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Parent-Teen Conflict: A Day of Rebellion

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Transition to Teen Years

The decision to skip school.

Unplanned Day Out

Confrontation with parents, encounter with the police, parents' reaction, confrontation at home, reflection and resolution.

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• My Parents Essay

500 Words Essay On My Parents

We entered this world because of our parents. It is our parents who have given us life and we must learn to be pleased with it. I am grateful to my parents for everything they do for me. Through my parents essay, I wish to convey how valuable they are to me and how much I respect and admire them.

My Strength My Parents Essay

My parents are my strength who support me at every stage of life. I cannot imagine my life without them. My parents are like a guiding light who take me to the right path whenever I get lost.

My mother is a homemaker and she is the strongest woman I know. She helps me with my work and feeds me delicious foods . She was a teacher but left the job to take care of her children.

My mother makes many sacrifices for us that we are not even aware of. She always takes care of us and puts us before herself. She never wakes up late. Moreover, she is like a glue that binds us together as a family.

Parents are the strength and support system of their children. They carry with them so many responsibilities yet they never show it. We must be thankful to have parents in our lives as not everyone is lucky to have them.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

While my mother is always working at home, my father is the one who works outside. He is a kind human who always helps out my mother whenever he can. He is a loving man who helps out the needy too.

My father is a social person who interacts with our neighbours too. Moreover, he is an expert at maintaining his relationship with our relatives. My father works as a businessman and does a lot of hard work.

Even though he is a busy man, he always finds time for us. We spend our off days going to picnics or dinners. I admire my father for doing so much for us without any complaints.

He is a popular man in society as he is always there to help others. Whoever asks for his help, my father always helps them out. Therefore, he is a well-known man and a loving father whom I look up to.

Conclusion of My Parents Essay

I love both my parents with all my heart. They are kind people who have taught their children to be the same. Moreover, even when they have arguments, they always make up without letting it affect us. I aspire to become like my parents and achieve success in life with their blessings.

FAQ of My Parents Essay

Question 1: Why parents are important in our life?

Answer 1: Parents are the most precious gifts anyone can get. However, as not everyone has them, we must consider ourselves lucky if we do. They are the strength and support system of children and help them out always. Moreover, the parents train the children to overcome challenges and make the best decision for us.

Question 2: What do parents mean to us?

Answer 2: Parents mean different things to different people. To most of us, they are our source of happiness and protection. They are the ones who are the closest to us and understand our needs without having to say them out loud. Similarly, they love us unconditionally for who we are without any ifs and buts.

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Adolescence

Teens and parents in conflict, why does my teenager want to fight with me.

Posted January 19, 2009 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

• What Changes During Adolescence?
• Find a therapist to support kids and teens

"There's no point in talking to you: You don't understand me. You don't even know me."

A teen spits these words at a parent, who is hurt and outraged. How can her own child say these things? She's worked hard to know her child, learning to read his feelings from voice and gesture, learning to place his words in the context of his day-to-day life. How can he now say to her, "You don't know who I really am."

Nothing shakes a parent's confidence as much as the onset of a son's or daughter's adolescence . The communication that flowed easily, with words, glances and touch, becomes a minefield. Judith says that her once affectionate daughter is now, at 14, surly and guarded, with "porcupine-like spines that bristle whenever I get near her." Pat says that his 15-year-old son, Greg, "gives off hate rays the minute I step into the room. His response to everything I say is a groan. Sometimes I get furious, but mostly he manages to make me as unhappy as he seems to be."

Recent discoveries that the human brain undergoes specific and dramatic development during adolescence (with the frontal lobes, which allow us to organize sequences of actions, think ahead and control impulses, bulking up in early adolescence before gradually shrinking back) offer new physiological "explanations" of teen behavior, particularly their impulsiveness. At the bulking stage, there may be too many synapses for the brain to work efficiently; the mental capacity for decision-making , judgment, and control is not mature until age 24. But no underlying physiology explains the teens' experience of parents.

Nor do raging hormones — an older style "explanation" — account for the apparently irrational moodiness of teens. Though hormones play a role in human feelings, the real task of adolescence, and the real cause of turbulence, is the teen's own uncertainty about who he is, alongside his eager need to establish a sense of identity .

This involves self-questioning, self-discovery, and self-development across a range of issues, including gender , faith, intellect, and relationship. A sense of who we are is no mere luxury; we need it to feel alive. Without it, we feel worthless. A teen often looks upon peers as models: "I don't know who I am, but I know who he is, so I'll be like him" is the underlying thought. Parents become mirrors: Teens want that mirror to reflect back to them the vividness and clarity they themselves do not feel.

Arguments with parents can often be understood in this context. While those common teenager/parent quarrels, which explode every few days, are, at a superficial level, about curfews, homework, housework, and respect, a teenager's real focus is on a parent's acknowledgement of his maturity, capability, and human value. "No, you can't go out tonight" causes more than a glitch in a teen's social diary; it implies that a parent doesn't trust him to make his own decisions. And in a teen's eyes, that's not only unfair; it's humiliating. Even apparently minor exchanges can trigger major reactions, making a parent feel, "Everything I say is wrong!" A parent asks a checking-up question, and the teen feels like a little child again. "Have you got your keys?" and, "Do you have enough money for the bus?" are loaded with the implication, "You're not able to look after yourself." These questions would be easily tolerated if uttered by a concerned friend, but from a parent they pinch on a teen's own doubts. Feeling threatened by the kid who can't remember to take his lunch, his keys, or his money, he blames the parent for reminding him of the child-self still residing within him.

It is no wonder, then, that teens can be quick to reject the embraces and endearments that were once daily currency in his life with a parent. "Oh, come on," a teen protests as a parent gives him a good-morning hug: A parent may interpret this as a stinging rejection of their entire relationship, but the teen is simply acting out his ambivalence. He feels trapped both by the comfort he is inclined to experience from a parent's hug and by his wish to expel the previous child-self who welcomes that comfort.

Teens get so heated in arguments with parents because so much is at stake: They are fighting to change their relationship with the parent, to make the parent see that they are not the child the parent thinks she knows. They want to shake the parent into an awareness of the new and exciting person they hope to become. Quiet conversations, as opposed to quarrels, do not do justice to the drama of the teens' feelings. In argument, you push yourself and the person you are arguing with into what Annie Rogers calls "a rawness of feeling, where you say more than you otherwise would."

Perversely, teens expect the parent to appreciate who they have become, even before they themselves know. Therefore, in the emotional exposure of quarrels with parents, teens clarify and demand recognition for the new person they see themselves to be — or on the way to being. The arguments can put the entire family into a spin as each parent has a different interpretation of "the problem," and siblings complain that their parents are "dense" for failing to understand the teen's outbursts.

What my research reassuringly shows is that quarreling with your teen doesn't necessarily mean you have a bad relationship. The quality of a parent/teen bond has several measures: There is the comfort of simply being together and the willingness to share a range of daily experiences and to express a range of feelings — happiness as well as unhappiness. Some parents and teens who engage in frequent arguments have, by these measures, a good relationship: What matters is that a quarrel doesn't end with two people simply brooding over their own anger . What a teen is aiming for, after all, is to gain recognition and new respect for the parents he still loves.

A version of this post first appeared in Psycholgies magazine.

Facebook image: BRawpixel.com/Shutterstock

Terri Apter, Ph.D., is a writer and psychologist specializing in family dynamics and adolescent development. Her new book, The Teen Interpreter, will be published in March 2022.

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30+ Great Argumentative Essay Topics About Family with Essay prompts

• Bob Cardens
• July 31, 2022
• Essay Topics and Ideas , Nursing

To help you get started with argumentative essay writing, we’ve compiled a list of some potential argumentative Essay Topics About Family. Whether you’re looking for something lighthearted or something a little more serious, we’re sure you’ll find something on this list on Topics About Family with essay prompts

Argumentative Essay Topics About Family with prompts

• My Attitudes Towards Marriage And Family

Essay prompt:  Marriage, also recognized as a wedlock or matrimony to others, is regarded as the bottom-most unit in the social setting community is viewed differently by people.

• Impact of Family-Centered Care on an Autistic Patient

Essay prompt:  According to the Institute of Medicine, patient-centered care is health care that respects and responds to individual patient values, needs, and preferences. On the other hand, family-centered care involves a partnership between a family and a care provider in making health care decisions.

• Family and Friends in Life

Essay prompt:  Everyone comes from a family, which no one chooses at birth. However, individuals are privileged to select people they want to be their friends. Family members and friends are important in life since they enable them to overcome various challenges and find happiness through healthy interactions and social.

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• Family Structures. What is a definition of family?

Essay prompt:  Traditional notions of families have greatly evolved in recent years. What used to be a father, mother and children relationship has changed to accommodate polygamy, adoptive children, and extended family members as one.

• What Does Family Mean To You Essay

Essay prompt:  According to me, family means a lot. A family has different meanings such as by definition, friendship, and convenience. Regarding definition, family involves the people that I am related to by blood. What does family mean to you?

You can also check out 150+ Top-Notch Argumentative Essay Topic Ideas

• Process philosophy and family and marriage

Essay prompt:  In discussing one of these topics, the goal is to relate how a particular political perspective derives from process philosophy (such as socialism). In making the connection, incorporate clear references from the required reading.

• Family System Theory

Essay prompt:  Family system theory primarily emphasis on behavioral exchange at any given instance of interaction with family members. The theory supports that the sequence of the interrelationship between members of the family inspires, maintains and prolongs the problem and non-problematic manners.

• Different Family Structures, Nontraditional Family Structures, and Family Systems Theory

Essay prompt:  Today’s generation seems to have a more complex perspective of the world, but much clearer than before. Having these in mind, people do seem to slowly accept and readapt to these great changes that improve their perception of society today.

Further read on  50+ Top And Best Argumentative Essay Topics

• Ethnography. A Comparison Between Zulu Culture And American Culture.

Essay prompt:  In this analysis you may include a discussion of topics such as: economic/labor role, parenthood, child-rearing, marriage/divorce practices, reproductive issues, sexuality, family/kinship structure, household composition, or other topics that may be relevant in the book you read.

• Causes and Effects of Unemployment on the family

Essay prompt:  One of the most increasing issue in the families has become Unemployment, with Shelter, food and clothing topics being largely highlighted, Unemployment has now become a topic of discussion in the family. It is not only the bread winners that feel the loss of lively hood but also the young professionals …

• Family Resource Management Education Term Paper Essay

Essay prompt:  I decided to work on Family Resource Management. This is a very interesting and sensitive area that I think needs to be emphasized much more than the other FLE areas. This is because the basis of any life existence starts from the family set up.

• Marriage and Roles of Women in the Family Portrayed in Mrs. Mallard’s and Mrs. Pontellier

Essay prompt:  The concept of family has been viewed and analyzed from different perspectives across diverse societies all over the world. Most scholars define a family as an entity to different people, in different localities at different periods.

• The Family Of Man In The Society

Essay prompt:  The modern individual in the society is more aware than before as knowledge has increased and activism has been accepted as one of the ways to solve and express an individual’s opinions and problems.

Find out more on  Argumentative Essay Topics About Social Media [Updated]

• Importance of Family Health and The Strategies for Health Promotion

Essay prompt:  Family is a crucial institution in the healthcare sector. The concept of family health is significant in devising a treatment plan for patients and offering healthcare prescriptions. Is family health important? Consider the various strategies for health promotion . How does a nurse determine which strategy to use on family health promotion?

• Significance of Family values (argumentative Essay Topics About Family)

Essay prompt:  In the past, the family was considered a social unit consisting of one or more parents with their children. Today, the definition of family has changed to encompass various family structures.

• Opinion Writing About Can A Blended Family Be Successful?

Essay prompt:  A blended family can be successful when the parents and the children are able to identify the blind spots and tackle the challenges that may bring disharmony on family unity.

• Basic Techniques of Family Therapy Psychology Essay

Essay prompt:  Family therapy can be carried out in various ways. Moreover, alternatives to every aspect of the process exist. However, some guidelines are shared by all the approaches. They serve as the core framework for clinical practice. Family therapy occurs in stages.

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• Difference between Pacific and European Families in Family Structure and Authority

Essay prompt:  Difference between Pacific and European Families in Family Structure and Authority Literature and Language Essay.

• The Greatest Of The Franciscan Values (argumentative Essay Topics About Family)

Essay prompt:  1) Live lovingly. 2) Care for creation. 3) Proclaim joy and hope. 4) Be living instruments of peace to all our brothers and sisters in God’s family.

• Addiction as a product of Social Dislocation and Family Stress.

Essay prompt:  Societal addiction to drug and substance use has, and still is, a menace to our human society, prompting extreme measures to be put in place to not only curb, but also try to eradicate the problem.

Here are additional 60+ Top And Best Argumentative Essay Topics For Different Contexts

• Marriage and Family Counselling

Essay prompt:  Family systems have become more complex over time. Some of the systems that did not exist in the past include gay families, childless families, and single-parent families, among others.

