mla argumentative essay example

Sample Essays: Writing with MLA Style

Congratulations to the students whose essays were selected for the 2024 edition of Writing with MLA Style! Essays were selected as examples of excellent student writing that use MLA style for citing sources. Essays have been lightly edited. 

If your institution subscribes to MLA Handbook Plus , you can access annotated versions of the essays published from 2022 to 2024. 

Writing with MLA Style: 2024 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2024 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The selection committee for high school submissions was composed of Lisa Karakaya, Hunter College High School; and Heather Smith, Dedham Public Schools. The selection committee for postsecondary submissions was composed of Rachel Ihara, Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York; Tarshia L. Stanley, Wagner College; and Joyce MacDonald, University of Kentucky.

High School Essays

Miguel Kumar (Ransom Everglades School)

“McCarthyism at the Movies: The Effects of Hollywood McCarthyism on the American Public”

Catherine Mao (Hunter College High School)

“ Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder, and the Beholder Is a White Man: The 1875 Page Act, Eugenics, and Beauty Standards for Chinese Women versus American Women ”

Undergraduate Essays

Rachelle Dumayas  (California State University, Sacramento)

“Should Deaf Children Get Cochlear Implants?”

Holly Nelson (Johns Hopkins University)

“Creating Space? Representations of Black Characters in Regency Romance”

Chloe Wiitala (University of Minnesota, Duluth)

“ Reanimating Queer Perspectives through Camp: A Study of Frankenstein and Its Parodic Film Adaptations ”

Writing with MLA Style: 2023 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2023 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2023 selection committee was composed of Ellen C. Carillo, University of Connecticut (chair); Rachel Ihara, Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York; and Tarshia L. Stanley, Wagner College.

Caroline Anderson (Pepperdine University)

“ L’Appel du Vide : Making Spaces for Sinful Exploration in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ”

Hunter Daniels (University of South Carolina, Aiken)

“Biblical Legalism and Cultural Misogyny in The Tragedy of Mariam ”

Aspen English (Southern Utah University)

“Putting the ‘Comm’ in Comics: A Communication-Theory-Informed Reading of Graphic Narratives”

Raul Martin (Lamar University)

“The Book-Object Binary: Access and Sustainability in the Academic Library”

Grace Quasebarth (Salve Regina University)

“Finding a Voice: The Loss of Machismo Criticisms through Translation in Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits ”

Writing with MLA Style: 2022 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2022 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2022 selection committee was composed of Ellen C. Carillo, University of Connecticut; Jessica Edwards, University of Delaware (chair); and Deborah H. Holdstein, Columbia College Chicago.

Kaile Chu (New York University, Shanghai)

“Miles Apart: An Investigation into Dedicated Online Communities’ Impact on Cultural Bias”

Sietse Hagen (University of Groningen)

“The Significance of Fiction in the Debate on Dehumanizing Media Portrayals of Refugees”

Klara Ismail (University of Exeter)

“Queering the Duchess: Exploring the Body of the Female Homosexual in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi ”

Yasmin Mendoza (Whittier College)

“Banning without Bans”

Niki Nassiri (Stony Brook University)

“Modern-Day US Institutions and Slavery in the Twenty-First Century”

Samantha Wilber (Palm Beach Atlantic University)

“‘Pero, tu no eres facil’: The Poet X as Multicultural Bildungsroman”

Writing with MLA Style: 2019 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2019 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2019 selection committee was composed of Jessica Edwards, University of Delaware; Deborah H. Holdstein, Columbia College Chicago (chair); and Liana Silva, César E. Chavez High School, Houston, Texas.

