ENGLISH – WRITING TO ARGUE – GCSE

Learning Objective: To understand what writing to argue is and how you can create a successful argument as a response to an exam paper question.

What is Writing to Argue?

1. Writing to argue involves you presenting an idea to someone else. It can be presented as a letter, an email, a speech and in many other ways.
2. In the text you are primarily working to put across your argument clearly, you should not make it passionate or emotional that is writing to persuade.
3. Writing to argue deals with hard facts and although can include strong opinions, a good argument always remains well balanced addressing both sides of the issue.

Some Useful Techniques:

• Rhetorical Questions
• Emotive Language
• Power of 3
• Repetition
• Facts and Figures
• Opinion
• Anecdotes
• Formal vocabulary
• Irony/Sarcasm
• Oxymoron
• Jargon (words specific to your topic e.g wifi is specific to technology)
• Pun

How can you structure and plan a Writing to Argue text?

1. Before you begin writing a text you must always plan it. Take 5-10 minutes to collect your ideas and form a coherent plan. By doing this you can organise your thoughts and prevent unnecessary repetition.
2. Use the helpful acronym GMAPS to help you plan your Writing to Argument text. Each letter represents an important aspect you must consider to write a successful argument.

○    G = Genre

○    M = Mode

○     A = Audience

○     P = Purpose

○     S = Style

Step 1: GMAPS, The Very Useful Acronym.

If you consider all of these points when planning you give yourself the basic framework for a successful argument.  In exams these types of plans are very useful as they are quick to make and easy to refer back to.

Below are some suggestions as to how you could construct a GMAPS plan:

Step 2: The “Caterpillar” Plan

The GMAPS plan is very useful for outlining the format but it does not help you to plan thecontent. The“caterpillar” plan is what you should use to help you plan the content which is what will be the basis of your argument. Your argument should be balanced and this plan will always help you remember to make balanced points.

• In the centre boxes (the body of the caterpillar) you write the points you will make in your argument

• The caterpillars legs then make up the two sides of the argument, this will help you remember to present both sides  of the argument and so keep it   balanced.

• You should aim to have 3-4 good strong points to make a strong argument.

The GMAPS plan should take 1-2 minutes to prepare leaving you 7-8 minutes to work on your Caterpillar Plan. You should take more time on this plan and think carefully as this is the body of your argument. Your points all need to be different to each other.

Here is an example to give you an idea. There is an example GMAPS and an example Caterpillar plan and then part of an answer.

EXAMPLE WRITING TO ARGUE

Question: You feel your school does not offer a wide enough selection of GCSE choices and are concerned about the effect this has on the pupils future. Write a letter to your headteacher arguing for the introduction of more subjects into the curriculum.

GMAPS PLAN

CATERPILLAR PLAN

After you have made your plans the next thing you need to think about is writing it.

The first part and the most important part is the Introduction. This is where you introduce your argument to the person/people you are addressing. It should be concise and well thought out.

This is an example of a good introduction. It is short, simple and conveys all the necessary information to the person reading it. The introduction tells you who is writing “a year eleven pupil”, what they are writing about “variety of GCSE subjects” and why “concerned the school is not doing all it can to produce individual and rounded students”.

Do not try and include your points in the introduction. You can make a brief general one “college applications would stand out more” but leave your main points for the central text where you can elaborate on them better.

Below is point one from the Caterpillar plan expanded. Read it carefully, then read it with the comments to see what can constitute a good point in a Writing to Argue text.

To attain the highest marks in an exam the AQA exam boards mark scheme for their 2013 English Language examinations said that a text should:

• communicate in a convincing and compelling way
• have form, content and style are matched to purpose and audience
• engage with the reader
• uses linguistic devices e.g rhetorical questions
• wide vocabulary choice
• fluent and coherent
• variety of structural features

The example above offers that, the sub-points flow coherently, it uses rhetorical question and list of and engages with the reader with a wide vocabulary choice. Clearly you cannot include everything in each point you make but across your whole text you should aim for a good variety.

If it makes it easier, in your Caterpillar plan note down which techniques you are going to use in which point to make sure you get a variety. For example: point 1 = rhetorical question and list of three, point 2 = hyperbole and anecdote, point 3 = repetition, facts and figures. Then you can tick them off as you go.

When writing points you should remember that they need to be clear. Ideally if someone were to read the first sentence of each paragraph they should be able to understand what your whole argument is about.