argumentative essay is fasting healthy

Intermittent Fasting: A Path to Improved Well-Being

Introduction.

Attention Getter: How many of you work nine-to-five or spend your days over a studying table? Does not leave much time for self-care, I would know. It is rather challenging to stay healthy, and dealing with medical bills is not a pleasure. There is, however, at least one truly effective way to stay healthy without great effort.

Motivation: I propose a way to improve your day-to-day well-being and add a couple of extra years to your life. Getting rid of extra pounds, enhancing your memory and thinking, improving your cardio – without exhaustive gym training or starving diets.

Thesis: Decades of extensive scientific research and observation have proven that intermittent fasting is a highly effective and safe way to improve your quality of life.

Preview: Several articles from credible sources will be used to explain the concept of intermittent fasting, why it is the modern self-care trend, its benefits, and why you should make it a habit. Starting from the basics, we must first understand what intermittent fasting is.

What is intermittent fasting?

Overall basis and summary of what intermittent fasting is:

• Intermittent fasting is an eating plan that focuses not on what to eat but on when you eat, directed primarily at reducing calorie intake and developing consistent eating habits (“Intermittent Fasting: What Is It, And How Does It Work?” par. 3).
• There are several different ways to do intermittent fasting, but the main idea lies in establishing a time pattern for eating and fasting, daily or weekly. For example, you can choose to eat only during a certain period each day. Or you might choose to eat only one meal a day, two days a week (Gunnars par. 9).

Different intermittent fasting plans:

• There are several optimized fasting plans to choose from. Generally, they are divided into daily, weekly, and mixed approaches.
• 12 to 16-hour fasting is a good option for beginners. The 5:2 plan involves eating normally for five days a week and including two days of reduced calorie intake in between (Kandola par. 18).

Transition: Let us look at the excellent health benefits it provides.

Benefits of intermittent fasting.

Cognitive benefits: Fasting has positively affected people with brain-related disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and others. Intermittent fasting also improves verbal and working memory, executive function, and global cognition (Mattson et al. 54).

Physical benefits: The primary goal of reducing and regulating calorie intake is fat loss and the associated benefits, including improvements in glucose regulation, blood pressure, and heart rate.

Transition : Let us first ask celebrities who practice intermittent fasting what they think.

What the celebrities say about it.

How they attribute it to their success:

• Jennifer Aniston is also into intermittent fasting. In 2019 she told Radio Times , “I noticed a big difference in going without solid food for 16 hours.” (Scipioni par. 3)
• “I actually do intermittent fasting every day,” told Moby in October 2018. “I try minimum 12 hours, usually 16. Basically, I just don’t eat dinner.” (Meola par. 4).

Transition: Let us summarize what we have established during this presentation.

Review of main points:

• Intermittent fasting is an eating plan aimed at the reduction of calorie intake by committing to a chosen fasting schedule.
• The benefits of intermittent fasting include weight loss, improved cardiovascular system condition, enhanced cognitive abilities, and general well-being improvement.
• Jimmy Kimmel – “I got the idea from a BBC documentary about this Indian man who seemed about 138 years old and said his secret was severe calorie restriction. I have Gandhi.”

Final statements:

• I have been following the 5:2 fasting schedule for a couple of years and it has been the best self-care decision I’ve ever made.
• Intermittent fasting is the best way to greatly improve the quality of your life for no cost and comfort at all.

Works Cited

Gunnars, Kris. “Intermittent Fasting 101 — The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide” . Healthline . Web.

“Intermittent Fasting: What Is It, And How Does It Work?” Johns Hopkins Medicine . Web.

Kandola, Aaron. “What Are the Benefits of Intermittent Fasting?” Medical News Today . Web.

Mattson, Mark. P., Valter D. Longo, and Michelle Harvie. “Impact of Intermittent Fasting on Health and Disease Processes.” Ageing Research Reviews , vol. 39, pp. 53–55.

Meola, Kiki. “Kourtney Kardashian, Molly Sims, Hugh Jackman and Other Stars Who Swear by Intermittent Fasting.” Diet Secrets . 2019, Web.

