essayy 2 gun control

Because you are writing for a general audience, you need to explain your subject and support your argument in ways that are both informative and persuasive. This is especially true of technical or complex subjects, such as economics or science.

One way is to draw comparisons and analogies that the typical reader can relate to. It is no accident that politicians in Washington arguing for a balanced budget compare our nation's spending to a family's financial situation--something most people are familiar with.

Other ways to support your argument is to use voices of authority, such as experts and statistics, and to appeal to the needs and values of your readers.

Obviously, having experts who agree with you is a boon to your argument. Keep in mind, however, that your readers may not agree who is an acknowledged expert. When Philip Morris issues a scientific report on the harmfulness of tobacco, most people view it skeptically because Philip Morris stands to benefit from a favorable report.

If you do use expert opinion, do so wisely, quoting exactly (if you quote) and establishing the credentials of your expert if he or she is unfamiliar to your readers. Often you can do this quite simply in the first attribution, as in "Harvard physicist Joseph Smith, author of The Atoms Family, says ...." By explaining that Smith is a physicist at Harvard and has written a book on atoms, you subtly suggest he is an expert who can be trusted. Remember, though, that at least some of the in-text citations in your essay must be written as parentheticals. After you have introduced an expert, you may want to follow up with more information from the source, and you don’t need to continually give the author’s information in the wording of the sentence; that’s a good time to use an in-text citation written as a parenthetical.

Statistics, too, can and often are used in writing, but you should exercise the same reservations with them as with expert opinion. You should make sure they come from a reputable source, and you should let readers know the source; this is another good situation to use parenthetical citations.

Finally, to write a argument of value essay, it is crucial to know where you stand on your topic. While this may seem obvious, too often students write argumentative essays that waffle back and forth and end up arguing nothing in particular.

First, you should realize that it is an argumentative essay, intended to persuade readers to your point of view. You will offer a "claim" and then attempt to support that claim.

Many claims of value simply express tastes, likes and dislikes, or preferences which are not the proper subject of an argumentative essay. "Milk tastes good" is a value claim, but it would be a waste of time to write a persuasive essay on the subject.

The two most fertile areas for value claims in argumentative writing--and the two areas in which people most often disagree--are aesthetics and morality. As you might expect, these areas offer the greatest challenge to the writer.

Aesthetics, the study of beauty and the fine arts, attempts to gauge the value of works of art--books, paintings, sculpture, architecture, dance, drama, and movies, to name a few. For experts and laypeople alike, difference of opinion over the aesthetic value of works of art usually exists because they disagree on the standards by which such value is determined. Even if they agree on a set of standards, they may disagree about how successfully the art object under discussion has met these standards.

Value claims about morality express judgments about the rightness or wrongness of conduct or belief. Here, too, disagreements abound. As with aesthetics, claims about morality often depend upon certain standards or principles held by the arguer.

Regardless of what a value claim argues, often they may depend upon claims of fact as support. A value claim that democracy is superior to any other form of government, for instance, might require factual claims that define your terms and establish the standards by which you reach this conclusion.

Remember that this assignment is to write a persuasive essay of value, which is essentially the same kind of argument you will see in “op-eds” (opinion editorials) found in many newspapers and online magazines. It should be helpful, therefore, to read as many newspaper editorial page pieces as you can in order to see real-life models of the kind of essay you are being asked to write.

As I have mentioned before, you should not get hung up on the idea of the paper relating to “popular culture”; the main requirement is that you attempt to argue some topic of potential interest to your readers .

Let's go through that step by step. First, you must argue . What I mean by that is that you have to present an essay in which you attempt to persuade readers toward a certain conclusion. Don't be thrown by the more common definition of the word "argue"--this is not inherently a hostile encounter (though it can be). In essence, it is dialogue you carry on with known or unknown persons to convince them to think, believe, or act in a certain way. And whether you realize it or not, it is everywhere.

Political oratory, of course, is a form of argument, but so is a religious sermon. Advertisements assault you on a daily basis in their attempt to persuade you to purchase their products. Every time you say you like or dislike a book, a song, a television show, you make a claim of value. If you go on to say why, you are making an argument.

Second, you should choose a topic of potential interest . Since it is your topic and your opinion, it should certainly be of interest to you. Not only does choosing a topic of interest make it easier to write, it also improves your chances of making it interesting to other people, because simply put, students write better essays when they write about things they like.

Third, you are writing for readers . Consider your audience carefully throughout the writing process. Try to anticipate objections they may have. In fact, at some point you should try to shoot holes into your argument so that you can "fix" them. Of course, as the old saying goes, there are always two sides to an issue. In fact, I would suggest there are many sides to an issue. Effective argument does not have to be fool-proof, and it is perfectly all right not to have an answer to every problem that can arise. Do not feel bad about making concessions on certain points.

Finally, there are some topics that often pop up in composition courses that are almost never well done. Among these topics are abortion, capital punishment, legalization of drugs, and the “off-limits” topics noted on your assignment sheet. The problem with these topics seems to be that students seldom explore anything unique about them. To make this paper as strong as it can be, find a unique perspective, make sure your topic is narrow and focused, and don’t be afraid to get creative in both your ideas and your presentation of those ideas!