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Sentence Starters: Ultimate List to Improve Your Essays and Writing

Ashley Shaw

This blog post is going to be about … No. Too boring.

Today, I am going to talk to you about ... No. Too specific.

This is a blog post for all writers ... Nope. Too generic.

Has this ever been you while writing? I get it. Writing a good sentence can be hard, and when you have to string a whole lot of them together, the task can become daunting. So what do you do?

From the first sentence you write to the very last, you want each one to show your style and motivate your reader to keep reading. In this post, we are going to think about how you start your sentences.

What Is a Good Sentence Starter for an Essay Introduction?

What is a good sentence starter for a body paragraph, 25 useful transitions, can i repeat a sentence starter, how can i rephrase "in conclusion".

The first paragraph of a paper can make or break your grade. It is what gets your audience into the topic and sets the whole stage. Because of this, it is important to get your readers hooked early.

The first sentence of a paper is often called the hook. It shouldn’t be anything ordinary. It should have strong language and be a little surprising, with an interesting fact, story, statistic, or quote on the topic.

Because it is designed to pull the reader in and surprise them a little, it is often good to avoid pre-written sentence starter examples when writing your hook. Just get into it here, and worry about the flow later.

Here are some examples:

Spider webs were once used as bandages.

I taught myself to read when I was three. At least, that’s the story my parents tell.

Recent studies suggest that the average person lies at least once in every conversation.

“The world is bleeding and humans wield the knife,” or so says environmental scientist So Andso.

(P.S. Except for example 1, which is true, I just made all of these up to demonstrate my point. So, please don’t quote me on these!)

Once you jump right in with your hook, it is time to start working on ways to move sentences along. Here is where you may need some sentence starter examples.

In your first paragraph, you basically want to connect your hook to your thesis. You’ll do this with a few sentences setting up the stage for your topic and the claim you will make about it. To do that, follow the tips found in the next section on body paragraphs and general sentence starter tips.

Many of the tips I am about to discuss can be used anywhere in a paper, but they are especially helpful when writing body paragraphs.

Let’s start with one of the most important types of sentence starter in essay writing: transition words.

How Do I Use Transitions in an Essay?

If you want to start writing terrific sentences (and improve your essay structure ), the first thing you should do is start using transition words.

Transition words are those words or phrases that help connect thoughts and ideas. They move one sentence or paragraph into another, and they make things feel less abrupt.

The good thing about transition words is that you probably know a lot of them already and currently use them in your speech. Now, you just need to transition them into your writing. (See what I did there?)

Before we get into examples of what a good transition word is, let’s look at a paragraph without any transitions:

I went to the store. I bought bacon and eggs. I saw someone I knew. I said hello. I went to the cashier. They checked me out. I paid. I got my groceries. I went to my car. I returned home.

Yikes! That is some boring writing. It was painful to write, and I am sure it is even worse to read. There are two reasons for this:

• I start every sentence with the same word (more on this later)
• There are no signposts showing me how the ideas in the paragraph connect.

In an essay, you need to show how each of your ideas relate to each other to build your argument. If you just make a series of statements one after the other, you’re not showing your instructor that you actually understand those statements, or your topic.

How do we fix this? Transition words. Roughly 25% of your sentences should start with a transition word. If you can hit that number in your essay, you’ll know that you’ve made meaningful steps towards demonstrating your understanding.

Of course, hitting that number isn’t enough—those transitions need to be meaningful. Let’s look at the different types of transitions and how you can use them.

What Are Words Like First , Next , and Last Called?

You probably already use some transitions in your essays. For example, if you start a paragraph with firstly , you’ve used a transition word. But transitions can do so much more!

Here are 25 common transitional words and phrases that you could use in your essay:

• Additionally / In Addition
• Alternatively / Conversely
• As a result of
• At this time
• Consequently
• Contrary to
• First(ly), Second(ly), etc.
• In contrast
• Nonetheless
• On the other hand
• Particularly / In particular
• In other words

This list isn’t exhaustive, but it is a good start.

These words show different types of relationships between ideas. These relationships fall into four main categories: Emphasis , Contrast , Addition , and Order .

What Are Emphasis Transition Words?

These phrases are used when you want to highlight a point. Examples from my above list include clearly , particularly , and indeed . Want to see some more? Follow my bolded transitions: Undoubtedly , you understand now. It should be noted that you don’t need to worry.

How Do You Use Addition Transitions?

These words add on to what you just said. These are words like along with , moreover , and also . Here are some more: Not only are you going to be great at transitions after this, but you will also be good at writing sentences. Furthermore , everyone is excited to see what you have to say.

How Can I Use Transitions to Contrast Ideas?

This is the opposite of addition, and you use it when you want to show an alternative view or to compare things. Examples from my list include words like nonetheless , contrary to , and besides .

Here are some more: Unlike people who haven’t read this article, you are going to be really prepared to write great sentences. Even so , there is still a lot more about writing to learn.

How Do I Order Ideas in My Essay?

A good first step is using order transition words.

This set of transitions helps mark the passage of time or gives an order to events. From the list, think of things like first and finally . Now for some extras: At this time yesterday , you were worried about starting sentences. Following this , though, you will be an expert.

Now that you get the concept of transitions, let’s go back to that poorly written paragraph above and add some in to see what happens:

This morning , I went to the store. While I was there, I bought bacon and eggs. Then I saw someone I knew. So I said hello. After that , I went to the cashier. At that time , they checked me out. First , I paid. Next , I got my groceries. Following that , I went to my car. Finally , I returned home.

(Notice the use of commas after most of these transitions!)

This isn’t the best paragraph I’ve ever written. It still needs a lot of work. However, notice what a difference just adding transitions makes. This is something simple but effective you can start doing to make your sentences better today.

If you want to check your transition usage, try ProWritingAid’s Transitions report . You’ll see how many of each type of transition word you've used so you can pin-point where you might be losing your reader.

Sign up for a free ProWritingAid account to try it out.

What Are Some Linking Phrases I Can Use in My Essay?

As well as individual words, you can also use short phrases at the beginning of your sentences to transition between ideas. I just did it there— "As well as individual words" shows you how this section of the article is related to the last.

Here are some more phrases like this:

As shown in the example,

As a result of this,

After the meeting,

While this may be true,

Though researchers suggest X,

Before the war began,

Until we answer this question,

Since we cannot assume this to be true,

While some may claim Y,

Because we know that Z is true,

These short phrases are called dependent clauses . See how they all end with a comma? That's because they need you to add more information to make them into complete sentences.

• While some may claim that chocolate is bad for you, data from a recent study suggests that it may have untapped health benefits .
• Since we cannot assume that test conditions were consistent, it is impossible to reach a solid conclusion via this experiment .
• As a result of this, critics disagree as to the symbolism of the yellow car in The Great Gatsby .

The bolded text in each example could stand on its own as a complete sentence. However, if we take away the first part of each sentence, we lose our connection to the other ideas in the essay.

These phrases are called dependent clauses : they depend on you adding another statement to the sentence to complete them. When you use a sentence starter phrase like the ones above in your writing, you signal that the new idea you have introduced completes (or disrupts) the idea before it.

Note: While some very short dependent clauses don’t need a comma, most do. Since it is not wrong to use one on even short ones (depending on the style guide being used), it is a good idea to include one every time.

Along with missing transitions and repeating sentence structure, another thing that stops sentences from being great is too much repetition. Keep your sentences sharp and poignant by mixing up word choices to start your sentences.

You might start your sentence with a great word, but then you use that same word 17 sentences in a row. After the first couple, your sentences don’t sound as great. So, whether it is varying the transitional phrases you use or just mixing up the sentence openers in general, putting in some variety will only improve your sentences.

ProWritingAid lets you know if you’ve used the same word repeatedly at the start of your sentences so you can change it.

The Repeats Report also shows you all of the repeats in your document. If you've used a sentence starter and then repeated it a couple of paragraphs down, the report will highlight it for you.

Try the Repeats Report with a free ProWritingAid account.

Now that you have your introduction sentences and body sentences taken care of, let’s talk a little about conclusion sentences. While you will still use transitions and clauses as in the body, there are some special considerations here.

Your conclusion is what people will remember most after they finish reading your paper. So, you want to make it stand out. Don’t just repeat yourself; tell them what they should do with what you just told them!

Use the tips from above, but also remember the following:

Be unique. Not only should you vary the words you use to start different sentences, but you should also think outside of the box. If you use the same conclusion sentence starter everyone else is using, your ideas will blend in too.

Be natural. Some of the best writing out there is writing that sounds natural. This goes for academic writing, too. While you won’t use phrases like "at the end of the day" in essay writing, stilted phrases like "in conclusion" can disrupt the flow you’ve created earlier on.

