Argument Analysis Essay Structure
The document outlines a structured approach for writing an argument analysis essay, emphasizing the importance of identifying the target audience, crafting a strong introduction with a clear contention, and utilizing various body paragraph structures. It discusses methods such as Support/Condemn/Victim/Solution and Block/Chunking, while providing templates for analysis and topic sentences. Additionally, it highlights the significance of persuasive techniques and the optional inclusion of images to enhance the argument. Overall, the guide aims to simplify the essay writing process for students.
Purpose
As part of each of these modules, there will be a purpose that connects back to VCE English.
The standard essay structure for Argument Analysis is important to understand. It consists of an Introduction, Three Body Paragraphs and a Conclusion (which doesn’t always have to be there). There are also changes depending on whether it is a Comparative or a Single Argument Analysis.
Post-Module Learnings
Following this module, these are the following skills you should have.
I know how many paragraphs I should have in an Argument Analysis essay.
I know what the structure of an Introduction paragraph is in Argument Analysis.
I am able to apply the Introduction structure to an Article at a high level.
I know what the Support, Condemn, Victim, Solution structure is for Argument Analysis, and why it is superior to other structures.
I am able to apply the Support, Condemn, Victim, Solution structure to an Article at a high level.
Content
Overall Essay Structure
The overall structure of the Argument Analysis essay is simple:
- Introduction Paragraph
- Body Paragraph 1
- Body Paragraph 2
- Body Paragraph 3 (+ Conclusion)
- Conclusion (Optional)
Note that the Conclusion is optional. Some schools like Haileybury will encourage you to have a short one, while other schools will say that you simply need to combine your Conclusion into your Body Paragraph 3.
Note, EVERY school teaches a different structure. Some schools say that you can have AS MANY paragraphs as you want, others recommend up to 10 paragraphs. I will show you guys why it’s a bad idea to have more than 3 body paragraphs through some very simple mathematics and logic.
- We have 1 hour to write an Argument Analysis essay in the exam.
- Let’s say your teacher wants to see 5 to 8 body paragraphs. How many words do you have in each paragraph? Your Body Paragraphs are going to be around 100 to 150 words, some longer and some shorter.
Introduction
The Introduction is not a place to do ‘well’ at. You can’t really gain marks for the Introduction, you can lose marks though.
1. Background Sentence
Template: Recent debate has arisen over [what the issue is], resulting in discussion on [what specifically are they discussing on the issue itself].
Template: Contentious and polarising, the recent matter surrounding [what the issue is] has resulted in discussion on whether [what specifically should the choices be].
Template: Over the past few years, [issue] has become increasingly prominent in the public consciousness, sparking widespread debate over [what specifically is at stake].
Template: In recent times, [issue] has emerged as a key topic of discussion, with many people expressing strong opinions on [what specifically is being debated].
Template: The issue of [issue] has been a subject of much discussion in recent years, with many different perspectives and opinions being put forward on [what specifically is being debated].
Acknowledging the impacts of recent events, the importance of continuous innovation and education has sparked controversy surrounding the best usage of time during the worldwide pandemic.
The background sentence is a sentence that tries to answer the questions of:
What is the issue being discussed within the article and how did it come about❓
Simply put, what happened?
Normally speaking, this information can be found in the Background information section of an article, which is pretty easy to find [always the first page]. Note that there is no consistent standard for the Background information to be written - meaning each article might have very different ideas of what to put in the background information.
What do we do when we can't find what to put in the Background information? We have to use the article itself to find out what happened.
No quotes are allowed in the Background Information section.
2. Article Sentence
This is where you want to identify all the key aspects located within the article. You can sometimes find all the information in the Background sentence, but not always.
- Where's Wally: author name, author role/job, type of article/speech, title of article, publisher, date published.
