the decision up to the reader, trusting that the case they’ve made will do the work of changing the reader’s mind. Even if the reader’s opinion doesn’t change, they come away from the essay with a greater understanding of the perspective presented — and perhaps a better understanding of their original opinion.
All of that might make it seem like writing an argumentative essay is way harder than an emotionally-driven persuasive essay — but if you’re like me and much more comfortable spouting facts and figures than making impassioned pleas, you may find that an argumentative essay is easier to write.
Plus, the process of researching an argumentative essay means you can check your assumptions and develop an opinion that’s more based in reality than what you originally thought. I know for sure that my opinions need to be fact checked — don’t yours?
So how exactly do we write the argumentative essay?
First, gain a clear understanding of what exactly an argumentative essay is. To formulate a proper topic sentence, you have to be clear on your topic, and to explore it through research.
Students have difficulty starting an essay because the whole task seems intimidating, and they are afraid of spending too much time on the topic sentence. Experienced writers, however, know that there is no set time to spend on figuring out your topic. It's a real exploration that is based to a large extent on intuition.
Use this checklist to tackle your essay one step at a time:
To start, you need to identify an issue that well-informed people have varying opinions on. Here, it’s helpful to think of one core topic and how it intersects with another (or several other) issues. That intersection is where hot takes and reasonable (or unreasonable) opinions abound.
I find it helpful to stage the issue as a question.
For example:
Is it better to legislate the minimum size of chicken enclosures or to outlaw the sale of eggs from chickens who don’t have enough space?
Should snow removal policies focus more on effectively keeping roads clear for traffic or the environmental impacts of snow removal methods?
Once you have your arguable question ready, start researching the basic facts and specific opinions and arguments on the issue. Do your best to stay focused on gathering information that is directly relevant to your topic. Depending on what your essay is for, you may reference academic studies, government reports, or newspaper articles.
Research your opposition and the facts that support their viewpoint as much as you research your own position . You’ll need to address your opposition in your essay, so you’ll want to know their argument from the inside out.
You likely started with an inclination toward one side or the other, but your research should ultimately shape your perspective. So once you’ve completed the research, nail down your opinion and start articulating the what and why of your take.
What: I think it’s better to outlaw selling eggs from chickens whose enclosures are too small.
Why: Because if you regulate the enclosure size directly, egg producers outside of the government’s jurisdiction could ship eggs into your territory and put nearby egg producers out of business by offering better prices because they don’t have the added cost of larger enclosures.
This is an early form of your thesis and the basic logic of your argument. You’ll want to iterate on this a few times and develop a one-sentence statement that sums up the thesis of your essay.
Thesis: Outlawing the sale of eggs from chickens with cramped living spaces is better for business than regulating the size of chicken enclosures.
Now that you’ve articulated your thesis , spell out the counterargument(s) as well. Putting your opposition’s take into words will help you throughout the rest of the essay-writing process. (You can start by choosing the counter argument option with Wordtune Spices .)
There may be one main counterargument to articulate, or several. Write them all out and start thinking about how you’ll use evidence to address each of them or show why your argument is still the best option.
You did all of that research for a reason. Now’s the time to use it.
Hopefully, you kept detailed notes in a document, complete with links and titles of all your source material. Go through your research document and copy the evidence for your argument and your opposition’s into another document.
List the main points of your argument. Then, below each point, paste the evidence that backs them up.
If you’re writing about chicken enclosures, maybe you found evidence that shows the spread of disease among birds kept in close quarters is worse than among birds who have more space. Or maybe you found information that says eggs from free-range chickens are more flavorful or nutritious. Put that information next to the appropriate part of your argument.
Repeat the process with your opposition’s argument: What information did you find that supports your opposition? Paste it beside your opposition’s argument.
You could also put information here that refutes your opposition, but organize it in a way that clearly tells you — at a glance — that the information disproves their point.
Counterargument: Outlawing the sale of eggs from chickens with too small enclosures will negatively affect prices and sales.
BUT: Sicknesses like avian flu spread more easily through small enclosures and could cause a shortage that would drive up egg prices naturally, so ensuring larger enclosures is still a better policy for consumers over the long term.
As you organize your research and see the evidence all together, start thinking through the best way to order your points.
Will it be better to present your argument all at once or to break it up with opposition claims you can quickly refute? Would some points set up other points well? Does a more complicated point require that the reader understands a simpler point first?
Play around and rearrange your notes to see how your essay might flow one way or another.
Is your brain buzzing yet? At this point in the process, it can be helpful to take out a notebook or open a fresh document and dump whatever you’re thinking on the page.
Where should your essay start? What ground-level information do you need to provide your readers before you can dive into the issue?
