Anna Taylor

Principles of Argumentation in Persuasive Essays  
 
Persuasive essays are one of the most common psychology research topics that instructors prompt their students to write. These essays allow students to improve their logical deduction and reasoning. While shaping their arguments the writers learn to defend ideas and arguments by producing sound logic and evidence. To improve in your argumentation means improving in many parts of academic writing. This includes performing research, brainstorming, logical reasoning, and countering opposite views. The argumentation will allow you to improve in various types of academic writing as it will require you to describe, analyze, evaluate, and be critical. 
 
Many writers consulting an essay writing service miss out on the opportunity the argumentative essay presents to improve in academic writing. You should try to perfect your argumentative essays by working on your own and by being open to constructive advice from other people and sources.  
 
Learn the argumentation principles
The argumentation principles for the classical argumentation comes down from the Aristotelian tradition. The principles of ethos, pathos, and logos make for the argumentation trident that defines complete arguments. 

Ethos

The ethos in your writing represents the authority with which you talk about the subject matter. Your argument will come off as convincing if you are an expert on the subject or if you induce authority in your argument. You can do this by borrowing information from the work of experts in their field. In academic writing, it’s okay to use others’ work as long as you provide the proper reference and citation.

Pathos

The pathos in your writing means that your arguments and ideas are appealing and on the level of your audience. Surveying your audience beforehand will allow you to have the right information in your essay. For most essay tasks that you submit to your instructors, you should take the audience to be somewhat knowledgeable about the subject matter. 

Logos

The last principle of argumentation is how well you use logical reasoning to guide your premises to a conclusion. This can be deductive reasoning or inductive reasoning. You will need to support each argument and sub-argument with sound deductions and analysis. 
 
The argumentation framework
In academic arguments, the argument depends on certain premises that need to be correct in order for your argument to be true. These premises take the form of your various ideas, claims, and arguments that you pose in topic sentences of paragraphs. Together these premises will support your main thesis, whose validation will form your conclusion. 
 
 

 
The journey from the premise to the conclusion should have the following components:
 
 

The claim or argument

 
The claim should come at the start to allow the readers to know the premise of the argument. 
 

The evidence or supporting information

 
The evidence has to come from a scholarly source and must have the right ethos. This can come in the form of stats, quotes, observations, etc.
 

The evaluation and analysis

 
You shouldn’t just provide the readers the evidence to leave it up to them to make connections. You should help them with your analysis and evaluation. You can show the validity and relevance of your evidence. 
 

Counterpoints and rebuttal

 
Make sure that you know the counters to your arguments ahead, so you can know how to put them down. If you come upon a counter-argument, later on, that weakens your argument on 500 word essay, you can always absorb it into your premise. 
 
Each claim that you explore should be using the same framework, to allow for consistent writing. You should put your strongest points first, as it helps the readers to read the important parts initially. There should be adequate transitioning between each argument so that your essay doesn’t look patchy. 
 
Useful Resources
Intelligent Essay Writing: Understanding its Idea
Understanding the Contrast Between Intelligent Essay and Account Essay
What is Narrative and Descriptive Essays