An argumentative essay is a written assignment that requires you to take a position on an issue and use evidence and objective reasons to defend your stance. The argument can be long or short depend on the assignment brief or the number of ideas you wish to present. So how many paragraphs is an argumentative essay?
An argumentative essay should have a minimum of 5 paragraphs. Divide these into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Depending on the essay brief, you might have only two or more paragraphs in the body section.
Regardless of how many paragraphs you want your essay to have, remember that an argument is an academic piece of writing that requires you to follow a set of rules. Therefore, ensure you check the assignment brief to determine the exact length of the essay before you start writing.
Key Takeaways
- In an argumentative essay, you must take a position on an issue and use evidence and reasons to defend your position.
- Your argument must have a 5-paragraph essay structure. You will have an introduction paragraph, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph.
- Your argumentative can have as many body paragraphs. You can make your argumentative essay longeror it can be shorter depending on the assignment brief or the number of ideas you wish to present.
- You must check the essay brief before you start writing to determine how long your instructor wants the essay to be.
How Many Paragraphs Should An Argumentative Essay Have?
The current academic writing standards requires that an argumentative essay should have 5 paragraphs, and there is no set maximum.
You should divide your work into the following three sections:
- The introduction
- Body paragraphs
- Conclusion
Introduction
The opening paragraph of an argumentis the most important part of the assignment because it tells your audience what to expect from the essay.
Your introduction must be interesting enough to pique your readers’ interest and keep them wanting to learn more about what you have to say.
Instead of examining your argument, the introduction should create a groundwork for the rest of the argument by laying a strong foundation for it. For the best results, the introduction should be clear, short, and concise.
- You can start your argument with a rhetorical question. Such questions give an audience something to think about as they begin to read the essay.
- Begin by giving background information to enlighten your readers on the topic you’ll be discussing later in the essay. Background information also provides a solid foundation on which you can debate your arguments.
- You can start your argument with a hookto capture your readers’ attention. You can make an aggressive claim, tell a unique anecdote, or share facts that detract from the main issue of your thesis.
The introduction paragraph must include a thesis statement. The statement should be one or two sentences long, and it should come at the very end of the introduction paragraph.
Keep in mind that your work must be contentious. In other words, your work must be argumentative in form, which means your thesis statement should reflect your viewpoint on the topic under investigation.
Body Paragraphs
An argumentative essay’s body sectionshould have a minimum of three paragraphs and no set limit – unless your teacher states otherwise in the assignment’s brief.
Look at how many ideas you wish to present to back up your claim to determine how many paragraphs will make your essay.
Every paragraph in your essay should:
- Start with a topic sentence to connect your concepts to the thesis statement. Albeit a topic sentence is self-explanatory, you can elaborate it if you wish.
- Follow the topic sentence with proof to back up your claim. You can use personal experiences, solid evidence, or data as long as they are pertinent to the topic. Ensure you explain facts in great depth. Your readers want to know how relevant those facts are to your essay.
- End with a closing link. In addition to demonstrating that your paragraph fully expressed your argument, the closing link should transition the reader to the next consecutive paragraph.
Conclusion
Your argumentative essay needs a conclusionto connect the introduction and body paragraphs.
Rather than reiterating your arguments or repeating the introduction, the conclusion must demonstrate how you used evidence to support your assertion.
When it comes to writing the conclusion for your argument, the following three mistakes can cripple your writing effort.
- DO NOT introduce a new concept or argument. Instead, outline a theme that connects the arguments you’ve already presented.
- DO NOT rewrite the introduction. Doing so would discourage innovation and promote the art of redundancy.
- DO NOT summarize the body section. It only serves to make your essay monotonous and boring to read.
To write a strong conclusion paragraph:
- You may end your argumentative essay with a rhetorical question. Such questions are useful in writing because they leave your audience with something to think about after reading the essay.
- Identify the most important points in the body paragraphs and use new words and phrases to reiterate the same message without changing meaning.
- Appeal to your readers’ emotions as a way to give them something to think about after reading the essay.
Get Essay Writing Help
You now know how many paragraphs an argumentative essay should have. You also know what to include in each section.
The question is:
Can you write the essay fast?
You have to choose an argumentative topic,pick a side, conduct research, construct an original thesis, develop an outline, develop logical thoughts, and write the essay. You must also keep an eye on the deadline to submit the assignment on time.
If you have other assignments to complete, writing an argumentative essay may be a lot of work for you. Should that be the case, you might want to consider our argumentative essay writing serviceto get the essay written for you.
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