Use your organized evidence document from step 3 to think through your argument from beginning to end, and determine the structure of your essay.
As you think through your argument and examine your evidence document, consider which structure will serve your argument best. Sketch out an outline to give yourself a map to follow in the writing process. You could also rearrange your evidence document again to match your outline, so it will be easy to find what you need when you start writing.
You have an outline and an organized document with all your points and evidence lined up and ready. Now you just have to write your essay.
In your first draft, focus on getting your ideas on the page. Your wording may not be perfect (whose is?), but you know what you’re trying to say — so even if you’re overly wordy and taking too much space to say what you need to say, put those words on the page.
Follow your outline, and draw from that evidence document to flesh out each point of your argument. Explain what the evidence means for your argument and your opposition. Connect the dots for your readers so they can follow you, point by point, and understand what you’re trying to say.
1. Any background information your reader needs in order to understand the issue in question.
2. Evidence for both your argument and the counterargument(s). This shows that you’ve done your homework and builds trust with your reader, while also setting you up to make a more convincing argument. (If you find gaps in your research while you’re writing, Wordtune can help.
3. A conclusion that sums up your overall argument and evidence — and leaves the reader with an understanding of the issue and its significance. This sort of conclusion brings your essay to a strong ending that doesn’t waste readers’ time, but actually adds value to your case.
The hard work is done: you have a first draft. Now, let’s fine tune your writing.
I like to step away from what I’ve written for a day (or at least a night of sleep) before attempting to revise. It helps me approach clunky phrases and rough transitions with fresh eyes. If you don’t have that luxury, just get away from your computer for a few minutes — use the bathroom, do some jumping jacks, eat an apple — and then come back and read through your piece.
As you revise, make sure you …
The best way to introduce a convincing argument is to provide a strong thesis statement . These are the words I usually use to start an argumentative essay:
When refuting an opposing concept, use:
Are you convinced by your own argument yet? Ready to brave the next get-together where everyone’s talking like they know something about intermittent fasting , chicken enclosures , or snow removal policies?
Now if someone asks you to explain your evidence-based but controversial opinion, you can hand them your essay and ask them to report back after they’ve read it.
Looking for fresh content, thank you your submission has been received.
Anne Wortham is a Research Librarian in the news syndication industry. One of her earlier articles from THE FREEMAN is included in The Libertarian Alternative: Essays In Social and Political Philosophy . This article is excerpted from her forthcoming book profiling race conscious prototypes among American Negroes.
Individualism, the doctrine of social freedom and independence, is being cast aside today as an ideal of Lockean fools; and individuality — the consequence of self-determination, self-reliance and self-assertiveness — is resented as a mysterious, unmalleable quality to be denied public acknowledgment in the affairs of men and undermined at every opportunity. While social engineers, economic planners and professional reformers continually advocate a social system in which individuals are coerced into equal conditions of life, animal behaviorists tell us that man is not as unique among animals as he likes to think. According to both lines of reasoning, a man is little more than a sophisticated primate who in time can be trained to accept a form of socio-political collectivism that prevents him from achieving any more or less than the man next to him.
They tell us that man’s similarities to other animals in the realm of perceptual awareness are more important than his distinction from them as a being of conceptual awareness; that his similarities to other men as Homo sapiens outweigh his differences from them as an individual. Indeed, behaviorist B. F. Skinner tells us that in order to prevent the abolition of the human species, science must abolish autonomous man (i.e., the individual) — “the man defended by the literatures of freedom and dignity.” “His abolition has long been overdue,” writes Skinner. “To man qua man we readily say good riddance. Only by dispossessing him can we turn to the real causes of human behavior.” 1
Intellectual Independence and Free Will
If they could the abolitionists of individual autonomy would eradicate the intellectual boundaries that distinguish the identity of one man from another. They persist in judging men according to the similarities found in such statistical and categorical classifications as their biological ancestry, their national ancestry, their income level, their sexual attributes or the environment in which they live. While these classifications of attributes are useful in describing groups of individuals, they are not sufficient to distinguish one individual from all others, including those with whom he shares certain characteristics and circumstances. The fundamental characteristic that all men share is their possession of a conceptual faculty. And it is within the realm of man’s identity as a reasoning being that the primary distinction among individuals must be made. That distinction is man’s use of his consciousness. All other variations, such as his values, motivations and attitudes, and their consequences flow from this primary condition. The ruling force of man’s use of his consciousness is his power of volition, what Nathaniel Branden defines as “the power to regulate the action of his own consciousness.” ² It is the power to focus one’s mind to achieve a level of awareness — to initiate thinking and to be aware of the nature and consequences of his thinking. Entailed in this self-regulatory mental activity and fundamental to man’s intellectual independence is his free will. Free will is defined by Branden as follows:
“Free will” — in the widest meaning of the term — is the doctrine that man is capable of performing actions which are not determined by forces outside his control; that man is capable of making choices which are not necessitated by antecedent factors…. Man’s free will consists of a single action, a single basic choice: to think or not to think. It is a freedom entailed by his unique power of self-consciousness. This basic choice — given the context of his knowledge and of the existential possibilities confronting him — controls all of man’s choices, and directs the choice of his actions.³
The doctrine of free will refutes the deterministic claim that man has no control over his conscious growth and development; that he is no more than a mass of protoplasm molded by his genes and social environment whose fate is determined by the stars or a witch’s spell. The use of reasoning is not something done to man; he makes reasoning occur. Even when men behave as if they could not help what they do, given the possession of normal faculties, they must be held accountable for their thought and actions. They must choose — whether out of ignorance, or in order to evade and repress, or whether to achieve truth and freedom of the spirit. Whatever the reasons for their choice, whether for good or evil intentions, men must choose to act; and the choice to act presupposes the choice to think — to initiate reasoning.
