Writing Argumentative Essays Tutorial

Lesson Modules 1. Unit One 2. Unit Two 3. Unit Three 4. Unit Four 5. Unit Five Site Index

Choosing your own conclusion and writing a paragraph

On this page you will be given a number of arguments on the issue: Should smoking rooms be set up in workplaces to allow people to smoke indoors? None of the arguments will have any problematising phrases or connectives in them. You will have to choose your own conclusion and build a paragraph that argues for the conclusion you have chosen. You will have to add problematising phrases and connectives to distinguish between arguments that support the conclusion you have chosen and arguments that oppose it.

Task 1: Dividing the arguments into "For" and "Against"
Should smoking rooms be set up in workplaces to allow smokers to smoke indoors? There is a list of arguments below which are for and against the issue. Decide whether each statement is for smoking rooms or against smoking rooms. Print out the page and put an "F" in the box next to each argument that is for smoking rooms and put an "A" in the box next to each argument that is against smoking rooms.

The arguments:
	Setting aside rooms for smokers does not mean that the harmful effects of smoking are limited to smokers alone (Rugby, 1989).
	Banning smoking in all public places is another example of the way the government uses health and safety issues as a cover for introducing increasingly tight control over people's lives
	Most public buildings are air conditioned and this means that any harmful tobacco smoke that is produced in one room will spread to other rooms through the air conditioning system.
	Because we rightfully have a universal health insurance system in this country, the costs of treating tobacco-related illnesses are shared by all the community, smokers and non-smokers alike.
	These illnesses create a terrible and expensive burden on our health system.
	Forbidding smokers from pursuing their habit in public places is an infringement of their democratic rights and is discriminatory (Jane Black, the spokesperson for Smokers for a Democratic Society, The Age 18.6.93). .
	Public buildings are places where all members of the community should have equal access.
	They increase the overall cost of medical services and use up scarce medical resources.
	People should be free to do what they like so long as it does not harm other citizens.

Task 2: Choosing a conclusion and writing a paragraph to support that conclusion
Now that you have divided the arguments into those that are for smoking rooms and those that are against smoking rooms, you are ready to start writing a paragraph. The first thing you have to do is decide what is your main conclusion. Will your paragraph argue for smoking rooms or against smoking rooms?

After you have decided on your main conclusion you are ready to start writing your paragraph.

Remember to:
1.	Show both sides of the issue by including the arguments that oppose your main conclusion. You might want to go back and look at the work we did earlier in this unit on showing both sides of the issue.
2.	Use problematising phrases to mark those arguments that do not support your main conclusion to make them appear debatable or possibly untrue. You might want to go back and look at the work we studied on using problematising phrases and the language summary for problematising phrases that we studied earlier in this unit.
3.	Clearly the mark the place in the paragraph where you change from opposing arguments to supporting arguments with a "but-type" connective e.g. "however", "on the other hand" etc. You might want to go back and look at the work we did on shifting from opposing arguments to supporting arguments that we studied earlier in this unit.
4.	Use listing connectives, such as "firstly", "in addition", "moreover", "furthermore", "finally", to list all the arguments that support your main conclusion. You might want to go back and look at the work we did earlier in this unit on connectives for listing arguments.
	*Note:* For a general language summary of all the above 4 points go here

You might also wish to go back and look at some of the complete paragraphs we have studied earlier in this unit:
a.	Childcare
b.	The republic
c.	Another paragraph on the republic
d.	University fees

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Lesson Modules 1. Unit One 2. Unit Two 3. Unit Three4. Unit Four 5. Unit Five Site Index

Lesson Modules 1. Unit One 2. Unit Two 3. Unit Three 4. Unit Four 5. Unit Five Site Index