- Author name: The name of the person who wrote the article. Example: Jeff Borland
- Author role/job: The position or profession of the author. Example: Economist
- Type of article/speech: The style or format of the piece. Example: Opinion piece
- Title of article: The name of the article. Example: "What should we do with 1 billion hours of time? Australia’s COVID-19 opportunity"
- Publisher: The company or organisation that published the article. Example: The Sydney Morning Herald
- Date published: The date the article was published. Example: April 13, 2020
For example, author name, role of author, title, style of piece (opinion piece?), publisher and date published.
Template: In response, [author name], [author role] published/presented a [type of article/speech] titled [title] ([publisher], [date published]) discussing the [add from background information].
In response, The Sydney Morning Herald, a daily compact newspaper supplier, with the help of Jeff Borland, published an online article titled What should we do with 1 billion hours of time? Australia’s COVID-19 opportunity, illustrating the necessity to continuously boost the economy in order to prevent major economic recessions [April 13, 2020].
- We always start looking for this information in the background information section of the article.
- Note, they will not always give you every piece of information. Sometimes, they won't give you the name of the author. In this case, just refer to them as the author.
- One really important thing to do, when you read the article, and you can't see anything about a certain 'aspect' of the article, e.g. you couldn't find the role of author, or you couldn't find the style of piece, make sure you've read the entire article to the very end first.
- Where's Wally Sentence?
What is the publisher? The publisher is the company that prints/posts the article, not a person normally.
Make sure you address the person by their correct title, e.g. Dr or Professor
What if you can't find the author's name or anything else? Don't panic, not the end of the world! Just keep writing and assume it's not there. Have a good look through the article first. E.g. if author name is missing, just refer to them as the author or writer, 'leader', or 'Principal'.
Should I mention an abbreviation by its full name, or just abbreviation?
First time you should mention the full name, and then add bracket (abbreviation) after.
E.g. Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA)
3. Two Tone Word + Contention Sentence
Before we continue it's important to understand why we use two tone words rather than one, because everyone else is taught to use one, and most articles are not monotone (only one tone).
Tone Word: A word to describe the emotional approach of the author, therefore the word must have a positive or negative emotion/connotation (feeling).
Be very careful of confusing 'tone words' with 'style words' they are two separate entities and should not exist together. Style words are those leftover words that don't have an emotion.
Because a tone word has a positive or negative connotation to it, it must have emotion. Words like formal, informal, descriptive, rational, evocative, conversational, informative, special are not tone words, but are style words.
When do we use style words? We use style words in our body paragraph, not for the Two Tone Word part of the sentence.
Contention: What the author believes and their specific perspective, it should not be an action/for us to do something. e.g. Dogs are better than cats. It's how the author is taking a side.
Don't let your own opinions into the writing, in Language Analysis, we are not here to judge based on our own thoughts in terms of who's right or wrong.
Template: In it, [author last name] ... (tone word 1, ending with 'ly') and at times ... (tone word 2, ending with 'ly') contends ... (author's contention, their side of the story, with quote somewhere).
In it, Borland peacefully and at times agitatedly emphasises the resilience needed to support the “Australian labour market” during times of adversity as time is gained due to the loss of a stable form of income and an interactive education.
I am going to upload the tone words list and exactly how to use them by next week, so please check online on that website (when you get your login details, you will have everything).
A tone word must include emotion, it has to be positive or negatively charged or else it's a style word. Words like informal and formal are not tone words, they're style words.
Be careful of using negative or positive directly as tone words, they get a little repetitive and don't sound very deep.
4. Target Audience + Intention (Purpose) Sentence
Intention: The intention is an action, a response that the author wants readers to take away. e.g. Go sell your cat and buy a dog.
The target audience is basically who the intended readers/listeners are, which can be uncovered if the Background information contains it directly, or it might be harder to find, will require you to read the article first.
Template: Targeting an audience of ... (specific audience), [author name] encourages readers/audiences to ... (action which is the intention, please put a short quote, 3 words to 5 words).
E.g. for the Dose of Reality topic, the target audience may have been university students, academics, social commentators and other journalists.