Catherine Charlton (University of King’s College, Nova Scotia)

“‘Coal Is in My Blood’: Public and Private Representations of Community Identity in Springhill, Nova Scotia”

Alyiah Gonzales (California Polytechnic State University)

“Disrupting White Normativity in Langston Hughes’s ‘I, Too’ and Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’”

Meg Matthias (Miami University, Ohio)

“Prescriptions of (Living) Historical Happiness: Gendered Performance and Racial Comfort in Reenactment”

Jennifer Nguyen  (Chaminade University of Honolulu)

“The Vietnam War, the American War: Literature, Film, and Popular Memory”

Emily Schlepp (Northwest University)

“A Force of Love: A Deconstructionist Reading of Characters in Dickens’s  Great Expectations ”

TSTC Library Services

• Library Guides
• New Students
• Workshops & Events
• Shaping You to Get Hired
• ENGL 1301: Composition I: Argumentative Essay
• Texas State Technical College
• Assignments
• Getting started
• Define your assignment
• Brainstorming
• Choosing a position
• Exploring the internet
• Exploring background information
• Narrowing/broadening your topic
• Introduction
• Thesis statement
• Supporting paragraphs
• Transitions

MLA format guidelines

The first page.

• Formatting visuals
• In-text citations
• Works cited page
• Recommended databases This link opens in a new window

MLA resources

• MLA 8th Edition Quick Sheet Citation basics for MLA 8th edition.
• MLA Sample Paper - Purdue Owl A sample paper from Purdue OWL that has annotations explaining rules and formatting.
• MLA In-Text Citations - Purdue Owl Purdue OWL's guide to writing In-Text citations.
• MLA Sample Works Cited Page - Purdue Owl A sample works cited page created by the Purdue OWL team.
• MLA Citation Guide - Purdue Owl An overview of MLA style guidelines by Purdue Owl.
• MLA Works Cited Page - Purdue Owl Purdue OWL's guide to format your Works Cited Page.
• Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested or the paper is assigned as a group project. In the case of a group project, list all names of the contributors, giving each name its own line in the header, followed by the remaining MLA header requirements as described below. Format the remainder of the page as requested by the instructor.
• In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.
• Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation marks. Write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters.
• Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would in your text. For example:  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas  as Morality Play; Human Weariness in "After Apple Picking"
• Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
• Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number. Number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other readers may ask that you omit the last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow instructor guidelines.)
• << Previous: Writing
• Next: Formatting visuals >>
• Join us on Facebook
• Text: (254) 332-2968
• Last Updated: Nov 8, 2024 10:42 AM
• URL: https://tstc.libguides.com/engl1301-argumentative-essay

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Dr. Karen Palmer

Sample Argument Essay in MLA Format

Note that the first page of the argument should have a heading on the left hand side (not in the header) with the student’s name, the instructor’s name, the course, and the date. The title should be centered on the page with no special formatting. On subsequent pages, the author’s last name and the page number should be in the header justified to the right. (ie Doe, 2). In-text citations should reference the author’s last name (or the first word of the Works Cited listing) and a page number, if applicable. If there is no page number, only include the author’s last name. Note that the entire paper should be double spaced.

An Innovative Approach to Eliminating Food Insecurity

Did you know that three in four college students will go hungry at some point of their college career? Even though there are campus food banks popping up around the country, the problem still exists. Campus gardens might be away to enhance what food banks are already doing. Wasatch Gardens provides an innovative solution for fighting hunger on college campuses through creating community gardens that can assist the efforts of food banks.

Wasatch Gardens was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1989. Their mission is “To empower people of all ages and incomes to grow and eat healthy, organic, local food” (Wasatch). In order to accomplish their mission, Wasatch Gardens helps people start and maintain community gardens. Whether these gardens are for a neighborhood, a local homeless shelter, or even a school, they are teaching others that “the quality of a community is directly related to the quality of its food” (Wasatch). With their five programs, Community Garden, Youth Garden, School Garden, Community Education, and Green Team Farm, they “offer garden space, educational programs, and community events to empower people to grow, harvest, preserve, and prepare fresh, healthy food” (Wasatch). This organization does its best to help people create a sustainable way to grow food that empowers members of the community.