Scipioni, Jade. “Inside Jennifer Aniston’s daily wellness routine, from celery juice to intermittent fasting” Health and Wellness, Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, November 22). Intermittent Fasting: A Path to Improved Well-Being. https://ivypanda.com/essays/intermittent-fasting-a-path-to-improved-well-being/

"Intermittent Fasting: A Path to Improved Well-Being." IvyPanda , 22 Nov. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/intermittent-fasting-a-path-to-improved-well-being/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Intermittent Fasting: A Path to Improved Well-Being'. 22 November.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Intermittent Fasting: A Path to Improved Well-Being." November 22, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/intermittent-fasting-a-path-to-improved-well-being/.

1. IvyPanda . "Intermittent Fasting: A Path to Improved Well-Being." November 22, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/intermittent-fasting-a-path-to-improved-well-being/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Intermittent Fasting: A Path to Improved Well-Being." November 22, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/intermittent-fasting-a-path-to-improved-well-being/.

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Updated 31st July 2023

Is fasting good for you? Here's what science says.

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• During a fast
• The long view

Fasting can mean different things to different people. From a scientific point of view, it means taking in no calories. 

People fast for a variety of reasons. It might be a religious practice, or an effort to build self discipline or benefit health. 

In this article, we’ll delve into how your body responds to fasting and whether it really has health benefits.

Types of fasting

Fasting can be intermittent or prolonged.

“Intermittent” means that you fast for less than a couple of days or you switch between eating and fasting. “Prolonged” means fasting from 2 days to several weeks.

A popular form of intermittent fasting is time-restricted eating. This involves only eating within a certain time period each day.

Some of the most common methods include:

16/8: eating in an 8-hour window (say from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and fasting for the rest of the day

18/6: eating in a 6-hour window and fasting for the remaining 18 hours

20/4: eating in a 4-hour window and fasting the rest of the day

Other versions of intermittent fasting include alternate day fasting and the 5:2 diet. This involves only eating on 5 days and fasting for the other 2 days of the week.

But in both of these versions, people often eat small amounts on their “fasting” days.

Prolonged, or periodic, fasts last for several days or weeks. Before starting this, talk to a healthcare professional to make sure it’s appropriate for you.  

Regardless of the type of fast, your body responds to the lack of fuel. There may be potential health benefits, but there are also some risks. Fasting may not be appropriate for everyone.

And no matter your eating schedule, the foods you choose are important. 

With the ZOE at-home test , we analyze your blood sugar and blood fat responses, as well as your gut microbiome. Using this information, we’ll give you personalized nutrition advice so you find the best way to eat for your body.

To get started, take our free quiz.

What happens when you’re fasting?

Your body has an incredible ability to adapt. Anytime you go without fuel, your body makes several changes in response. Here’s what happens to your body when you fast.

Change in energy source

Your body uses compounds in food for energy. Typically, it breaks down carbohydrates into simple sugar molecules. 

This is your body’s main source of energy . Whatever isn’t used gets stored in your liver as glycogen and as fatty acids in your fat cells.  

For the first few hours of not eating, your body pulls from its glycogen stores for energy. But as these stores eventually run out, your body finds a different fuel source. This is known as the metabolic switch . 

When glucose is no longer available, your body begins to break down body fat into ketones. Next, these are transported to your cells and used as energy. When you have an increased amount of ketones in your blood, you’re said to be in “ketosis.” 

Depending on how much energy you use, what your last meal was, and the amount of stored glycogen in your liver, this switch can take place after going 12–36 hours without food.

Stress resistance

As you repeatedly go without food, your cells undergo a coordinated response to the stress that fasting exposes them to. 

Scientists believe that this adaptive response allows your cells to improve their resistance to stress and disease — though most of the relevant research stems from animal and cell studies.

Autophagy means “self-eating.” It's the process your cells use to clean out and recycle old, damaged, or abnormal proteins and cell components.

Autophagy is one way that researchers think your cells become more resilient when faced with stress.

This process is an important part of maintaining healthy cells. Autophagy likely plays a key role in preventing diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and infections.

Autophagy happens all the time in our cells. If it doesn’t work properly, it’s harmful to cells in a way that’s linked with health conditions. 

Fasting may be able to enhance autophagy, and it could be a simple and safe way to do this.

However, most of our evidence currently comes from animal studies . The evidence in humans is limited. 