• Family Relations and Child-Rearing Practices: How They Changed Postmigration

Essay prompt:  Migrating to another country or place with a completely different culture affects the whole lives of the family. However, while the most obvious difficulties that they face are those concerning with how they deal with other people, it also affects how each member deal with each other such as how they rear.

• The Form and Function of Family

Essay prompt:  The definition of family is a fundamental aspect of diverse medical disciplines. Since this definition shifts from one nation to another and within the countries due to the current times’ shifting realities, experts have suggested redefining this concept to integrate the diverse modern-day family. What is a definition of family that encompasses the different Family structures prevalent today?

• Cognitive-behavioral Family Therapy and Multi-dimensional Family Therapy

Essay prompt:  Populations at risk are considered the populations exposed to the risk of occurrence of a particular event in life. These populations need to be treated differently from other populations to reduce their risk of falling victim to the described event. (argumentative Essay Topics About Family)

• Importance of Functional Theory in Understanding Families

Essay prompt:  One of the critical topics I studied is the institution of the family. Family is an essential social unit making up the overall society. Family is examinable under various sociological views on contemporary families, including functional, conflict, and social interactionist approaches.

• Family: How Has It Been Portrayed Through The Arts And In Real Life?
• Essay prompt:  Reflect on what the word family means and think about how it has been portrayed through the arts and in real life. A family is one of the greatest assets that life gifts each one of us with. It is all we are left with when everything else is gone.
• What Family characteristics may contribute to potential or actual dysfunctional health patterns

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What this handout is about

This handout will define what an argument is and explain why you need one in most of your academic essays.

Arguments are everywhere

You may be surprised to hear that the word “argument” does not have to be written anywhere in your assignment for it to be an important part of your task. In fact, making an argument—expressing a point of view on a subject and supporting it with evidence—is often the aim of academic writing. Your instructors may assume that you know this and thus may not explain the importance of arguments in class.

Most material you learn in college is or has been debated by someone, somewhere, at some time. Even when the material you read or hear is presented as a simple fact, it may actually be one person’s interpretation of a set of information. Instructors may call on you to examine that interpretation and defend it, refute it, or offer some new view of your own. In writing assignments, you will almost always need to do more than just summarize information that you have gathered or regurgitate facts that have been discussed in class. You will need to develop a point of view on or interpretation of that material and provide evidence for your position.

Consider an example. For nearly 2000 years, educated people in many Western cultures believed that bloodletting—deliberately causing a sick person to lose blood—was the most effective treatment for a variety of illnesses. The claim that bloodletting is beneficial to human health was not widely questioned until the 1800s, and some physicians continued to recommend bloodletting as late as the 1920s. Medical practices have now changed because some people began to doubt the effectiveness of bloodletting; these people argued against it and provided convincing evidence. Human knowledge grows out of such differences of opinion, and scholars like your instructors spend their lives engaged in debate over what claims may be counted as accurate in their fields. In their courses, they want you to engage in similar kinds of critical thinking and debate.

Argumentation is not just what your instructors do. We all use argumentation on a daily basis, and you probably already have some skill at crafting an argument. The more you improve your skills in this area, the better you will be at thinking critically, reasoning, making choices, and weighing evidence.

Making a claim

What is an argument? In academic writing, an argument is usually a main idea, often called a “claim” or “thesis statement,” backed up with evidence that supports the idea. In the majority of college papers, you will need to make some sort of claim and use evidence to support it, and your ability to do this well will separate your papers from those of students who see assignments as mere accumulations of fact and detail. In other words, gone are the happy days of being given a “topic” about which you can write anything. It is time to stake out a position and prove why it is a good position for a thinking person to hold. See our handout on thesis statements .

Claims can be as simple as “Protons are positively charged and electrons are negatively charged,” with evidence such as, “In this experiment, protons and electrons acted in such and such a way.” Claims can also be as complex as “Genre is the most important element to the contract of expectations between filmmaker and audience,” using reasoning and evidence such as, “defying genre expectations can create a complete apocalypse of story form and content, leaving us stranded in a sort of genre-less abyss.” In either case, the rest of your paper will detail the reasoning and evidence that have led you to believe that your position is best.

When beginning to write a paper, ask yourself, “What is my point?” For example, the point of this handout is to help you become a better writer, and we are arguing that an important step in the process of writing effective arguments is understanding the concept of argumentation. If your papers do not have a main point, they cannot be arguing for anything. Asking yourself what your point is can help you avoid a mere “information dump.” Consider this: your instructors probably know a lot more than you do about your subject matter. Why, then, would you want to provide them with material they already know? Instructors are usually looking for two things:

• Proof that you understand the material
• A demonstration of your ability to use or apply the material in ways that go beyond what you have read or heard.

This second part can be done in many ways: you can critique the material, apply it to something else, or even just explain it in a different way. In order to succeed at this second step, though, you must have a particular point to argue.

Arguments in academic writing are usually complex and take time to develop. Your argument will need to be more than a simple or obvious statement such as “Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect.” Such a statement might capture your initial impressions of Wright as you have studied him in class; however, you need to look deeper and express specifically what caused that “greatness.” Your instructor will probably expect something more complicated, such as “Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture combines elements of European modernism, Asian aesthetic form, and locally found materials to create a unique new style,” or “There are many strong similarities between Wright’s building designs and those of his mother, which suggests that he may have borrowed some of her ideas.” To develop your argument, you would then define your terms and prove your claim with evidence from Wright’s drawings and buildings and those of the other architects you mentioned.

Do not stop with having a point. You have to back up your point with evidence. The strength of your evidence, and your use of it, can make or break your argument. See our handout on evidence . You already have the natural inclination for this type of thinking, if not in an academic setting. Think about how you talked your parents into letting you borrow the family car. Did you present them with lots of instances of your past trustworthiness? Did you make them feel guilty because your friends’ parents all let them drive? Did you whine until they just wanted you to shut up? Did you look up statistics on teen driving and use them to show how you didn’t fit the dangerous-driver profile? These are all types of argumentation, and they exist in academia in similar forms.

Every field has slightly different requirements for acceptable evidence, so familiarize yourself with some arguments from within that field instead of just applying whatever evidence you like best. Pay attention to your textbooks and your instructor’s lectures. What types of argument and evidence are they using? The type of evidence that sways an English instructor may not work to convince a sociology instructor. Find out what counts as proof that something is true in that field. Is it statistics, a logical development of points, something from the object being discussed (art work, text, culture, or atom), the way something works, or some combination of more than one of these things?

Be consistent with your evidence. Unlike negotiating for the use of your parents’ car, a college paper is not the place for an all-out blitz of every type of argument. You can often use more than one type of evidence within a paper, but make sure that within each section you are providing the reader with evidence appropriate to each claim. So, if you start a paragraph or section with a statement like “Putting the student seating area closer to the basketball court will raise player performance,” do not follow with your evidence on how much more money the university could raise by letting more students go to games for free. Information about how fan support raises player morale, which then results in better play, would be a better follow-up. Your next section could offer clear reasons why undergraduates have as much or more right to attend an undergraduate event as wealthy alumni—but this information would not go in the same section as the fan support stuff. You cannot convince a confused person, so keep things tidy and ordered.

Counterargument

One way to strengthen your argument and show that you have a deep understanding of the issue you are discussing is to anticipate and address counterarguments or objections. By considering what someone who disagrees with your position might have to say about your argument, you show that you have thought things through, and you dispose of some of the reasons your audience might have for not accepting your argument. Recall our discussion of student seating in the Dean Dome. To make the most effective argument possible, you should consider not only what students would say about seating but also what alumni who have paid a lot to get good seats might say.

You can generate counterarguments by asking yourself how someone who disagrees with you might respond to each of the points you’ve made or your position as a whole. If you can’t immediately imagine another position, here are some strategies to try:

• Do some research. It may seem to you that no one could possibly disagree with the position you are arguing, but someone probably has. For example, some people argue that a hotdog is a sandwich. If you are making an argument concerning, for example, the characteristics of an exceptional sandwich, you might want to see what some of these people have to say.
• Talk with a friend or with your teacher. Another person may be able to imagine counterarguments that haven’t occurred to you.
• Consider your conclusion or claim and the premises of your argument and imagine someone who denies each of them. For example, if you argued, “Cats make the best pets. This is because they are clean and independent,” you might imagine someone saying, “Cats do not make the best pets. They are dirty and needy.”

Once you have thought up some counterarguments, consider how you will respond to them—will you concede that your opponent has a point but explain why your audience should nonetheless accept your argument? Will you reject the counterargument and explain why it is mistaken? Either way, you will want to leave your reader with a sense that your argument is stronger than opposing arguments.

When you are summarizing opposing arguments, be charitable. Present each argument fairly and objectively, rather than trying to make it look foolish. You want to show that you have considered the many sides of the issue. If you simply attack or caricature your opponent (also referred to as presenting a “straw man”), you suggest that your argument is only capable of defeating an extremely weak adversary, which may undermine your argument rather than enhance it.

It is usually better to consider one or two serious counterarguments in some depth, rather than to give a long but superficial list of many different counterarguments and replies.

Be sure that your reply is consistent with your original argument. If considering a counterargument changes your position, you will need to go back and revise your original argument accordingly.

Audience is a very important consideration in argument. Take a look at our handout on audience . A lifetime of dealing with your family members has helped you figure out which arguments work best to persuade each of them. Maybe whining works with one parent, but the other will only accept cold, hard statistics. Your kid brother may listen only to the sound of money in his palm. It’s usually wise to think of your audience in an academic setting as someone who is perfectly smart but who doesn’t necessarily agree with you. You are not just expressing your opinion in an argument (“It’s true because I said so”), and in most cases your audience will know something about the subject at hand—so you will need sturdy proof. At the same time, do not think of your audience as capable of reading your mind. You have to come out and state both your claim and your evidence clearly. Do not assume that because the instructor knows the material, he or she understands what part of it you are using, what you think about it, and why you have taken the position you’ve chosen.

Critical reading

Critical reading is a big part of understanding argument. Although some of the material you read will be very persuasive, do not fall under the spell of the printed word as authority. Very few of your instructors think of the texts they assign as the last word on the subject. Remember that the author of every text has an agenda, something that he or she wants you to believe. This is OK—everything is written from someone’s perspective—but it’s a good thing to be aware of. For more information on objectivity and bias and on reading sources carefully, read our handouts on evaluating print sources and reading to write .

Take notes either in the margins of your source (if you are using a photocopy or your own book) or on a separate sheet as you read. Put away that highlighter! Simply highlighting a text is good for memorizing the main ideas in that text—it does not encourage critical reading. Part of your goal as a reader should be to put the author’s ideas in your own words. Then you can stop thinking of these ideas as facts and start thinking of them as arguments.

When you read, ask yourself questions like “What is the author trying to prove?” and “What is the author assuming I will agree with?” Do you agree with the author? Does the author adequately defend her argument? What kind of proof does she use? Is there something she leaves out that you would put in? Does putting it in hurt her argument? As you get used to reading critically, you will start to see the sometimes hidden agendas of other writers, and you can use this skill to improve your own ability to craft effective arguments.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. 2016. The Craft of Research , 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ede, Lisa. 2004. Work in Progress: A Guide to Academic Writing and Revising , 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Gage, John T. 2005. The Shape of Reason: Argumentative Writing in College , 4th ed. New York: Longman.

Lunsford, Andrea A., and John J. Ruszkiewicz. 2016. Everything’s an Argument , 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Rosen, Leonard J., and Laurence Behrens. 2003. The Allyn & Bacon Handbook , 5th ed. New York: Longman.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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130 New Prompts for Argumentative Writing

Questions on everything from mental health and sports to video games and dating. Which ones inspire you to take a stand?

By The Learning Network

Note: We have an updated version of this list, with 300 new argumentative writing prompts .

What issues do you care most about? What topics do you find yourself discussing passionately, whether online, at the dinner table, in the classroom or with your friends?

In Unit 5 of our free yearlong writing curriculum and related Student Editorial Contest , we invite students to research and write about the issues that matter to them, whether that’s Shakespeare , health care , standardized testing or being messy .

But with so many possibilities, where does one even begin? Try our student writing prompts.

In 2017, we compiled a list of 401 argumentative writing prompts , all drawn from our daily Student Opinion column . Now, we’re rounding up 130 more we’ve published since then ( available here as a PDF ). Each prompt links to a free Times article as well as additional subquestions that can help you think more deeply about it.

You might use this list to inspire your own writing and to find links to reliable resources about the issues that intrigue you. But even if you’re not participating in our contest, you can use these prompts to practice the kind of low-stakes writing that can help you hone your argumentation skills.

So scroll through the list below with questions on everything from sports and mental health to dating and video games and see which ones inspire you to take a stand.

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Argumentative Essay Examples to Inspire You (+ Free Formula)

Table of contents

Meredith Sell

Have you ever been asked to explain your opinion on a controversial issue? 

• Maybe your family got into a discussion about chemical pesticides
• Someone at work argues against investing resources into your project
• Your partner thinks intermittent fasting is the best way to lose weight and you disagree

Proving your point in an argumentative essay can be challenging, unless you are using a proven formula.