Food insecurity is a growing problem in the US, and the issue is even more challenging for students who have additional costs related to funding their education. In the state of Arizona, food insecurity affects as much as 20% of the population: “One in five Arizonans lacked the

money to buy food at least once in 2012, according to Feeding America, a non-profit organization consisting of more than 200 food banks and food-rescue organizations across the U.S.” (Szabo). These numbers are even higher for students, who are often working part-time to enable them to handle the rigors of academic life. In Yavapai County alone, the number of people struggling with food insecurity, which means they are not able to purchase adequate food for themselves or their families, is estimated to be around 17%. Add to that the increased cost of education, tuition, books, and fees, and the need to spend more time working on classwork, and students are even more likely to fall into this category. Food insecurity among students leads to a decreased ability to learn effectively, but, even more significant, it decreases a student’s ability to successfully complete his/her education.

Especially in the community college setting, many students have families to care for and are trying to balance school, work, and family on a very limited budget. When the choice is between food and books, students often must choose food, which leaves them without the necessary tools they need to succeed in their courses. Surviving on affordable options like Ramen and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese can leave students without energy to give all their attention to their studies.

Wasatch Gardens provides an innovative solution to the problem of food insecurity by helping communities start community gardens. In one instance, they started a community garden down the street from a homeless shelter. Women from the shelter can work at the garden for a salary, and food from the garden is sold at a discount to a local Head Start program: “Each woman also gets a 6-foot stretch to plant whatever she likes. Lynette, whose Pomeranian-Chihuahua service dog, Ed, watches her patiently, chose melons, green beans, beets and snap peas so sweet they’d pass for candy in a blindfold test” (Piper). Not only does planting a garden empower these women to make positive choices, but it provides a living. “Team members earn  $9 an hour for a minimum of 20 hours per week and attend Friday classes on job skills. The land is leased by Salt Lake City’s Redevelopment Agency at a cost of $1 per year, and the produce is sold at a cut rate to the Head Start program for disadvantaged children.” (Piper). What is really innovative about this program is that it is helping the women at the homeless shelter, as well as giving back to the community in other ways. The Wasatch Gardens also serve “roughly 1800 to 2000 kids per year” in their youth education program, as well as “80 refugee families per year” in the garden (Modern). The gardens, then, are helping a vast number of people in many different circumstances. “Not only do these gardens support Salt Lake City’s dedication to increase local food production, they invigorate our neighborhoods by putting vacant lots to use in ways that support community engagement and biodiversity — all while limiting our communities’ carbon footprints,” notes the SLC Green Blog (Interested). Community gardens, then, not only help the community members who need it, they also make communities better.

Community gardens are working to combat hunger in other areas of the country, as well. Right here in Arizona, community gardens are providing another way to combat food insecurity. “Non-profit organizations nationwide have started teaching lower-income communities to create their own vegetable gardens. The non-profit group, which is funded by donations and grants, formed partnerships with nearby churches for the gardens” (Szabo). As in Salt Lake City, these community gardens are giving people a sense of pride, as well as providing for their basic needs. “Experts say urban gardening is a cheaper and more nutritious option than purchasing food.” (Szabo). In addition to providing more nutritious food at a lower price, working in the gardens also serves as therapy: ‘There‘s mountains of research that talks about the benefits of getting your hands dirty, as far as therapy goes,” he said’” (Piper).And it’s making a difference! “The garden produces enough food that Alvarez doesn’t need the food banks. In fact, he gives extra produce to church members or friends.” (Szabo). Ron Finley, known as the Guerilla Gardener of LA, notes something similar: “There’s another time when I put a garden in this homeless shelter in downtown Los Angeles. These are the guys, they helped me unload the truck. It was cool, and they just shared the stories about how this affected them and how they used to plant with their mother and their grandmother, and it was just cool to see how this changed them, if it was only for that one moment.” Participation in the garden projects provide a hand up, instead of a handout for people who need it most.

A similar solution is working on college campuses. College campus community gardens offer a way to expand on the offerings of campus food banks. One thriving example is the Montclair State University Community Garden. After doing a survey that found that “over 4 out of every 10 students who responded to the survey may be Food Insecure during the academic semester, and may not have access to enough food, or have only low quality foods, on a regular basis” (Montclair). In response, the campus decided to start a community garden.