Here are some alternatives to "in conclusion" you could use in an essay:

• To review, ... (best for scientific papers where you need to restate your key points before making your final statement)
• As has been shown, ...
• In the final analysis, ...
• Taking everything into account, ...
• On the whole, ...
• Generally speaking, ...

If you’re looking for more ways to rephrase "in conclusion," take a look at our complete list of synonyms you can use.

There may not be a set word or words that you can use to make your sentences perfect. However, when you start using these tips, you’ll start to see noticeable improvement in your writing.

If you’ve ever heard people talk about pacing and flow in academic writing, and you have no idea what they mean or how to improve yours, then this is your answer. These tips will help your writing sound more natural, which is how you help your ideas flow.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

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Ashley Shaw is a former editor and marketer/current PhD student and teacher. When she isn't studying con artists for her dissertation, she's thinking of new ways to help college students better understand and love the writing process.

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Crafting Compelling Sentence Starters for Essays

Embarking on the journey of essay writing can often feel like standing at the edge of a cliff, especially when it comes to crafting that perfect opening line. The initial words of your essay set the tone and can either captivate your reader or lose their interest. In this article, we'll explore various strategies and examples of sentence starters that can elevate your essays, making them not just informative but also engaging and thought-provoking.

The Art of the Opening Sentence

The opening sentence is your first impression, your chance to grab the reader's attention. It's the gateway to your thoughts and arguments, setting the stage for what's to come.

Why Are Good Sentence Starters Important?

• Engagement: A compelling starter draws the reader in, piquing their curiosity.
• Direction: It sets the tone and direction of your essay.
• Context: A well-crafted opening provides a glimpse into the essay's context.

Examples of Effective Sentence Starters

• "In the realm of X, it is often debated that..."
• "Imagine a world where X is the norm..."
• "X is a phenomenon that has captured the attention of many..."

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Types of Sentence Starters

Depending on your essay's tone and subject, different types of sentence starters can be employed.

Question Starters

• "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to X?"
• "Why is X considered essential in the field of Y?"

Statement Starters

• "The concept of X has evolved significantly over the years."
• "X is a testament to the power of Y."

Quotation Starters

• "As X once said, '...'"
• "The words of X resonate deeply in the context of Y."

Tailoring Starters to Your Essay

The key to choosing the right starter is understanding the purpose and tone of your essay. Is it argumentative, descriptive, or narrative? Each type demands a different approach to engaging your reader.

Tips for Crafting Your Own Starters

• Know Your Audience: Tailor your language to resonate with your readers.
• Be Concise: Keep it clear and to the point.
• Be Original: Avoid clichés to make your essay stand out.

Summary and Key Insights

Mastering the art of the opening sentence can transform your essays from mundane to memorable. It's about making a connection with your reader and setting the stage for your ideas.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a sentence starter too cliché.

A cliché starter is one that's overused and predictable, lacking originality and failing to engage the reader.

Can I start an essay with a quote?

Absolutely! A relevant and thought-provoking quote can be an excellent way to start an essay.

How long should a sentence starter be?

It should be concise enough to be impactful but long enough to set the context.

Is it okay to start an essay with a question?

Yes, starting with a question can be a great way to engage the reader's curiosity.

Can humor be used in essay sentence starters?

If appropriate for the topic and audience, humor can be an effective tool.

The right sentence starter can be the difference between an essay that resonates and one that falls flat. It's your first step in a dialogue with your reader, so make it count.

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Useful Sentence Starters For Academic Writing

In academic writing, sentence starters play a vital role in organizing your ideas, conveying your arguments effectively, and maintaining a flow throughout your research paper. In this blog post, we will explore various sentence starters that can elevate the quality of your academic writing and provide examples tailored to research-based essays.

Why are sentence starters useful

Sentence starters are particularly helpful in introductions to grab the reader’s attention and provide a clear roadmap for the research essay. They can be employed when introducing a new argument or point, creating a smooth transition between paragraphs, or when emphasizing key ideas. Additionally, sentence starters are beneficial in conclusions to summarize key findings, restate the thesis, and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

Moreover, sentence starters are valuable in comparisons to highlight similarities or differences, in sequences or lists to provide a structured flow of ideas, and in elaboration to expand on points or introduce new evidence. They can also be used to express uncertainty or doubt when discussing conflicting perspectives or limitations in the research. Overall, sentence starters add coherence, clarity, and sophistication to academic writing, making it more compelling and engaging for the reader .

Introduction sentence starters for essays

These sentence starters introduce what the paragraph or entire text is about so the readers know what to expect. 

• “This study aims to…”

Example: This study aims to investigate the correlation between social media usage and mental health among teenagers.

• “In recent years, research has shown…”

Example: In recent years, research has shown a growing interest in the potential therapeutic benefits of mindfulness practices.

• “The purpose of this research is to…”

Example: The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of climate change on biodiversity in tropical rainforests.

Conclusion sentence starters

These sentence starters are helpful to hint at the reader that you’re about to wrap things up so they don’t expect any new points or evidence. 

• “In conclusion, it is evident that…”

Example: In conclusion, it is evident that the implementation of renewable energy sources is crucial for mitigating the effects of global warming.

• “Based on the findings, it can be concluded that…”

Example: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that regular exercise contributes to improved cognitive function in older adults.

• “Overall, this research sheds light on…”

Example: Overall, this research sheds light on the importance of early intervention programs for children with learning disabilities.

Good sentence starters for comparisons

These sentence starters show that two things are related or alike. 

• “Similarly,…”

Example: Similarly, both studies observed a significant decrease in cholesterol levels among participants who followed a Mediterranean diet.

• “In contrast to…”

Example: In contrast to previous research, this study found no significant relationship between caffeine consumption and sleep disturbances.

• “Like X, Y also…”

Example: Like previous studies, this research also highlights the impact of air pollution on respiratory health.

Good sentence starters for sequences or lists

Sentence starters for sequences are used to begin or relate lists of instructions or explaining a series of events. 

• “ Firstly, …”

Example: Firstly, the survey gathered demographic information from participants.

• “ Secondly, …”

Example: Secondly, the data analysis involved statistical techniques to identify patterns and trends.

• “Finally, …”

Example: Finally, the study proposed recommendations for future research in this field.

Good sentence starters for elaboration or adding new points

These sentence starters ease the transition from explaining the larger picture to showing examples of minute details. 

• “ Moreover, …”

Example: Moreover, this research emphasizes the importance of incorporating ethical considerations in clinical trials.

• “Additionally, …”

Example: Additionally, previous studies have identified socioeconomic factors as influential determinants of educational attainment.

• “Furthermore, …”

Example: Furthermore, the research findings highlight the need for more extensive sample sizes to draw generalizable conclusions.

Good sentence starters to show uncertainty or doubt

These sentence starters help in explaining to the reader that there is an upcoming contrasting idea or thought.

• “ Although the results suggest…”

Example: Although the results suggest a positive correlation, further investigation is warranted to establish a causal relationship.

• “It is plausible that…”

Example: It is plausible that the observed variations in results could be attributed to differences in sample demographics.

• “It remains unclear whether…”

Example: It remains unclear whether the observed changes in behavior are transient or long-lasting.

In conclusion, sentence starters serve as valuable tools in academic writing, enabling you to structure your thoughts, enhance clarity, and guide readers through your research essays. Use them in abundance yet carefully, as they can enhance your quality of writing significantly.

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How to Begin an Essay: 13 Engaging Strategies

ThoughtCo / Hugo Lin

• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

An effective introductory paragraph both informs and motivates. It lets readers know what your essay is about and it encourages them to keep reading.

There are countless ways to begin an essay effectively. As a start, here are 13 introductory strategies accompanied by examples from a wide range of professional writers.

State Your Thesis Briefly and Directly

But avoid making your thesis a bald announcement, such as "This essay is about...". 

"It is time, at last, to speak the truth about Thanksgiving, and the truth is this. Thanksgiving is really not such a terrific holiday...." (Michael J. Arlen, "Ode to Thanksgiving." The Camera Age: Essays on Television . Penguin, 1982)

Pose a Question Related to Your Subject

Follow up the question with an answer, or an invitation for your readers to answer the question.