Argumentative essay formula & example

In the image below, you can see a recommended structure for argumentative essays. It starts with the topic sentence, which establishes the main idea of the essay. Next, this hypothesis is developed in the development stage. Then, the rebuttal, or the refutal of the main counter argument or arguments. Then, again, development of the rebuttal. This is followed by an example, and ends with a summary. This is a very basic structure, but it gives you a bird-eye-view of how a proper argumentative essay can be built.

Writing an argumentative essay (for a class, a news outlet, or just for fun) can help you improve your understanding of an issue and sharpen your thinking on the matter. Using researched facts and data, you can explain why you or others think the way you do, even while other reasonable people disagree.

What Is an Argumentative Essay?

An argumentative essay is an explanatory essay that takes a side.

Instead of appealing to emotion and personal experience to change the reader’s mind, an argumentative essay uses logic and well-researched factual information to explain why the thesis in question is the most reasonable opinion on the matter.  

Over several paragraphs or pages, the author systematically walks through:

• The opposition (and supporting evidence)
• The chosen thesis (and its supporting evidence)

At the end, the author leaves the decision up to the reader, trusting that the case they’ve made will do the work of changing the reader’s mind. Even if the reader’s opinion doesn’t change, they come away from the essay with a greater understanding of the perspective presented — and perhaps a better understanding of their original opinion.

All of that might make it seem like writing an argumentative essay is way harder than an emotionally-driven persuasive essay — but if you’re like me and much more comfortable spouting facts and figures than making impassioned pleas, you may find that an argumentative essay is easier to write. 

Plus, the process of researching an argumentative essay means you can check your assumptions and develop an opinion that’s more based in reality than what you originally thought. I know for sure that my opinions need to be fact checked — don’t yours?

So how exactly do we write the argumentative essay?

How do you start an argumentative essay

First, gain a clear understanding of what exactly an argumentative essay is. To formulate a proper topic sentence, you have to be clear on your topic, and to explore it through research.

Students have difficulty starting an essay because the whole task seems intimidating, and they are afraid of spending too much time on the topic sentence. Experienced writers, however, know that there is no set time to spend on figuring out your topic. It's a real exploration that is based to a large extent on intuition.

6 Steps to Write an Argumentative Essay (Persuasion Formula)

Use this checklist to tackle your essay one step at a time:

1. Research an issue with an arguable question

To start, you need to identify an issue that well-informed people have varying opinions on. Here, it’s helpful to think of one core topic and how it intersects with another (or several other) issues. That intersection is where hot takes and reasonable (or unreasonable) opinions abound. 

I find it helpful to stage the issue as a question.

For example: 

Is it better to legislate the minimum size of chicken enclosures or to outlaw the sale of eggs from chickens who don’t have enough space?

Should snow removal policies focus more on effectively keeping roads clear for traffic or the environmental impacts of snow removal methods?

Once you have your arguable question ready, start researching the basic facts and specific opinions and arguments on the issue. Do your best to stay focused on gathering information that is directly relevant to your topic. Depending on what your essay is for, you may reference academic studies, government reports, or newspaper articles.

‍ Research your opposition and the facts that support their viewpoint as much as you research your own position . You’ll need to address your opposition in your essay, so you’ll want to know their argument from the inside out.

2. Choose a side based on your research

You likely started with an inclination toward one side or the other, but your research should ultimately shape your perspective. So once you’ve completed the research, nail down your opinion and start articulating the what and why of your take. 

What: I think it’s better to outlaw selling eggs from chickens whose enclosures are too small.

Why: Because if you regulate the enclosure size directly, egg producers outside of the government’s jurisdiction could ship eggs into your territory and put nearby egg producers out of business by offering better prices because they don’t have the added cost of larger enclosures.

This is an early form of your thesis and the basic logic of your argument. You’ll want to iterate on this a few times and develop a one-sentence statement that sums up the thesis of your essay.

Thesis: Outlawing the sale of eggs from chickens with cramped living spaces is better for business than regulating the size of chicken enclosures.

Now that you’ve articulated your thesis , spell out the counterargument(s) as well. Putting your opposition’s take into words will help you throughout the rest of the essay-writing process. (You can start by choosing the counter argument option with Wordtune Spices .)

Counter argument:

There may be one main counterargument to articulate, or several. Write them all out and start thinking about how you’ll use evidence to address each of them or show why your argument is still the best option.

3. Organize the evidence — for your side and the opposition

You did all of that research for a reason. Now’s the time to use it. 

Hopefully, you kept detailed notes in a document, complete with links and titles of all your source material. Go through your research document and copy the evidence for your argument and your opposition’s into another document.

List the main points of your argument. Then, below each point, paste the evidence that backs them up.

If you’re writing about chicken enclosures, maybe you found evidence that shows the spread of disease among birds kept in close quarters is worse than among birds who have more space. Or maybe you found information that says eggs from free-range chickens are more flavorful or nutritious. Put that information next to the appropriate part of your argument. 

Repeat the process with your opposition’s argument: What information did you find that supports your opposition? Paste it beside your opposition’s argument.

You could also put information here that refutes your opposition, but organize it in a way that clearly tells you — at a glance — that the information disproves their point.

Counterargument: Outlawing the sale of eggs from chickens with too small enclosures will negatively affect prices and sales.

BUT: Sicknesses like avian flu spread more easily through small enclosures and could cause a shortage that would drive up egg prices naturally, so ensuring larger enclosures is still a better policy for consumers over the long term.

As you organize your research and see the evidence all together, start thinking through the best way to order your points.  

Will it be better to present your argument all at once or to break it up with opposition claims you can quickly refute? Would some points set up other points well? Does a more complicated point require that the reader understands a simpler point first?

Play around and rearrange your notes to see how your essay might flow one way or another.

4. Freewrite or outline to think through your argument

Is your brain buzzing yet? At this point in the process, it can be helpful to take out a notebook or open a fresh document and dump whatever you’re thinking on the page.

Where should your essay start? What ground-level information do you need to provide your readers before you can dive into the issue?

Use your organized evidence document from step 3 to think through your argument from beginning to end, and determine the structure of your essay.

There are three typical structures for argumentative essays:

• Make your argument and tackle opposition claims one by one, as they come up in relation to the points of your argument - In this approach, the whole essay — from beginning to end — focuses on your argument, but as you make each point, you address the relevant opposition claims individually. This approach works well if your opposition’s views can be quickly explained and refuted and if they directly relate to specific points in your argument.
• Make the bulk of your argument, and then address the opposition all at once in a paragraph (or a few) - This approach puts the opposition in its own section, separate from your main argument. After you’ve made your case, with ample evidence to convince your readers, you write about the opposition, explaining their viewpoint and supporting evidence — and showing readers why the opposition’s argument is unconvincing. Once you’ve addressed the opposition, you write a conclusion that sums up why your argument is the better one.
• Open your essay by talking about the opposition and where it falls short. Build your entire argument to show how it is superior to that opposition - With this structure, you’re showing your readers “a better way” to address the issue. After opening your piece by showing how your opposition’s approaches fail, you launch into your argument, providing readers with ample evidence that backs you up.

As you think through your argument and examine your evidence document, consider which structure will serve your argument best. Sketch out an outline to give yourself a map to follow in the writing process. You could also rearrange your evidence document again to match your outline, so it will be easy to find what you need when you start writing.

5. Write your first draft

You have an outline and an organized document with all your points and evidence lined up and ready. Now you just have to write your essay.

In your first draft, focus on getting your ideas on the page. Your wording may not be perfect (whose is?), but you know what you’re trying to say — so even if you’re overly wordy and taking too much space to say what you need to say, put those words on the page.

Follow your outline, and draw from that evidence document to flesh out each point of your argument. Explain what the evidence means for your argument and your opposition. Connect the dots for your readers so they can follow you, point by point, and understand what you’re trying to say.

As you write, be sure to include:

1. Any background information your reader needs in order to understand the issue in question.

2. Evidence for both your argument and the counterargument(s). This shows that you’ve done your homework and builds trust with your reader, while also setting you up to make a more convincing argument. (If you find gaps in your research while you’re writing, Wordtune can help.

3. A conclusion that sums up your overall argument and evidence — and leaves the reader with an understanding of the issue and its significance. This sort of conclusion brings your essay to a strong ending that doesn’t waste readers’ time, but actually adds value to your case.

6. Revise (with Wordtune)

The hard work is done: you have a first draft. Now, let’s fine tune your writing.

I like to step away from what I’ve written for a day (or at least a night of sleep) before attempting to revise. It helps me approach clunky phrases and rough transitions with fresh eyes. If you don’t have that luxury, just get away from your computer for a few minutes — use the bathroom, do some jumping jacks, eat an apple — and then come back and read through your piece.

As you revise, make sure you …

• Get the facts right. An argument with false evidence falls apart pretty quickly, so check your facts to make yours rock solid.
• Don’t misrepresent the opposition or their evidence. If someone who holds the opposing view reads your essay, they should affirm how you explain their side — even if they disagree with your rebuttal.
• Present a case that builds over the course of your essay, makes sense, and ends on a strong note. One point should naturally lead to the next. Your readers shouldn’t feel like you’re constantly changing subjects. You’re making a variety of points, but your argument should feel like a cohesive whole.
• Paraphrase sources and cite them appropriately. Did you skip citations when writing your first draft? No worries — you can add them now. And check that you don’t overly rely on quotations. (Need help paraphrasing? Wordtune can help. Simply highlight the sentence or phrase you want to adjust and sort through Wordtune’s suggestions.)
• Tighten up overly wordy explanations and sharpen any convoluted ideas. Wordtune makes a great sidekick for this too 😉

Words to start an argumentative essay

The best way to introduce a convincing argument is to provide a strong thesis statement . These are the words I usually use to start an argumentative essay:

• It is indisputable that the world today is facing a multitude of issues
• With the rise of ____, the potential to make a positive difference has never been more accessible
• It is essential that we take action now and tackle these issues head-on
• it is critical to understand the underlying causes of the problems standing before us
• Opponents of this idea claim
• Those who are against these ideas may say
• Some people may disagree with this idea
• Some people may say that ____, however

When refuting an opposing concept, use:

• These researchers have a point in thinking
• To a certain extent they are right
• After seeing this evidence, there is no way one can agree with this idea
• This argument is irrelevant to the topic

Are you convinced by your own argument yet? Ready to brave the next get-together where everyone’s talking like they know something about intermittent fasting , chicken enclosures , or snow removal policies? 

Now if someone asks you to explain your evidence-based but controversial opinion, you can hand them your essay and ask them to report back after they’ve read it.

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• How to write an argumentative essay | Examples & tips

How to Write an Argumentative Essay | Examples & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

An argumentative essay expresses an extended argument for a particular thesis statement . The author takes a clearly defined stance on their subject and builds up an evidence-based case for it.

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Table of contents

When do you write an argumentative essay, approaches to argumentative essays, introducing your argument, the body: developing your argument, concluding your argument, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about argumentative essays.

You might be assigned an argumentative essay as a writing exercise in high school or in a composition class. The prompt will often ask you to argue for one of two positions, and may include terms like “argue” or “argument.” It will frequently take the form of a question.

The prompt may also be more open-ended in terms of the possible arguments you could make.

Argumentative writing at college level

At university, the vast majority of essays or papers you write will involve some form of argumentation. For example, both rhetorical analysis and literary analysis essays involve making arguments about texts.

In this context, you won’t necessarily be told to write an argumentative essay—but making an evidence-based argument is an essential goal of most academic writing, and this should be your default approach unless you’re told otherwise.

Examples of argumentative essay prompts

At a university level, all the prompts below imply an argumentative essay as the appropriate response.

Your research should lead you to develop a specific position on the topic. The essay then argues for that position and aims to convince the reader by presenting your evidence, evaluation and analysis.

• Don’t just list all the effects you can think of.
• Do develop a focused argument about the overall effect and why it matters, backed up by evidence from sources.
• Don’t just provide a selection of data on the measures’ effectiveness.
• Do build up your own argument about which kinds of measures have been most or least effective, and why.
• Don’t just analyze a random selection of doppelgänger characters.
• Do form an argument about specific texts, comparing and contrasting how they express their thematic concerns through doppelgänger characters.

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An argumentative essay should be objective in its approach; your arguments should rely on logic and evidence, not on exaggeration or appeals to emotion.

There are many possible approaches to argumentative essays, but there are two common models that can help you start outlining your arguments: The Toulmin model and the Rogerian model.

Toulmin arguments

The Toulmin model consists of four steps, which may be repeated as many times as necessary for the argument:

• Make a claim
• Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim
• Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim)
• Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives

The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays. You don’t have to use these specific terms (grounds, warrants, rebuttals), but establishing a clear connection between your claims and the evidence supporting them is crucial in an argumentative essay.