Founded in 2018, the garden has “reclaimed and revitalized underutilized space on the campus, and has established 20 raised garden beds, totaling 1,000 square feet of growing space” (Montclair). Students must apply for space in the garden, which provides food for the school’s food pantry, as well as for community food banks. Not only do they provide fresh, healthier food, but since the food is grown right on campus, it is easily accessible and costs less money than stocking the shelves in a food pantry. In addition, working in the campus garden can provide money making opportunities for students, as well as additional operating funds for the food bank when extra produce is sold to the campus dining facility. The vision of the garden is to “strengthen the connections between members of the Montclair State University community and bring our community closer together, while sustainably providing fresh foods and educational resources to our community members in need” (Montclair). Like the Wasatch Gardens, the community garden at Montclair does more than just fee students. It also supports the community as a whole, improving relations with the community while it assists students in need. Following the model created by Wasatch Gardens can expand upon the offerings of a campus food bank and really help students.

While starting a community garden on campus might have some initial costs, it doesn’t have to break the bank. Colleges already pay for landscaping—why not plant edible landscaping and enlist students in the project? Not only would this help to round out a campus food bank, but it could even reduce costs for the college as students take on some of the work of landscapers. In addition, many colleges already have agricultural programs. Campus community gardens could be an innovative way to allow those students to get real experience running a community garden as they plan planting space, production, and coordinate getting produce to the campus food bank and to other community organizations, as well. Colleges can and should set an example for their communities by implementing this innovative and sustainable solution to food insecurity.

Those who are interested in this idea can show their support by educating themselves about the benefits of community gardens, as well as food insecurity. Donating to organizations like Wasatch Gardens allows them to continue to grow and provide a model for the rest of the country for a way to give people dignity and self-respect as they learn how to feed themselves, even as their efforts help others.

Wasatch Gardens provides college campuses with a model for an innovative solution that can help to alleviate food insecurity on their campuses. Even for colleges that already have a campus food bank, adding a campus garden might be a way to enhance what food banks are already doing. Not only would campus gardens provide nutritious food for students, but it could provide job experience for agriculture students and provide a living wage, as well. College campuses would do well to consider the benefits of incorporating a community garden on their campuses.

Works Cited Page

Note that the Works Cited page should be on a NEW page. (Use the Insert Page function in Word!). Works Cited should be centered at the top of the page in regular font. Sources should be listed in alphabetical order. Sources should use a hanging indent. The student’s last name and page number are in the header and should be justified to the right margin. The entire Works Cited page should be double spaced, with no extra spaces.

Works Cited

Finley, Ron. “A guerrilla gardener in South Central LA.” TEDTalk, February 2013.https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerrilla_gardener_in_south_central_la

“Interested in Joining a New Community Garden?” SlcGreen Blog, 23 May 2019, slcgreenblog.com/2019/05/23/support-community-gardens/.

Modern Gardener. “Wasatch Community Gardens| Modern Gardener.” YouTube, July 3, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SDVgYAg0tg.

“The Montclair State University Campus Community Garden.” – PSEG Institute For Sustainability Studies – Montclair State University, www.montclair.edu/pseg-sustainability-institute/campus-community-garden/.

Piper, Matthew. “Two Blocks from the Rio Grande Homeless Shelter, These Women Found Peace and Purpose on a … Farm?” The Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Aug. 2017, www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/08/08/two-blocks-from-the-rio-grande-homeless-shelter-these-women-found-peace-and-purpose-on-a-farm/

Szabo, Kendra. “Community Gardens Helping Fight Hunger.” Arizona Republic, Sep 17, 2013. ProQuest, https://proxy.yc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1434422648?accountid=8141.

“Wasatch Community Gardens: Salt Lake City, Utah – Community Gardens.” Wasatch Community Gardens | Salt Lake City, Utah, wasatchgardens.org/community-gardens.