Remember, please don't just put Australians as the readers/listeners, you have to go deeper than that because obviously, most articles written in Australia are intended for Australians.
Try and specify who or what are the specifically (e.g. middle-aged, young):
- Age Period (young, teenagers, middle-aged, family)
- Gender (e.g. predominantly male, female)
- Race/Culture (e.g. minorities)
- Hobbies/Interests (e.g. sportslovers, television viewers)
- Careers (e.g. business people, unemployed)
- Event (e.g. COVID-19 affected)
- Living Status (individual, couple, family)
For the 7 ways above, choose two to go with just 'Australians' at least e.g. young Australians who are sports lovers.
Is there a limit to how specific you can get with target audience? NO, as long as it is practical.
Remember, your introduction should have one contention and intention, please make sure you don't duplicate them again.
To figure out who the target audience could be if it's not mentioned in the Background information, you will need to read the article and draw a conclusion. If it's about the past, it's probably older readers, if it's about technology and the future, maybe younger readers.
Left and Right - these are political affiliations. Left Wing = people who are open-minded about new things, they normally believe in things like equality, helping the poor, taxing the rich more. Right Wing = more conservative, people who believe independence is key, don't help others too much, let them face up to their own mistakes.
5. Image (Optional) Sentence
This sentence is a little controversial, a lot of teachers don't like it at certain schools, they think it's a waste of time and that you'll talk about the image later anyway.
Template: The accompanying image(s) of ... (briefly describe images, e.g. website banner, cartoon of unemployment) fortifies/both fortify the author's opinion by suggesting ... (short point, follow on from contention).
If you guys remember why we have the image sentence, it's because 'back in the day', I didn't like putting the image sentence in. However, what I realised is that when you don't put image in your intro, you'll forget under time pressure to put it in the essay. That's why we remind ourselves early and develop a habit of including the image in the introduction
6. Comparative Sentence
You only need this sentence when you have more than just one Article, e.g. an additional comment or an additional article.
The comparative sentence is basically a sentence where you want to demonstrate how a 'comparative' article (or comment) differs or is similar in terms of tone and contention to the main article.
It is an important sentence to distinguish you from the other students who don't really compare until they get to the actual body paragraphs.
Template: Furthermore, the attached comment shares a similar/projects a differing viewpoint whereby [commenter name] [tone word]ly contends that [contention].
What are the most important sentences in the introduction? The answer is the two tone word + contention and the target audience + intention sentences.
Is the comparative sentence optional?
No, for articles with a comment or comparative component, you must add it in.
Body Paragraph Structures
- Support, Condemn, Victim, Perpetrator, Solution ✔✔
- Block Method / Chunking
- Traditional PGT
- Argument Method - SHEEPT (Social, Historical, Environmental, Economic, Political, Technological)
How much can we analyse the image, can we put it in multiple paragraphs?
Yes you can, but make sure you analyse different parts of the image or else it gets repetitive.
How many techniques would you need for each of the paragraphs?
Between 3 to 5, depending on the type of article and how many articles there are. It is really confusing.
Because articles generally vary so much in terms of how to analyse them, it's really hard to set a 'structure' to follow when it comes to writing Language Analysis. There's just too many different scenarios ahold of.
Assumptions required for the structure below:
- You need to be using the Support/Condemn/Solution Method
- You have to be writing three body paragraphs (not five, not ten).
Instead of just writing a single structure, we create 'chunks' of analysis that we can put together.
Don't get this confused with the chunking method, these are separate, not the same type of chunks.
Lucky number 8 sentences in each body paragraph.
- Sentence 1 - Topic Sentence Chunk
- Sentence 2 - Pick Your Own
- Sentence 3 - Pick Your Own
- Sentence 4 - Pick Your Own
- Sentence 5 - Pick Your Own
- Sentence 6 - Pick Your Own
- Sentence 7 - Pick Your Own
- Sentence 8 - Linking Sentence Chunk
Do you have to have each type of technique in each chunk?
