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Argumentative writing is one of many types of writing students will be asked to do in school. This type of writing spans all subjects—from ELA, to social studies, science, and beyond. To help you guide students when writing their argumentative pieces, we’re providing 10 steps on how to teach argumentative writing in any class so you feel confident in assigning, grading, and guiding your students in these lessons.
[10 steps to teach argumentative writing](id-steps)
Use these steps to help your students understand how to make an argument and write an argumentative essay or text that’s clear and persuasive:
1. Give good examples of argumentative texts
Mentor texts that are good examples of argumentative writing can help show students the structure and components of this type of piece. The best argumentative mentor texts come from real publications, like newspaper articles or primary sources.
To be most effective, students should do more than just read the mentor texts. They should also analyze them. Students should look for places where the authors use evidence and what types of evidence they use to support their argument. They can also compare mentor texts on similar topics to see how different authors developed their arguments and presented ideas.
Learning how to make an argument starts with choosing a side and taking a stance. You can teach students how to do this in the classroom (or refresh their memories) with a simple intro activity.
First, divide the classroom in half. One side of the room is “Yes” and the other side is “No.” Then, pose an issue with two clear sides to students, like “Should college athletes get paid?” or “Should all students have to take personal finance classes?” As you read the statements, students should move to one side of the room or the other to choose their point of view on the issue.
Once students have chosen their point of view, they each have to give one reason why they chose that side. This activity can help set the thinking process behind formulating and supporting an argument before students start to write.
3. Try a debate off the page
Take the activity from step two further by picking one of the pro/con topics you posed and holding an in-class debate. For example, may you’ll use the “Should college athletes get paid?” issue. Students who said yes would be on one side of the debate and students who said no are on the other.
Having an in-class debate encourages students to research the issue more in-depth, develop talking points, and address counterarguments—all of which they’ll do in argumentative writing. Preparing for an oral debate also helps them learn the research and organization process they’ll use when writing an argumentative essay.
You can download our debate organizer and debate rubric to help with research and grading for this in-class activity.
4. Share the argumentative writing prompt and rubric
Sharing the writing activity prompt and rubric early in the lesson or unit can help students get familiar with the expectations. When you share the prompt, it gives them time to consider what their argument will be. What side will they take? What evidence do they need to find to support their stance?
Sharing the rubric early also helps students prepare for grading later in the process. By sharing the criteria and expectations for the assignmen,t they can use it as a guide when planning and writing their essays.
After students have had time to look over the prompt and rubric, they can start brainstorming. Sharing an argumentative essay graphic organizer gives students a place to list their claims, reasons, and supporting evidence in one place.
You can model how to use this graphic organizer on a smartboard or overhead to help students consider what they should fill in for each section and the decision-making and research processes used to get there.
6. Encourage students to research their argument
Argumentative texts rely on facts, statistics, data, and other evidence to support the claim made through the sections. It’s important to teach students research skills and how to find high-quality resources to use in their arguments. Some options you can show them include:
Primary sources: Diary entries, letters, and audio and video recordings of speeches provide firsthand accounts of historical events.
Journal article databases: Websites like JSTOR or EBSCO can help students find peer-reviewed academic articles, charts, graphs, and other resources for research.
Reference materials: Encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and other reference materials (in hard copy or online) can help students gather information and validate facts.
Current events content: Articles and podcast recordings from trustworthy, verifiable sources can help students collect information from multiple viewpoints on a specific topic or issue.
7. Practice argumentative writing section by section
Practicing writing section by section can help students learn how to craft an argumentative text. The main sections to cover include:
Intro/Thesis: This section sets up the argument. It orients the reader to the author’s point of view and lays out what they can expect in the rest of the text.
Body/Evidence: This section gives evidence that supports the claim or thesis from the introduction. It also addresses counterarguments or counterclaims that may clash with the author’s point of view.
Conclusion: This section references the thesis again, summarizes the main points of the text, and gives the audience a final push for why they should agree with the author’s stance on the argument.
Create mini-lessons that help students learn how to write each part of an argumentative essay. You can teach the mini-lesson for the first part of the class period and use the rest of the time to work on the sections of their own papers independently. The independent work time is an opportunity for students to practice, ask questions, and research.
How can Newsela Writing help with argumentative writing practice?