Sample Argument Paper in APA Format

This is an example of a student essay in APA format. For annotated examples, please visit the APA Style Blog or download a PDF file with a sample paper here .

Note that the content of the title page should be centered both vertically and horizontally on the page. The title should be in bold. The Title Page should include the title of the paper, the student’s name, the institution, the course, the instructor, and the date. Page numbers are in the Header of the page and justified to the right margin.

Yavapai College

February 26, 2020

Main Body of the Paper

Note that the title is centered on the first page of the body of the paper and in bold font. Page numbers go in the header and should be justified to the right margin. In text citations should include the author’s last name and the date of publication.

Did you know that three in four college students will go hungry at some point of their college career? Even though there are campus food banks popping up around the country, the problem still exists. Campus gardens might be a way to enhance what food banks are already doing. Wasatch Gardens provides an innovative solution for fighting hunger on college campuses through creating community gardens that can assist the efforts of food banks.

Food insecurity is a growing problem in the US, and the issue is even more challenging for students who have additional costs related to funding their education. In the state of Arizona, food insecurity affects as much as 20% of the population: “One in five Arizonans lacked the money to buy food at least once in 2012, according to Feeding America, a non-profit organization consisting of more than 200 food banks and food-rescue organizations across the U.S.” (Szabo, 2013). These numbers are even higher for students, who are often working part-time to enable them to handle the rigors of academic life. In Yavapai County alone, the number of people struggling with food insecurity, which means they are not able to purchase adequate food for themselves or their families, is estimated to be around 17%. Add to that the increased cost of education, tuition, books, and fees, and the need to spend more time working on classwork, and students are even more likely to fall into this category. Food insecurity among students leads to a decreased ability to learn effectively, but, even more significant, it decreases a student’s ability to successfully complete his/her education.

Wasatch Gardens provides an innovative solution to the problem of food insecurity by helping communities start community gardens. In one instance, they started a community garden down the street from a homeless shelter. Women from the shelter can work at the garden for a salary, and food from the garden is sold at a discount to a local Head Start program: “Each woman also gets a 6-foot stretch to plant whatever she likes. Lynette, whose Pomeranian-Chihuahua service dog, Ed, watches her patiently, chose melons, green beans, beets and snap peas so sweet they’d pass for candy in a blindfold test” (Piper, 2017). Not only does planting a garden empower these women to make positive choices, but it provides a living. “Team members earn  $9 an hour for a minimum of 20 hours per week and attend Friday classes on job skills. The land is leased by Salt Lake City’s Redevelopment Agency at a cost of $1 per year, and the produce is sold at a cut rate to the Head Start program for disadvantaged children.” (Piper, 2017). What is really innovative about this program is that it is helping the women at the homeless shelter, as well as giving back to the community in other ways. The Wasatch Gardens also serve “roughly 1800 to 2000 kids per year” in their youth education program, as well as “80 refugee families per year” in the garden (Modern, 2019). The gardens, then, are helping a vast number of people in many different circumstances.  “Not only do these gardens support Salt Lake City’s dedication to increase local food production, they invigorate our neighborhoods by putting vacant lots to use in ways that support community engagement and biodiversity — all while limiting our communities’ carbon footprints,” notes the SLC Green Blog (Interested, 2019). Community gardens, then, not only help the community members who need it, they also make communities better.