Putting Reason to Work
All men are equally equipped with the capacity to reason —man’s basic tool of survival. But it is in his choice to apply (or not to apply) his reason to the problem of survival, from the first hour of birth until the last breath of life, that each man stands unequal to other men. In the broadest sense, the conditions of human survival are equally the same for all healthy men at the onset of their lives. But it is each man’s perception of those conditions and the manner in which he translates those perceptions into integrated knowledge that makes one man unequal to other men. The decision to be conscious —to focus one’s awareness — and to perform the process of thought necessary to live in his environment is original with each man and must be initiated (or suspended) by him. Regardless of where he lives or under what circumstances, he has the option to act in support of his existence — or he can act against it, blanking out thought, evading effort and thereby sabotaging his life.
An individual has no choice about the color of his eyes, but he can choose to color his personality by a view of a gray, fogbound universe in which he feels hopelessly lost and powerless to comprehend; or he can color his personality by a view of a sunswept, integrated universe in which he feels at ease and confident in his ability to master. An individual has no choice about his need for oxygen, but he can choose to pollute his mind with the smog of doubts, fears and rationalizations; or, he can choose to keep his mind filtered with continuous inquiry, knowledge and validation. An individual has no choice about the physical height of his body, but he can choose to reach the intellectual height of a virtuous man of courage; or he can sink to the depths of a cowardly guttersnipe.
Free Will Makes the Difference
It is man’s free will that individuates him. Free will gives him an autonomy that is inviolate, pulling him out from the family of man, separating him from his neighbors, friends, loved ones and associates. In this sense, each man is cognitively alone — not linked to any other men before, during or after him; not linked to any living entity or social institution, conventions, mores or traditions. Even if all men had the same quantity and quality of genetic endowment, the conscious choice of each individual to activate his mind would remain the controlling force of all other life choices. And the character and personality that results would still make the person distinct from all other men.
As an end in himself, man has sole control over his mind; neither his physical nor social environment can compel him to think (or not to think), to act (or not to act). Even when a man chooses to follow the crowd, the choice is his — born in his mind, not in the “collective mind” of the crowd. He may live in an environment where the will of the tribe is law, but there is nothing to prevent him from possessing a sovereign consciousness except his own will. He may live in a society where to exercise his mind is punishable by the pain of death, but there is nothing short of death that can prevent him from using his mind except his own will. His body may be destroyed by others, but only he has the power to destroy his mind.
Like all living things, man is a part of nature but he is the only living organism that is in any degree free of the forces of nature —i.e., not controlled by his external environment. Unlike other organisms, the greater freedom man has of nature, the greater are his chances of survival. “An animal obeys nature blindly,” writes Branden, “man obeys her intelligently — and thereby acquires the power to command her.”4
Unlike the lilies of the field that neither toil nor spin, man cannot survive in his environment merely as a passive reactor. The facts of reality exist for all to comprehend. It rains on the irrational as well as the rational but what a man makes of the rain is entirely his own affair. A simple but profound difference between the lilies of the field and man is that while the survival of the lilies is dependent on their strength to withstand the rain they cannot escape, man builds a shelter. And the difference between individuals is that while one man will build a shelter of straw, another will build his shelter of stone.
