Your readers will expect you to consider and address reasonable alternatives to your overall claim. They’ll do so not only because it is appropriate to acknowledge the contributions of other authors who have written about an issue, but also because they want to understand why your argument is superior to the alternatives. If your readers are aware of opposing claims but notice that you haven’t addressed them, they’ll question your credibility. They might conclude that you haven’t thought carefully about the issue, or they might wonder whether you haven’t addressed opposing claims in your essay because you think the other claims are stronger than yours.

To address counterarguments, review the work you did to identify and consider opposing claims as you built your argument. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each claim in relation to your argument and in relation to the other opposing claims you identified. Then decide whether to concede, refute, or ignore each claim.

Concede valid claims. Show your readers that you are being fair — and establish common ground with readers who might otherwise be inclined to disagree with you — by acknowledging opposing points of view and accepting reasonable aspects of counterarguments. For example, if you are arguing that your state government should spend more to repair roads and bridges, acknowledge that this will probably mean reducing funding for other state programs or increasing state taxes.

You can qualify your concession by explaining that although part of a counterargument is sound, readers should consider the argument’s weaknesses. You might note, for example, that reducing funding for some state programs could be offset by instituting fees for those who use those programs most.

Refute widely held claims. A counterargument might be widely advocated or generally accepted yet still have significant weaknesses. If you identify widely held claims that have weaknesses such as cost, undesirable outcomes, or logical flaws, describe the counterargument, point out its flaws, and explain why your claim or reason is superior. For example, you might note that although it is costly to maintain roads and bridges, allowing them to fall into disrepair will cost far more in the long run — in terms of both funding and loss of life.

Ignore competing claims. Don’t assume that addressing counterarguments means giving every competing claim equal time. Some counterarguments will be much stronger than others, and some will be so closely related to one another that you can dismiss them as a group. Once you’ve addressed valid and widely held competing claims, you can safely ignore the rest. Even though your sense of fairness might suggest that you should address every counterargument, doing so will result in a less effective (and potentially much longer) essay.

As you present your discussion of counterarguments, maintain a reasonable and polite tone. You gain little, if anything, by insulting or belittling writers with whom you disagree, particularly when it’s possible that some of your readers think a certain counterargument has merit. It is preferable — and generally more effective in terms of winning your argument — to carefully and politely point out the limitations of a particular counterargument.