"What is the charm of necklaces? Why would anyone put something extra around their neck and then invest it with special significance? A necklace doesn't afford warmth in cold weather, like a scarf, or protection in combat, like chain mail; it only decorates. We might say, it borrows meaning from what it surrounds and sets off, the head with its supremely important material contents, and the face, that register of the soul. When photographers discuss the way in which a photograph reduces the reality it represents, they mention not only the passage from three dimensions to two, but also the selection of a point de vue that favors the top of the body rather than the bottom, and the front rather than the back. The face is the jewel in the crown of the body, and so we give it a setting." (Emily R. Grosholz, "On Necklaces." Prairie Schooner , Summer 2007)

State an Interesting Fact About Your Subject

" The peregrine falcon was brought back from the brink of extinction by a ban on DDT, but also by a peregrine falcon mating hat invented by an ornithologist at Cornell University. If you cannot buy this, Google it. Female falcons had grown dangerously scarce. A few wistful males nevertheless maintained a sort of sexual loitering ground. The hat was imagined, constructed, and then forthrightly worn by the ornithologist as he patrolled this loitering ground, singing, Chee-up! Chee-up! and bowing like an overpolite Japanese Buddhist trying to tell somebody goodbye...." (David James Duncan, "Cherish This Ecstasy." The Sun , July 2008)

Present Your Thesis as a Recent Discovery or Revelation

"I've finally figured out the difference between neat people and sloppy people. The distinction is, as always, moral. Neat people are lazier and meaner than sloppy people." (Suzanne Britt Jordan, "Neat People vs. Sloppy People." Show and Tell . Morning Owl Press, 1983)

Briefly Describe the Primary Setting of Your Essay

"It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light, like yellow tinfoil, was slanting over the high walls into the jail yard. We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare within except for a plank bed and a pot of drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them. These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two." (George Orwell, "A Hanging," 1931)

Recount an Incident That Dramatizes Your Subject

"One October afternoon three years ago while I was visiting my parents, my mother made a request I dreaded and longed to fulfill. She had just poured me a cup of Earl Grey from her Japanese iron teapot, shaped like a little pumpkin; outside, two cardinals splashed in the birdbath in the weak Connecticut sunlight. Her white hair was gathered at the nape of her neck, and her voice was low. “Please help me get Jeff’s pacemaker turned off,” she said, using my father’s first name. I nodded, and my heart knocked." (Katy Butler, "What Broke My Father's Heart." The New York Times Magazine , June 18, 2010)

Use the Narrative Strategy of Delay

The narrative strategy of delay allows you to put off identifying your subject just long enough to pique your readers' interest without frustrating them. 

"They woof. Though I have photographed them before, I have never heard them speak, for they are mostly silent birds. Lacking a syrinx, the avian equivalent of the human larynx, they are incapable of song. According to field guides the only sounds they make are grunts and hisses, though the Hawk Conservancy in the United Kingdom reports that adults may utter a croaking coo and that young black vultures, when annoyed, emit a kind of immature snarl...." (Lee Zacharias, "Buzzards." Southern Humanities Review , 2007)

Use the Historical Present Tense

An effective method of beginning an essay is to use historical present tense to relate an incident from the past as if it were happening now. 

"Ben and I are sitting side by side in the very back of his mother’s station wagon. We face glowing white headlights of cars following us, our sneakers pressed against the back hatch door. This is our joy—his and mine—to sit turned away from our moms and dads in this place that feels like a secret, as though they are not even in the car with us. They have just taken us out to dinner, and now we are driving home. Years from this evening, I won’t actually be sure that this boy sitting beside me is named Ben. But that doesn’t matter tonight. What I know for certain right now is that I love him, and I need to tell him this fact before we return to our separate houses, next door to each other. We are both five." (Ryan Van Meter, "First." The Gettysburg Review , Winter 2008)

Briefly Describe a Process That Leads Into Your Subject

"I like to take my time when I pronounce someone dead. The bare-minimum requirement is one minute with a stethoscope pressed to someone’s chest, listening for a sound that is not there; with my fingers bearing down on the side of someone’s neck, feeling for an absent pulse; with a flashlight beamed into someone’s fixed and dilated pupils, waiting for the constriction that will not come. If I’m in a hurry, I can do all of these in sixty seconds, but when I have the time, I like to take a minute with each task." (Jane Churchon, "The Dead Book." The Sun , February 2009)

Reveal a Secret or Make a Candid Observation

"I spy on my patients. Ought not a doctor to observe his patients by any means and from any stance, that he might the more fully assemble evidence? So I stand in doorways of hospital rooms and gaze. Oh, it is not all that furtive an act. Those in bed need only look up to discover me. But they never do." ( Richard Selzer , "The Discus Thrower." Confessions of a Knife . Simon & Schuster, 1979)

Open with a Riddle, Joke, or Humorous Quotation

You can use a riddle , joke, or humorous quotation to reveal something about your subject. 

" Q: What did Eve say to Adam on being expelled from the Garden of Eden? A: 'I think we're in a time of transition.' The irony of this joke is not lost as we begin a new century and anxieties about social change seem rife. The implication of this message, covering the first of many periods of transition, is that change is normal; there is, in fact, no era or society in which change is not a permanent feature of the social landscape...." (Betty G. Farrell, Family: The Making of an Idea, an Institution, and a Controversy in American Culture . Westview Press, 1999)

Offer a Contrast Between Past and Present

"As a child, I was made to look out the window of a moving car and appreciate the beautiful scenery, with the result that now I don't care much for nature. I prefer parks, ones with radios going chuckawaka chuckawaka and the delicious whiff of bratwurst and cigarette smoke." (Garrison Keillor, "Walking Down The Canyon." Time , July 31, 2000)

Offer a Contrast Between Image and Reality

A compelling essay can begin with a contrast between a common misconception and the opposing truth. 

"They aren’t what most people think they are. Human eyes, touted as ethereal objects by poets and novelists throughout history, are nothing more than white spheres, somewhat larger than your average marble, covered by a leather-like tissue known as sclera and filled with nature’s facsimile of Jell-O. Your beloved’s eyes may pierce your heart, but in all likelihood they closely resemble the eyes of every other person on the planet. At least I hope they do, for otherwise he or she suffers from severe myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness), or worse...." (John Gamel, "The Elegant Eye." Alaska Quarterly Review , 2009)

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• Hookers vs. Chasers: How Not to Begin an Essay
• How To Write an Essay
• Examples of Great Introductory Paragraphs
• How to Write a Good Thesis Statement
• How to Write a Great Essay for the TOEFL or TOEIC
• Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay
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8 Effective Strategies to Write Argumentative Essays

In a bustling university town, there lived a student named Alex. Popular for creativity and wit, one challenge seemed insurmountable for Alex– the dreaded argumentative essay!

One gloomy afternoon, as the rain tapped against the window pane, Alex sat at his cluttered desk, staring at a blank document on the computer screen. The assignment loomed large: a 350-600-word argumentative essay on a topic of their choice . With a sigh, he decided to seek help of mentor, Professor Mitchell, who was known for his passion for writing.

Entering Professor Mitchell’s office was like stepping into a treasure of knowledge. Bookshelves lined every wall, faint aroma of old manuscripts in the air and sticky notes over the wall. Alex took a deep breath and knocked on his door.

“Ah, Alex,” Professor Mitchell greeted with a warm smile. “What brings you here today?”

Alex confessed his struggles with the argumentative essay. After hearing his concerns, Professor Mitchell said, “Ah, the argumentative essay! Don’t worry, Let’s take a look at it together.” As he guided Alex to the corner shelf, Alex asked,

Table of Contents

“What is an Argumentative Essay?”

The professor replied, “An argumentative essay is a type of academic writing that presents a clear argument or a firm position on a contentious issue. Unlike other forms of essays, such as descriptive or narrative essays, these essays require you to take a stance, present evidence, and convince your audience of the validity of your viewpoint with supporting evidence. A well-crafted argumentative essay relies on concrete facts and supporting evidence rather than merely expressing the author’s personal opinions . Furthermore, these essays demand comprehensive research on the chosen topic and typically follows a structured format consisting of three primary sections: an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph.”

He continued, “Argumentative essays are written in a wide range of subject areas, reflecting their applicability across disciplines. They are written in different subject areas like literature and philosophy, history, science and technology, political science, psychology, economics and so on.

Alex asked,

“When is an Argumentative Essay Written?”

The professor answered, “Argumentative essays are often assigned in academic settings, but they can also be written for various other purposes, such as editorials, opinion pieces, or blog posts. Some situations to write argumentative essays include:

1. Academic assignments

In school or college, teachers may assign argumentative essays as part of coursework. It help students to develop critical thinking and persuasive writing skills .

2. Debates and discussions

Argumentative essays can serve as the basis for debates or discussions in academic or competitive settings. Moreover, they provide a structured way to present and defend your viewpoint.

3. Opinion pieces

Newspapers, magazines, and online publications often feature opinion pieces that present an argument on a current issue or topic to influence public opinion.

