Literary Argument Essay: Steps in writing a literary argument essay • Choose a topic – a short story, a novel, movie, etc. • Take a position on a debatable issue that reasonable people do not agree • Do not take a factual position – it must be a discussable position • Your topic should be interesting • Write down your thesis statement first • Consider your audience • Your thesis should be debatable, so not everyone will agree with you • Try to refute or disprove the rebuttal or opposing arguments • Support your argument with references from the text itself • Use clear reasoning, compelling evidence, and strong refutation • Keep a reasonable tone – talk to your readers, not at them – don’t try to lecture or talk down to them • Be fair and avoid bias • Avoid distorting evidence (misrepresentations) • Avoid quoting out of context • Avoid slanting – quoting only a part of a text that supports your case and ignore information that does not support your view. • Avoid using unfair appeals (Logos, Ethos, Pathos) that only support your view