Say you’re making an argument about the effectiveness of workplace anti-discrimination measures. You might:

• Claim that unconscious bias training does not have the desired results, and resources would be better spent on other approaches
• Cite data to support your claim
• Explain how the data indicates that the method is ineffective
• Anticipate objections to your claim based on other data, indicating whether these objections are valid, and if not, why not.

Rogerian arguments

The Rogerian model also consists of four steps you might repeat throughout your essay:

• Discuss what the opposing position gets right and why people might hold this position
• Highlight the problems with this position
• Present your own position , showing how it addresses these problems
• Suggest a possible compromise —what elements of your position would proponents of the opposing position benefit from adopting?

This model builds up a clear picture of both sides of an argument and seeks a compromise. It is particularly useful when people tend to disagree strongly on the issue discussed, allowing you to approach opposing arguments in good faith.

Say you want to argue that the internet has had a positive impact on education. You might:

• Acknowledge that students rely too much on websites like Wikipedia
• Argue that teachers view Wikipedia as more unreliable than it really is
• Suggest that Wikipedia’s system of citations can actually teach students about referencing
• Suggest critical engagement with Wikipedia as a possible assignment for teachers who are skeptical of its usefulness.

You don’t necessarily have to pick one of these models—you may even use elements of both in different parts of your essay—but it’s worth considering them if you struggle to structure your arguments.

Regardless of which approach you take, your essay should always be structured using an introduction , a body , and a conclusion .

Like other academic essays, an argumentative essay begins with an introduction . The introduction serves to capture the reader’s interest, provide background information, present your thesis statement , and (in longer essays) to summarize the structure of the body.

Hover over different parts of the example below to see how a typical introduction works.

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment.

The body of an argumentative essay is where you develop your arguments in detail. Here you’ll present evidence, analysis, and reasoning to convince the reader that your thesis statement is true.

In the standard five-paragraph format for short essays, the body takes up three of your five paragraphs. In longer essays, it will be more paragraphs, and might be divided into sections with headings.

Each paragraph covers its own topic, introduced with a topic sentence . Each of these topics must contribute to your overall argument; don’t include irrelevant information.

This example paragraph takes a Rogerian approach: It first acknowledges the merits of the opposing position and then highlights problems with that position.

Hover over different parts of the example to see how a body paragraph is constructed.

A common frustration for teachers is students’ use of Wikipedia as a source in their writing. Its prevalence among students is not exaggerated; a survey found that the vast majority of the students surveyed used Wikipedia (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). An article in The Guardian stresses a common objection to its use: “a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing” (Coomer, 2013). Teachers are clearly not mistaken in viewing Wikipedia usage as ubiquitous among their students; but the claim that it discourages engagement with academic sources requires further investigation. This point is treated as self-evident by many teachers, but Wikipedia itself explicitly encourages students to look into other sources. Its articles often provide references to academic publications and include warning notes where citations are missing; the site’s own guidelines for research make clear that it should be used as a starting point, emphasizing that users should always “read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says” (“Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia,” 2020). Indeed, for many students, Wikipedia is their first encounter with the concepts of citation and referencing. The use of Wikipedia therefore has a positive side that merits deeper consideration than it often receives.

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An argumentative essay ends with a conclusion that summarizes and reflects on the arguments made in the body.

No new arguments or evidence appear here, but in longer essays you may discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your argument and suggest topics for future research. In all conclusions, you should stress the relevance and importance of your argument.

Hover over the following example to see the typical elements of a conclusion.

The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

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An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.

An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

The majority of the essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Unless otherwise specified, you can assume that the goal of any essay you’re asked to write is argumentative: To convince the reader of your position using evidence and reasoning.

In composition classes you might be given assignments that specifically test your ability to write an argumentative essay. Look out for prompts including instructions like “argue,” “assess,” or “discuss” to see if this is the goal.

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Sometimes, finding the right idea is half the battle. It can be the case when it comes to writing about parenting. Topics on this subject can cover anything from parent-child relationships to children’s behavior and parenting styles. Thus, picking one good title to discuss, research, and write about can be essential. That’s why our experts have gathered this list of topics on parenting. Find your perfect idea on this page!