4. Policy proposals

In government and policy-related fields, argumentative essays are used to propose and defend specific policy changes or solutions to societal problems.

5. Persuasive speeches

Before delivering a persuasive speech, it’s common to prepare an argumentative essay as a foundation for your presentation.

Regardless of the context, an argumentative essay should present a clear thesis statement , provide evidence and reasoning to support your position, address counterarguments, and conclude with a compelling summary of your main points. The goal is to persuade readers or listeners to accept your viewpoint or at least consider it seriously.”

Handing over a book, the professor continued, “Take a look on the elements or structure of an argumentative essay.”

Elements of an Argumentative Essay

An argumentative essay comprises five essential components:

Claim in argumentative writing is the central argument or viewpoint that the writer aims to establish and defend throughout the essay. A claim must assert your position on an issue and must be arguable. It can guide the entire argument.

2. Evidence

Evidence must consist of factual information, data, examples, or expert opinions that support the claim. Also, it lends credibility by strengthening the writer’s position.

3. Counterarguments

Presenting a counterclaim demonstrates fairness and awareness of alternative perspectives.

4. Rebuttal

After presenting the counterclaim, the writer refutes it by offering counterarguments or providing evidence that weakens the opposing viewpoint. It shows that the writer has considered multiple perspectives and is prepared to defend their position.

The format of an argumentative essay typically follows the structure to ensure clarity and effectiveness in presenting an argument.

How to Write An Argumentative Essay

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to write an argumentative essay:

1. Introduction

• Begin with a compelling sentence or question to grab the reader’s attention.
• Provide context for the issue, including relevant facts, statistics, or historical background.
• Provide a concise thesis statement to present your position on the topic.

2. Body Paragraphs (usually three or more)

• Start each paragraph with a clear and focused topic sentence that relates to your thesis statement.
• Furthermore, provide evidence and explain the facts, statistics, examples, expert opinions, and quotations from credible sources that supports your thesis.
• Use transition sentences to smoothly move from one point to the next.

3. Counterargument and Rebuttal

• Acknowledge opposing viewpoints or potential objections to your argument.
• Also, address these counterarguments with evidence and explain why they do not weaken your position.

4. Conclusion

• Restate your thesis statement and summarize the key points you’ve made in the body of the essay.
• Leave the reader with a final thought, call to action, or broader implication related to the topic.

5. Citations and References

• Properly cite all the sources you use in your essay using a consistent citation style.
• Also, include a bibliography or works cited at the end of your essay.

6. Formatting and Style

• Follow any specific formatting guidelines provided by your instructor or institution.
• Use a professional and academic tone in your writing and edit your essay to avoid content, spelling and grammar mistakes .

Remember that the specific requirements for formatting an argumentative essay may vary depending on your instructor’s guidelines or the citation style you’re using (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago). Always check the assignment instructions or style guide for any additional requirements or variations in formatting.

Did you understand what Prof. Mitchell explained Alex? Check it now!

Fill the Details to Check Your Score

Prof. Mitchell continued, “An argumentative essay can adopt various approaches when dealing with opposing perspectives. It may offer a balanced presentation of both sides, providing equal weight to each, or it may advocate more strongly for one side while still acknowledging the existence of opposing views.” As Alex listened carefully to the Professor’s thoughts, his eyes fell on a page with examples of argumentative essay.

Example of an Argumentative Essay

Alex picked the book and read the example. It helped him to understand the concept. Furthermore, he could now connect better to the elements and steps of the essay which Prof. Mitchell had mentioned earlier. Aren’t you keen to know how an argumentative essay should be like? Here is an example of a well-crafted argumentative essay , which was read by Alex. After Alex finished reading the example, the professor turned the page and continued, “Check this page to know the importance of writing an argumentative essay in developing skills of an individual.”

Importance of an Argumentative Essay

After understanding the benefits, Alex was convinced by the ability of the argumentative essays in advocating one’s beliefs and favor the author’s position. Alex asked,

“How are argumentative essays different from the other types?”

Prof. Mitchell answered, “Argumentative essays differ from other types of essays primarily in their purpose, structure, and approach in presenting information. Unlike expository essays, argumentative essays persuade the reader to adopt a particular point of view or take a specific action on a controversial issue. Furthermore, they differ from descriptive essays by not focusing vividly on describing a topic. Also, they are less engaging through storytelling as compared to the narrative essays.

Alex said, “Given the direct and persuasive nature of argumentative essays, can you suggest some strategies to write an effective argumentative essay?

Turning the pages of the book, Prof. Mitchell replied, “Sure! You can check this infographic to get some tips for writing an argumentative essay.”

Effective Strategies to Write an Argumentative Essay

As days turned into weeks, Alex diligently worked on his essay. He researched, gathered evidence, and refined his thesis. It was a long and challenging journey, filled with countless drafts and revisions.

Finally, the day arrived when Alex submitted their essay. As he clicked the “Submit” button, a sense of accomplishment washed over him. He realized that the argumentative essay, while challenging, had improved his critical thinking and transformed him into a more confident writer. Furthermore, Alex received feedback from his professor, a mix of praise and constructive criticism. It was a humbling experience, a reminder that every journey has its obstacles and opportunities for growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

An argumentative essay can be written as follows- 1. Choose a Topic 2. Research and Collect Evidences 3. Develop a Clear Thesis Statement 4. Outline Your Essay- Introduction, Body Paragraphs and Conclusion 5. Revise and Edit 6. Format and Cite Sources 7. Final Review

One must choose a clear, concise and specific statement as a claim. It must be debatable and establish your position. Avoid using ambiguous or unclear while making a claim. To strengthen your claim, address potential counterarguments or opposing viewpoints. Additionally, use persuasive language and rhetoric to make your claim more compelling

Starting an argument essay effectively is crucial to engage your readers and establish the context for your argument. Here’s how you can start an argument essay are: 1. Begin With an Engaging Hook 2. Provide Background Information 3. Present Your Thesis Statement 4. Briefly Outline Your Main 5. Establish Your Credibility

The key features of an argumentative essay are: 1. Clear and Specific Thesis Statement 2. Credible Evidence 3. Counterarguments 4. Structured Body Paragraph 5. Logical Flow 6. Use of Persuasive Techniques 7. Formal Language

An argumentative essay typically consists of the following main parts or sections: 1. Introduction 2. Body Paragraphs 3. Counterargument and Rebuttal 4. Conclusion 5. References (if applicable)

The main purpose of an argumentative essay is to persuade the reader to accept or agree with a particular viewpoint or position on a controversial or debatable topic. In other words, the primary goal of an argumentative essay is to convince the audience that the author's argument or thesis statement is valid, logical, and well-supported by evidence and reasoning.

Great article! The topic is simplified well! Keep up the good work

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Miscellaneous

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essays can be roughly divided into four different types:

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

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

Argumentative Essay

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

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

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

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

Example topics of an argumentative essay:

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

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

Persuasive Essay

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

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

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

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

Example topics of a persuasive essay:

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

Expository Essay

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

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

Example topics of an expository essay:

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

Analytical Essay

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

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

Example topics of an analytical essay:

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

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

A Typical Argumentative Essay Assignment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good Argumentative Essay Topics

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

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

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

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

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

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

101 Persuasive (or Argumentative) Essay and Speech Topics

301 Prompts for Argumentative Writing

Top 50 Ideas for Argumentative/Persuasive Essay Writing

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

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

Argumentative Essay Format

Argumentative Essays are composed of four main elements:

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

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

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

An argumentative essay at its simplest structure will look like:

Paragraph 1: Intro

• Set up the story/problem/issue
• Thesis/claim

Paragraph 2: Support

• Reason #1 claim is correct
• Supporting evidence with sources

Paragraph 3: Support

• Reason #2 claim is correct

Paragraph 4: Counterargument

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

Paragraph 5: Conclusion

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

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

Paragraph 1—Set Up and Claim

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

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

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

Paragraphs 2 and 3—Your Evidence

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

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

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

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

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

For example,

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

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

The second statement sounds far stronger and more analytical.

Paragraph 4—Argument for the Other Side and Refutation

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

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

Paragraph 5—Conclusion

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

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

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

Argumentative Essay Example: 5-Paragraph Style

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

Topic: Is it possible to maintain conflicting loyalties?

Paragraph 1

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

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

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

Paragraphs 2 and 3

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

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

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

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

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

Paragraph 4

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

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

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

Paragraph 5

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

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

How to Write an Argumentative Essay: 8 Steps

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

#1: Preliminary Research

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

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

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

#2: Pick Your Side and Form Your Thesis

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

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

#3: Heavy-Duty Research Time

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

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

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

#4: Outline

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#7: Final Draft

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

A checklist for your final draft:

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

#8: Celebrate!

