Hi Camryn:
No doubt, writing an argument essay about varying topics can be challenging!
The first thing to consider is your audience. In your brainstorming process, it's important to ask questions like:
"What does my audience already know?" "How will they feel about this subject?" "How will they respond to my argument? What objections will they raise?"
The biggest roadblock is that many of us don't know our audience. Ideally, the teacher is main reader for an assignment like this, and certainly, he or she will "switch hats" throughout the essay to make sure you're anticipating objections.
So how do we find out about these possible objections?
The first thing we can do is research. Most of us today use the Internet for our data, but this can be tricky. Hopefully your teacher has spoken to you about how to locate good sources from bad sources, and about the importance of using documentation to show the readers where you have found that information (for more on that, please see OWL, "Avoiding Plagiarism" https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/)
Most important is that you find resources that are credible. This means that when something has been published, it has been verified and fact-checked by other people with similar credentials and experience. Good examples of peer reviewed sources are journals, expert testimony, studies, etc. Many of these can be found via .edu, .gov, and (sometimes) .org websites.
Procon.org is a good place to start when researching opposing views. it will give you a good idea about the subject and about some of the main arguments being made.
The gold standard of opposing view resources is called Opposing Viewpoints in Context database (by Gale/Cengage). Most libraries subscribe to databases (check your school and public library).
Opposing Viewpoints in Context is a great resource for the following reasons:
- It contains peer-reviewed information (studies, statistics, expert testimony) that comes from periodicals, journals, etc.
- It gives you exposure to many points of view (including jargon and terms associated with issue). This is especially important because certain phrases convey opinion (for example: undocumented immigrant vs. illegal immigrant, Obama Care vs. The Affordable Care Act, factory farming vs. confined animal feeding operations or CAFO).
Once you have a good idea of what the opposing view thinks, you can better anticipate and provide a counter argument.
For each argument you make, think about how the opposition would respond. I recommend that students dedicate one body paragraph to the main objections their reader may have. Many people place the paragraph later on in the essay, after they have made their main points. If you have a lot of main points, it may be better to address the objections in each body paragraph instead.
I hope this helps!
