Agrugmentive Essay

Question

 Is Jorge, the janitor, a victim of prejudice?

Write an argumentative essay. 

1. Agree or disagree with the prompt, “Is Jorge, the janitor, a victim of prejudice?”
2. Remember to write an introduction, two paragraphs that support your claim, a counterclaim, and a conclusion paragraph. (5 paragraphs.)
3. Your body paragraphs must each include a piece of evidence that you use to support your claim.

Answer 1

Hello Solomon,

Thanks for reaching out for help.

You have read this story or article, so what do you think? It is always easier to write an argument for something if you agree with the argument. It is much harder to argue for something that you disagree with.

As you look at the story/article, do you think that he was treated with prejudice. Prejudice, by the way, is defined as "...an assumption or an opinion about someone simply based on that person's membership to a particular group." So what group does Jorge belong to? And do YOU think the fact that he belonged to that group had others treat him badly or differently?

Now look at the actual writing to find examples that he was, or was not, discriminated against because of his belonging to that group. Often we are speaking of groups based on skin color, ethnicity, or religion when we speak of prejudice. However, it may be any kind of a group that another group looks down on in some way.

For instance, people who are wealthy may be prejudiced against people who are poor. So, find evidence in the text (writing) that really supports what you believe.

If the evidence for your belief does not seem to be there, you may have brought your own personal thoughts into the matter. So you may now want to change your point of view, or argument. It is all too easy to bring our own personal viewpoint into what we read, and make an assumption based on that. However, the most important part of a good argumentative essay based on another writing is that we can support our argument with what the text actually says or implies.

Said another way, in an argumentative essay about another piece of writing we are not just making evidence up from our own heads. We are making a good argument that we can back up with the author's words & viewpoints. That is what is meant by having evidence to support your claim. When writing about another person's writing, the evidence must always come from the writing, and not from the greater outside world, or our own heads.

A counterclaim, by the way, is when you say the opposite of what you want to argue, so that you can disprove it.

For instance:

If a claim for an argument is

"For best health, people should eat beans or legumes daily."

Then a counterclaim is

"It's true that there are many people who find beans and legumes hard to digest."

Now you disprove that counterclaim

"However, the reason that beans & legumes are hard to digest is because they are cooked incorrectly. If one cooks them correctly, the health benefits of eating beans & legumes far outweigh the extra effort."

Be sure to follow the directions given by your teacher exactly, as to how many paragraphs & what to include. Always check & double check that you are following such directions, so that you never lose points for oversights.

I hope this helps. I'd love to hear how your writing assignment goes.:)

Many well-wishes,

Lorelei