Community gardens are working to combat hunger in other areas of the country, as well. Right here in Arizona, community gardens are providing another way to combat food insecurity. “Non-profit organizations nationwide have started teaching lower-income communities to create their own vegetable gardens. The non-profit group, which is funded by donations and grants, formed partnerships with nearby churches for the gardens” (Szabo, 2013). As in Salt Lake City, these community gardens are giving people a sense of pride, as well as providing for their basic needs. “Experts say urban gardening is a cheaper and more nutritious option than purchasing food.” (Szabo, 2013). In addition to providing more nutritious food at a lower price, working in the gardens also serves as therapy: ‘There‘s mountains of research that talks about the benefits of getting your hands dirty, as far as therapy goes,” he said’” (Piper, 2017).And it’s making a difference! “The garden produces enough food that Alvarez doesn’t need the food banks. In fact, he gives extra produce to church members or friends.” (Szabo, 2013). Ron Finley (2013), known as the Guerilla Gardener in LA, notes a similar experience: “There’s another time when I put a garden in this homeless shelter in downtown Los Angeles. These are the guys, they helped me unload the truck. It was cool, and they just shared the stories about how this affected them and how they used to plant with their mother and their grandmother, and it was just cool to see how this changed them, if it was only for that one moment.” Participation in the garden projects provide a hand up, instead of a handout for people who need it most.

References Page

Note that the References page should be on a NEW page. (Use the Insert Page function in Word!). References should be centered at the top of the page in bold font. Sources should be listed in alphabetical order. Sources should use a hanging indent. Page numbers are in the header and should be justified to the right margin.

Finley, R. (February 2013).  A guerrilla gardener in South Central LA. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerrilla_gardener_ in_south_central_la

Interested in Joining a New Community Garden? (May 23, 2019). [Web Blog Post]. Retrieved from slcgreenblog.com/2019/05/23/support-community-gardens/.

Modern Gardener. (July 3, 2019). Wasatch Community Gardens| Modern Gardener. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SDVgYAg0tg.

The Montclair State University Campus Community Garden. (ND). Retrieved from www.montclair.edu/pseg-sustainability-institute/campus-community-garden/.

Piper, M. (August 7, 2017). Two Blocks from the Rio Grande Homeless Shelter, These Women Found Peace and Purpose on a … Farm? The Salt Lake Tribune . Retrieved from www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/08/08/two-blocks-from-the-rio-grande-homeless-shelter-these-women-found-peace-and-purpose-on-a-farm/.

Szabo, K. (September 17, 2013). Community Gardens Helping Fight Hunger. Arizona Republic. Retrieved from https://proxy.yc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1434422648?accountid=8141.

Wasatch Community Gardens: Salt Lake City, Utah – Community Gardens. (ND). Retrieved from wasatchgardens.org/community-gardens.

Attribution

• Content created by Dr. Karen Palmer and licensed CC BY NC SA .

The RoughWriter's Guide Copyright © 2020 by Dr. Karen Palmer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Argumentative Essays

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

What is an argumentative essay?

The argumentative essay is a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a topic; collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and establish a position on the topic in a concise manner.

Please note : Some confusion may occur between the argumentative essay and the expository essay. These two genres are similar, but the argumentative essay differs from the expository essay in the amount of pre-writing (invention) and research involved. The argumentative essay is commonly assigned as a capstone or final project in first year writing or advanced composition courses and involves lengthy, detailed research. Expository essays involve less research and are shorter in length. Expository essays are often used for in-class writing exercises or tests, such as the GED or GRE.

Argumentative essay assignments generally call for extensive research of literature or previously published material. Argumentative assignments may also require empirical research where the student collects data through interviews, surveys, observations, or experiments. Detailed research allows the student to learn about the topic and to understand different points of view regarding the topic so that she/he may choose a position and support it with the evidence collected during research. Regardless of the amount or type of research involved, argumentative essays must establish a clear thesis and follow sound reasoning.

The structure of the argumentative essay is held together by the following.

• A clear, concise, and defined thesis statement that occurs in the first paragraph of the essay.

In the first paragraph of an argument essay, students should set the context by reviewing the topic in a general way. Next the author should explain why the topic is important ( exigence ) or why readers should care about the issue. Lastly, students should present the thesis statement. It is essential that this thesis statement be appropriately narrowed to follow the guidelines set forth in the assignment. If the student does not master this portion of the essay, it will be quite difficult to compose an effective or persuasive essay.

