In October I hosted the NAU "how to be a better writer workshop," which was geared towards argumentative essays -- a common assignment at AWC. I proposed that a good argumentative essay has three characteristics: 1) the language is precise 2) the language is concise and 3) the conclusion follows from the evidence. Let's take these in order.

Write precisely

Writing precisely means that what you say includes all you want to include and excludes everything else.

Here is a common example of imprecise language: When people say, "I hate technology," do they mean that they don't enjoy air-conditioning, cars, spaceships and medical equipment?

The problem is that the statement "I hate technology" is too inclusive. Maybe they mean something like, "Some forms of technology are replacing face to face communication, and I don't like that they are." This last sentence is much more precise.

Write concisely

As writers, we don't want to lose the attention of our readers, so we need to learn to be concise. Here is a conversation I encountered, and look how concise language can improve it:

Boy: What is your class about?

Girl: My class is about, for example, how we treat women and how we stereotype men. Like some countries treat women differently, but we think about women as equal although we still don't think it is okay for them to do things, but men can do them.

Boy: (using concise language) So your class is about gender roles in America?

Girl: (with hearts in her eyes) Yes! Exactly! Wow, you are so smart!

The point is that by using concise language, the communicator can get the point across much more quickly and reduce the risk of being misinterpreted. To use concise language, we need to find something that classifies and includes only what we want to include. In the conversation above, the classification was "gender roles," and this was qualified by "in America." Thus, it includes only the intended stuff.

Use this concise language method when the details are not as important as is the main idea. However, there are times when you have to go into extreme detail. In these cases, begin with a category of things, and then go into the details.

Support you conclusion

Finally, a good argumentative paper has a conclusion well supported by the evidence presented in the paper. The field of logic is dedicated to studying when an argument is well supported.

Moreover, some argue that a good argumentative paper also has persuasive value. In other words, not only is the conclusion supported by the evidence, but people feel convinced to believe the conclusion. Being persuasive is a topic covered in rhetoric. I will not discuss how to be logical or how to be rhetorically sufficient here, but I do encourage the interested writer to look up some of the many tips found online, or to take an AWC course on logic.

Overall, I encourage you to use these three important ingredients next time -- and your neighborhood Writing Center -- to impress your teachers.