ACTIVITY 18 Planning with an outline

Complete the outline as a guide to help you brainstorm a more detailed plan for your argument essay.
Use your ideas from Activity 17. You may need to use either more or fewer points under each heading.
Write complete sentences where possible.

Topic: Videogames and violence

1. Introduction (Paragraph 1)

A Hook: Did you know that many crimes are blamed on videogames?

B Connecting information: Many news articles and analytics talk about how videogames cause
violence.

C Thesis statement: Videogames are blamed for violence due to parents wanting their children to do
something else, misunderstandings, and people who want attention.

2. Body

A. Paragraph 2 (first reason) topic sentence: there are many parents frustrated with the amount of time
their children spend on videogames so they end up blaming it for their children’s bad behaviors.

SUPPORT

1 Videogame addictions

2 Lack of parental supervision

3 parents didn’t have videogames in their time so they don’t know the real effect

B. Paragraph 3 (second reason) topic sentence: many people think videogames cause violence because
they give the player the choice of murder.

SUPPORT

1. videogames are a form of entertainment like movies and other mediums.

2 videogames can be “competitive” with a visualization.

3 people are fast to judge.

C. Paragraph 4 (third reason) topic sentence: There are many people who share opinions that aren’t true
but are guaranteed to garner a lot of attention.

SUPPORT

1 They would often spark controversial conversations for the sake of attention.

2 These same people would link murder to videogames.

3. At the same time news outlets would publish their talk.

D. Paragraph 5 (counterargument and refutation)

1. Counterargument: many people think that due to how violent videogames can be, they are a cause of
violence.

2. Refutation: Studies suggest otherwise and also many forms of visual entertainment could be as violent.

E. Conclusion (Paragraph 6)

1. Restated thesis: Parents who want their kids to do something else, misconceptions, and people
seeking attention are all reasons why videogames are blamed for violence.

2. Opinion: Video games are not related to violence, criminals would say anything they think will get them
out of prison.

SOURCES Kühn, S., Kugler, D. T., Schmalen, K., Weichenberger, M., Witt, C., & Gallinat, J. (2019).
Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study. Molecular
psychiatry,  24(8), 1220-1234.