All lilies everywhere react biochemically to their environment in much the same way. But each man, at any time and under any circumstances, must face the facts of his environment alone — not with the purpose of being a chemical reactor but with the purpose of identifying the facts and using that knowledge to further his life. There are no exceptions. The rules are the same for each man whether he inhabits a mud hut in the most primitive jungle or a marble mansion in the most technologically advanced society. A Twentieth Century housewife’s responsibility to activate her consciousness is no less than Aristotle’s was. And all her claims to an intellectual heritage based on the thinking of Aristotle will not make her any less responsible for the original thinking she does or does not do. What links the housewife and Aristotle, or the caveman and the astronaut is that regardless of their knowledge, context and values, each must function in the manner of Homo sapiens: each must choose to focus his awareness or not to focus it.
It is not enough to choose to think; one must then proceed to think — to understand the identity and cause of things. “Theirs [is] not to reason why,” wrote Alfred Tennyson of the Light Brigade, “theirs [is] but to do and die.” But if man is to exist in harmony with reality, he must ask why. (as well as what and how) and he must live to live, not to die.
Intellectual Independence and Understanding
If a man is to control his environment rather than rely on the thinking of those who do control their environment, he must be willing to understand that environment. Guesswork, hunches, or faith won’t do. He must be willing to distinguish between who and what in his environment is beneficial to his existence and who and what is inimical to it. But understanding is not a quality man is born with. It does not come to him overnight (even a sudden “brainstorm” has a cognitive history in an individual’s mind) and it cannot be merely wished into existence. It is an intellectual level of awareness one must work for — the end product of a logical process of independent thought.
The principle of understanding occupies both ends of the knowledge-acquiring spectrum; it is an on-going process that is both the cause and effect of man’s reasoning. A man activates his reasoning because he wants to understand himself and reality; and as the result of his logical reasoning, he achieves understanding. Mere repetition or imitation does not constitute learned knowledge, as it does not require understanding. But learning requires thinking and thinking requires the will to understand. While it is possible for one man to learn from another, it is not possible for one man to do another’s thinking. What he learns must, be his knowledge, or he cannot claim to have learned. This is not to say that a person’s ideas must necessarily be original with himself. He may hold the same ideas as other men, but what must be original with him is the thinking and the manner of thinking he does to reach the same conclusions as other men. However, the goal of his thinking should not be to reach the conclusions that others have reached but to arrive at convictions that are legitimately his own — whether they stand in agreement or disagreement with those of others.
Entailed in the will to understand is the commitment to creativity and honesty. One must not only be certain about what he knows but also the extent and limitation of his knowledge. He must be the prime architect, organizer and administrator of the content of his consciousness. He must be at once selective about the facts he integrates and scrupulous about the relevance they hold for his life. It is in this manner that understanding is necessarily contextual. It is by this monitoring of his thinking that an individual maintains cognitive harmony with the facts of reality and it is in this manner that he remains honest.
Achievement through Experience
The Possibility of Error
There are aspects of reality which one may not be able to understand until the context of his life is broad enough to provide room for that knowledge which he does not yet possess. Yet it is also possible to have an abstract understanding of certain facts and never have an experience in one’s life that reflects that understanding. One does not have to be a candlestick maker to understand how candles are produced. For the same reason, one is not prohibited from inventing a better source of light than candles simply because it has not been done before. This creativity, or what Branden calls “cognitive self-assertiveness,” is the factor of man’s consciousness that underlies his esthetic expression: he is able to create a fictional hero unlike any person he has met — or paint a landscape he has never seen — or devise a theory for a social system that has never existed.
Since man is not infallible—since knowledge and the understanding it entails is not automatic in human beings — since man must discover what is beneficial and what is inimical to his existence — there is always the possibility that he may commit errors of knowledge and judgment. The will to understand requires that he be willing to admit those errors and to correct them. It requires that he operate on the premise of intellectual honesty, confidence and courage. Rather than a source of humiliation, an error should be seen as a green light signaling the necessity for new thought that can lead to another level of understanding, increased knowledge and intellectual growth. It presents one with the opportunity to expand his ability to deal with the world around him; to increase his efficacy as a person. Man cannot be right all the time, and he cannot be certain about everything all the time. One’s past assumptions may be proven in error by his future knowledge; and by the same principle, his answers to today’s questions may become his validated convictions of tomorrow. What is important is that he does not attempt to fake his own nature or the nature of reality by evading his errors or refusing to acknowledge and resolve his uncertainties.
Steps in the Growth Process
But there are those who would rather die than admit their errors. Equating right with good and wrong with bad, they feel that to admit they have erred means to admit that they are bad people. To be judged in error is to them the same as having their morality called into question. Hence, they build up all manner of defenses and rationalizations to protect the image of perfection and omniscience they would like to project. But in choosing such deception, they commit an even greater error — not one of knowledge, but a breach of morality: they wish to fake reality.