By technique, you mean persuasive, structural or image technique chunk.
Short answer: No, in exam conditions, you're probably going to freak out and find it hard to keep up in terms of diversifying ideas.
Long answer: It'd be good to, but that being said, techniques are not what make your analysis good, it's how you analyse the effect of techniques.
How many techniques would you need?
The answer is that there's no real answer, because it's not about how many techniques, because it's really about how you analyse it, the 'why they put it in' and 'intended effect on reader'. If you really need an answer, two to three in the case of a standard one-article LA (and one image).
Sample Paragraph Analysis - Sample Essay
Intertwining the required adaption in her tight daily schedule with the notion of convenience when purchasing her coffee, Aberforth conveys her fondness of the coffee franchise, complementing their hospitality skills despite the recent change in takeaway cups. Immediately declaring her title as a “Regular Joe”, Aberforth hopes to establish a trustworthy bond with Dan being a long-time customer, in order to promote her cause to bring back takeaway cups as Dan feels compelled to offer his gratefulness for supporting his family company. Having purchase coffee for the “last 15 years”, Aberforth further expresses her “positive experience” and love for the company, also hinting her enjoyment of Slow Joe’s coffee accompanied by the “second to none” service and “friendly [staff]” to be recognised as a loyal customer. Accentuating the importance for her daily intake of caffeine, Aberforth signifies her ambitions to be able to “sit down” and enjoy the coffee, expressing her liking of their coffee, despite being a “busy person”. Expanding upon her daily routine, Aberforth illustrates the importance of caffeine being “perfect for my purposes” within her daily routine and the impacts Slow Joe has had as Dan feels compelled to prioritise his current customers over “future generations”. Personally “addressing [her] concerns”, Dan sparks a strong connection between him and customers as Aberforth feels touched and privileged to be addressed by the CEO. Inclusively incorporating customers with the image through wanting them to drink “[their] coffee”, Dan emphasises the strong connection between employees and customers, granting optimal transparency with their decisions. Thus, Aberforth asserts her fondness of Slow Joe’s coffee, being an essential part of her daily routine, continuously being an avid follower, despite the need of adaption to her schedule with the removal of takeaway cups.
How many words in a body paragraph, 200 to 250 words.
Support Condemn Victim Solution - Method
Note that this is a Body Paragraph structure, we use it to determine what our body paragraph’s are going to be about.
It is underpinned by a commitment to making things simpler to write, rather than more complex. It also takes into account an exam situation where you only have X amount words you can write.
We do try and keep it to three body paragraphs for this structure.
Embrace Condemn Do is the same method, just a different name (some students found it easier to call it by this).
The Support Condemn Victim Solution Method is pretty easy to follow, and normally has only three body paragraphs regardless of the situation.
What you want to identify is:
- What the author supports in the article.
- E.g. Building solar panels on people’s houses is a great way to stop the excess burning of fossil fuels.
- What the author condemns in the article. [condemn = don't like, go against]
- E.g. Building more coal plants is only going to be bad for the environment and increase the cost of electricity in Australia.
- What the author believes is a victim in the article.
- E.g. Those kids with cancer cannot even afford their treatment because it is too expensive and the government does not subsidise the cost.
- What the solution proposed by the author is in the article. [solution = what should we, the readers do after reading the article?]
- E.g. Let’s build more solar panels on everyone’s houses.
I’ve had students in the past who told their (non-Haileybury) school teachers about this structure, and the teacher’s feedback was that you can’t have Solution because what if there is no Solution? That’s irrelevant, it’s actually a call to action, where it’s just saying what can be done next, if nothing then nothing.
The reason we follow the steps below is because a lot of students can find a Support within one Sentence of an Article, but because that Support was only one sentence long, they’re unable to use it for an entire Body Paragraph.
The steps to follow for using this method are pretty straightforward.