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

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

Good Examples of Argumentative Essays Online

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

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

The Use of Landmines

A Shattered Sky

The Take-Aways: Keys to Writing an Argumentative Essay

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

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

What's Next?

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

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

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

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

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9.3: The Argumentative Essay

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Learning Objectives

• Examine types of argumentative essays

Argumentative Essays

You may have heard it said that all writing is an argument of some kind. Even if you’re writing an informative essay, you still have the job of trying to convince your audience that the information is important. However, there are times you’ll be asked to write an essay that is specifically an argumentative piece.

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 audience. It’s important for you to choose a topic you feel passionately about (if you’re allowed to pick your topic), but you have to be sure you aren’t too emotionally attached to a topic. In an academic argument, you’ll have a lot more constraints you have to consider, and you’ll focus much more on logic and reasoning than emotions.

Argumentative essays are quite common in academic writing and are often an important part of writing in all disciplines. You may be asked to take a stand on a social issue in your introduction to writing course, but you could also be asked to take a stand on an issue related to health care in your nursing courses or make a case for solving a local environmental problem in your biology class. And, since argument is such a common essay assignment, it’s important to be aware of some basic elements of a good argumentative essay.

When your professor asks you to write an argumentative essay, you’ll often be given something specific to write about. For example, you may be asked to take a stand on an issue you have been discussing in class. Perhaps, in your education class, you would be asked to write about standardized testing in public schools. Or, in your literature class, you might be asked to argue the effects of protest literature on public policy in the United States.

However, there are times when you’ll be given a choice of topics. You might even be asked to write an argumentative essay on any topic related to your field of study or a topic you feel that is important personally.

Whatever the case, having some knowledge of some basic argumentative techniques or strategies will be helpful as you write. Below are some common types of arguments.

Causal Arguments

• In this type of argument, you argue that something has caused something else. For example, you might explore the causes of the decline of large mammals in the world’s ocean and make a case for your cause.

Evaluation Arguments

• In this type of argument, you make an argumentative evaluation of something as “good” or “bad,” but you need to establish the criteria for “good” or “bad.” For example, you might evaluate a children’s book for your education class, but you would need to establish clear criteria for your evaluation for your audience.

Proposal Arguments

• In this type of argument, you must propose a solution to a problem. First, you must establish a clear problem and then propose a specific solution to that problem. For example, you might argue for a proposal that would increase retention rates at your college.

Narrative Arguments

• In this type of argument, you make your case by telling a story with a clear point related to your argument. For example, you might write a narrative about your experiences with standardized testing in order to make a case for reform.

Rebuttal Arguments

• In a rebuttal argument, you build your case around refuting an idea or ideas that have come before. In other words, your starting point is to challenge the ideas of the past.

Definition Arguments

• In this type of argument, you use a definition as the starting point for making your case. For example, in a definition argument, you might argue that NCAA basketball players should be defined as professional players and, therefore, should be paid.

https://assessments.lumenlearning.co...essments/20277

Essay Examples

• Click here to read an argumentative essay on the consequences of fast fashion . Read it and look at the comments to recognize strategies and techniques the author uses to convey her ideas.
• In this example, you’ll see a sample argumentative paper from a psychology class submitted in APA format. Key parts of the argumentative structure have been noted for you in the sample.

Link to Learning

For more examples of types of argumentative essays, visit the Argumentative Purposes section of the Excelsior OWL .

Contributors and Attributions

• Argumentative Essay. Provided by : Excelsior OWL. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/rhetorical-styles/argumentative-essay/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Image of a man with a heart and a brain. Authored by : Mohamed Hassan. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : pixabay.com/illustrations/decision-brain-heart-mind-4083469/. License : Other . License Terms : pixabay.com/service/terms/#license

Sentence Starters: Useful Words and Phrases You Can Use As Sentence Starters

Posted on Last updated: October 24, 2023

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Sentence Starters! Here you will find a useful list of common sentence starters that you can use in a discussion as well as in essay writing. Learn these sentence starters to improve your English speaking and writing skills.

Table of Contents

Sentence Starters

Sentence starters | common phrases.

• (The topic) has fostered a debate on …
• A sensible idea would be to…
• We all know that…
• It is said that…
• It is believed that…
• People assumed that…
• There is growing support for the notion that …
• The data gathered in the study strongly suggests that …
• The supposition drawn from this being that…
• Leading to the supposition that…
• This can be argued that..
• The source suggest…
• My own feeling on the subject is that …
• Generally speaking…
• As far as I know…
• As far as I am concerned…
• I believe that…
• The focus of discussion in this paper is …
• The premise of (the topic) seems to be based on …
• Latest research corroborates the view that …
• Most people would agree that…
• It is estimated…
• The reader supposed that…
• It is clear that…
• Everybody knows that…
• Surely you would agree that…
• This clearly shows that…
• I discovered…
• We always…
• This indicates…
• Demonstrating that…
• It is vital that…
• It wouldn’t be very difficult to…
• The real truth is that…
• Are we expected that…
• The fact is that…
• I felt as…
• I think/ I believe that…
• It seems to me that…
• We concluded that…
• My perspective is…
• I agree with…
• Have you thought about…
• In other words…
• I see what you mean but…
• I share your point of view on…
• In my opinion…

Transition Words Used as Sentence Starters

Words to add an idea

• In addition to
• For instance
• For example
• As an example
• Additionally
• Furthermore
• Another reason
• Coupled with
• Correspondingly
• In addition
• Identically
• One other thing

Words that show cause

• Accordingly
• As a result
• Consequently
• For this reason
• For this purpose
• Subsequently
• This is why
• Following this
• As you can see
• For all of those reasons

Words that show contrast

• Comparatively
• Different from
• Even though
• However ( however synonyms )
• In comparison
• Nevertheless
• In contrast
• On the one hand…
• On the other hand
• On the contrary

Words that add emphasis

• Generally speaking
• For the most part
• In this situation
• No doubt (undoubtedly)
• Particularly
• Unquestionably

Sentence Starters | Infographic

ALIYI Ahmad

Sunday 30th of April 2023

This great gift thank you forever

Wednesday 7th of December 2022

thank that helped m out alot

Thursday 1st of December 2022

Amazing list. It helps change up how you start your sentence, and it helps for writers to keep readers engaged.

Friday 27th of May 2022

so i think that there should be more expansion so we can tell the reader a bit more about what is happening

Wednesday 6th of April 2022

i like his book

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Once it was clear Gerrit Cole was going to miss two-plus months, at minimum, where would the Yankees have signed up for having the second-best record in the AL and being 12 games over .500 one-quarter of the way into the schedule?

How about having that record with Aaron Judge not himself for the first month-plus before his recent surge?

It speaks well of the Yankees. It speaks well in particular to Juan Soto’s acclimation to The Bronx and how terrific the rest of the starters have done in Cole’s stead.

Those starters have been the key to me. There were lots of questions about health, makeup and performance at the dawn of the season. And none of the quintet of Nestor Cortes, Luis Gil, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt and Marcus Stroman has missed a start and each has responded with fortitude while carrying the burden without Cole.

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This Is the Best Start to a Year We’ve Had in Pop This Decade (Essay)

By, like, a lot .

By Andrew Unterberger

Andrew Unterberger

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Around this time two years ago at Billboard , we were all asking: Where are the new hits ?

Through the first few months of 2022, the Billboard Hot 100 was stocked almost exclusively with holdovers from 2021 and even 2020 or earlier, with totally new music in precious short supply in the chart’s top tiers. Relief eventually came that month in the form of Harry Styles’ instant runaway smash “As It Was,” and then as April turned to May, via new albums by Future, Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar. But it still felt like the year was playing catch-up, like at midyear 2022 was still only just properly getting started.

J. Cole or Drake: Who Needs to Respond More to Kendrick Lamar's Verse? The Cases for Both

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Let’s start with the list of A-list artists who have already released entirely new albums by May 9: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Ye & Ty Dolla $ign, Future & Metro Boomin (twice!), J. Cole and Dua Lipa. (Depending on your “A-list” definition, you could also potentially throw Usher, Justin Timberlake and Kacey Musgraves on that list as well.) Hell, you could probably cut the list after the second name and the point would still stand: Any year where you get new sets by Beyoncé ( Cowboy Carter ) and Taylor Swift ( The Tortured Poets Department ) — the two most celebrated pop stars in the world right now — before Memorial Day, you’re probably off to a pretty fast start. And both sets have been enormous, world-building, culture-conquering affairs, with huge Hot 100-topping lead singles and no shortage of critical and fan discourse over their deeper implications.

