This paper's purpose is to show exactly "what" should go "where" in a traditional argumentative paper. This is geared toward ESL students, but could easily be adapted for native speakers as well. More at www.eslcommando.com

1. Name
Date
Class
An Amazing Title That Doesn’t Simply Copy My Thesis
This is where I get your attention by using a hook like a story, quote, fact,
statistic, observation, or a really thought provoking question. Now I’m going to begin to
transition from the hook toward my main idea, but I’m going to make sure that it’s
smooth and not choppy by coherently relating each sentence to the one before it. Now
I’m going to narrow down my topic so that my main idea is beginning to come into view.
In this final sentence, I am going to clearly give my thesis statement and make sure that
you understand exactly which side of the argument I am on by using an a modal verb
and/or an opinion indicator.
I will give a transition word/phrase here and introduce my first point of support
for my thesis statement. Here I will give evidence in the form of examples, common
sense, statistics, and/or expert opinion using complex and compound sentences where
possible. I will continue to show the relevance of this evidence to my main idea by
restating it periodically throughout the body paragraphs. After I give my evidence, this
last sentence will wrap up this part of the topic and continue to relate back to the thesis
statement.
I will give a transition word/phrase here and introduce my second point of support
for my thesis statement. Here I will give evidence in the form of examples, common
sense, statistics, and/or expert opinion using complex and compound sentences where
possible. I will continue to show the relevance of this evidence to my main idea by
restating it periodically throughout the body paragraphs. After I give my evidence, this
© ESL Commando 2014 . Feel free to make copies for classroom use. www.eslcommando.com

2. last sentence will wrap up this part of the topic and continue to relate back to the thesis
statement.
I will give a transition word/phrase here and introduce my third point of support
for my thesis statement. Here I will give evidence in the form of examples, common
sense, statistics, and/or expert opinion using complex and compound sentences where
possible. I will continue to show the relevance of this evidence to my main idea by
restating it periodically throughout the body paragraphs. After I give my evidence, this
last sentence will wrap up this part of the topic and continue to relate back to the thesis
statement.
In this paragraph, I will acknowledge my opponent’s viewpoint on a specific
aspect of my argument. I will elaborate just a bit more on their side here. In this sentence,
I will use a contrasting transition and then directly address my opponent’s viewpoint
found in the previous sentences. Finally, I will show how this rebuttal strengthens my
own argument.
I will use a concluding transition and begin to restate my main idea and show how
it is the best choice. I will summarize my points here and show how my case is
reasonable and well thought out. In this final sentence, I will leave the reader thinking
about my topic by using a suggestion, opinion, or prediction.
© ESL Commando 2014 . Feel free to make copies for classroom use. www.eslcommando.com