- Read the first and last line of each paragraph in the article. Figure out whether it's positively connotated or negatively connotated (happy or sad). You would determine this based on key words that have connotations or just a feel for the topic being discussed. [I would even use a highlighter if I have time: green = positive, yellow = mixed/solution, red = negative]
- A group of Positive paragraphs in an article are normally what the author supports
- A group of Negative paragraphs in an article are normally what the author condemns (doesn't like) or is trying to portray as a victim.
- The end of the article normally has the solution. The solution is usually going to be the final paragraph of your essay.
There are weird articles, some, e.g. Camberwell Girls 2020, had a SAC where the solution was in the middle of the article, and second condemn was the end of the article. It's not normal to switch the order where the Solution doesn't come last, but sometimes you may have to if it's forced on you.
What if the paragraph has both positive and negative sections in it (in the article)?
Perfect, amazing. It means you instantly can find your support and condemn, and you instantly know there's probably going to be a support and condemn.
There are tricks to this method to address different articles.
What if there is only negative?
If there's only negative, it's most likely to be double condemn + solution. It could also be victim.
What if there is only positive?
Double support + solution
What if it's negative, but it's not condemning, it makes us feel bad about something.
E.g. These poor children at the orphanage, who have nothing but the clothes on their back.
Victims can be used instead. Victims + Perpetrators can be added alongside support and condemn to get the structure.
What if there's no solution offered? They say there's no solution.
Then that's exactly a solution, that there is none, we need more research, more time, more investigation.
Remember, you only choose two paragraphs, the final one is always a solution.
The first two can be either Support, Condemn, Victims or Perpetrators (the people who carry out the suffering).
Would the process in exam conditions be for support look for all the support sentences then identify the persuasive techniques then chunk them into BP?
Yes, but for paragraphs, not for each sentence. Don't forget, normally you'll have too much to analyse, so cut down if you analyse every sentence.
Block / Chunking - Method
The block method is literally what you think it is. It's when you group paragraphs in the article together to form blocks. The weakness of this structure is that it takes more thinking and more analysis to get right, because sometimes articles might be pretty hard to 'group' into specific paragraph sections.
Paragraphs must be grouped chronologically, you can't skip paragraphs, you can't go back, it has to be in order of how it's presented.
There's three different ways within block method to group paragraphs up, you need to pick which one is most suitable depending on the article.
- Group by the size of the paragraphs - sometimes the article's paragraphs are all pretty equal size, you can group the paragraphs into these 'equal size' components. E.g. one body paragraph consists of three paragraphs grouped chronologically
- Group by arguments - sometimes it's obvious in the article where the arguments lie, in terms of if it's about a certain issue, then it goes to another issue.
Is this similar to support condemn solution? Yes, it does overlap with 'support/condemn/solution'.
- Group by the headers - not always are there headers in the article, but sometimes you can group the paragraphs by the headers inside of it.
This method isn't great because of inconsistency in how you write your topic sentences.
Topic Sentences:
- Some teachers want topic sentences that just introduce that chunk/block of paragraphs, it doesn't actually talk about the main idea of the paragraph, just what they started the paragraph with.
- Some teachers want the actual article and the holistic approach to that paragraph.
What do we do about the image, where do we put it?
The answer is, depends on the teacher, the problem is, some teachers will want you to put it in chronological order, so in the paragraph that is next to the image. Other teachers may want you to talk about it at the very start of your first body paragraph regardless of where it appears.
How many body paragraphs should we block to? (should we have 3 blocks, 5 blocks, 7 blocks or 1 body paragraph?)
The answer is, depends on your teacher, if you teacher wants 5 body paragraphs, they want 5 body paragraphs. Some teachers say it depends on the length of the article(s).
How do we analyse when using chunking/block method?
You analyse in chronological order... so you go through the block and analyse things as they come up.
What if there's like multiple of the same technique, do we analyse them all?
