In an argumentative essay as the word suggests, you will have to present arguments for why you agree or disagree to the topic. This is the type of essay that will ask you to take a clear stand on the topic being discussed.
You will then need to explain your position on the topic by presenting a systematic reasoning regarding the subject matter. This should be done in such a way that it is going to make it easier for the reader to understand your way of thinking.
In this blog I’m going to take you step by step on how to write an argumentative essay. You will understand the structure of an argumentative essay and how to explain yourself in the different paragraphs.
This would be the content of my blog.
The Malaysian University English Test (MUET) writing task 2 will consist of only one essay question. They are going to be one of these three types of essays:
The argumentative essay is one type of essay that you may get in the MUET writing task 2. You are going to have to take a stand and to write your arguments out clearly based on the statement given.
In making your stand you are going to choose whether you agree, disagree or partially agree to the subject matter.
From my experience as a teacher, I could see that in a well written argumentative essay, the student is able to engage the reader well.
This student is able to explain the issue being discussed by presenting arguments agreeing or disagreeing to the topic and considering it from different perspectives. This could also involve presenting the counter arguments for the topic. When you present a counter argument, you are giving the opposing view of what you have said before.
Let’s now look at a sample question for an argumentative essay that you may get for MUET writing task 2.
This is a sample of an argumentative essay question that you can get in MUET writing task 2.
Before going any further I would like to highlight the task that you will need to fulfil. Here in the red box is your task. It is asking you of how far you agree to this statement. Here it is clear to see that this is going to be written as an argumentative essay.
You will need to remember the main objective of writing an argumentative essay. It is for you to persuade the reader to understand the points that you are making and to agree with your views. You are writing to influence the reader to think your way.
The topic of discussion for this essay is the statement given by the guest speaker. And the statement given was that ‘Money is the key to happiness’.
On the day of the MUET writing paper, the first thing that you need to do will be to read the question carefully and to make sense of the question.
Let’s find out more about the topic and the task here in this question.
This topic suggests that money is the determining factor to achieve happiness in one’s life. Without money then, the person will not achieve happiness. The person will not be happy.
After understanding the question the next thing you need to do is to take a stand. Decide on whether you agree, disagree or partially agree to this statement.
How do you decide on your stand? Well, you will choose the stand where you have a lot to write about. Choose your side where you have more content points to write about and where you could easily explain you ideas.
In order to decide your stand you are going to brainstorm on the content points first.
These are the content points that you can have for your essay.
