College education has been under scrutiny since the constant enrollment decline since 2010. As colleges and universities face new challenges, it shapes the pool of issues to discuss in class and master the art of reasoning and argumentation.
Writing an argumentative essay on higher education may be challenging, especially if you must be more skilled in writing well-reasoned papers. There are some strategies and nuances you need to consider. Below we share tips to help you write an impactful and convincing argumentative essay about college education.
1. Find the matching topic and take your stance
When you know exactly what to write about, you can prepare better writing strategies and create well-written essays. But your professor may not have given a specific topic, and you must choose it yourself. As you plan to write about college education, you can browse topics for argumentative essay and define your areas of interest. When highlighting several issues, you can explore existing articles from scientific journals and make your paper more specific.
- Think about whether Individuals with college-level education contribute more to society than those who gained skills thanks to experience.
- Analyze the positive and negative sides of merit-based and need-based financial aid.
- Explore the benefits of online education and how it differs from traditional one.
- Define the role of the liberal arts department and its relevance according to the current situation in the job market.
- Define why colleges must carefully create a balanced curriculum and explain how an unbalanced curriculum affects students’ academic performance.
- Explore the role of evolving technologies on the curriculum and educational approaches at college.
- Define the role of college policies and special programs for international students and explore drawbacks.
- Explain the role of freedom of speech in colleges and maintaining a respectful environment.
Write down the most appealing topics that resonate with your interests. You can make a list of keywords or phrases that will guide you throughout your research.
2. Write down ideas
Brainstorm on the chosen topic and write down ideas that come into your mind. This will help you shape the case and find information to enforce your arguments. Think about whether you agree or disagree on the specific issue of college education. For example, you can address the following questions:
- Does it resonate with your college life?
- What do you personally think about the issue?
- Are you well-informed about the topic?
- Can you provide any examples or personal experience?
- Does the case make you emotionally or personally involved?
- Do you have any suggestions about solutions to the issue?
- How may your stance on the issue affect others?
3. Research various resources
You can start searching for information at Google or use the list of sources from the University of Illinois. Such specific sources like ERIC help you see the recent research in the educational field and topics that educators and researchers actively argue. Also, you can look through headlines in popular newspapers like New York Times to consider themes written by journalists and professionals on college education in the US and other countries.
Mark only reliable sources that you can use to back up your claims in your paper. Also, consider various aspects of the topic and think about counterarguments.
4. Create an Outline
Write down points you plan to discuss in the text of your essay. It may be a simplified version or a mind map. Your task is logically organizing your ideas and focusing on the main point.
If we are speaking about college education, your essay outline may look like this:
Introduction
Thesis statement
Point 1 + supporting arguments
Appeal to counterarguments about point 1
Point 2 + supporting arguments
Appeal to counterarguments about point 2
Counter argument
Conclusion
The amount and detailing of the outline depend on your personal preferences and the topic scope.
5. Avoid logical fallacies
What does logical fallacy mean? It’s an error in your reasoning that negatively affects the power of your arguments. To sound credible, you need to ensure your ideas are evidence-based. Also, you need to use your logic and critical thinking while constructing well-reasoned arguments.
For example, suppose you are writing an argumentative essay on student debt. In that case, you may appeal that the continuous rise of college fees will lead to a situation when only children from wealthy families will have access to higher education. Such an exaggerated argument without reliable evidence will be considered a fallacy.
6. Consider potential counterarguments
You need to consider other points of the issue to make your arguments even more influential. If talking about the issue of college student debt, you may view such counterarguments as the necessity of raising college fees to provide quality education or the existence of scholarships and other financial aid programs that make college education more accessible to various students, including international students.
7. Proofread attentively
A final and important part of any academic writing is editing and proofreading the text. Ensure A final and essential part of any academic writing is editing and proofreading the text. Ensure you have logically tied evidence to your position and that all essay parts sound clear. When delighted with the content, check the text for mistakes and misspellings. You can use online grammar checkers like Ginger or Grammarly to ease and speed up the process.
Conclusion
Hope our tips will serve you well! Take some time to practice and consider the recommendations while writing to produce quality writing.