That's why I don't like chunking/block method, because it's unclear what we do when we overlap on the same technique or idea.
Template Sentences for Analysis
This section is for templates on how to write sentences for body paragraph analysis chunks.
Therefore, readers are encouraged to ... (think/feel/react, analysis).
Despite their differences, readers who ... (specific reader) are forced to agree with the author who depicts ... (something about the persuasive technique here).
As such, the author highlights the joyful/sad aspects of ... (be specific about the joyful aspect here) to readers, who ... (analysis of the reader, effect)
The author incites feelings of hatred/resentment (really negative) within unsuspecting readers who are ... (analysis).
In promoting the idea of ... (insert idea) to an audience of [target audience], the author asks readers to critique [idea]
By highlighting the stark contrast between ... and ... (contrasting points), [author name] reflects on the growing [emotion, e.g. anger or happiness] within [target audience] in order to ... (analysis on reader).
Further to [his/her] initial stance on [the topic], [author name] compels readers to consider ... (what to consider) by deliberately positioning a [persuasive technique] within [where it is located] to provoke thoughts on ... (analysis).
[only use this if you have a sentence before it, on a similar technique] Compounding the effect of ... (previous effect, whether it was sad, happy) on readers, the author furthers their ... (technique) in order to engage readers who are ... (specific reader).
The author inclusively suggests that ... (readers) are “(quote)”, leaving those who go against the crowd feeling isolated and ... (something about sadness), in order to demonstrate the ... (benefits of their side, be specific with benefit).
Before discussing the severity of ... (issue within the topic), the author first acknowledges the importance in ... (importance in something) to add a sense of ... (feel) within readers who are ... (type of reader who is affected, e.g. concerned about ...).
Topic Sentence Chunk
Is the length under each chunk the maximum number of sentences we should include in a BP?
Yes, kind of, you should be following this as much as possible. Refer to lengths to know how much to put.
Length: 1 Sentence
From the outset, Dr Phipps adopts a nostalgic tone reminiscing a simpler past where truth and reality were intertwined, setting a glorified scene for readers who are captivated by the simplicity and celebratory nature of real life.
Topic Sentence 1: From the outset, [author name] commences in a [tone word] tone adopting a [style word: formal, informal, conversational, objective, subjective, expressive] approach in order to convey [support/condemn or victim/perpetrator] from [target audience/reader].
Topic Sentence 2: Thus, having established [recap first paragraph idea], [author name] maintains/shifts to a [tone word] tone adopting a [style word: formal, informal, conversational, objective, subjective, expressive] approach to draw [support/condemn or victim/perpetrator idea] from [target audience/reader].
Topic Sentence 3: In demonstrating the [positives/negatives] of [issue], the author proposes to [what the solution/proposal is] in a [style word] style, asking [readers/target audience] to [how to implement the solution].
Persuasive Technique Chunk
Length: 1 to 4 Sentences
We'll have a list of persuasive techniques and the ways you can use them, probably on the Artin Online website later.
Structural Technique Chunk
Length: 1 to 2 Sentences
We'll come up with a list of these technicals that we can use for the future as well.
Things like 'the length of paragraph', 'tone and style words' are structural.
Image Technique Chunk
Length: 1 to 2 Sentences
Comparative Article Chunk
Length: 2 to 3 Sentences
Comparative Comment Chunk
Length: 1 to 2 Sentences
Linking Sentence Chunk
Length: 1 Sentence
Linking Sentences do not matter as much, it’s just a bit of an overall, broad effect on reader. It’s just to make sure if you missed effect on reader earlier, you save yourself a little here as well with some effect on reader.
e.g. As such, Sturgess compels parents to reflect on how little they have watched over their own children when it comes to monitoring vape addiction amongst their peer groups.
Advanced Usage
Once you're comfortable with finding techniques and analysing them, make sure that you remember the structure with chunks is highly flexible, and that the next step is to be able to understand how deciding on the order of your chunks is also very important.
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