Composing winning argumentative essay topics for 8th graders

If you are a middle school student, the sooner you start to write argumentative essays the better. Why? You will certainly be required to write argumentative essays in your senior high school years and when in college or university. These essays are a common form of assessment. So know what they are all about, know their structure and learn the rules of the road.

An argumentative essay is a persuasive essay. You, the writer, need to take a statement and argue that your opinion in that statement is correct. How do you do that? You gather evidence. You are like a detective who sets out to find information which can be presented in court to hopefully convict the person arrested. Unless you find relevant evidence, your essay is not persuasive. You fail. So think of yourself as a detective on a case. Find that evidence and write it up so that the cumulative effect convinces or persuades the reader of your work to accept your argument.

So the best argumentative essays are those in which you can produce a number of points to prove or substantiate your point of view. Relying on one point alone will usually not cut it. Gather several points and allow them to add weight as you write. And what will make your argumentative essay even better, even stronger, is if you can list briefly the argument against your argument and dismiss that counter-argument with solid evidence. In other words it's a craft to be able to write an argumentative essay well.

The topic can seriously help your cause

Once you know what an argumentative essay is all about, your number one priority has to be the topic. If this is divisive or controversial or lends itself to debate, you have chosen well. Always make sure there is plenty of accessible and relevant research material to which you can refer in creating your argumentative essay.

And if you are light on for inspiration as far as argumentative essay topics are concerned, here is a collection to try and get your creative juices flowing.

1. If more people became vegetarian, the public health bill would drop.
2. All hunting for animals is cruel.
3. Violent video games cause violent behaviour in teenagers.
4. Zoos are cruel and should be closed.
5. The spread of fast food is directly the cause of obesity.