Argumentative Writing Essentially, in argumentative writing, you are trying to convince your reader of something. To do this, you make a claim, which is your main point, and then you proceed to defend it. There are some specific things that argumentative writing needs to include in order to be strong, namely a claim, evidence, a counterclaim, and a rebuttal. What is a claim?

How to Make a Claim The first thing is that your claim needs to be stated strongly and clearly, very early on in the writing. There should be no question in your reader's mind what you are arguing for or against. It's important to avoid terms like 'I think.' These types of terms are called hedges, and in writing they can weaken your argument. When making your claim, state it as a fact, and then defend it using credible evidence. What should be avoided when making a claim

How to Make a Claim Terms like 'I think.' need to be avoided. These types of terms are called hedges, and in writing, they can weaken your argument. Which of the following claim does not use a hedge?

Using Evidence A claim should never go unsupported. If you don't have any evidence, then you're just stating an opinion without giving your reader any reason to believe you. It's important to use well-researched evidence from credible sources. A credible source would be newspaper articles, .org or .gov websites, encyclopedias, peer-reviewed journals, etc. What must accompany a claim in writing?