But the man committed to understanding does not experience such fears or contradictions. He knows that to be wrong does not mean that he is morally bad; he knows further that being right does not make one necessarily morally good. He knows that one is morally bad only when he tries to make a mistake appear to be correct when it isn’t; he is then bad because he is a liar. He knows that mistakes are tools; they are warning signals that more knowledge is required of him. He does not feel that because he has made mistakes, he cannot be certain of anything. And he never uses the phrase “to err is human” as an excuse not to correct his mistakes. To be human is to grow; human error, properly seen, is a force of motivation — not an excuse to do nothing.
The man who chooses to think and does so with the will to understand is a person of sovereign consciousness, a self-regulating consciousness. To be such an individual means accepting the responsibility for being cognitively independent of other men; it means being responsible for one’s own thinking — being the initiator of the thought and action necessary for one’s existence. Because he is a self-regulator, the sovereign individual does not depend on the judgment of others to motivate his self-understanding. He is intellectually adventurous and secure in his convictions, but always on the alert to improve and expand his store of knowledge and correct his errors. Not only does he seek knowledge to benefit his existence; he enjoys the search. Repeatedly, he enthusiastically initiates the process of identifying aspects of reality, of integrating those facts into concepts and those concepts into wider abstractions and principles to add to his continual accumulation of knowledge.
1 Skinner, B.F., Beyond Freedom and Dignity, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1971), pp. 200-201.
² Branden, Nathaniel, The Psychology of Self-Esteem, (Los Angeles: Nash Publishing Corporation, 1969), p. 37.
3 Ibid., p. 50.
4 Branden, Nathaniel, The Disowned Self, (Los Angeles: Nash Publishing Corporation, 1971), p. 239.
Anne Wortham is an associate professor of sociology at Illinois State University. She is a rare voice in the liberty movement — a scholar and rogue academic. She wrote her first piece for The Freeman in 1966.
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Chapter 7. Growing and Developing
Learning objectives.
Adolescence is defined as the years between the onset of puberty and the beginning of adulthood . In the past, when people were likely to marry in their early 20s or younger, this period might have lasted only 10 years or less — starting roughly between ages 12 and 13 and ending by age 20, at which time the child got a job or went to work on the family farm, married, and started his or her own family. Today, children mature more slowly, move away from home at later ages, and maintain ties with their parents longer. For instance, children may go away to university but still receive financial support from parents, and they may come home on weekends or even to live for extended time periods. Thus the period between puberty and adulthood may well last into the late 20s, merging into adulthood itself. In fact, it is appropriate now to consider the period of adolescence and that of emerging adulthood ( the ages between 18 and the middle or late 20s ) together.
During adolescence, the child continues to grow physically, cognitively, and emotionally, changing from a child into an adult. The body grows rapidly in size, and the sexual and reproductive organs become fully functional. At the same time, as adolescents develop more advanced patterns of reasoning and a stronger sense of self, they seek to forge their own identities, developing important attachments with people other than their parents. Particularly in Western societies, where the need to forge a new independence is critical (Baumeister & Tice, 1986; Twenge, 2006), this period can be stressful for many children, as it involves new emotions, the need to develop new social relationships, and an increasing sense of responsibility and independence.
Although adolescence can be a time of stress for many teenagers, most of them weather the trials and tribulations successfully. For example, the majority of adolescents experiment with alcohol sometime before high school graduation. Although many will have been drunk at least once, relatively few teenagers will develop long-lasting drinking problems or permit alcohol to adversely affect their school or personal relationships. Similarly, a great many teenagers break the law during adolescence, but very few young people develop criminal careers (Farrington, 1995). These facts do not, however, mean that using drugs or alcohol is a good idea. The use of recreational drugs can have substantial negative consequences, and the likelihood of these problems (including dependence, addiction, and even brain damage) is significantly greater for young adults who begin using drugs at an early age.
Adolescence begins with the onset of puberty , a developmental period in which hormonal changes cause rapid physical alterations in the body, culminating in sexual maturity . Although the timing varies to some degree across cultures, the average age range for reaching puberty is between nine and 14 years for girls and between 10 and 17 years for boys (Marshall & Tanner, 1986).
