Sarah Masterson

Expository Writing 110

Ms. Johnson

March 13, 2017

Argumentative Essay Self Assessment

1. What is one part of your argumentative essay you are particularly proud of? Copy and
paste it below and explain why.
A student who is forced to wear a uniform isnt free to express his or her individuality.

Teenagers are at the age where they are figuring things out, what they want to do, where they

want to go, and who they want to be. Students need an environment that lets them figure these

things out and a school with uniforms does not do that. From a young age, children are taught

that everybody is different. Growing up, students are taught about people who have expressed

their diversity and individuality. When they get to middle or high school in which they are forced

to wear a uniform, it hides their differences. Kyler Sumter, a student from Chicago Junior High,

wrote in the Huffington Post, They decide to teach us about people like Rosa Parks, Susan B

Anthony, and Booker T. Washington we learn about how these people expressed themselves

and conquered and we can't express ourselves in the hallway. - This is my favorite part

because I think that I had a good claim/argument. I think that the evidence that I used was good

because it was a quote from a student who has actually experienced uniforms before. I like this

half of the paragraph more than the other half because I think that the argument in this half

proves my point better than the other half. I also think that this is my best part because when I

first wrote it, I had another piece of evidence that didnt really match up well with the point of

my essay. After I got rid of that, I think that this whole paragraph became much better.
2. What were the areas you received feedback on that you worked really hard to fix in your
next drafts?
The part that I fixed the most was the third paragraph. This had the most edits made to it because

it wasnt really put together well. I think that I just put sentences together without worrying

about cohesiveness. Looking back at it, it was kind of a big mess because I was missing evidence

for some of my claims, I restated the same thing a couple times, and my concluding sentence

didnt back up the point of my paragraph. I think that now, that paragraph is much more put

together.

3. What makes your argument logical and convincing?

My argument is logical and convincing because I used evidence and reasoning to support my

claims. The evidence that I used came from reliable websites and the personal analysis that I put

in makes sense. My argument is valid because I dont think I have any logical fallacies such as

the argument from authority, or ad hominems. In my first rough draft I had both of those but I

think that I edited them all out. I dont think I ever put in any ad ignorantiam.

4. Do each of your counterclaims match up directly with your claims? Have you explained
why each of them are wrong?
I think that I did a good job matching up my claims and counterclaims. There is one in the third

paragraph where I have a quote from a principal saying that there were fewer incidents of

students feeling uncomfortable, but right after that I have a quote from a student who says that

she was extremely uncomfortable and anxious. I think that I did explain why each counterclaim

was wrong. Some paragraphs even had more than one counterclaim but I think I argued against

all of them.
5. What areas of writing argumentative essays do you still think you need to work on?

I think that I still need to work on being more obvious with which parts are my counterclaims

because throughout the rough drafts I had to fix that in different places. I also need to remember

to make my essay one cohesive piece instead of just throwing it all together.

6. What advice would you give to others about writing argumentative essays?

I would tell them to be careful of the ad hominem and argument from authority. This is because

while I was originally writing my essay, I had to keep deleting parts mostly because of the ad

hominem, but there were some parts where I added argument from authority. Even my first

rough draft still had argument from authority in it and I had to edit them out later.