The Assignment: Taking a Stand
Find a controversy that rouses your interest. It might be a current issue, a long-standing one, or a matter of personal concern: military benefits for national guard troops sent to war zones, the contribution of sports to a school’s educational mission, or the need for menu changes at the cafeteria to accommodate ethnic, religious, and personal preferences. Your purpose isn’t to solve a social or moral problem but to make clear exactly where you stand on an issue and to persuade your readers to respect your position, perhaps even to accept it. As you reflect on your topic, you may change your position, but don’t shift positions in the middle of your essay.
Assume that your readers are people who may or may not be familiar with the controversy, so provide relevant background or an overview to help them understand the situation. They also may not have taken sides yet or may hold a position different from yours. You’ll need to consider their views and choose strategies to enlist their support.
Each of these students took a clear stand:
See essays taking different stands on consumer culture.
A writer who pays her own college costs disputed the opinion that working during the school year provides a student with valuable knowledge. Citing her painful experience, she maintained that devoting full time to studies is far better than juggling school and work.
Another writer challenged his history textbook’s portrayal of Joan of Arc as “an ignorant farm girl subject to religious hysteria.”
A member of the wrestling team argued that the number of weight categories in the sport should be increased because athletes who overtrain to qualify for the existing categories often damage their health.
Facing the Challenge Taking a Stand
The major challenge writers face when taking a stand is to gather enough relevant evidence to support their position. Without such evidence, you’ll convince only those who agreed with you in the first place. You also won’t persuade readers by ranting emotionally about an issue or insulting as ignorant those who hold different opinions. Moreover, few readers respect an evasive writer who avoids taking a stand.
What does work is respect — yours for the views of readers who will, in turn, respect your opinion, even if they don’t agree with it. You convey — and gain — respect when you anticipate readers’ objections or counterarguments, demonstrate knowledge of these alternate views, and present evidence that addresses others’ concerns as it strengthens your argument.
To anticipate and find evidence that acknowledges other views, list groups that might have strong opinions on your topic. Then try putting yourself in the shoes of a member of each group by writing a paragraph on the issue from that point of view.
- What would that person’s opinion be?
- On what grounds might he or she object to your argument?
- How can you best address these concerns and overcome objections?
Your paragraph will suggest additional evidence to support your claims.