• Discussing Boundaries with Kids.
• Link Between Marriage and Children.
• Choosing a Parenting Style.
• When You Realize Yourself as a Parent.
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• Important Aspects of Family.
• How to Influence Your Teens.
• Improving Parent-Child Relationships.
• Steps to Adulthood.
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• Are Parents Responsible for Their Children’s Behavior? Consequently, parents should create time for their children in order to establish a close relationship that can have a long influence on the child’s behavior.
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• Parental Rejection and Its Severe Consequences Parental rejection can either be from a mother, a father, or a guardian. However, rejection from a mother seems to have more severe consequences of the three categories.
• Comparison Parenting Between Asian Parents and Western Parents Concerning authoritarian parenting, children are expected to be submissive to their parents and the demands of their parents; in this regard, the parents are supposed to be strict and emotionally detached.
• Parenting Styles: Advantages and Disadvantages Kids do what they are made to do because they want to escape the punishment. As parents support children, they become independent and strong-willed.
• Communication Between Parents and Teenagers Communication between parents and their children, especially teenagers, is an ongoing process that can be developed and modified in order to create a sense of openness and support that will become a basis for the […]
• How Do Teenagers Deal With Problems and Consequence Without Parent’s Support? This is because the parents are not in a position to be of good guidance during the period of the problems and they are not reliable and therefore teenagers tend to rely on themselves.
• Role of Parents in Physical Education and Sport The involvement of parents in physical education and sports is viewed differently in regard to how it affects the child’s participation in sports even later in life.
• Personal Reflection on Parenting It is important for the parents to ensure that they are open-minded to their children. Therefore, it is important for the parents to ensure that they do not dictate everything to their children.
• Parental Responsibility for Childhood Obesity It is widely known and proven by numerous studies that parents have the most significant influence on their children’s lifestyles, especially their eating habits; in addition to the fact that children copy everything their parents […]
• Importance of Parenting Concepts In this case, the child is aware of the conflict transpiring between parents and may be torn between whom to follow and who not to.
• The Three Parenting Styles This style of parenting is where the parents let their children to make decisions on their own. The good thing about this style is the fact that communication is always open and parents are able […]
• Single-Parent Families The chief materials that are to be used in the proposed experiment are the measurement scale to evaluate changes in adolescents’ attitudes towards single-parent families and the source of information about single-parent households.
• Cybernetics and Parenting Styles in Family Therapy This concept will be very helpful in my future work since I will be able to notice negative behavior in children that is the result of the parenting style adopted by the parents.
• The Teacher Speech With Parents These instances are broadly meant to ensure that the parents get the best understanding of the information concerning the school and more importantly enable them to fully participate in the education of their children.
• Parents Should Spank Their Children While some parents uphold spanking as the most appropriate mode of disciplining their children, others argue that inflicting physical pain to the child can lead to negative consequences in the future. The parents should be […]
• Collectivist and Individualist Parents The grandparent’s role in a collectivist family would be similar to that of parents, and they would be expected to help with the upbringing, and children would need to bey them.
• How Does Society View Single Parents? A single parent refers to one who cares for one or more children without the help of one of the biological parents of the child or children. It is therefore important to note that society […]
• Are Peers More Important Than Parents During the Process of Development? On the other hand, children need to understand that they are under the authority of the parents. In the life of a human being, most of his/her time is spent with peers and not the […]
• Good Parent-Children Relationship Characteristics of the children compared to those of the parents can also influence the relationships between the parents and the children.
• Parenting Education Programs: Pros and Cons To ensure that new pregnant couples are prepared to handle the responsibilities associated with raising kids and with helping alleviate stress and support families, it is essential that parents take parenting education programs.
• What Is a Parent? In the cases wherein the egg and sperm do not come from the couple, and a surrogate is used to carry the child, who is the real parent of the child?
• Helicopter Parents In the event of a problem, such parents are usually available to save the situation and ensure that the issue is solved amicably on behalf of the child.
• Parent-Child Relationships in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker The more distant and fractious relationship is between the narrator and Dee. The narrator is referred to as “Mama,” and a mama she is.
• Parental Responsibility for Crimes of Children Parents should be held responsible for the crime of their children because in most cases criminal involvement of children is the result of lack of parental control.
• Authoritarian vs. Permissive Parenting Styles Authoritarian and permissive styles are parenting approaches that are commonly used and that have varied effects on children because they approach the concepts of discipline, warmth, nurturance, and communication differently.
• Child Obesity and Parental Negligence Purpose of the study The proposed study is aimed at establishing the influence of neglect on the part of the parents to childhood obesity.
• Parental Differential Treatment and Favoritism As such, parents embrace differential treatment and favoritism of children based on age of the child, gender of the child, the personality of the child, or order of birth.
• Parental Care and Responsibilities In such a case, it is only logical for both parties to be involved in fending for, and taking care of the family.
• Marital and Parental Subsystems in Family In a conventional family system, these members include the husband and wife, the siblings, and the relatives who make up the extended family.
• Good Parents Traits and Raising Children – Psychology Some of the traits of a good parent include being a good listener, readiness to guide, self-discipline, setting time aside to spend with the children, and meeting the physical needs of children. In addition, good […]
• Academic Performance and Parental Influence This paper will explicate the idea that the approaches, used by Chinese mothers to foster the performance of their children in academics, are effective.
• Relationship Between Parents and Children The book is based on the story of a farmer and his family, who, due to the problematic nature of the head of the family, are forced to change their place of residence: “None of […]
• Why Are Young People Living Longer With Their Parents? When referring to a young adult, who is “living at home with their parents,” “living at parental home,” “stays with parents,” the research means that the mentioned adult is a child or a stepchild of […]
• What Is a Concept Good Parent? Overall, a good parent is a parent who can offer one’s child love and affection which is important for his or her normal development as a dignified and contented person, and is also successful in […]
• Hamlet’s Parental Relationships The death of his father, the actions of his mother and his existing relationship with his uncle all have Hamlet confused regarding the true nature of the world.
• Nuclear Family vs. Single Parenting Effects on Child The family is the main environment that contributes to the behavior of a person. The family environment in which these individuals are is the key contributor to the character and behavior of individuals.
• Respect, Honor, & Love Children for Their Parents They should never disrespect them or talk to them rudely and calmly listen to whatever they say. Children must always accompany their parents to the temples and worship wholeheartedly in front of the Gods.
• Parents’ Involvement in Schoolwork Parent involvement is important in improving academic performance as students have to prove to teachers and parents that they are working hard at school.
• The Struggles of Single Parenting The associated unavailability of proper housing, insecurity and abuse increase the influence of single-parenthood to development of a child in spite of the fact that wealth is no guarantee of positive outcome in character of […]
• Cartoons, Young Children, and Parental Involvement This paper claims that parents should be more aware of the type of animations that are being watched by their children and need to become involved in their children’s cartoon experience; the following sections present […]
• Four Styles of Parenting The authors continue to explain that parenting styles are affected by children’s and parents’ dispositions and mainly based on the influence of one’s culture, traditions and origins. The four types of parenting styles include Authoritarian […]
• Parenting Style in Japan and USA Parenting encompasses the growth ecology of a growing up child, and hence it is very important in shaping up the behavior of the child and in their physical survival, social growth, cognitive development, and emotional […]
• Parenting Styles and Authority Problems Authority or the right to influence the actions and opinions of other people plays an important part in many areas of our life, including the relations between a parent and a child.
• Parents Need Help: Restricting Access to Video Games If a parent watches video games in the presence of the children, he can not be able to restrict the children from doing the same.
• Single Parent and Child Language Development The first-born child in a family is more likely to have a higher chance of better language development than the remaining children that follow him.
• Parent-Teacher Conferences and Their Forms The picture is a great example of a successful parent-teacher conference as all factors presented in it can greatly contribute to the mutual understanding and further cooperation of parents and a teacher.
• Cooperation Between Teachers and Parents To guarantee the parents’ responsiveness and interest in the children’s activities, it is necessary to inform them about all the significant events and children’s successes.
• Parent-Child Relationship in Early Modern England Moreover, the influence that parents had was significant, and it would not be an easy task for the government to monitor and review all the cases of unfair treatment. The author suggests that parents loved […]
• Parental Involvement in Teenage Relationships Parents can monitor their child’s academic progress, engage them in conversations about romance and relationships, and give them career advice and guidance. Parental involvement in their children’s academic and social lives helps parents to understand […]
• Children Mental Illness and Its Effects on Parents There is a dearth of research on the effects of childhood mental illnesses on the parents. In this view, the impact of childhood mental illnesses on the lives of the parents appears to be underestimated.
• The Role of Parents in Children’s Life The effect that was brought up in the life of Lopez is that of a person who became bitter with life and looked forward to developing the life that he would value.
• Role of Parents in the Education of Young Children The paper will examine the role of parents in the education of young children. It is therefore, the conscientiousness of parents to provide these basic needs to their children.
• The Relationship Between Parental Influence and Juvenile Delinquency Parents that do not allow their children to play with their neighbors, or discourage their children from associating with particular families lead to the children developing a negative attitude towards the families.
• Old-Young and Parent-Child Relationships in Early Chinese Society It is possible to apply the same principle to the relationships of the parent and the child, where the child should always respect the parent and follow their orders and advice.
• “Blood Wedding” by F. G. Lorca and “The Metamorphosis” by F. Kafka: The Impact of Roles of Parents To compare the role of parents in the stories, we must first get a brief background of the parents in both stories.
• Sources of Conflict Between Parents and Teenagers One of the recurrent themes linked to dress codes and the conflict between parents and adolescents is the adherence to cultural norms.
• Parent-Teacher Interaction Strategies Despite this fundamental importance, the reality on the ground is that these interactions are often feared by parents and educators alike due to a variety of issues that need to be understood in order to […]
• Plans for Caring for Elderly Parents Davis in his article, “Caring for the Elderly”, brings up 4 specific points that he states need to be addressed when taking care of the elderly, namely: the financial status of the parents that need […]
• Parents Attitude Towards the Importance of Childhood Nutrition In most of the cases, the attitude of the parent towards childhood nutrition may be influenced by factors outside the scope of the parent.
• How Divorce and Single Parenting Affects Children With the disturbances in the homeostatic balances in the family, there is a need to set up a new balance in at least the following important areas: The loving relationships between the single parent and […]
• Parents’ Role in Children-Technology Relations The aim of pilot study was to apply Day in the Life as method of research to understand how young children use technology in their daily lives.
• Parental Control as a Guarantee of Children’s Safety on the Internet Parents are liable for the safety of children on the Net and therefore are obliged to control and expand their knowledge in this field constantly.
• The Impact of Parental Incarceration and Foster Children to Delinquency It was proved that the causal relationship between events such as parental incarceration and foster care and the social phenomenon of juvenile delinquency truly exists.
• A Generational Dance: How Parents and Kids Relate In summation, it is vital to note that the well-being and development of a child depend on the wholesome relations with their parents.
• How Does Having a Child With Autism Affects Parents’ Lifestyle? The creation of a system of psychological, pedagogical and social support can reduce the risk of a complete family life dedication to a child with autism.
• The Relationships Between Parents and Children and Keys to Their Success The key points, which people frequently neglect, are the need for parents to be nurturers, never-ending personal development, and the risks with which the prevalence of emotional motives for parenthood is associated.
• Parenting Styles and Their Influence on Adulthood The family context is regarded as essential because it helps to establish the link between childhood and the relationships of a person with their parents with future behavior and performance.
• Parent Interview: Through the Generations I was wondering about her understanding of the roles of mothers and fathers in a family and society, as well as the changes modern parenting undergoes. The development of family relationships is a choice a […]
• Lone Parents: Social Work and Exclusion It was easier for these people to legitimize the birth of the child than the single-parents could. There are those who believe that this was intensified by the establishment of policies that made it possible […]
• Children’s Right to Be Parented by the Best Parent If we attempt to answer what the parent really is, we are likely to touch upon the assumptions about the grounds, on which the right to parent a child is based.
• Computer Literacy: Parents and Guardians Role Filtering and monitoring content on the internet is one of the most important roles that parents in the contemporary world should play, and it reveals that parents care about their children.
• Parents and Community Involvement In 2013, Abu Dhabi launched the “Abu Dhabi Reads” program, which is a program for students and children to be acquainted with national and world literature and enhances their reading and writing skills.
• Parent Interview and Infant Observation Describe your diet regimen during pregnancy The mother ensured a steady and consistent intake of a balanced diet during pregnancy. According to her, the intake of a balanced diet helped in reducing the effects and […]
• Parental Involvement in Education From the analysis of the positive relation, research studies make of two-parent families and student achievement, it is correct to note that parental involvement in two-parent family setups is more preferred to single-parent family setups.
• Parent–Child and Sibling Relationships In the literature on quality of sibling relationships, the focus has been made on studying psychological implications of sibling relationships, variations in sibling relationships in societies, and the implications of their successful and unsuccessful development.
• Parental Involvement in Adolescent’s Life: Contributing to Identity Formation The aim of the paper will be to explore the role of active involvement of parents in raising their children through adolescence and the impact on the formation of identity.
• Why Chinese Parents Are Superior They deny their children many forms of popular leisure, are not shy to criticize them when they fail and drill them until they are perfect at whatever given task.’Western parents’ on the other hand, the […]
• Parental Dietary Behaviors and Children’s Eating Habits The child forms eating behavior based on the parental example and the traditions adopted in the house. I think the article is based on the theory that children tend to adopt their parents’ patterns of […]
• Good Parenting and Strong Social Development As a result, it is debatable whether the idea of rewarding children does or does not lead to an increase in their pro-social conduct.
• Infantilization: Adult Children Living With Parents When the time comes to leave home, young people are petrified of the idea of living on their own and not having the same level of everyday care and support that they are used to.
• Communication Plan for Students, Teachers and Parents The overwhelming majority of educators believe that the student should not be excluded from the communication between teachers and parents; they usually describe the interactions between student, home, and the school as some triangle.
• School Communication and Interaction With Parents Communication in education is the connection between teachers, their students, and the inverse process of connecting parents to the school life of their children.
• Parental Investment Theory In this theory, Trivers linked the levels of parental investment in their offspring with the potential of this offspring’s survival in the future, as well as the parental ability to invest in a new offspring […]
• Emotions in Parent of a Child With Special Needs It is due to this that parents who have children that have special needs are often relegated to the role of a caregiver resulting in them having to bathe, feed and even change the clothes […]
• Chinese Parenting Style in Raising Successful Children The parenting approach by a large number of Western parents influences children to embrace the notion that their abilities have limits and promotes the development of characters who quit on every difficult task.
• “Dating and the Single Parent” by Ron Deal The features involved in any premarital counseling include steps to bring the couples together, issues that entail the roles of the couples, occurrences of grounding the religious marriages, and the resources helping pastors during counseling.
• Parenting: Managing and Controlling Behavior of a Child The main objective of the author is to inform the public about the parenting needs and challenges faced by parents in bringing up children.
• Effects of a Parental Death on Younger Children The impacts of paternal and maternal death on young children are premised on the child’s health, school enrollment and educational attainment of the child in comparison to adverse poverty.
• Parenting’s Skills, Values and Styles Subtopic 2: Parental Values and Attitudes That Accompany Stages in the Development of the Child Description of Concrete Experience: I learnt that in the early stages of development, the child is in most cases preoccupied […]
• Parental Behavior in the Great Apes In contrast to chimpanzees, orangutan and gorilla newborns are less frequently separated from their mothers and have highly developed motor skills.
• Impact of Free Childcare on Working Parents At the same time, having a free caregiver can improve the financial situation of parents and the child, as they can return to work.
• Parenting Practices and Theories in Early Childhood While modern parenting practices and thoughts do not specify precisely how to interact with children through the ages of 6-11, they suggest that parents can develop knowledge about children’s development process.
• Parenting Behaviors and Their Impact on Children The final research paper on the effect of good and bad parenting is the most important part of the portfolio. The question regarding the effects of good and bad parenting appears provocative and uncertain, and […]
• Parenting: Plan for a Program Evaluation The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the changes to the parenting style of foster parents. The data collected at the end of the evaluation will provide the valuable information on the effectiveness of […]
• Understanding and Addressing Family Stress: Parental Responses and Impact on Children The spousal relationship, employment, a lack of structure in the household, and psychological suffering all contribute to stress. They are regarded as potent mediators, and therefore, offending elders indicates disrespecting the father and may lead […]
• Parenting: The Role of Socioeconomic Level and Discipline The influence of stress on discipline was modulated by the parent’s perceptions and thought functions such as concerns about the future of the child and the availability of alternative correctional tactics.
• Parental Perception of Weight Management Barriers The study examined the parents’ perception on factors that contribute to childhood obesity and sort their suggestions on the possible ways of overcoming the barriers.
• Society and Parenting: Survey Results Among the participants, the age group category of 30-40 was the highest, followed by 40+ years, then the 20-30 years category, and finally, the below 20 years.
• Parental Knowledge, Attitudes, and Cultural Beliefs Regarding Oral Health A good understanding of parental knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and awareness regarding oral health is important for improving health promotion efforts focused on elevating the dental health of young children.
• The Role of Parental Involvement in School Life The expert states the pointlessness of the argument and the joint work of the institutions that are important in the education and life of the child.
• Safety Promotion for Parents and Caregivers of Infants Recognizing and assessing the risk involved leads to the containment of the matter by identifying the plan required to promote infant safety.
• Parental Education on Overweight and Obese Children The search term used includes “Effect of parental education on BMI,” “the importance of parental Education in reducing Obesity,” and “BMI, parental education, and Bodyweight”.
• The Partnership With Parents and Community The relationship between parents and children is a complex system of relationships, the subject of the study of the psychology of parenthood, the purpose of which is to determine the mechanisms of the development of […]
• “Black Parents Ask for a Second Look” by Adjei & Minka The authors claimed that the lack of understanding of the former often results in children of color being taken away from their families by Child and Family Services.
• Child-Parent Relationships in Contemporary International Cinema Understanding the quality of the relationships between parents and children plays an important role in modern society, and various methods are used to deliver the message and share opinions.
• Ethical Dilemma of Parental Refusal From Children’s Vaccination Kerry attempts to convince the Smiths of the relevance of vaccination in preventing infection by chronic diseases. Autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice are ethical principles applicable in resolving the moral issue of whether or not […]
• Epilepsy and Seizure Disorder: A Guide for Parents The use of electrodes is completely painless, and it allows the detection of the movement of neurons in the patient’s brain. First, a child is likely to experience challenges in learning due to seizures and […]
• Parental Role in Adolescents’ Phone Addiction In other words, the connection between the guardian and the teenagers is critical and should be maintained to allow children experience the love of their parents.
• Education for Parents of Children With Cancer The hospital was selected because I am have been working there for a long time, and the personnel is willing to help me with the implementation of the process.
• “Parental Characteristics and Offspring Mental Health” by Jami The title of the article is “Parental characteristics and offspring mental health and related outcomes: A systematic review of genetically informative literature”.
• Teachers-Parents Partnership and Children’s Literature The literature also allows children to learn and appreciate their differences with other kids and families, facilitating the establishment and maintenance of friendship.
• Parental Leaves for Both Parents in the US and Other Countries In the absence of federal paid leave policies in the U. As of 2018, in addition to the FMLA, four states had paid family leave laws in place, and three more were determined to pass […]
• How Ineffective Parenting Affects a Child’s Future In addition to impairing a child’s social skills, ineffective parenting may result in a codependent relationship between a parent and their child.
• Minors Seeking Treatment for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Without Parental Consent Due to the severity of sexually transmitted diseases, it is very important for doctors to provide minors with the necessary care.
• The Four Basic Parenting Practices This type of parent listens to their children and provides love and comfort in conjunction with boundaries and reasonable chastisement. Children that have authoritarian parents are more personality and capable of thinking for themselves.
• Parental Differences in Eastern and Western Cultures The main finding of this study was that children of Chinese families were better equipped for school, when the family employed greater parental involvement combined with high authoritative parenting style.
• Should the Church Baptize Babies of Commited Christian Parents? One of the most common is the idea of the unity of the believers that surpass any genetic or race accessory.
• Adolescent Shoplifting: Infographics for Parents The consequences of unaddressed juvenile shoplifting are the involvement of teenagers in organized theft, other serious gang activities, and placement in a youth detention center.
• Case Study: Parental Dispute The threshold criteria are the evidence and facts that are to be proven by the social services in order for the court to consider making the Care and Supervision Order.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Parenting Style On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being lowest and 10 being highest, how much do you believe that kids need to learn early who the boss is in the family?
• Parental Corporal Punishment of Young Children But did you know that the States is the only permanent and non-permanent member of the United Nations that is not a signatory to Article 19, which condemns and prohibits all forms of physical abuse […]
• Parenthub as Resource for Parent-Child Relationships Building Unfortunately, not all parents understand effective methods of upbringing, do not realize the value of a favorable environment for the child’s independence, and neglect the appearance of the youth’s emotional anticipation.
• Conditioning in Parenting: Getting Kids to Do Chores One of those is an attempt to teach the child the love to the core and develop the initiative of helping with the housekeeping duties.
• How Parents of Color Transcend Nightmare of Racism Even after President Abraham Lincoln outlawed enslavement and won the American Civil War in 1965, prejudice toward black people remained engrained in both the northern and southern cultural structures of the United States.
• Parenting Counseling in the New York City Community Overall, Cap4Kids has developed a wide range of resources and opportunities for children and their parents, thus, addressing the parenting issues that New York City community members are likely to experience presently.
• Impact of Free Childcare on Parents Willingness to Go Back to Work or College The study is unique in that it assesses the impact of free childcare in aiding parents to get back to college and work, unlike existing literature that focuses on parental return to work only.
• Children and Parent’s Adjustment Process The adjustment process of new children and their parents can be challenging for them and the teacher. Inviting the parents to the classroom can help with the separation anxiety in both children and their parents.
• The Experience of Parents of Children With Disabilities Enhancing support for the mental well-being of parents of children with a disability: developing a resource based on the perspectives of parents and professionals.
• “Home, School, and Community Relations”: The Complex Role Nature of Parenting However, emphasizing work sometimes leads to a lack of attention to the educator’s role, which can also hurt a child. From my perspective, such behavior is a warning signal, which has to be taken seriously […]
• The Sandwich Generation: Caring for Children and Parents The definition indicates a person “sandwiched” between managing the responsibilities of a parent and a caring child at the same time.
• Raising the Standards for Children of Incarcerated Parents The sources of their hardships extend to social, economic, and emotional levels, and it is up to the community to recognize that and affect change by advocating for appropriate programs, policies, and practices.
• The Relationship Between Single-Parent Households and Poverty The given literature review will primarily focus on the theoretical and empirical aspects of the relationship between single-parent households and poverty, as well as the implications of the latter on mental health issues, such as […]
• Parental Intervention on Self-Management of an Adolescent With Diabetes Diabetes development and exposure are strongly tied to lifestyle, and the increasing incidents rate emphasizes the severity of the population’s health problem.
• Parenting and Its Influence on Adult Children My parents have different views and character traits from my grandparents, and sometimes these contrasts cause difficulties in their relationships. Thus, love in the bonds between children and parents is essential, but it is sometimes […]
• The Difference in Parenting an Adolescent Similarly, the father, who appears to be a disconnected and distant parent, has to support the mother and the child psychologically bonded to their adolescent to improve parenting.
• Parenting Models in Modern Family Unit of Emigrants in the USA The fact is that the Lee family has three children, one of whom is just a baby, and the other two are studying at the moment in high school.
• Empathy in Parent-Child Relationships It is the responsibility of parents to explain to their children what is right and what is wrong so that they can form their own opinion and develop a sense of self-worth.
• Single, Low-Income, or Homeless Mothers’ Health and Parenting Problems To promote their wellbeing, health professionals may support homeless mothers in practices such as the use of strengths-anchored nursing, supporting ideas of good parenting, overcoming stigma, and discovering and eliminating the unsurmountable hindrances encountered within […]
• A Quality All Parents Should Cultivate Parents should be able to show their love to their children since they are not able to express themselves when they need it most. Parents’ love for their children is unparalleled, and they need to […]
• Parent-Child Relationships in Later Life My mother, in turn, seeks to demonstrate that she is not a child anymore, and the patronage of that kind insults her.
• What Every New Parent Should Know Undoubtedly, the issue of preparing for the baby is essential, and it touches almost every young couple, so the majority of people are familiar with it. For instance, the conflict between the parents and their […]
• Parenting Styles and Overweight Status The authoritarian parenting style has a strict disciplinarian and a high expectation of the child’s self-control from the parent but a low sensitivity.
• Analysis of Bullying and Parenting Style Since the given topic usually refers to children and adolescents, it is evident that their parents hold a portion of responsibility because the adults affect the growth and development of young individuals.
• Parent’s Right to Travel Out of the Country This paper seeks to analyze the parent’s right to travel out of the country and outlines why traveling has been an issue for the courts In the US, the Supreme Court acknowledges that every citizen […]
• Parent Involvement and Student Achievement The purpose of the study is to investigate whether parental involvement plays a role in elementary school student achievement.
• Autism and Vaccination Refusal Management Among Somalian Parents Somalian parents in their community in Minnesota refuse from their children being vaccinated, as they believe that vaccination causes autism.
• Parents’ Immunization Decisions and Complex Issues in Toddlers The child and family health nurse can collaborate with diverse professionals, including the state’s immunization specialists, to improve the child’s health prospects while also empowering the mother to get updated information from national authorities in […]
• The Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters Aarash said that children’s well-being is his priority and mentioned that the family needs proper food for Hamdiya and a washing machine and iron to ensure the children look neat.
• Parents’ Perception of Attending an ADHD Clinic The main principles of the clinic’s specialists should be an objective diagnosis of the neurological status of the child and the characteristics of his/her behavior, the selection of drug treatment only on the basis of […]
• Assessment and Communicating With Parents Technology allows for an accurate quantitative measurement of the students’ progress. Technology helps compare and contrast the results of two assessments.
• Childhood Obesity and Parental Education The thesis is as follows: parents should cooperate with local organizations to receive and provide their children with education on healthy living and the dangers of obesity because they are responsible for their children’s diet.
• The Importance of Parenting Aspects First, it is essential to note the critical periods of prenatal development, when the mother and the baby are the most vulnerable.
• Success: How to Parent? Therefore, it is crucial to choose a competent approach to raising a child to not injure them in this way. This will help in choosing a profession and the entire path of life.
• Technology and Parenting: Gaming and Social Media The current project is a social media campaign report targeted at addressing the increased use of social media and gaming among the growing generation.
• Parent-School Communication The current paper includes an interview with the school’s principal regarding the opportunities for parent-school partnership.
• Positive Parenting Tips for Young Child’s Safety So to keep your child healthy and safe, the first two years of a child’s growth are very important and hence should be taken care of cautiously.
• Adverse Childhood Experiences With Incarcerated Parents
• Jennifer Morse: Parents or Prisons
• Teen Pregnancy and Early Parental Care
• Parental Consent in Minors’ Abortions
• Vicarious Liability of Parents for Their Children
• Music in Parental Participation in Pediatric Laceration
• Conjugal Visits: Programs for Inmate Parents
• Care Needs of Children Whose Parents Have Incurable Cancer
• Disability Equality of a Disabled Lone Parent
• Parental Agony in Natal Alienation in Chesnutt’s The Sheriff’s Children & Harper’s The Slave Mother
• The Challenges of Teen Parenting: Socioeconomic Consequences and Child Development Risks
• Ethical Dilemma: Parental Notification
• Teens Talking With Their Partners About Sex: The Role of Parent Communication
• Parent-Teacher-Youth Mediation Program Analysis
• “Gender Differences in Work-Family Guilt in Parents of Young Children”: Quantitative Research Critique
• The Parent-Involvement Research
• Toddlers and Tiaras: Have Parents Gone Too Far
• “When Couples Become Parents” by Bonnie Fox
• Family Systems Theory: Parenting and Family Diversity Issues
• College Planning Brochure for Parents
• Incarceration of a Parent or a Guardian of Recidivist
• The Influence of Parents on Schoolchildren and Students
• Parenting in Battered Women: The Effects of Domestic Violence
• Gender-Schema and Social Cognitive Theory in Parenting Styles
• Parents’ Duty to Monitor Children’s Online Activities
• The Issue of Parents’ Censorship
• Should Parents Use Monitoring Software?
• Parenting Training Classes: A Psychology Experiment
• Pilgrims and Puritanism Parenting
• “Home, School and Playroom” by Claire Etaugh: The Combined Effects and Interactions Among Parental Child-Rearing Practices
• Why Spanking Is Acceptable in Parenting
• Parental Rights Terminating: Reasons and Procedures
• Parental Rejection Effects on Homosexuals
• Parents Influence Sexuality, Based on Two Novels
• Parental Intervention for Abnormal Pubescence
• The Relationships Between Physiotherapists and Educators, Parents, and Service Providers
• Fine and Lee on Psychoeducational Program for Parents
• Male and Female Parents: Is There a Difference?
• The Idea of Gay Parenting
• A Critical Review of Corporal Punishment as a Form of Parental Discipline
• Problems of Learning and Mutual Understanding of Students, Teachers and Parents
• African-American Community: Parental Involvement
• Parental Roles and Changes in the Last 50 Years
• Parent-Child Relations in Poetry
• Single Parents in the Alcoholic Classification
• Parent Involvement in the Elementary School Setting
• Parent-School Online Communication Platforms
• Antibiotic and Analgesic Self-Medication Practices Among Parents for Childhood Problems
• Parenting in “Hey, Kiddo” by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
• Parental Beliefs’ Impact on Children’s Therapy
• Parental Hopes and Standards for Sons and Daughters
• Parental Divorce and Its Impact on Teenagers
• Parental Report of Vaccine Receipt in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Schools and Parents’ Fight Against Cyberbullying
• Parenting Topic in Developmental Psychology
• Low-Functioning Parents: Resolving the Issue
• Parental Disclosure of Artificial Conception
• Mental Illness in Children and Its Effects on Parents
• Parental Responsibilities and Related Conflicts
• Parenting, Child Development, and Socialization
• Family, Marriage, and Parenting Concepts Nowadays
• Children With Disabilities and Parental Mistreatment
• Relations of Parents and Teenagers
• Abbreviated Plans: Parent or Guardian Incarceration
• The Importance of Right Parenting in America
• Productive Communication With Parents
• Parents as Teachers Program From Educator’s View
• Parent Volunteering in the Early Education Centers
• Disabled Child Guidance Through the Parents’ Eyes
• “The Economic Benefits of Paid Parental Leave” by C. Miller
• Being a Father: Parenting Roles and Experiences
• Grandparents as Parental Figures in Modern Families
• Group Counseling for Children of Addicted Parents
• Child Counseling and Parenting Problems
• Infant-Parent Attachment: Secure or Insecure?
• Parenting Styles and Academic Motivation
• Vegan Parents’ Influence on Their Children’s Diet
• Parenting Style and the Development
• Parenting Styles: China vs. North America
• Children’s Success Requirements in Parents’ Views
• Parenting Children With Learning Disabilities
• Self-Concept, Parental Labeling, and Delinquency
• Child Parenting Guide and Challenges
• Parental Care and Its Role in Poor Families
• Teacher-Parent Collaboration in Special Education
• Young Adults Increasingly Moving in With Parents
• Parental Narcissism and Adolescent Development
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IvyPanda. (2024, March 2). 439 Parenting Essay Topics & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/parenting-essay-topics/

