Estimated time to complete: 5-10 minutes

As in any research paper, the best organization of an argumentative paper depends on your topic and what you want to say about it. However, there are some basic guidelines you need to follow:

Make it clear that you understand what the possible positions are and which side you are on. Clearly express your point of view early and often.

In an argumentative paper, you obviously cannot just give your opinion. You’ll need to give your reasons for believing your opinion is correct.

Organize your main points logically, not just as a list. Does one supporting point precede another historically? Does one supporting point describe a cause that results in a second supporting point? How are the supporting points interrelated? You will need to think about this to organize your arguments for maximum impact.

You need to show clearly why other solutions/explanations have not worked or are not as good as the one you are supporting, so in addition to arguing for something, you’ll need to argue against other options. In other words, you will need plausible, clearly reasoned counterarguments. This is probably the aspect of organizing an argumentative paper that is most confusing to students. Where is the best place for the counterargument? How many counterarguments are appropriate?

The number of CAs you need depends on your topic and what you want to say about it. The same is true of the position or your CA.
1. If there is one conventionally accepted and/or especially strong counterargument, it’s often best to lay it out in the first body paragraph. The rest of your paper should then be a series of arguments that refutes that counterargument step by logical step.
2. That same type of counterargument, however, might be better placed just before the conclusion, so that the refutation doubles as a conclusion, reminding the reader of all the strong arguments and supporting evidence you have already presented in your paper.
3. Sometimes there is one particularly powerful counterargument that clearly adheres to one of your main arguments. The best position for that kind of counterargument is obviously either before or after that argument.
4. Another effective organization may be CA-arg1, CA-arg2, CA-arg3. In other words, sometimes each of your supporting points (or at least several of them) has an obvious counterargument that needs to be dealt with. Starting each section of the paper with the counterargument allows you to refute the counterargument as you build and support your new argument.

This table shows very rough outlines for each type of organization described above, for a paper that has four main supporting points. Note that these are simply suggesting some possible structures for your argumentative paper. The decision of how best to organize your arguments, and where to place your counterargument, depends on what you need to say in your paper.

Introduction

Counterargument

Argument 1

Argument 2

Argument 3

Argument 4

Conclusion

Introduction

Argument 1

Argument 2

Argument 3

Argument 4

Counterargument

Refutation/Conclusion

Introduction

Argument 1

Argument 2

Counterargument suggested by Argument 2

Refutation

Argument 3

Argument 4

Conclusion

Introduction

Counterargument 1

Argument 1

Counterargument 2

Argument 2

Argument 3

Counterargument 4

Argument 4

Conclusion