Gut health 

In your gut, there are trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms, collectively known as your gut microbiome. The gut microbiome affects your overall health in many ways.

Evidence suggests that some forms of fasting may benefit your gut microbiome.

Studies involving men who fasted for 16 hours a day found that the participants had more beneficial bacteria in their gut microbiomes. These bacteria have been linked with a variety of health benefits, including better metabolic health , improved heart health , and a lower risk of obesity, cancer, and inflammatory bowel disease.

In one study , however, when the men returned to their normal eating patterns, the makeup of their microbiomes went back to how it was before they fasted.

The natural fasting period during sleep might suggest how a longer fast may improve the health of your gut barrier. 

During sleep, the activity in your gut slows down , which allows the cells lining your gut to be repaired. 

Studies suggest that increasing this fasting window could strengthen your gut barrier, which may reduce chronic inflammation .

Research into the link between fasting and gut health is still ongoing, but these effects could help explain the reported benefits. Still, fully understanding this topic will require more research. 

Long-term benefits

Most research on fasting and long-term health focuses on intermittent fasting.

This area of study is in its early stages. Overall, understanding the effects of fasting over months or years requires more long-term studies. Recent evidence suggests that some forms of fasting may benefit your health over time. Here’s what the current research says.

Better blood sugar control

Some forms of intermittent fasting may help you control your blood sugar. 

Multiple studies suggest that the alternate-day method of intermittent fasting may help improve insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control.

Still, fully understanding the relationship between fasting and blood sugar control in the long term requires more research. 

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Heart health

Intermittent fasting may also support heart health over time. 

Evidence from multiple studies suggests that intermittent fasting may help improve heart health by:

reducing blood pressure

lowering inflammation

reducing levels of low-density lipoprotein (also called LDL or “bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides

raising levels of high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, cholesterol — the type that promotes heart health

Limited research has associated these effects with alternate day, time-restricted, and modified methods of intermittent fasting.

Possible weight loss

Short-term fasting, such as intermittent fasting, may help some people lose weight. But growing evidence suggests that this may not be more effective than traditional calorie-restricted diets. 

There’s less research about prolonged fasting. While it may also help people lose weight — evidence shows that any lost weight may not come from body fat. 

In one small study , men who fasted for 10 days experienced, on average, a 7% decrease in body weight. However, 60% of the weight loss was from a decrease in water, protein, and other lean tissues.

Currently, the research doesn’t indicate that fasting is particularly effective for weight loss, but more research is needed. 

Different types of fasting may help improve your health, but there are risks to consider.

These include: 

Fatigue and mood changes: If you’re not eating for a stretch of time, you may feel more lethargic. Low energy, irritability, and difficulty concentrating are common when people start fasting, though these symptoms often improve over time .

Migraine headaches: Skipping meals is a common migraine trigger . Interestingly, one study involving almost 300 people with migraine found that after consistent fasts, such as during the month of Ramadan, these headaches may actually subside over time.

Disordered eating: Fasting may promote a negative relationship with food for those at risk of disordered eating. Intermittent fasting, in particular, may be related to an increased risk of binge eating. 

Who shouldn’t fast?

Fasting may not be appropriate for everyone. Those who should avoid it include: 

pregnant women

people with a history of disordered eating 

older adults

people with type 1 diabetes

anyone who takes medication with food

Fasting can mean going without foods and drinks that contain calories. There are different types, depending on how long you fast. 

Fasting may have positive effects on your health, such as promoting heart health, better blood sugar control, and weight loss. 

However, there are risks. These include feeling tired and irritable, particularly when you start, and having migraine headaches. Also, people with certain health factors should avoid fasting.

If you’re considering fasting, particularly prolonged fasting, talk to a healthcare professional to see if it’s right for you. 

With ZOE’s personalized nutrition program, you can discover how to eat for your body and your long-term health goals. 

You can take our free quiz to get started.