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Bibliography

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• Dealing with Conflict with Parents

How to Argue With Parents Successfully

Last Updated: January 25, 2021 References

This article was co-authored by Tasha Rube, LMSW . Tasha Rube is a Licensed Social Worker based in Kansas City, Kansas. Tasha is affiliated with the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center in Leavenworth, Kansas. She received her Masters of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Missouri in 2014. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 133,414 times.

Don't you just hate it when your parents back you into a corner and get everything out of you? Believe it or not, there is a way to get around this and hold your own when you get confronted. This method isn't about winning as much as it is about minimizing loss, but it should help.

Choosing the Right Moment for an Argument

• Weigh the benefits versus the costs. If the topic of the argument is significant to you, it might be worth the effort and the possible consequences of engaging in an argument with your parents. However, if there are minimal worthwhile results, it might be best to let this one go.
• For example, if your mom hates it when you play your music loudly, the only real benefit of arguing about this is that you might get to play your music at a louder volume, and maybe only for a short period of time. It will also be perpetuating behavior that your mom doesn’t like and will lead to more arguments in the future.
• But if your parents have a problem with your significant other and they don’t like you spending time with him/her, this might be an instance in which planning an argument is worth it because there are more possible benefits on the line for you.

• If you start an argument with your parents in public, they will view it as a very immature thing to do and it will not be a good way to begin the argument.
• Some people get embarrassed when they think others know their business or are listening to them talk. This is not a good way to get your parents to hear you out. Give your parents the courtesy of conducting your argument in private.

• Give yourself the best possible chance by starting your argument when your parents will be receptive to what you have to say.
• You might even try putting them in a good mood by doing things you know will make them happy – like cleaning your room, doing your homework, or spending time with them.
• Of course, don’t immediately bring up the argument after trying to get your parents in a good mood. That will be too obvious and they will think you only did the nice things for selfish reasons to get something that you want.

• This can also help you see if you are being unreasonable.
• Try thinking about how you would feel if someone was treating you the way you are treating your parents.
• There are always two sides to every story and a good arguer knows that they need to consider both sides.

Implementing Your Argument Strategy

• Include all of the reasons why you’ve proven you’re responsible enough to handle it (not missing curfew in the past months, completing your homework on time, doing your chores, etc.)
• Give counter reasons to eliminate their existing concerns – like if you know they are worried you will get in trouble because you are out later, you might mention that they already know most of your friends and their parents, so they don’t have anything to worry about.
• Bring up why extending your curfew would actually be a good thing – like it will make you happy so you’ll be more enjoyable to be around, it will help you develop your friendships more fully, and it will help you learn to handle more adult responsibility.

• Having a planned, organized argument already in your mind will help you navigate the conversation with your parents and might also impress your parents by showing them that you take this matter seriously.

• In some cases it may feel like whatever you may do will cause your parents to become even angrier. That can be particularly difficult to deal with since you literally have no way of reacting without triggering a bad response. If that is the case, then possibly the best thing you can do is just stand silently, look at them, and do nothing until they calm down a bit.

• This will help your parents see that you respect their opinions, but that you simply want them to consider some additional aspects of the situation.
• For extending your curfew example, try saying something like this: “I know that you think it will be easy for me to make poor decisions if I am allowed to stay out later at night.”

• Try something like, "What would you like to know?" or, "Could you be a little more specific?" By narrowing down the topic, you've limited the number of things your parents can go after.