Speaking of “Like That”: That Kendrick Lamar-assisted chart-topper essentially knocked the hip-hop world off its usual axis, kicking off the back-and-forth with Drake that has somehow managed to overshadow everything else that’s gone on in popular music so far this year. J. Cole responded first to Lamar’s pot-stirring “Like That” verse, on his lukewarmly received Might Delete Later mixtape and its closing “7 Minute Drill,” before publicly bowing out of the beef and deleting “Drill” from streaming services. But Drake was determined to get his money’s worth: He responded with both the leaked “Push Ups” and the social media-released “Taylor Made Freestyle” — which featured unlicensed, AI-generated guest verses “from” West Coast legends Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur, and was eventually taken down upon threat of legal action from the Shakur estate.

The Kendrick-Drake feud has been the biggest in music this year, but it wasn’t the first. The stage was set for that blockbuster beef by the January back-and-forth between Megan Thee Stallion, whose “Hiss” was thought to have subliminals aimed at rap rival Nicki Minaj (as well as additional lyrics assumed to be shots at Drake and other rap-world figures), and which inspired a response track (in addition to a lot of social media talk) from Minaj in the form of “Big Foot.” The fallout from that beef was mostly contained to the release week of the two tracks, but it helped Megan secure her first-ever entirely solo Hot 100 No. 1 for “Hiss,” and generally established the competitive tone for hip-hop among its biggest 2024 artists.

But the real reason 2024 has been so exciting, even beyond all these recognizable names showing up and showing out, is the equally impressive list of rising stars who have made their mark on the year so far.

Música Mexicana phenom Xavi began the year with two songs already climbing the top 100, and plenty more seemingly to come. Teddy Swims and Benson Boone have forced top 40 to make room for big soulful vocals and even bigger screaming guitar, with their crossover smashes “Lose Control” and “Beautiful Things,” respectively. Alt-rock has seen its fortunes revived on the chart through Djo’s psych-leaning “End of Beginning” and Artemas’ darkwave-inspired “I Like It When You Kiss Me,” both surprise top 20 Hot 100 hits. Even longtime cult favorite Hozier, a decade removed from his breakout hit “Take Me to Church,” is now back with a somehow-even-bigger hit: “Too Sweet,” lifted to No. 1 by good TikTok buzz and the currently rising tides of alt-folk and soul-pop.

For a few of these breakout artists, the success has been a long time coming. Sexyy Redd built up momentum for most of 2023 with viral hits “Pound Town” and “SkeeYee” — culminating in a feature appearance on Drake’s For All the Dogs No. 11 hit “Rich Baby Daddy” — but she’s taken it to a new level this year with her first solo top 20 hit, the dancefloor shout-along “Get It Sexyy.” Glorilla has taken a similar path to solo success with her own self-referencing smash “Yeah Glo!,” while also joining forces with Megan Thee Stallion for the chart-storming “Wanna Be.” Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan were pop favorites with critical acclaim disproportionate to their actual top 40 presence — but following opening slots on Taylor Swift’s and Olivia Rodrigo’s recent tours, they’ve both seen raised profiles and higher levels of crossover stardom with new singles “Espresso,” and “Good Luck Babe!,” respectively, both all but sure to keep growing into the warm-weather months.

The sheer volume of impressive hits so far this year can be seen in the amount of turnover on the Hot 100 — particularly in the top spot, where no one song has reigned for more than three consecutive weeks (“Like That,” again). We’ve already seen 11 different songs top the Hot 100 across the first 19 chart weeks, compared to seven last year and just six in 2022. Both of those years saw a No. 1 hit reign for 15+ weeks seemingly almost by default: “As It Was” and Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” didn’t dominate because they kept finding new ways to infiltrate pop culture (a la Lil Nas X with “Old Town Road” ), but simply because the competition usually just wasn’t strong enough across the board to consistently threaten their supremacy. This year, with everything that’s been happening, it seems unlikely that either song would even get to double-digit weeks on top.

Regardless of the reasons, it’s been a transfixing start to the year in popular music, with major contributions seemingly coming from all different corners of the music world, and from all different levels of artists. And what’s more, it doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon: This Friday brings with it a new album from Gunna and a new single from Post Malone and Morgan Wallen, the latter being arguably the biggest remaining recording artist in contemporary music who we haven’t heard much new from this year. And then the week after, it’s time for Billie Eilish’s much-hyped Hit Me Hard and Soft album, her first full-length set to arrive with no advance singles. Get your rest days in where you can and maybe hope for a bit of a summer vacation in a couple months, because it doesn’t look like pop is going to be taking it easy on us anytime in the near future — we’re exhausted, but elated.

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Guest Essay

The Simple Math That Could Swing the Election to Biden

By Mark Penn

Mr. Penn was a pollster and an adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton from 1995 to 2008. He is chairman of the Harris Poll and chief executive of Stagwell Inc.

President Biden appears behind in all the swing states, and his campaign appears all too focused on firming up his political base on the left with his new shift on Israel , a $7 trillion budget and massive tax increases and is failing to connect on the basic issues of inflation , immigration and energy . By pitching too much to the base, he is leaving behind the centrist voters who shift between parties from election to election and, I believe, will be the key factor deciding the 2024 race.

I’ve spent decades looking at the behavior of swing voters and how candidates appeal to them, including for Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign in 1996. If Mr. Biden wants to serve another four years, he has to stop being dragged to the left and chart a different course closer to the center that appeals to those voters who favor bipartisan compromises to our core issues, fiscal discipline and a strong America.

People usually assume that turning out so-called base voters in an election matters most, since swing voters are fewer in number. And it’s true that in today’s polarized environment, Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump have about 40 percent of voters each and nothing will change those people’s minds. But in that remaining 20 percent of the electorate, voters have disproportionate power because of their potential to switch. It’s simple math: Take a race tied in the run-up 5 to 5. If one voter swings, the tally becomes 6 to 4. Two voters would then need to be turned out just to tie it up, and a third one would be needed to win.

The simple power of this math — which drove the campaigns of Mr. Clinton (with his message about “building a bridge to the 21st century”), George W. Bush (“compassionate conservatism”) and Barack Obama (“hope and change”) — has been obscured, undoubtedly by base groups like unions or PACs that have a vested interest in maintaining their sway and power. Take Michigan, a battleground state where Mr. Trump has led Mr. Biden by as many as three percentage points in the past month. To overcome that gap, Mr. Biden would need to bring out nearly 250,000 additional voters (3 percent of more than eight million registered voters) just to tie it up in a state that has already achieved a record of over 70 percent turnout in a presidential year. Or Mr. Biden could switch just 125,000 swing voters and win.

Despite this math, scared candidates are, in my experience, easily sold the idea that the Democratic base or Republican base is going to stay home in November unless they are constantly fed what they want to hear. One call from the head of a religious group, a civil rights group, a labor group and others (often called the groups), and fear runs through a campaign. A New York Times article this winter about Black pastors warning the Biden White House that his Gaza war policy could imperil re-election is a good example. Maybe if Mr. Biden were running against a well-liked centrist opponent, concern could be justified. But during a fall election against Mr. Trump, the final month of this campaign is going to see a frenzy of get-out-the-vote efforts, and I doubt the Democratic base is going to sit idly by at the thought of the Trump limo cruising up Pennsylvania Avenue. The reality is that swing voters in battleground states who are upset about immigration, inflation and what they see as extreme climate policies and weakness in foreign affairs are likely to put Mr. Trump back in office if they are not blunted.

Consider some Democratic electoral history. Mr. Biden got 81 percent of the vote in the Michigan Democratic presidential primary in February. He got roughly similar percentages in the Colorado, Texas and Massachusetts primaries — not too far below other incumbent presidents with a weak job rating. And yet for months, liberal commentators and activists pointed to the Michigan protest vote as proof that he is doomed in November over his Israel stance. But Michigan was hardly a repeat of the 1968 New Hampshire primary that effectively ended Lyndon Johnson’s re-election bid; Eugene McCarthy got 42 percent, and that was a truly sizable protest.

I believe most of the 101,000 uncommitted votes that Mr. Biden lost in Michigan will come home in the end because they have nowhere else to go and the threat Mr. Trump poses will become clearer and scarier in the next six months. But regardless, there’s a much bigger opportunity for Mr. Biden if he looks in the other direction. Mr. Trump lost nearly 300,000 votes to Nikki Haley in the Michigan Republican primary. These people are in the moderate center, and many of them could be persuaded to vote for Mr. Biden if he fine-tuned his message to bring them in. And remember to multiply by two: Persuading those 300,000 Republicans to cross party lines would have the equivalent force of turning out 600,000 Democrats. The same math applies to other battleground states, like Pennsylvania, where 158,000 people voted for Ms. Haley instead of Mr. Trump in the Republican primary, even though she dropped out seven weeks earlier.