Changes in migraine characteristics over 30 days of Ramadan fasting: A prospective study. Headache. (2021). https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/head.14231

Chronic inflammation. StatPearls. (2022). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493173/

Effect of time-restricted feeding on metabolic risk and circadian rhythm associated with gut microbiome in healthy males. British Journal of Nutrition. (2020). https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/effect-of-timerestricted-feeding-on-metabolic-risk-and-circadian-rhythm-associated-with-gut-microbiome-in-healthy-males/A8C3BF83CBE5BF9CAC65ED783FA0FFD2

Effects of intermittent fasting on health, aging, and disease. The New England Journal of Medicine. (2019). https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmra1905136

Flipping the metabolic switch: Understanding and applying health benefits to fasting. Obesity (Silver Spring). (2018). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5783752/

Influence of gut microbial communities on fasting and postprandial lipids and circulating metabolites: The PREDICT 1 study. Current Developments in Nutrition. (2020). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7258900/

Intermittent fasting and human metabolic health. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. (2015). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4516560/

Intermittent fasting implementation and association with eating disorder symptomatology. Eating Disorders. (2021). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34191688/

Intermittent fasting in cardiovascular disorders — an overview. Nutrients. (2019). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6471315/

Intermittent versus continuous energy restriction on weight loss and cardio metabolic outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Translational Medicine. (2018). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcsm.12766

Is muscle and protein loss relevant in long-term fasting in healthy men? A prospective trial on physiological adaptations. Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia, and Muscle. (2021). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcsm.12766

Metabolic effects of fasting on human and mouse blood in vivo. Autophagy. (2017). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15548627.2016.1271513

Metabolic effects of intermittent fasting. Annual Review of Nutrition . (2017). https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-nutr-071816-064634

Nutritional strategies for autophagy activation and health consequences of autophagy impairment. Nutrition . (2022). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0899900722000983

Physiology, glucose. StatPearls . 2021. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK545201/

Potential benefits and harms of intermittent energy restriction and intermittent fasting amongst obese, overweight, and normal weight subjects — a narrative review of human and animal evidence. Behavioral Sciences. (2017). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5371748/

Regular eating, not intermittent fasting, is the best strategy for a healthy eating control. Italian Journal of Eating Disorders and Obesity. (2020). https://onlineijedo.positivepress.net/articoli/10.32044/ijedo202002/

Remodeling of the gut microbiome during Ramadan-associated intermittent fasting. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (2021). https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/113/5/1332/6195748?login=false

The effect of fasting or calorie restriction on autophagy induction: A review of the literature. Ageing Research Reviews. (2018). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568163718301478

The role of diet and nutrition in migraine triggers and treatment: A systematic literature review. Headache. (2020). https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/head.13836

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Great argumentative essay topics about food with essay prompts, bob cardens.

• July 31, 2022
• Essay Topics and Ideas , Samples

It can be hard to think of a good Argumentative Essay Topics About Food. You want something that will engage your audience and get them thinking, but you also need to pick a topic that you feel passionate about. In this article, we’ll give you a list of some great Argumentative Essay Topics About Food to get you started!

What You'll Learn

Great Argumentative Essay Topics About Food

Differences Between Food Intoxication and Food Infection

Essay Prompt: Food infections occur when individuals consume food contaminated by infectious organisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, and toxins. Food contamination can happen during the production of food.

Food as a Way to Showcase African Americans’ Identity

Essay Prompt: For the majority, there is not much to think about food. Food is simply a means to an end. We eat so we could be full. However, others understand that food is not just a means. They understand that what they eat is a representation of who they are.

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Why Do People Waste Food?

Essay Prompt: Evidence reveals that the food wasted annually could be enough to feed an enormous number of people. There are two main reasons why people waste food. First, when people visit restaurants, they are usually starving. Consequently, they are likely to order more food than they need.

The Food we Eat

Essay Prompt: The food we eat contains nutrients necessary for nourishing and proper functioning of the body. It is important to understand well the food we put into our mouths because it determines our health and wellbeing. The food we eat contains nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins…

Food Preference Identifies Identity

Essay Prompt: Although food variations can be found anywhere in the world whether it is local or adopted; that people are liking food regardless of their roots and preferences; those food varieties these days are being adopted and reformulated from culture to culture, food variation identifies the individual’s culture.  