Puberty begins when the pituitary gland begins to stimulate the production of the male sex hormone testosterone in boys and the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone in girls. The release of these sex hormones triggers the development of the primary sex characteristics , the sex organs concerned with reproduction (Figure 7.8, “Sex Characteristics”). These changes include the enlargement of the testicles and the penis in boys and the development of the ovaries, uterus, and vagina in girls. In addition, secondary sex characteristics ( features that distinguish the two sexes from each other but are not involved in reproduction ) are also developing, such as an enlarged Adam’s apple, a deeper voice, and pubic and underarm hair in boys, and enlargement of the breasts and hips and the appearance of pubic and underarm hair in girls (Figure 7.8, “Sex Characteristics”). The enlargement of breasts is usually the first sign of puberty in girls and, on average, occurs between ages 10 and 12 (Marshall & Tanner, 1986). Boys typically begin to grow facial hair between ages 14 and 16, and both boys and girls experience a rapid growth spurt during this stage. The growth spurt for girls usually occurs earlier than that for boys, with some boys continuing to grow into their 20s.
A major milestone in puberty for girls is menarche , the first menstrual period , typically experienced at around 12 or 13 years of age (Anderson, Dannal, & Must, 2003). The age of menarche varies substantially and is determined by genetics, as well as by diet and lifestyle, since a certain amount of body fat is needed to attain menarche. Girls who are very slim, who engage in strenuous athletic activities, or who are malnourished may begin to menstruate later. Even after menstruation begins, girls whose level of body fat drops below the critical level may stop having their periods. The sequence of events for puberty is more predictable than the age at which they occur. Some girls may begin to grow pubic hair at age 10 but not attain menarche until age 15. In boys, facial hair may not appear until 10 years after the initial onset of puberty.
The timing of puberty in both boys and girls can have significant psychological consequences. Boys who mature earlier attain some social advantages because they are taller and stronger and, therefore, often more popular (Lynne, Graber, Nichols, Brooks-Gunn, & Botvin, 2007). At the same time, however, early-maturing boys are at greater risk for delinquency and are more likely than their peers to engage in antisocial behaviours, including drug and alcohol use, truancy, and precocious sexual activity. Girls who mature early may find their maturity stressful, particularly if they experience teasing or sexual harassment (Mendle, Turkheimer, & Emery, 2007; Pescovitz & Walvoord, 2007). Early-maturing girls are also more likely to have emotional problems, a lower self-image, and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and disordered eating than their peers (Ge, Conger, & Elder, 1996).
Although the most rapid cognitive changes occur during childhood, the brain continues to develop throughout adolescence, and even into the 20s (Weinberger, Elvevåg, & Giedd, 2005). During adolescence, the brain continues to form new neural connections, but also casts off unused neurons and connections (Blakemore, 2008). As teenagers mature, the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for reasoning, planning, and problem solving, also continues to develop (Goldberg, 2001). And myelin, the fatty tissue that forms around axons and neurons and helps speed transmissions between different regions of the brain, also continues to grow (Rapoport et al., 1999).
Adolescents often seem to act impulsively, rather than thoughtfully, and this may be in part because the development of the prefrontal cortex is, in general, slower than the development of the emotional parts of the brain, including the limbic system (Blakemore, 2008). Furthermore, the hormonal surge that is associated with puberty, which primarily influences emotional responses, may create strong emotions and lead to impulsive behaviour. It has been hypothesized that adolescents may engage in risky behaviour, such as smoking, drug use, dangerous driving, and unprotected sex, in part because they have not yet fully acquired the mental ability to curb impulsive behaviour or to make entirely rational judgments (Steinberg, 2007).
The new cognitive abilities that are attained during adolescence may also give rise to new feelings of egocentrism, in which adolescents believe that they can do anything and that they know better than anyone else, including their parents (Elkind, 1978). Teenagers are likely to be highly self-conscious, often creating an imaginary audience in which they feel that everyone is constantly watching them (Goossens, Beyers, Emmen, & van Aken, 2002). Because teens think so much about themselves, they mistakenly believe that others must be thinking about them, too (Rycek, Stuhr, McDermott, Benker, & Swartz, 1998). It is no wonder that everything a teen’s parents do suddenly feels embarrassing to them when they are in public.
Some of the most important changes that occur during adolescence involve the further development of the self-concept and the development of new attachments. Whereas young children are most strongly attached to their parents, the important attachments of adolescents move increasingly away from parents and increasingly toward peers (Harris, 1998). As a result, parents’ influence diminishes at this stage.
According to Erikson (Table 7.1, “Challenges of Development as Proposed by Erik Erikson”), the main social task of the adolescent is the search for a unique identity — the ability to answer the question “Who am I?” In the search for identity, the adolescent may experience role confusion in which he or she is balancing or choosing among identities, taking on negative or undesirable identities, or temporarily giving up looking for an identity altogether if things are not going well.
One approach to assessing identity development was proposed by James Marcia (1980). In his approach, adolescents are asked questions regarding their exploration of and commitment to issues related to occupation, politics, religion, and sexual behaviour. The responses to the questions allow the researchers to classify the adolescent into one of four identity categories (see Table 7.4, “James Marcia’s Stages of Identity Development”).