Unfortunately, Mr. Biden is not reaching out to moderate voters with policy ideas or a strong campaign message. He is not showing clear evidence of bringing in large numbers of swing voters in the battleground states at this point. Those swing voters look for fiscal restraint without tax increases, climate policies that still give people a choice of cars and fuels and immigration policies that are compassionate to those who are here but close the borders. The balanced budget remains one of the single strongest measures that swing and other voters want. Mr. Clinton’s efforts to balance the budget set off the revolution that resulted in an eight-point win, even with third-party candidates in 1996, and catapulted his job approval ratings to above 70 percent. Instead of pivoting to the center when talking to 32 million people tuned in to his State of the Union address, Mr. Biden doubled down on his base strategy with hits like class warfare attacks on the rich and big corporations, big tax increases, student loan giveaways and further expansions of social programs despite a deficit of more than $1.1 trillion. The results quickly dissipated.

Mr. Biden’s campaign has fundamentally miscalculated on Israel. Those Haley voters are strong defense voters who would back our ally Israel unreservedly and, I believe, want to see a president who would put maximum pressure on Hamas to release hostages. By pandering to base voters with no choice, Biden is pushing the Haley vote to Mr. Trump, and so his first instincts on Israel were both good policy and good politics. Eighty-four percent of independents surveyed said they supported Israel more than Hamas in the conflict, and 63 percent said they believed a cease-fire should occur only after the hostages have been released. The more Mr. Biden has pandered to the left by softening his support of Israel, the weaker he looks, and the more his foreign policy ratings have declined. Rather than pull decisively away from Israel, Mr. Biden should instead find a plan that enables Israel to go into Rafah and that has enough precautions for Rafah’s civilians so the American president can back it.

At this point, Mr. Biden also needs to give a serious speech on the issues of crime and immigration and what they are doing to our inner cities. He has to combine policies of fair policing and treatment of DACA recipients with tougher crime and immigration policies. Seventy-eight percent of independents polled said they wanted the Biden administration to make it tougher to get into the United States illegally, but 63 percent said they ultimately wanted compromise legislation that strengthens the border while giving DACA recipients a path to citizenship. On crime, despite many violent crime metrics returning to their pre-Covid levels last year, voters have been more worried than ever. Eighty-three percent of voters said they wanted shoplifting laws to be enforced strictly , and 69 percent said they supported Justice Department intervention against city district attorneys who are pulling back prosecution of violent offenders. Mr. Biden has to be more responsive to these concerns.

Mr. Biden’s energy policies, especially his push for more electric vehicles, are not popular, either. Fifty-nine percent of Americans said they opposed the mandate that half of cars sold in the United States by 2030 be electric. In Michigan, Mr. Trump has identified a potentially killer strategy by going around telling autoworkers that electric vehicles will destroy their jobs. Unlike foreign policy issues, threats concerning the loss of auto industry jobs could directly affect hundreds of thousands of voters in Michigan.

The 2024 election is a rematch, but Mr. Biden should not assume that he will get the same result as he did in 2020 in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia and other battleground states by running the same playbook. This time around, he is seen as older, and the assessment of the job that he has done is in negative territory. While he won’t get any younger, he could still move more to the center, vacuum up swing voters who desperately want to reject Mr. Trump, strengthen his image as a leader by destroying Hamas and rally the base at the end. But that means first pushing back against the base rather than pandering to it and remembering that when it comes to the math of elections, swing is king.

Mark Penn was a pollster and an adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton from 1995 to 2008. He is chairman of the Harris Poll and chief executive of Stagwell Inc.

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

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A Judge Had a 13-Year-Old Girl Handcuffed for No Reason. A Year Later, He’s Faced Basically No Consequences.

Back in March 2023, I reported for Slate on a federal judge who handcuffed and berated an innocent 13-year-old girl who was in court to view her father’s sentencing. Over a year later, following a formal investigation , there have been only minimal consequences for that judge. This update shows how life-tenured federal judges, whose imperious self-regard can lead them to abuse spectators, can act with near impunity even when they are found culpable by their colleagues.

When Mario Puente showed up in San Diego U.S. District Court on Feb. 13, 2023, he had good reason to fear that he would be sent back to prison for violating his supervised release (the federal term for parole) on drug charges. He had no reason to worry, however, that his young daughter, who had just come along to show support for her dad, would end up in handcuffs. But that is what happened when Senior Judge Roger Benitez decided to teach an uncalled-for lesson to the 13-year-old girl, as recorded in the official transcript, who had done nothing more than sit quietly in the spectators’ section next to her aunt and a family friend.

In his last-ditch plea to stay out of prison, Puente made the fateful mistake of telling the court that he hoped to move away from his drug-infested neighborhood, where the bad company was already beginning to influence his daughter.

Benitez took that as a cue to turn to the girl, whose name has not been disclosed. “Com[e] up for just a second,” he instructed her, “and stand next to that lawyer over there.”

He then told a deputy U.S. marshal to “put the cuffs on her” and escort her to the jury box. The judge kept her cuffed for several minutes before he told the marshal to remove the restraints, and he hectored the sobbing girl about her perceived future:

If you’re not careful, young lady, you’ll wind up in cuffs, and you’ll find yourself right there where I put you a minute ago. I hope you remember this mean, old face. Look at it carefully. Remember that some day, those drugs may land you in a courtroom just like this.

After Benitez finally allowed the daughter to return to her seat, he proceeded to sentence her father to 10 months in prison. (Puente was soon released on time served when his case was transferred to another judge.)

To his credit, Chief District Judge Dana Sabraw quickly initiated  a formal   complaint against Benitez under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980 . Although such complaints are ordinarily confidential at the initial stage, this one was publicly disclosed under a provision of the law to “maintain public confidence in the judiciary’s ability to redress misconduct or disability.” By then, however, Benitez’s misconduct had already been widely reported on legal blogs and in the California press.

A special investigating committee of five judges spent over a year reviewing the written record and interviewing numerous witnesses. Although Benitez declined to appear personally before the committee, he submitted two written responses to the complaint. The committee’s recommendation was then presented to the Judicial Council of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9 th Circuit, comprising nine federal trial and appellate court judges and chaired by Chief Judge Mary Murguia, which issued a final ruling earlier this month.

Remarkably, Benitez told the investigating committee that he would not straightforwardly apologize to the teenager he’d mistreated. Instead, he insisted that he’d simply taken an opportunity “to possibly alter the destructive trajectory of two lives,” meaning Puente and his daughter. He would therefore only apologize “if I could also briefly explain why I did what I did.”

He implausibly denied that he had done anything to “demean or shame” Puente’s daughter, as though standing in a crowded courtroom, weeping and handcuffed, while receiving a lecture on drug use, was something an innocent child could be expected to endure without humiliation.

Taking no responsibility for the harm he’d inflicted, Benitez blamed virtually everyone else in the courtroom for his behavior. The deputy marshals raised no objections to the handcuffing, he rationalized, and the defense lawyers, from the federal defenders’ office, had subjected Benitez to “emotional manipulation” by “telling [him] how much she loved her father.”

“Trying to help a 13-year-old girl,” Benitez maintained, “can’t be judicial misconduct.”

He was in deep and arrogant denial. The judicial council made short work of his defenses, unanimously concluding that Benitez had committed judicial misconduct by engaging in “abusive or harassing behavior [that] undermined the public’s trust and confidence in the judiciary.” Specifically, by “creating a spectacle out of a minor child in the courtroom [Benitez chilled] the desire of friends, family members, and members of the public to support loved ones at sentencing.”

While the condemnation of Benitez’s conduct was unequivocal, the consequence did not match the offense. Judicial councils have a limited range of available penalties, given that federal judges cannot be removed from office other than by impeachment. But even so, Benitez’s fellow judges let him off easier than they might have.

In a typical criminal case, for example, a defendant’s lack of remorse would call for a significant sentencing enhancement, and Benitez showed no contrition. As the judicial council found, “At no point during this investigative process has Judge Benitez accepted that his actions were ill-advised, improper, and damaging to the public’s trust in the judiciary.”

Nonetheless, the judicial council issued only a public reprimand and prohibited Benitez from presiding over new criminal cases for three years. The first penalty is less severe than censure, which is also available under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act of 1980 , and the latter is meaningless, given that Benitez, as a senior judge, had recently exercised his option to refrain from new criminal cases. (Puente was before Benitez on a supervised release revocation, which counted as an old case; the judicial council also gave defendants the right to recuse Benitez from hearing supervised release violations in the future.)

