Argument has several purposes. One is to establish the validity of a writer's way of seeing what is true (persuade your audience to accept your position on a topic or issue) and another is to move an audience to act in a certain way (like an advertisement). One teacher of English wrote that persuasive essays are "a great way to participate in public debates that affect your campus and community, and even your nation" (Ballenger 268). Argument is a form of inquiry-you write an argument to answer a basic question on a topic.In a commentary, "you are contributing something new to an ongoing public conversation" (Johnson-Sheehan and Paine 171).
For this essay, you will write a commentary like an op-ed (a short persuasive essay that is literally on the opposite page from the editorials) similar to one that you would find in your newspaper. This is typically a more informal argument as compared to an academic argument.
Arguments make claims, or assertions about which reasonable people might disagree. A claim, according to Richard Fulkerson, "is a statement in which the response ‘I agree' or ‘I disagree' is a sensible reply" (qtd. in Ballenger 270). When you write an argument, you must examine the assumptions or reasons that provide the basis for the claims you make. Your commentary will make explicit claims and back them up with hard evidence.
Features of the form:
• Commentaries are often relatively brief treatments of a topic.
• Subject matter often focuses on issues of public concern.
• Informal argumentative essays have a central claim or proposition-a thesis.
• The central claim is based on one or more premises or assumptions. (A premise suggests that something is true because of something else. It expresses the relationship between what you claim and why you believe it to be true.)
• The commentary or informal argument relies on evidence that a general audience will believe (in contrast to an academic audience, for example).
• Informal arguments sometimes invite or encourage response.
• Readers won't respond unless they know what is at stake. You must establish why an action, policy or idea matters. (The "So what?" of argument.)