Please watch the documentary “Food Chains”. Literature & Language

Essay Prompt: Food Chains is a documentary that was produced by Eva Longoria on November 24, 2014. This documentary reveals how farmworkers in the United States are abused by the multibillion-dollar supermarkets and food industries

Essay Prompt: Food wastage refers to the loss of unconsumed food. Food wastage occurs in various stages, such as production, processing, distribution, retail, and consumption. Conversely, food loss refers to the removal of food intended for consumption from the food chain. In most cases, food that ends up.

Unique Argumentative Essay Topics About Food

The topic is fast Food and health

Essay Prompt: Fast food refers to types of foods that are prepared within a short time before they are served. They are relatively cheaper than ordinary food cooked in homes. In most restaurants, fast foods are readily available and one does not need time to wait for it to be prepared.  

Food Security and Reasons Why LDCs Are Food-Deficit Countries

Essay Prompt: Food security entails the availability of adequate, nutritious, sufficient, and safe food that enable people to maintain their health and have active lives. In particular, food security comprises of three primary elements, namely availability, access, and utilization. (Argumentative Essay Topics About Food)

The Slow Food Movement will improve the Condition of the Environment

Essay Prompt: The slow food movement has been popularized due to the positive effects that it has on the environment. The movement supports the consumption of locally manufactured food instead of imported foods, which ultimately cuts the use of fossil fuel in the transportation of food.

The Concept of Right to Food, Justice, and Sovereignty and the Food Insecurity

Essay Prompt: From the video, key concepts discussed are the right to food, justice, and sovereignty. Every human being has a right to food, which involves the right to have adequate food which is correspondent to their cultural tradition, as well as enhance physical and mental status for a dignified and fulfilling life.

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

Food Policy and Public Health’s Impacts on Mexican Food System

Essay Prompt: Food policy and public health are always a major concern to different countries across the globe. Food policy is the way a government manages and regulates the food system and industry, the laws governing the trading of food products and inputs.

Food History. Could slow Food be the best choice for producing Food for humanity?

Essay Prompt: Slow Food mainly seeks to attain the goal of producing food that is good, clean, and fair. Additionally, it also seeks to continue feeding the world without necessarily harming the environment. Unique Argumentative Essay Topics About Food.

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

Reflection on the Lecture About Food Justice

Essay Prompt: This lecture explores diverse concepts, with food justice attracting significant attention. Food justice ensures that everybody acquires access to nutritional and affordable food, not forgetting the safety of those involved in food production.

Research Paper Topics on Food

Cause and Effect Eating out at Fast Food

Essay Prompt: Fast food was made famous in the 1950s through Mc Donald’s company. The industry has been growing vast in the past years. This has been a result of the high demand from customers and improvements in the products and services.

Facts Impacting Food Choices

Essay Prompt: The state of human health is predominantly a faction of food choices that an individual makes every day. My daily food choices are mostly affected by cultural influences, time, and cost. My cultural background affects my daily food choices.

How Food Affects Human Health

Essay Prompt: Currently, the numbers of teenagers with poor eating habits have drastically improved as the sizes of fast-food restaurants also increase. Specifically, the issue has been observed in the US where several new fast-food businesses continue to emerge which produce unhealthy food products.

Global Food Politics

Essay Prompt: After viewing the week eight lecture recording, different key concepts can be unpacked from the discussion, such as student overall essay performance, global food politics, and diabetics. Global food politics is one of the critical concepts that caught my attention.

Traceability, Suitability, and Regenerative Agriculture in Food Supply Chain

Essay Prompt: The Food Industry plays a significant part in providing fundamental necessities and essentials with which diverse human behaviors and activities are given. When food is harvested or manufactured, it must go through several processes.

How can Food supply chains prepare for the future in terms of traceability, suitability, and regenerative agriculture?

Food Insecurity and the Strategies for Solving It

Essay Prompt: A key concept that was clarified in the Zoom Lecture is food insecurity. Food insecurity is an issue that faces a significant number of households globally. During the pandemic, many people experienced food insecurity.

Eating Unhealthily and Our Expectations in How Others Eat

Essay Prompt: Is It Ethical to Eat Unhealthily? People’s food intake comprises the food systems, which are composed of elements such as the workforce, infrastructures, environment, institutions, and other activities associated with food.

How should a developing country improve its Food security? Select a single developing country to consider?

