Argumentative / for and against essay

1) Get ideas: find arguments for and against the topic & find examples/facts to support
your arguments

· What do you already know about the statement or topic?

· List as many arguments as you can for and against the statement

for against

to help others who are less fortunate you don’t get paid for it

· Now chose your two strongest arguments in each category

· Decide what your own opinion is

2) Plan:
Organize your ideas into paragraphs. For exeple:

Paragraph 1: INTRO

Introduce the topic in an interesting way and say that there are arguments for and against it.
Do NOT give your opinion. (use impersonal passive and/or question, nowadays, …).

Paragraphs 2 and 3 MAIN PART

Paragraph 2: First aspect - good and bad points

Paragraph 2: ARGUMENTS FOR (advantages, pros, benefits) the topic, at least 2 + give
evidence

Paragraph 3: Second aspect - good and bad points

Paragraph 3: ARGUMENTS AGAINST (disadvantages, cons, deawbacks) the topic + give

evidence

1. Conectores de adición

Objetivo: Complementar ideas, sumar información.

● And: y ● Then / Next: Después /

● Second: En segundo lugar Luego
● Also / Too: También
 ● As well as: Además de ● In other words: En otras
● Moreover / Furthermore: palabras
Además / Es más ● That is to say: O sea / Es
● In fact / As a matter of fact: decir
De hecho ● In addition: Además
● Actually: En realidad / De ● Such as: Como / Por
hecho ejemplo
● Anyway: En cualquier caso / ● Like: Como / Por ejemplo
De todas formas ● Above all: Sobre todo
● Besides: Además / Aparte ● Or rather: O / O mejor
● By the way: A propósito /
Por cierto

Objetivo: Expresar contraste entre ideas

● But: Pero ● On the contrary: Al

● However: Sin embargo contrario
● Nonetheless / ● On the other hand: Por otro
Nevertheless: No obstante lado
● Yet / Even so: Sin embargo ● In other matters: Por otro
/ Aun así lado
● Still: De todas maneras ● Nor: Ni
● Instead: En lugar de ● Notwithstanding: A pesar
de que
● Whereas / While: Mientras
que ● While: Mientras que

Objetivo: Dar a conocer la razón o inicio de algo.

● Because: Porque ● By means of: Por medio de

● Because of: Debido a ● For lack of: Por falta de
● For: Porque ● Thanks to: Gracias a
● Since: Puesto que ● This is the reason why:
● As: Puesto que Esa es la razón de
● Due to / Owing to: Debido a ● This is why: Es por eso
● In order to: Para / Con tal ● For this reason: Por esto
de
Objetivo: Distinguir diferencias y semejanzas de personas, lugares o cosas.

● As: Como
● As… as: Tan… como
● Not as / So… as: No tan… como
● As if / As though: Como si
 ● Than: Que

Objetivo: Sirven para terminar o redondear una idea

● Although / Though / Even ● Not even if: Ni siquiera si

though: Aunque ● Regardless of: Sin importar
● Despite / In spite of: A pesar ● Conectores para declarar
de certezas
● Even if: Incluso si
Objetivo: Enfatizar la seguridad sobre la existencia de algo.

● Obviously: Obviamente ● Indeed: Verdaderamente /

● Undoubtedly: Sin duda / En realidad / En efecto
Indudablemente ● Apparently: Claramente /
● Surely: Seguramente Es claro
● Possibly: Posiblemente

Paragraph 4: Conclusions and recommendations

State your own OPINION + CONCLUSION

❖ USEFUL LANGUAGE

useful language

explaining the aim of the report the aim / purpose of this report is to…
The following report relates to…

presenting the findings The majority of…

Just over half / a half…
Around / approximately / about a third…
Over a quarter / three quarters…
Most / serval / very few / a large number

giving reasons this because / due to…

explaining results as a result,...

this means that…
consequently,...

Giving examples for example,...

d¡for instance,..

concluding to sum up,...

in conclusions,...
all in all,...
 on the whole,...

giving recommendations I would like to suggest…

I recommend…
I think that we should…
you could conifer…
one possible solution would be…
it might be a food idea

a)Intro

Some /Many people think / believe / consider that…

It is said / thought that…
Nowadays, …

b) Arguments
There are clearly some benefits/drawbacks (advantages / disadvantages)...
There are strong arguments for/against this idea.

c) Adding ideas:

- Another argument is..

- Also, Moreover, In Addition, What is more,
- … too / as well.

d) Contrasting ideas
However, Nevertheless, although, despite,…

e) Expressing your ideas / opinion

Personally / I believe /think,…
I am of the opinion that…
In my opinion, view, …
Although I partly agree that,… overall I think that...

f) Conclusion
To conclude, On balance,

4) General tips
Use formal language.
Use no or few contractions.
Write at least 2 sentences per paragraph.
Try not to repeat ideas.