• Clear and logical transitions between the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Transitions are the mortar that holds the foundation of the essay together. Without logical progression of thought, the reader is unable to follow the essay’s argument, and the structure will collapse. Transitions should wrap up the idea from the previous section and introduce the idea that is to follow in the next section.

• Body paragraphs that include evidential support.

Each paragraph should be limited to the discussion of one general idea. This will allow for clarity and direction throughout the essay. In addition, such conciseness creates an ease of readability for one’s audience. It is important to note that each paragraph in the body of the essay must have some logical connection to the thesis statement in the opening paragraph. Some paragraphs will directly support the thesis statement with evidence collected during research. It is also important to explain how and why the evidence supports the thesis ( warrant ).

However, argumentative essays should also consider and explain differing points of view regarding the topic. Depending on the length of the assignment, students should dedicate one or two paragraphs of an argumentative essay to discussing conflicting opinions on the topic. Rather than explaining how these differing opinions are wrong outright, students should note how opinions that do not align with their thesis might not be well informed or how they might be out of date.

• Evidential support (whether factual, logical, statistical, or anecdotal).

The argumentative essay requires well-researched, accurate, detailed, and current information to support the thesis statement and consider other points of view. Some factual, logical, statistical, or anecdotal evidence should support the thesis. However, students must consider multiple points of view when collecting evidence. As noted in the paragraph above, a successful and well-rounded argumentative essay will also discuss opinions not aligning with the thesis. It is unethical to exclude evidence that may not support the thesis. It is not the student’s job to point out how other positions are wrong outright, but rather to explain how other positions may not be well informed or up to date on the topic.

• A conclusion that does not simply restate the thesis, but readdresses it in light of the evidence provided.

It is at this point of the essay that students may begin to struggle. This is the portion of the essay that will leave the most immediate impression on the mind of the reader. Therefore, it must be effective and logical. Do not introduce any new information into the conclusion; rather, synthesize the information presented in the body of the essay. Restate why the topic is important, review the main points, and review your thesis. You may also want to include a short discussion of more research that should be completed in light of your work.

A complete argument

Perhaps it is helpful to think of an essay in terms of a conversation or debate with a classmate. If I were to discuss the cause of World War II and its current effect on those who lived through the tumultuous time, there would be a beginning, middle, and end to the conversation. In fact, if I were to end the argument in the middle of my second point, questions would arise concerning the current effects on those who lived through the conflict. Therefore, the argumentative essay must be complete, and logically so, leaving no doubt as to its intent or argument.

The five-paragraph essay

A common method for writing an argumentative essay is the five-paragraph approach. This is, however, by no means the only formula for writing such essays. If it sounds straightforward, that is because it is; in fact, the method consists of (a) an introductory paragraph (b) three evidentiary body paragraphs that may include discussion of opposing views and (c) a conclusion.

Longer argumentative essays

Complex issues and detailed research call for complex and detailed essays. Argumentative essays discussing a number of research sources or empirical research will most certainly be longer than five paragraphs. Authors may have to discuss the context surrounding the topic, sources of information and their credibility, as well as a number of different opinions on the issue before concluding the essay. Many of these factors will be determined by the assignment.

• Books, eBooks & Articles
• Databases A-Z
• Primary Sources
• E-Audiobooks
• Videos & Images
• Online Videos
• Images & Artwork
• More resources
• Research Guides
• Library Instruction
• Request Research Guide
• Interlibrary Loan
• Books on Reserve
• Research Assistance
• Writing Lab
• Online Tutoring
• Group Study Sessions
• Turabian/Chicago
• Other Citing Styles

• Surry Community College

MLA 9th Edition

• Paper Templates & Examples

Sample papers

• MLA 9th edition sample papers The SCC Library & Academic Support Center teach students to follow 9th edition student formatting rules, unless the instructor states otherwise.

Paper Template

• Student Paper Template, MLA 9 (PDF) Download this template before you begin writing to make sure your paper is formatted correctly in MLA 9th edition format.
• Last Updated: Mar 19, 2024 2:30 PM
• URL: https://library.surry.edu/MLAstyle