Argumentative Essay

• Explain the overall organisation of an argument essay to students.

• Explain paragraph organisation.

• Give students a list of connectives which they could use in their essays. Make sure that
they understand the relationships that are implied by these connectives.

• Give students a model argument essay. Once they have read it, ask them to draw a
spider-diagram of the essay in the following way:
o Firstly, identify the thesis. Write it in a circle in the middle of a blank piece of
paper.
o Next, identify the claims or statements that are made to support this thesis.
Write these around the thesis.
o Then identify and list the details and examples which are given to support each
claim/statement.
o Finally, write relevant connectors between the thesis and the claims/statements
and between the claims/statements themselves.

• Give students a topic. Once they have completed pre-writing activities, like discussing
the topic or reading about it, ask them to write a statement of their point of view of the
topic. Then ask them to develop a spider-diagram around this statement.
• Ask students to use this spider-diagram to write their essay.
Rosh used the essays which the students wrote as evidence of whether her solutions had
worked or not. She observed that while both the overall structure, including paragraphing, and
the use of connectives indicating ordering had improved, the use of connectors indicating
reason had not. This will be her problem for her next action research cycle.

Here is a summary of the main stages of action research. Can you apply this approach to your
teaching?

• Identify the problem area.

• Narrow it down so that it is manageable.

• Investigate the problem.

• Think about a solution and how to implement it.

• Think about what evidence you will collect to decide whether your action is successful
or not. How will you collect it? How will you analyse it?

• Teach / act, observe and reflect.