Essay Prompt: Food is critical to human sustenance. Through mankind’s journey, food has been front and center of major events including wars, social rituals, worship and child-bearing.

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Should Ban or Limit GMO Food

Essay Prompt: In the recent years, the GMO foods have flooded the consumer market with over 30,000 different food products.

Global Food Politics: The Food System

Essay Prompt: The movement of people across Mexico and the USA has been on the rise in recent years. There have been several cases of undocumented migration. According to the zoom meeting lecture, the policies put on the line to prevent the undocumented migration of people have not been effective.

Pros of a Single Food Agency

Essay Prompt: Master’s level Essay: Pros of a Single Food Agency: What are some of the pros and cons of creating a single food agency?

Food Industry’s System Structure and Misaligned Interests with Public Health

Essay Prompt: The food industry has introduced a fierce competition for consumers’ money through aggressive advertising efforts and their display of products on supermarket shelves. The fierce competition imposes poor diets worldwide, characterized by immense consumption of ultra-processed packaged food products manufactured.

Why People Work to Reduce Food Wastage?

Essay Prompt: The primary reason why people work to reduce food wastage is because of hunger and saving the resources used to produce food; for example, 28 percent of global land coverage is used for producing food, which eventually goes to waste. Not everybody can afford to buy food from the supermarket, and the grocery.

Is GMO Food safe? They are more nutritious. FDA has approved GMO Foods

Essay Prompt: The safety of GMO foods has sparked heated debates and, in many countries, there is legislation on their consumption. The proponents of GMO foods assert that they cannot be dismissed as categorically harmful….

Write a topic About Food that affects health. Is GMO Food safe?…

The Relationship Between Overproduction and Hunger with the Commodification of Food

Essay Prompt: A commodity is a primary resource utilized as a raw material in manufacturing goods and services. Coffee, beans, and wheat are just a few examples of commodities. The transformation of resources and services into commodities is a significant factor influencing all cultures.

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

Identifying the Meaning of Organic

Essay Prompt: Organic implies that the food or agricultural products meet quality standards without the use of synthetic chemicals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Fruits, vegetables, grains, and even meat can be produced organically but is mostly the food crops than meat…

College Students Who Go Full Time to School Should Be Able to Get Free Food

Essay Prompt: While in high school, many students yearn for the opportunity to complete their studies and join college little do they know what one goes through in college. College comes with huge expenses and it may be costlier for those who reside in the campus.

Food Symbolism in Society

Essay Prompt: Research on food thrives, from the history of contradictory types of charge to the relationship between provisioning and values, gender responsibilities, and eating maladies.

Raw Fresh Foods versus Cooked Processed Foods: Which is better for the Body?

Essay Prompt: The irony that while most people agree that raw fresh foods are better for the body and yet most people also eat more processed food than fresh food.

Here’s a sample argumentative essay outline you can use for your food essay

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Fasting For Health Essay Example

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Health , Weight , Evidence , Body , Study , Nutrition , Medicine , Food