Identity-diffusion status | The individual does not have firm commitments regarding the issues in question and is not making progress toward them. |
Foreclosure status | The individual has not engaged in any identity experimentation and has established an identity based on the choices or values of others. |
Moratorium status | The individual is exploring various choices but has not yet made a clear commitment to any of them. |
Identity-achievement status | The individual has attained a coherent and committed identity based on personal decisions. |
Studies assessing how teens pass through Marcia’s stages show that, although most teens eventually succeed in developing a stable identity, the path to it is not always easy and there are many routes that can be taken. Some teens may simply adopt the beliefs of their parents or the first role that is offered to them, perhaps at the expense of searching for other, more promising possibilities (foreclosure status). Other teens may spend years trying on different possible identities (moratorium status) before finally choosing one.
To help them work through the process of developing an identity, teenagers may well try out different identities in different social situations. They may maintain one identity at home and a different type of persona when they are with their peers. Eventually, most teenagers do integrate the different possibilities into a single self-concept and a comfortable sense of identity (identity-achievement status).
For teenagers, the peer group provides valuable information about the self-concept. For instance, in response to the question “What were you like as a teenager? (e.g., cool, nerdy, awkward?),” posed on the website Answerbag, one teenager replied in this way:
I’m still a teenager now, but from 8th-9th grade I didn’t really know what I wanted at all. I was smart, so I hung out with the nerdy kids. I still do; my friends mean the world to me. But in the middle of 8th I started hanging out with whom you may call the “cool” kids…and I also hung out with some stoners, just for variety. I pierced various parts of my body and kept my grades up. Now, I’m just trying to find who I am. I’m even doing my sophomore year in China so I can get a better view of what I want. (Answerbag, 2007)
Responses like this one demonstrate the extent to which adolescents are developing their self-concepts and self-identities and how they rely on peers to help them do that. The writer here is trying out several (perhaps conflicting) identities, and the identities any teen experiments with are defined by the group the person chooses to be a part of. The friendship groups (cliques, crowds, or gangs) that are such an important part of the adolescent experience allow the young adult to try out different identities, and these groups provide a sense of belonging and acceptance (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). A big part of what the adolescent is learning is social identity , the part of the self-concept that is derived from one’s group memberships . Adolescents define their social identities according to how they are similar to and differ from others, finding meaning in the sports, religious, school, gender, and ethnic categories they belong to.
The independence that comes with adolescence requires independent thinking as well as the development of morality — standards of behaviour that are generally agreed on within a culture to be right or proper . Just as Piaget believed that children’s cognitive development follows specific patterns, Lawrence Kohlberg (1984) argued that children learn their moral values through active thinking and reasoning, and that moral development follows a series of stages. To study moral development, Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas to children, teenagers, and adults, such as the following:
In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging 10 times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife.
Watch: People Being Interviewed About Kohlberg’s Stages [YouTube] : http://www.youtube.com/v/zY4etXWYS84
As you can see in Table 7.5, “Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning,” Kohlberg concluded, on the basis of their responses to the moral questions, that, as children develop intellectually, they pass through three stages of moral thinking : the preconventional level , the conventional level , and the postconventional level .
Age | Moral Stage | Description |
---|---|---|
Young children | Preconventional morality | Until about the age of nine, children focus on self-interest. At this stage, punishment is avoided and rewards are sought. A person at this level will argue, “The man shouldn’t steal the drug, as he may get caught and go to jail.” |
Older children, adolescents, most adults | Conventional morality | By early adolescence, the child begins to care about how situational outcomes impact others and wants to please and be accepted. At this developmental phase, people are able to value the good that can be derived from holding to social norms in the form of laws or less formalized rules. For example, a person at this level may say, “He should not steal the drug, as everyone will see him as a thief, and his wife, who needs the drug, wouldn’t want to be cured because of thievery,” or, “No matter what, he should obey the law because stealing is a crime.” |
Many adults | Postconventional morality | At this stage, individuals employ abstract reasoning to justify behaviours. Moral behaviour is based on self-chosen ethical principles that are generally comprehensive and universal, such as justice, dignity, and equality. Someone with self-chosen principles may say, “The man should steal the drug to cure his wife and then tell the authorities that he has done so. He may have to pay a penalty, but at least he has saved a human life.” |
Although research has supported Kohlberg’s idea that moral reasoning changes from an early emphasis on punishment and social rules and regulations to an emphasis on more general ethical principles, as with Piaget’s approach, Kohlberg’s stage model is probably too simple. For one, children may use higher levels of reasoning for some types of problems, but revert to lower levels in situations where doing so is more consistent with their goals or beliefs (Rest, 1979). Second, it has been argued that the stage model is particularly appropriate for Western, rather than non-Western, samples in which allegiance to social norms (such as respect for authority) may be particularly important (Haidt, 2001). And there is frequently little correlation between how children score on the moral stages and how they behave in real life.
