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The Argument Essay

You’ll be able to

Arguing from your own resources

The argument essay gives you a claim or a short prompt and asks you to take a position and defend it — using your own knowledge, reading, observation, and reasoning. There are no sources to lean on; the evidence comes from you. Strong essays draw on specific examples — historical events, literary works, current affairs, personal or observed experience — rather than vague generalities. The reader wants to see a mind at work: a clear stance, concrete support, and reasoning that ties them together.

Evidence and commentary, again

The engine of the argument essay is the same as any argument: specific evidence plus explanatory commentary. A claim like "perseverance often matters more than talent" needs a concrete case — a named figure, event, or experience — followed by commentary showing how that case proves the claim. Avoid the trap of the abstract example ("Many successful people worked hard"). Name someone; describe what they did; explain why it demonstrates your point. One developed, well-explained example beats three thin ones every time.

Complexity: concession, qualification, nuance

The highest-scoring argument essays do not just prove a point — they show its complexity. Qualify your claim ("in most cases," "when resources allow") so it is defensible rather than absolute. Concede the strongest opposing view, then explain why your position still holds. Acknowledge tensions and exceptions honestly. This is not weakness; it is the sophistication AP rewards, because real issues are rarely one-sided. An essay that considers when its own claim might fail — and answers that challenge — reads as far more mature than one that pretends no counterview exists.

Worked example

The prompt asks you to argue whether failure is necessary for success. Sketch a body paragraph that uses specific evidence and adds complexity.

  1. 1.State your position as a qualified claim: failure is often necessary because it exposes flaws that success conceals — though only when the person is willing to learn from it.
  2. 2.Choose a specific example: an inventor whose early prototypes failed repeatedly before a working design emerged (name a concrete case from your own knowledge).
  3. 3.Add commentary: each failure revealed a specific weakness the inventor then corrected, so the failures were not detours but the actual path to the solution.
  4. 4.Add complexity with a concession: concede that failure alone guarantees nothing — someone who never analyzes the failure gains only discouragement — which is why the qualifier "willing to learn" matters.
Answer: A strong paragraph pairs a specific case (an inventor’s repeated failed prototypes) with commentary showing each failure taught a needed lesson, then qualifies the claim by conceding that failure only helps those who learn from it. The concrete evidence, the explanatory commentary, and the built-in qualification together earn evidence, reasoning, and sophistication credit.
Checkpoint

On the argument essay, which kind of evidence tends to be most effective?

On the exam

The argument essay’s sophistication point most often comes from complexity: qualifying your claim, conceding and rebutting the opposition, or acknowledging tensions. A one-sided essay that never tests its own claim rarely earns it. Build the counterview in on purpose.

Checkpoint

A writer claims "hard work always guarantees success." How could she most improve this claim’s defensibility?

Tip

Prewrite a two-column list: reasons your position is right, and the best reason someone might disagree. Weaving that best objection into your essay — and answering it — is the surest way to turn a solid argument into a sophisticated one.

Answer the 2 checkpoints as you read.

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