Newsela Writing has a sentence checklist and rubric meters to help students evaluate their own argumentative writing. Sentence checklists for single-paragraph argumentative assignments could include:
Analysis
Claim
Background
Evidence
Summary
Sentence checklists also give a definition for the sentence types, tips for writing each type of sentence, and examples to see how this sentence type functions in an essay.
Newsela Writing also includes rubric meters that pair with the rubric attached to the assignment for students to monitor how well they’re meeting the rubric criteria. For argumentative essays, these meters could include:
Introduction
Claim
Organization
Relationships among ideas
Evidence
Elaboration
Language
Transitions
Conventions
Conclusion
8. Have students complete a rough draft and get feedback
When students are familiar and comfortable with writing each section of their argumentative essays, they should then put them together into a complete rough draft. Within the draft, they can work on making transitions between sections to make sure their ideas flow and connect across each part of the essay.
When the rough draft is complete, students can turn it in to receive feedback from you, or you can set up peer review workshop sessions to have students edit and comment on each other’s work.
9. Ask students to revise and polish their final drafts
After receiving feedback from teachers, peers, or a writing program like Newsela Writing, students should revise their rough drafts into polished, finished copies. These revisions may include rewriting sentences for clarity, fixing spelling and grammar errors, or reorganizing sentences and paragraphs for flow.
Students should also use this time to self-reflect on their work. They can use the rubric as a guide to make sure they haven’t missed a key area of the assignment. When revisions are complete, students should submit their final draft copies for a grade.
10. Publish or present students’ argumentative writing
After submission and grading, give students the opportunity to share or display their work. This could include hanging their essays up in the classroom or hallway, encouraging them to submit their essays to the school paper, or taking them home to share with family members.
Another way to share student work is to look out for Newsela Writing Contests. A few times per year, we invite students to share their best work in a variety of genres for a chance to become published authors on our platform. Check out the winners from our 2025 Winter Writing Contest about Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.
[Argumentative writing FAQs](id-faq)
Have questions about teaching a practicing argumentative writing in your classes? Find answers, tips, and resources below:
What is argumentative writing?
Argumentative writing, also called persuasive or critical writing, tries to get the reader or audience to see the author’s point of view on a topic or issue—and ultimately agree with it. Examples of argumentative writing include:
Essays
Debate transcripts
Research papers
What misconceptions might students have about argumentative writing?
When students are learning how to write argumentative essays, they may believe some common misconceptions about the writing type that can affect their research and drafts. Some misconceptions about argumentative writing include:
Confusing an argument with a debate or a fight: Students may think every argument is a debate where they have to “win” points. They misunderstand that the goal is to persuade, not win.
Confusing an argument with an opinion: Argumentative writing focuses on proving a point with facts and evidence. If students are unclear on the differences between facts and opinions they may write opinion pieces instead.
Ignoring all sides of an issue: Students may initially ignore counterclaims or counterarguments after they’ve chosen a side. They may not realize an argument is stronger when it refutes and addresses opposing viewpoints.
Being unable to choose a side: Some students may find it difficult to choose a side in an argument with many logical claims and counterclaims.
How can you combat these misconceptions? Address them in your prework and mini-lessons as you teach students how to write each part of an argumentative essay. For example, you may address counterarguments and counterclaims when teaching students how to write body paragraphs and research evidence.
How can I help my students write a thesis statement for their argumentative writing assignments?
Summarizing the claim and argument in the essay into one sentence can be tricky for students. Try a thesis statement template to get them started.
Despite [COUNTERARGUMENT], [EVIDENCE 1] and [EVIDENCE 2] support [YOUR CLAIM].
[YOUR CLAIM] because [EVIDENCE 1] and [EVIDENCE 2]
How can I get students to understand the vocabulary associated with argumentative writing?
Learning to write argumentative texts comes with some additional vocabulary words students may not know. They include:
Claims: Challengeable statements supported by reasons and evidence.
Reasons: Support the stance an author takes in their claim.
Evidence: Backs up reasons with proof or facts to persuade the audience to accept an author’s claim.
Counterarguments or counterclaims: Opposing stances to an author’s argument or claim.
Rebuttal: Ways to refute or disprove the counterclaim or counterargument.
Writing and literacy expert Joan Sedita recommends framing the vocabulary to students this way to help them think about the right information for each category:
Claim: What do I think?
Reason: Why do I think it?
Evidence: How do I know?
Counterclaim: What is the other side?
Rebuttal: What is my response to the other side?
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