• For the example about extending your curfew, try calmly saying something like this: “I would like to extend my curfew because it is important to me to have more time with my friends. Most of my friends are allowed to stay out later and you know them and their families so you should feel at least a little comfortable with this. I would like to have some more adult responsibility in my life.”

• If your parents think you only want to extend your curfew because all of your friends are all out drinking at night, tell them your version of the story and don’t falter.

• Just say something like, "That's what I'm telling you. Take it or leave it." This narrows down their options and allows you to take control of the situation.

• Tell your parents something like this: “I can’t help it if you don’t believe me. But I am here trying to have a conversation with you about it, which I think shows a lot of maturities. Whether you choose to believe me or not is up to you."

Preventing Future Arguments

• Remember to pick your battles. If the problem is not that big of a deal to you, then just change what you’re doing to make your parents happy. It will be better for you in the long run.
• Eventually you will be out from under your parents’ roof and able to make whatever choices you want to make. But until that time, it will probably be beneficial to you to at least try to avoid doing things that make them upset.

• Let your parents know when you have finished your homework or when you have completed your chores. Bring home good grades to show them. Send them a text when your plans change so they won’t worry about you.
• The point here is visibility. It does you little good if you are behaving well but your parents never see the things you do.
• But make sure you don’t seem like you are bragging about yourself all the time. That might be off-putting. Just simply let them know when you have done something they would be proud of.

• The silent treatment will just make your parents feel disconnected from you and they may start to resent you. It is better to discuss things with them instead.
• Giving your parents the cold shoulder will also make them think that you are acting like an immature child. This will not help you win arguments in the future.

• When your parents suggest a compromise, accept it – even if you have to give up a little of what you want. You can also try suggesting compromises to your parents.
• For example, if your mom wants you to finish all of your chores before you go out with your friends, offer to do half of them before and promise to finish the other half the following day. This way, you both get some of what you want.

Expert Q&A

• Remember that your logic isn't infallible. Neither is theirs. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 3
• Never answer more than you have to. By doing this, you are only giving them more ammunition to shoot you with, so to speak. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 0
• Never lose your cool. This might be a little difficult for some people, but it has a huge impact on the argument's outcome. People will take you much more seriously if you speak slowly and confidently. Thanks Helpful 8 Not Helpful 1

• People often talk faster when they're nervous, even though they may not notice it. You can compensate for this by speaking more slowly than you normally would. Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 1

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://personalexcellence.co/blog/choose-your-battles/
• ↑ http://www.aish.com/f/m/4-Ways-to-Fight-with-Your-Spouse-without-Destroying-your-Marriage.html
• ↑ http://www.rookiemag.com/2014/08/how-to-win-any-argument/
• ↑ http://www.teenvogue.com/story/fighting-with-your-mom
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fighting-fear/201209/the-proper-way-argue
• ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-chan/learning-how-to-argue_b_796300.html
• ↑ https://hbr.org/2014/06/choose-the-right-words-in-an-argument
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/extreme-fear/201005/top-ten-secrets-effective-liars
• ↑ https://www.empoweringparents.com/article/why-you-cant-really-win-an-argument-with-your-child/

About This Article

Arguing with your parents can be frustrating, but with the right approach and timing, you can have a mature discussion about whatever’s bothering you. Wait until your parents are in a good mood and have time to talk. Plan your arguments ahead of the talk and express them clearly and calmly. Once you’ve explained your position, listen to what your parents have to say without interrupting to show that you're mature and willing to compromise. When they've finished speaking, try to acknowledge their points before you make another point of your own. For example, say something like, "I understand what you're saying. " Try to stay calm, even if they're being unfair, so the discussion doesn't escalate and get emotional. For more advice, including how to avoid arguments with your parents in the future, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Write an A+ Argumentative Essay

Miscellaneous

You'll no doubt have to write a number of argumentative essays in both high school and college, but what, exactly, is an argumentative essay and how do you write the best one possible? Let's take a look.

A great argumentative essay always combines the same basic elements: approaching an argument from a rational perspective, researching sources, supporting your claims using facts rather than opinion, and articulating your reasoning into the most cogent and reasoned points. Argumentative essays are great building blocks for all sorts of research and rhetoric, so your teachers will expect you to master the technique before long.

But if this sounds daunting, never fear! We'll show how an argumentative essay differs from other kinds of papers, how to research and write them, how to pick an argumentative essay topic, and where to find example essays. So let's get started.

What Is an Argumentative Essay? How Is it Different from Other Kinds of Essays?

There are two basic requirements for any and all essays: to state a claim (a thesis statement) and to support that claim with evidence.

Though every essay is founded on these two ideas, there are several different types of essays, differentiated by the style of the writing, how the writer presents the thesis, and the types of evidence used to support the thesis statement.

Essays can be roughly divided into four different types:

#1: Argumentative #2: Persuasive #3: Expository #4: Analytical

So let's look at each type and what the differences are between them before we focus the rest of our time to argumentative essays.

Argumentative Essay

Argumentative essays are what this article is all about, so let's talk about them first.

An argumentative essay attempts to convince a reader to agree with a particular argument (the writer's thesis statement). The writer takes a firm stand one way or another on a topic and then uses hard evidence to support that stance.

An argumentative essay seeks to prove to the reader that one argument —the writer's argument— is the factually and logically correct one. This means that an argumentative essay must use only evidence-based support to back up a claim , rather than emotional or philosophical reasoning (which is often allowed in other types of essays). Thus, an argumentative essay has a burden of substantiated proof and sources , whereas some other types of essays (namely persuasive essays) do not.

You can write an argumentative essay on any topic, so long as there's room for argument. Generally, you can use the same topics for both a persuasive essay or an argumentative one, so long as you support the argumentative essay with hard evidence.

Example topics of an argumentative essay:

• "Should farmers be allowed to shoot wolves if those wolves injure or kill farm animals?"
• "Should the drinking age be lowered in the United States?"
• "Are alternatives to democracy effective and/or feasible to implement?"

The next three types of essays are not argumentative essays, but you may have written them in school. We're going to cover them so you know what not to do for your argumentative essay.

Persuasive Essay

Persuasive essays are similar to argumentative essays, so it can be easy to get them confused. But knowing what makes an argumentative essay different than a persuasive essay can often mean the difference between an excellent grade and an average one.

Persuasive essays seek to persuade a reader to agree with the point of view of the writer, whether that point of view is based on factual evidence or not. The writer has much more flexibility in the evidence they can use, with the ability to use moral, cultural, or opinion-based reasoning as well as factual reasoning to persuade the reader to agree the writer's side of a given issue.

Instead of being forced to use "pure" reason as one would in an argumentative essay, the writer of a persuasive essay can manipulate or appeal to the reader's emotions. So long as the writer attempts to steer the readers into agreeing with the thesis statement, the writer doesn't necessarily need hard evidence in favor of the argument.

Often, you can use the same topics for both a persuasive essay or an argumentative one—the difference is all in the approach and the evidence you present.

Example topics of a persuasive essay:

• "Should children be responsible for their parents' debts?"
• "Should cheating on a test be automatic grounds for expulsion?"
• "How much should sports leagues be held accountable for player injuries and the long-term consequences of those injuries?"

Expository Essay

An expository essay is typically a short essay in which the writer explains an idea, issue, or theme , or discusses the history of a person, place, or idea.

This is typically a fact-forward essay with little argument or opinion one way or the other.

Example topics of an expository essay:

• "The History of the Philadelphia Liberty Bell"
• "The Reasons I Always Wanted to be a Doctor"
• "The Meaning Behind the Colloquialism ‘People in Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones'"

Analytical Essay

An analytical essay seeks to delve into the deeper meaning of a text or work of art, or unpack a complicated idea . These kinds of essays closely interpret a source and look into its meaning by analyzing it at both a macro and micro level.

This type of analysis can be augmented by historical context or other expert or widely-regarded opinions on the subject, but is mainly supported directly through the original source (the piece or art or text being analyzed) .

Example topics of an analytical essay:

• "Victory Gin in Place of Water: The Symbolism Behind Gin as the Only Potable Substance in George Orwell's 1984"
• "Amarna Period Art: The Meaning Behind the Shift from Rigid to Fluid Poses"
• "Adultery During WWII, as Told Through a Series of Letters to and from Soldiers"

There are many different types of essay and, over time, you'll be able to master them all.

A Typical Argumentative Essay Assignment

The average argumentative essay is between three to five pages, and will require at least three or four separate sources with which to back your claims . As for the essay topic , you'll most often be asked to write an argumentative essay in an English class on a "general" topic of your choice, ranging the gamut from science, to history, to literature.

But while the topics of an argumentative essay can span several different fields, the structure of an argumentative essay is always the same: you must support a claim—a claim that can reasonably have multiple sides—using multiple sources and using a standard essay format (which we'll talk about later on).

This is why many argumentative essay topics begin with the word "should," as in:

• "Should all students be required to learn chemistry in high school?"
• "Should children be required to learn a second language?"
• "Should schools or governments be allowed to ban books?"

These topics all have at least two sides of the argument: Yes or no. And you must support the side you choose with evidence as to why your side is the correct one.

But there are also plenty of other ways to frame an argumentative essay as well:

• "Does using social media do more to benefit or harm people?"
• "Does the legal status of artwork or its creators—graffiti and vandalism, pirated media, a creator who's in jail—have an impact on the art itself?"
• "Is or should anyone ever be ‘above the law?'"

Though these are worded differently than the first three, you're still essentially forced to pick between two sides of an issue: yes or no, for or against, benefit or detriment. Though your argument might not fall entirely into one side of the divide or another—for instance, you could claim that social media has positively impacted some aspects of modern life while being a detriment to others—your essay should still support one side of the argument above all. Your final stance would be that overall , social media is beneficial or overall , social media is harmful.

If your argument is one that is mostly text-based or backed by a single source (e.g., "How does Salinger show that Holden Caulfield is an unreliable narrator?" or "Does Gatsby personify the American Dream?"), then it's an analytical essay, rather than an argumentative essay. An argumentative essay will always be focused on more general topics so that you can use multiple sources to back up your claims.

Good Argumentative Essay Topics

So you know the basic idea behind an argumentative essay, but what topic should you write about?

Again, almost always, you'll be asked to write an argumentative essay on a free topic of your choice, or you'll be asked to select between a few given topics . If you're given complete free reign of topics, then it'll be up to you to find an essay topic that no only appeals to you, but that you can turn into an A+ argumentative essay.

What makes a "good" argumentative essay topic depends on both the subject matter and your personal interest —it can be hard to give your best effort on something that bores you to tears! But it can also be near impossible to write an argumentative essay on a topic that has no room for debate.

As we said earlier, a good argumentative essay topic will be one that has the potential to reasonably go in at least two directions—for or against, yes or no, and why . For example, it's pretty hard to write an argumentative essay on whether or not people should be allowed to murder one another—not a whole lot of debate there for most people!—but writing an essay for or against the death penalty has a lot more wiggle room for evidence and argument.

A good topic is also one that can be substantiated through hard evidence and relevant sources . So be sure to pick a topic that other people have studied (or at least studied elements of) so that you can use their data in your argument. For example, if you're arguing that it should be mandatory for all middle school children to play a sport, you might have to apply smaller scientific data points to the larger picture you're trying to justify. There are probably several studies you could cite on the benefits of physical activity and the positive effect structure and teamwork has on young minds, but there's probably no study you could use where a group of scientists put all middle-schoolers in one jurisdiction into a mandatory sports program (since that's probably never happened). So long as your evidence is relevant to your point and you can extrapolate from it to form a larger whole, you can use it as a part of your resource material.

And if you need ideas on where to get started, or just want to see sample argumentative essay topics, then check out these links for hundreds of potential argumentative essay topics.

101 Persuasive (or Argumentative) Essay and Speech Topics

301 Prompts for Argumentative Writing

Top 50 Ideas for Argumentative/Persuasive Essay Writing

[Note: some of these say "persuasive essay topics," but just remember that the same topic can often be used for both a persuasive essay and an argumentative essay; the difference is in your writing style and the evidence you use to support your claims.]

KO! Find that one argumentative essay topic you can absolutely conquer.

Argumentative Essay Format

Argumentative Essays are composed of four main elements:

• A position (your argument)
• Your reasons
• Supporting evidence for those reasons (from reliable sources)
• Counterargument(s) (possible opposing arguments and reasons why those arguments are incorrect)

If you're familiar with essay writing in general, then you're also probably familiar with the five paragraph essay structure . This structure is a simple tool to show how one outlines an essay and breaks it down into its component parts, although it can be expanded into as many paragraphs as you want beyond the core five.

The standard argumentative essay is often 3-5 pages, which will usually mean a lot more than five paragraphs, but your overall structure will look the same as a much shorter essay.