A more fitting penalty also available under the law, although unmentioned in the judicial council decision, would have been to suspend Benitez from presiding over any cases at all “for a time certain.” A judge who will not accept responsibility for abusing a child in open court has no business sitting in judgment of anyone, even in civil cases.

Given his arrogant refusal to acknowledge his grave misconduct, it is hardly likely that the reprimand alone will teach Benitez the necessary lesson. Perhaps 10 months completely away from the bench—the same length of time to which he sentenced Mario Puente—might bring about some serious and much-needed reflection.

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Mariners starter Bryan Woo leaves in 5th inning with arm tightness but expected to make next start

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo throws during the third inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics, Friday, May 10, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)

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SEATTLE (AP) — Mariners’ starter Bryan Woo left Friday’s game with one out in the fifth inning for precautionary reasons after experiencing tightness in his arm, but is expected to make his next turn in the rotation for Seattle.

Making his first start of the year after being slowed by a sore elbow during spring training, Woo allowed just one hit through the first four innings only to leave the game after getting Oakland’s Tyler Soderstrom to foul out behind third base to open the fifth.

Manager Scott Servais said after Seattle’s 8-1 victory over Oakland that he expects Woo to make his next start.

“He was just a little tight. He wasn’t loose and there is no point in pushing it right now,” Servais said. “I think he’s going to be fine.”

Catcher Cal Raleigh immediately went to the mound and was quickly joined by pitching coach Pete Woodworth and Servais. Woo eventually walked off the mound alongside athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson and was replaced by Trent Thornton.

Servais said Woo started to tighten up due to a long bottom of the fourth inning when Seattle scored five runs and it was obvious something was off when he threw the first two pitches of the fifth.

“It was just sitting for a long time. It was a long inning and you sit for that long, especially coming back from injuries it gets kind of cold and it’s kind of hard to get it going again,” Woo said.

Woo was expected to be the No. 5 starter in Seattle’s rotation entering the season before the elbow soreness emerged in spring training. Woo didn’t allow an earned run in 11 1/3 innings over three rehab outings with Triple-A Tacoma.

Last season, Woo was 4-5 with a 4.21 ERA in 18 starts with the Mariners.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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5 reasons why Nevada may decide the 2024 presidential race

How Nevada votes could decide who the next president is. Its history as a swing state goes way back, arguably since its statehood.

All eyes will be on Nevada in November as a swing state likely to determine who will be the next president. After all, the Silver State has a long-standing reputation for picking the candidate who will head to the White House.

“It’s hard to think of a place where an individual vote is more valuable than Nevada,” said David Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst for The Cook Political Report. It is hosting a competitive presidential race, and it also has competitive congressional races, he said.

But why is Nevada a swing state? How did it get there? And why does it matter?

1. We have a long history.

Nevada began as a swing state, at least in the mind of Abraham Lincoln, according to Michael Green, a history professor at UNLV.

It received statehood in 1864 because Lincoln was concerned about his reelection, Green said. The Constitution of Nevada was telegraphed to Congress days before the presidential election to help ensure he had three more electoral votes. The contribution ended up being minimal; Lincoln ended up winning his reelection 212 to 21.

For years, politicians have looked to Nevada, and even specific counties, as a bellwether for what is to come.

During the 1960 election cycle, John F. Kennedy called Nevada lawyer Ralph Denton , who co-chaired the Kennedy-Johnson campaign for Nevada, and asked, “how is Esmeralda County going to vote?” according to Green. At the time, Esmeralda County had picked the winning candidate in every presidential election that century, Green said.

Nevada’s more recent reputation as a swing state in modern politics really began when the population of the state began rapidly increasing around the 1980s, according to Rebecca Gill, a political science professor at UNLV who co-wrote the Nevada chapter of the 2022 book “Presidential Swing States.”

2. We consistently pick the winner. Usually.

Swing states tend to be bellwethers. If a candidate wins that state, that should be a good predictor that the candidate is going to win the presidential election, according to David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

From 1912 and until now, on only two occasions have Nevada’s electoral votes not gone to the person who became president, according to Green. One was Gerald Ford, who lost to Jimmy Carter in 1976, and the other was Hillary Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump in 2016, according to Green.

“So we have had quite a streak going,” Green said.

The last time Nevada picked a Republican president was in 2004, but Democrats have been hanging on by a thread for the last several cycles, according to Wasserman. That is in part due to Democrats slipping with Hispanic and non-college white voters, Wasserman said.

One of the reasons why Democrats have been able to hold onto the Silver State is because of the heavy presence of organized labor relative to other states, he said.

3. We have a balance of political parties and attitudes.

Swing states usually have a large percentage of independent voters, closely matched candidates and competitive races coming down to five percentage points or less, according to Schultz. Swing states also tend to have both Democratic and Republican strongholds.

Nevada fits that mold. Nonpartisan voters make up around 34 percent of the state’s registered voters, with Democrats at 30 percent and Republicans at 29 percent, according to the secretary of state’s office. Areas like Clark County and Washoe have a strong Democratic base, while Nevada’s more rural areas tend to favor Republicans.

The Silver State’s races also are consistently close. In 2022, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto won her re-election by just 0.81 of a percentage point. In recent presidential elections, the winner walked out receiving just two or three percentage points more than the loser.

Elections in a swing state like Nevada come down to moving a small number of voters, Schultz said. Whichever side is more successful at moving those voters ends up winning, he said.

“We are still one of the major puzzle pieces for each side as they’re trying to figure out how they’re going to get to the magic number,” Gill said.

4. America is looking increasingly like us.

Nevada is a diverse state, and demographers anticipate the rest of the country’s population will look more like Nevada over the course of the next couple of decades, Gill said. That makes Nevada a good indicator of how the rest of the country might be feeling.

If a candidate does well here, they could theoretically do well elsewhere in the country, Green said.

“It’s almost like the song ‘New York, New York.’ If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere,” Green said. “If you can navigate that we are a very diverse community, ethnically, religiously, economically, and do well here, you should be able to do well in some other places.”

5. It might come down to us on Election Day, and candidates know it.

Candidates and political parties are aware of the influence swing states like Nevada will have on the 2024 election, and their pocketbooks and calendars reflect that. Surrogates and candidates flock to the Silver State during the election cycle, and Nevadans cannot avoid the onslaught of political advertisements leading up to Election Day.

The 2024 presidential election is expected to be the most expensive cycle in history, according to AdImpact.com , which projects $10.2 billion in political expenditures, $576 million of which is expected to be spent in Nevada.

Nevadans can expect to see the biggest names in the political sphere stop by in the next six months, from former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, to perhaps well-known figures like Barack Obama. This year alone, Vice President Kamala Harris visited four times to bring attention to the Biden-Harris campaign.

Nevada only has six electoral college votes, far fewer than other states. But in presidential races that come down to just a few electoral college votes, Nevada matters.

In 2000, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore 271 to 266 Electoral College votes, but lost the popular vote by some 500,000. In Nevada, Bush received 49.49 percent of the vote, and Gore received 45.94 percent.

If the state is seen as “gettable” by the political parties, they will spend money targeting the voters in the state, Gill said.

“As long as we continue to be relatively unpredictable, in terms of who we are throwing our electoral college vote behind, we will still be attracting national attention and spending from these national campaigns,” Gill said. “It’s only when states become predictable that they start losing the kind of attention from the national politicians.”

Contact Jessica Hill at [email protected]. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.

Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto introduced a bill to revoke the law making Yucca Mountain, located 90 miles from Las Vegas, a nuclear waste repository.

The New York Times/Siena College poll found that if the election were held today, 50 percent would pick Donald Trump and 38 percent would pick Joe Biden.

The Nevada Supreme Court rejected a teachers union effort to put public funding for the Oakland Athletics’ planned Las Vegas ballpark on November’s ballot.

Plans to turn Yucca Mountain into the nation’s nuclear waste repository have long received opposition from both sides of the aisle. But, is that changing?

Legislation that would allow mining companies to use public land regardless of whether mineral deposits have been found on the land passed the House and will head to the Senate.

Gov. Joe Lombardo and other Nevada officials wrote a letter opposing the plan, which they fear could impact elections and the local economy.

ChatGPT wrote a poem about Nevada’s politics and was asked to include important landmarks. Here’s what it gave.

Reps. Susie Lee and Steven Horsford joined 13 other House Democrats in urging President Biden to take executive action on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada accused Elko County of failing to create a process for inmates to vote while in jail.

The Democratic National Committee, with support of the Biden-Harris campaign, accuses the RNC of sowing distrust in elections.