Perhaps the most important critique of Kohlberg’s theory is that it may describe the moral development of boys better than it describes that of girls. Carol Gilligan (1982) has argued that, because of differences in their socialization, males tend to value principles of justice and rights, whereas females value caring for and helping others. Although there is little evidence that boys and girls score differently on Kohlberg’s stages of moral development (Turiel, 1998), it is true that girls and women tend to focus more on issues of caring, helping, and connecting with others than do boys and men (Jaffee & Hyde, 2000). If you don’t believe this, ask yourself when you last got a thank-you note from a man.
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High-quality essay on the topic of "Independence And Individuality" for students in schools and colleges.
Like other academic essays, an argumentative essay begins with an introduction. The introduction serves to capture the reader's interest, provide background information, present your thesis statement, and (in longer essays) to summarize the structure of the body.
The Declaration of Independence as an Argumentative Essay. The first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence (hereafter called the "Declaration") is the hook that announces to the reader what the document will do. It argues that "when in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands ...
An academic argument asserts a claim and supports that claim with evidence. The goal of an argument is to convince readers that the writer's position is reasonable, valid, and worthy of consideration. Therefore, an argumentative thesis statement needs to be not only clear and focused, but also debatable, assertive, and reasoned.
Learn how to write effective introductions for academic essays from this Harvard College Writing Center guide, with examples and tips.
Explore the structure and components of an argumentative essay, including thesis statements and evidence-based arguments.
An argumentative essay is one that makes a clear assertion or argument about some topic or issue. When you're writing an argumentative essay, it's important to remember that an academic argument is quite different from a regular, emotional argument. Note that sometimes students forget the academic aspect of an argumentative essay and write essays that are much too emotional for an academic ...
What is an argumentative essay? Learn what sets this form of writing apart and how to write an argumentative paper.
How to Write an Argumentative Essay An argumentative essay is a structured, compelling piece of writing where an author clearly defines their stance on a specific topic. This is a very popular style of writing assigned to students at schools, colleges, and universities. Learn the steps to researching, structuring, and writing an effective argumentative essay below.
Writing an argumentative essay? What's a good topic? Learn how to write a great argumentative essay and read our expert examples.
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Created in collaboration with the Philadelphia Writing Project and the National Writing Project, this lesson plan uses the Declaration of Independence as an example of a powerful written argument, and is based on this inquiry question: How can I harness the power of an argument to change the world?
An argumentative essay requires the writer to investigate a specific topic by collecting and evaluating evidence to establish a position on the subject matter.
The natural rights republican ideals of the Declaration of Independence influenced the creation of American constitutional government founded upon liberty and equality. They also shaped the expectation that a free people would live in a just society. Indeed, the Declaration states that to secure natural rights is the fundamental duty of government.
A good introduction paragraph is an essential part of any academic essay. It sets up your argument and tells the reader what to expect.
Directions: As you read the essay, highlight the events from the graphic organizer in Handout B in one color. Think about how each of these events led the American colonists further down the road to declaring independence. Highlight the impacts of those events in another color.
Learn how to write effective introductions for argumentative essays. Get tips, see examples, and improve your essay writing skills with our guide.
Argumentative essay formula & example. In the image below, you can see a recommended structure for argumentative essays. It starts with the topic sentence, which establishes the main idea of the essay. Next, this hypothesis is developed in the development stage. Then, the rebuttal, or the refutal of the main counter argument or arguments.
Although this right to individuality is central to Mill's defense of indi-vidual liberty, his formulation of the object of his essay does not directly invoke the notion of individuality.
Individualism, the doctrine of social freedom and independence, is being cast aside today as an ideal of Lockean fools; and individuality — the consequence of self-determination, self-reliance and self-assertiveness — is resented as a mysterious, unmalleable quality to be denied public acknowledgment in the affairs of men and undermined at every opportunity. While social engineers ...
The independence that comes with adolescence requires independent thinking as well as the development of morality — standards of behaviour that are generally agreed on within a culture to be right or proper.
Answer: Explanation: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY ABOUT INDEPENDENCE AND INDIVIDUALITY. Even if the unconscious is not only the social, the impact of propaganda on contemporary subjects are the psychic mechanisms of propaganda. In the light of the answers to these questions, can the attack to independence and individuality can be considered an act of ...