Words: 1100

Published: 12/11/2020

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Fasting is a tried and tested method for spiritual enlightenment. It is a practice that goes all the way back into ancient history and a revered part of most religious traditions. Fasting for health reasons is a new phenomenon that has had mixed research results. This paper seeks to analyze and evaluate scientific evidence for the merits of fasting for health reasons. Are there any benefits to the body when one fast for days or weeks? The paper proceeds with a systematic analysis of research on fasting and health. The paper argues that like most forms of body healing methods that have their roots in religious practice, fasting might aid in weight loss but it has no overall positive effect on the health of the body. Traditionally human beings have used fasting as a way to reach certain levels of spiritual understanding. In the present day, fasting is now used for weight loss and detoxification of the body. It is also used to cure allergies and digestive problems. Researchers however agree that the health benefits are limited and research has been inconclusive (Varady & Hellerstein 2007, p. 11). Evidence show that fasting for a day poses no danger to the functionality of the body but a prolonged fasting for days might affect normal body functions (Environmental Nutrition 1997, n.p.). It is further argued that fasting should not be done beyond the day without effective medical supervision. It can lead to side-effects and other health complications. Thus some researchers have suggested that there are no health benefits to fasting beyond spiritual enlightenment (Environmental Nutrition, 1997, n.p.). With the adoption of fasting as a weight loss regimen, variant forms of fasting have emerged. Among these methods one of the most popular methods is alternate day fasting. Research has been done on fasting forms like alternate day fasting (Patterson et al., 2015, p. 6). This process involves days of fasting that consist of no energy-containing foods or beverages are consumed alternating with days where food and beverages are consumed. On three intervention studies that have been made to explore the metabolism effect of alternate day fasting, there was evidence that weight loss was witnessed in normal-weight adults in two of the studies. A caveat to this result is the fact that the research was a one day study which makes the results questionable (Patterson et al., 2015, p.7). Patterson and colleagues notes that data and results suggest that alternate-day fasting have a positive effect on modest weight loss. It shows positive effects on metabolic parameters. Other research on alternate-day fasting however suggest that alternate-day fasting can turn out not to be a feasible public health intervention since self-reported hunger in individuals in the process of alternate day fasting does not increase over time (Heilbronn et al., 2005). Less extreme forms of fasting can actually aid in the body fat burning process. One of these methods is modified fasting. Modified fasting involves an intake of low levels of energy. Six out of eight recent studies on modified fasting revealed that there was significant weight loss in those involved in the trial. The problem is that the research revealed that fasting affected the mood of participants which included other side effects like feeling cold, irritable and hungry. Patterson et al notes that these effects are downplayed by the fact that more than 70% of the participants reported reduction in tension, anger and fatigue (2015, p. 7). One of the most common ways of fasting is religious fasting. Researchers have extensively studies the effect of Muslim Ramadan fasting. A meta-analysis study found that there was drastic weight loss during the month of Ramadan which was followed by similar weight gains a month after the month of Ramadan (Patterson et al., 2015, p. 8). It how is seen as not a healthy weight loss mechanism for public suggestion since the weight loss is overshadowed by other effects to the body like mixed improvements in metabolism processes. Studies in animals show that intermittent fasting improves metabolism and reduces the risk of obesity and diseases associated with obesity. Patterson and colleagues note that in “healthy, normal weight, overweight, or obese adults, there is little evidence that intermittent fasting is harmful to the physical and mental nature of the body” (2015, p. 9). Even though evidence exists on the positive effect of fasting on weight loss, there is little and no evidence on the overall benefits of fasting regimens. No evidence exists on the links between fasting and diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, cancer and diseases like Alzheimer. There is also lacking evidence on the effects of fasting on diet, sleep and other necessary human physical activities. Evidence that prolonged periods of fasting can aid in improving human health is available on research in animals. There is little evidence of the same in human beings (Varady & Hellerstein 2007, p. 72). In conclusion, even though research finds significant weight loss effects caused by fasting, it still is yet to be discovered whether it is overall an effective health intervention. Research on animals that has been replicated on humans show different effects between animals and humans. Individuals can consider less radical forms of fasting in their health loss efforts even though there is no evidence that these forms of weight loss might prevent diseases like diabetes. Modified fasting seems to show considerable positive results. There are too many negatives associated with fasting including rise in nitrogen levels, muscles are affected and weakened, one can experience weakness, depression and uric acid levels increase. Instead of diet, sticking to more healthy diets and exercise might be better health intervention. There is little evidence for the benefits of fasting for health.

Environmental Nutrition. (1997). Fasting for health offers few benefits, questionable safety. Environmental Nutrition, 20 (5), 7-3/5. Heilbronn, L.K., Smith, S. R., Martin, C. K., Anton, S. D. & Ravussin, E. (2005). Alternate-day fasting in non-obese subjects: Effects on body weight, body composition, and energy metabolism. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 81, 69-73. Patterson, R. E., Laughlin, G. A., Sears, D. D., LaCroix, A. Z., Marinac, C., Gallo, L. C..Villasenor, A. (2015). Intermittent fasting and human metabolic health. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 1-10. Varady, K. A. & Hellerstein, M.K. (2005). Alternate-day fasting and chronic disease prevention: A review of human and animal trials. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 86 (1), 2-13.

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• Knowledge Base
• 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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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.

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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Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Fast Food — Argumentative About Fast Food

Argumentative About Fast Food

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Published: Mar 19, 2024

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