An argumentative essay at its simplest structure will look like:

Paragraph 1: Intro

• Set up the story/problem/issue
• Thesis/claim

Paragraph 2: Support

• Reason #1 claim is correct
• Supporting evidence with sources

Paragraph 3: Support

• Reason #2 claim is correct

Paragraph 4: Counterargument

• Explanation of argument for the other side
• Refutation of opposing argument with supporting evidence

Paragraph 5: Conclusion

• Re-state claim
• Sum up reasons and support of claim from the essay to prove claim is correct

Now let's unpack each of these paragraph types to see how they work (with examples!), what goes into them, and why.

Paragraph 1—Set Up and Claim

Your first task is to introduce the reader to the topic at hand so they'll be prepared for your claim. Give a little background information, set the scene, and give the reader some stakes so that they care about the issue you're going to discuss.

Next, you absolutely must have a position on an argument and make that position clear to the readers. It's not an argumentative essay unless you're arguing for a specific claim, and this claim will be your thesis statement.

Your thesis CANNOT be a mere statement of fact (e.g., "Washington DC is the capital of the United States"). Your thesis must instead be an opinion which can be backed up with evidence and has the potential to be argued against (e.g., "New York should be the capital of the United States").

Paragraphs 2 and 3—Your Evidence

These are your body paragraphs in which you give the reasons why your argument is the best one and back up this reasoning with concrete evidence .

The argument supporting the thesis of an argumentative essay should be one that can be supported by facts and evidence, rather than personal opinion or cultural or religious mores.

For example, if you're arguing that New York should be the new capital of the US, you would have to back up that fact by discussing the factual contrasts between New York and DC in terms of location, population, revenue, and laws. You would then have to talk about the precedents for what makes for a good capital city and why New York fits the bill more than DC does.

Your argument can't simply be that a lot of people think New York is the best city ever and that you agree.

In addition to using concrete evidence, you always want to keep the tone of your essay passionate, but impersonal . Even though you're writing your argument from a single opinion, don't use first person language—"I think," "I feel," "I believe,"—to present your claims. Doing so is repetitive, since by writing the essay you're already telling the audience what you feel, and using first person language weakens your writing voice.

For example,

"I think that Washington DC is no longer suited to be the capital city of the United States."

"Washington DC is no longer suited to be the capital city of the United States."

The second statement sounds far stronger and more analytical.

Paragraph 4—Argument for the Other Side and Refutation

Even without a counter argument, you can make a pretty persuasive claim, but a counterargument will round out your essay into one that is much more persuasive and substantial.

By anticipating an argument against your claim and taking the initiative to counter it, you're allowing yourself to get ahead of the game. This way, you show that you've given great thought to all sides of the issue before choosing your position, and you demonstrate in multiple ways how yours is the more reasoned and supported side.

Paragraph 5—Conclusion

This paragraph is where you re-state your argument and summarize why it's the best claim.

Briefly touch on your supporting evidence and voila! A finished argumentative essay.

Your essay should have just as awesome a skeleton as this plesiosaur does. (In other words: a ridiculously awesome skeleton)

Argumentative Essay Example: 5-Paragraph Style

It always helps to have an example to learn from. I've written a full 5-paragraph argumentative essay here. Look at how I state my thesis in paragraph 1, give supporting evidence in paragraphs 2 and 3, address a counterargument in paragraph 4, and conclude in paragraph 5.

Topic: Is it possible to maintain conflicting loyalties?

Paragraph 1

It is almost impossible to go through life without encountering a situation where your loyalties to different people or causes come into conflict with each other. Maybe you have a loving relationship with your sister, but she disagrees with your decision to join the army, or you find yourself torn between your cultural beliefs and your scientific ones. These conflicting loyalties can often be maintained for a time, but as examples from both history and psychological theory illustrate, sooner or later, people have to make a choice between competing loyalties, as no one can maintain a conflicting loyalty or belief system forever.

The first two sentences set the scene and give some hypothetical examples and stakes for the reader to care about.

The third sentence finishes off the intro with the thesis statement, making very clear how the author stands on the issue ("people have to make a choice between competing loyalties, as no one can maintain a conflicting loyalty or belief system forever." )

Paragraphs 2 and 3

Psychological theory states that human beings are not equipped to maintain conflicting loyalties indefinitely and that attempting to do so leads to a state called "cognitive dissonance." Cognitive dissonance theory is the psychological idea that people undergo tremendous mental stress or anxiety when holding contradictory beliefs, values, or loyalties (Festinger, 1957). Even if human beings initially hold a conflicting loyalty, they will do their best to find a mental equilibrium by making a choice between those loyalties—stay stalwart to a belief system or change their beliefs. One of the earliest formal examples of cognitive dissonance theory comes from Leon Festinger's When Prophesy Fails . Members of an apocalyptic cult are told that the end of the world will occur on a specific date and that they alone will be spared the Earth's destruction. When that day comes and goes with no apocalypse, the cult members face a cognitive dissonance between what they see and what they've been led to believe (Festinger, 1956). Some choose to believe that the cult's beliefs are still correct, but that the Earth was simply spared from destruction by mercy, while others choose to believe that they were lied to and that the cult was fraudulent all along. Both beliefs cannot be correct at the same time, and so the cult members are forced to make their choice.

But even when conflicting loyalties can lead to potentially physical, rather than just mental, consequences, people will always make a choice to fall on one side or other of a dividing line. Take, for instance, Nicolaus Copernicus, a man born and raised in Catholic Poland (and educated in Catholic Italy). Though the Catholic church dictated specific scientific teachings, Copernicus' loyalty to his own observations and scientific evidence won out over his loyalty to his country's government and belief system. When he published his heliocentric model of the solar system--in opposition to the geocentric model that had been widely accepted for hundreds of years (Hannam, 2011)-- Copernicus was making a choice between his loyalties. In an attempt t o maintain his fealty both to the established system and to what he believed, h e sat on his findings for a number of years (Fantoli, 1994). But, ultimately, Copernicus made the choice to side with his beliefs and observations above all and published his work for the world to see (even though, in doing so, he risked both his reputation and personal freedoms).

These two paragraphs provide the reasons why the author supports the main argument and uses substantiated sources to back those reasons.

The paragraph on cognitive dissonance theory gives both broad supporting evidence and more narrow, detailed supporting evidence to show why the thesis statement is correct not just anecdotally but also scientifically and psychologically. First, we see why people in general have a difficult time accepting conflicting loyalties and desires and then how this applies to individuals through the example of the cult members from the Dr. Festinger's research.

The next paragraph continues to use more detailed examples from history to provide further evidence of why the thesis that people cannot indefinitely maintain conflicting loyalties is true.

Paragraph 4

Some will claim that it is possible to maintain conflicting beliefs or loyalties permanently, but this is often more a matter of people deluding themselves and still making a choice for one side or the other, rather than truly maintaining loyalty to both sides equally. For example, Lancelot du Lac typifies a person who claims to maintain a balanced loyalty between to two parties, but his attempt to do so fails (as all attempts to permanently maintain conflicting loyalties must). Lancelot tells himself and others that he is equally devoted to both King Arthur and his court and to being Queen Guinevere's knight (Malory, 2008). But he can neither be in two places at once to protect both the king and queen, nor can he help but let his romantic feelings for the queen to interfere with his duties to the king and the kingdom. Ultimately, he and Queen Guinevere give into their feelings for one another and Lancelot—though he denies it—chooses his loyalty to her over his loyalty to Arthur. This decision plunges the kingdom into a civil war, ages Lancelot prematurely, and ultimately leads to Camelot's ruin (Raabe, 1987). Though Lancelot claimed to have been loyal to both the king and the queen, this loyalty was ultimately in conflict, and he could not maintain it.

Here we have the acknowledgement of a potential counter-argument and the evidence as to why it isn't true.

The argument is that some people (or literary characters) have asserted that they give equal weight to their conflicting loyalties. The refutation is that, though some may claim to be able to maintain conflicting loyalties, they're either lying to others or deceiving themselves. The paragraph shows why this is true by providing an example of this in action.

Paragraph 5

Whether it be through literature or history, time and time again, people demonstrate the challenges of trying to manage conflicting loyalties and the inevitable consequences of doing so. Though belief systems are malleable and will often change over time, it is not possible to maintain two mutually exclusive loyalties or beliefs at once. In the end, people always make a choice, and loyalty for one party or one side of an issue will always trump loyalty to the other.

The concluding paragraph summarizes the essay, touches on the evidence presented, and re-states the thesis statement.

How to Write an Argumentative Essay: 8 Steps

Writing the best argumentative essay is all about the preparation, so let's talk steps:

#1: Preliminary Research

If you have the option to pick your own argumentative essay topic (which you most likely will), then choose one or two topics you find the most intriguing or that you have a vested interest in and do some preliminary research on both sides of the debate.

Do an open internet search just to see what the general chatter is on the topic and what the research trends are.

Did your preliminary reading influence you to pick a side or change your side? Without diving into all the scholarly articles at length, do you believe there's enough evidence to support your claim? Have there been scientific studies? Experiments? Does a noted scholar in the field agree with you? If not, you may need to pick another topic or side of the argument to support.

#2: Pick Your Side and Form Your Thesis

Now's the time to pick the side of the argument you feel you can support the best and summarize your main point into your thesis statement.

Your thesis will be the basis of your entire essay, so make sure you know which side you're on, that you've stated it clearly, and that you stick by your argument throughout the entire essay .

#3: Heavy-Duty Research Time

You've taken a gander at what the internet at large has to say on your argument, but now's the time to actually read those sources and take notes.

Check scholarly journals online at Google Scholar , the Directory of Open Access Journals , or JStor . You can also search individual university or school libraries and websites to see what kinds of academic articles you can access for free. Keep track of your important quotes and page numbers and put them somewhere that's easy to find later.

And don't forget to check your school or local libraries as well!

#4: Outline

Follow the five-paragraph outline structure from the previous section.

Fill in your topic, your reasons, and your supporting evidence into each of the categories.

Before you begin to flesh out the essay, take a look at what you've got. Is your thesis statement in the first paragraph? Is it clear? Is your argument logical? Does your supporting evidence support your reasoning?

By outlining your essay, you streamline your process and take care of any logic gaps before you dive headfirst into the writing. This will save you a lot of grief later on if you need to change your sources or your structure, so don't get too trigger-happy and skip this step.

Now that you've laid out exactly what you'll need for your essay and where, it's time to fill in all the gaps by writing it out.

Take it one step at a time and expand your ideas into complete sentences and substantiated claims. It may feel daunting to turn an outline into a complete draft, but just remember that you've already laid out all the groundwork; now you're just filling in the gaps.

If you have the time before deadline, give yourself a day or two (or even just an hour!) away from your essay . Looking it over with fresh eyes will allow you to see errors, both minor and major, that you likely would have missed had you tried to edit when it was still raw.

Take a first pass over the entire essay and try your best to ignore any minor spelling or grammar mistakes—you're just looking at the big picture right now. Does it make sense as a whole? Did the essay succeed in making an argument and backing that argument up logically? (Do you feel persuaded?)

If not, go back and make notes so that you can fix it for your final draft.

Once you've made your revisions to the overall structure, mark all your small errors and grammar problems so you can fix them in the next draft.

#7: Final Draft

Use the notes you made on the rough draft and go in and hack and smooth away until you're satisfied with the final result.

A checklist for your final draft:

• Formatting is correct according to your teacher's standards
• No errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation
• Essay is the right length and size for the assignment
• The argument is present, consistent, and concise
• Each reason is supported by relevant evidence
• The essay makes sense overall

#8: Celebrate!

Once you've brought that final draft to a perfect polish and turned in your assignment, you're done! Go you!

Be prepared and ♪ you'll never go hungry again ♪, *cough*, or struggle with your argumentative essay-writing again. (Walt Disney Studios)

Good Examples of Argumentative Essays Online

Theory is all well and good, but examples are key. Just to get you started on what a fully-fleshed out argumentative essay looks like, let's see some examples in action.

Check out these two argumentative essay examples on the use of landmines and freons (and note the excellent use of concrete sources to back up their arguments!).

The Use of Landmines

A Shattered Sky

The Take-Aways: Keys to Writing an Argumentative Essay

At first, writing an argumentative essay may seem like a monstrous hurdle to overcome, but with the proper preparation and understanding, you'll be able to knock yours out of the park.

Remember the differences between a persuasive essay and an argumentative one, make sure your thesis is clear, and double-check that your supporting evidence is both relevant to your point and well-sourced . Pick your topic, do your research, make your outline, and fill in the gaps. Before you know it, you'll have yourself an A+ argumentative essay there, my friend.

What's Next?

Now you know the ins and outs of an argumentative essay, but how comfortable are you writing in other styles? Learn more about the four writing styles and when it makes sense to use each .

Understand how to make an argument, but still having trouble organizing your thoughts? Check out our guide to three popular essay formats and choose which one is right for you.

Ready to make your case, but not sure what to write about? We've created a list of 50 potential argumentative essay topics to spark your imagination.

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Courtney scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT in high school and went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology. She is passionate about bringing education and the tools to succeed to students from all backgrounds and walks of life, as she believes open education is one of the great societal equalizers. She has years of tutoring experience and writes creative works in her free time.

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