Finding Sources With Unique Argumentative Essay Topics

Research is probably the worst part of essay writing. Any kind of essay, but particularly an argumentative essay, requires some amount of research. You might become overwhelmed with the process if you aren’t organized. Planning ahead for how, when and what to research can really save you time and keep the stress levels low. It will take some time at the beginning to hone down your research methods, but it will be worth it. You can dive right into the work after you’ve done this step and your essay will be stronger for it.

How to Organize Argumentative Essay Research

When you need sources for your essay topic, traditionally a student would go to the library. These days though, you can find everything from a library and more online. Here are a few other places to look for unique sources:

• Talk to your teacher for ideas
• Check both your school and public libraries
• Use websites such as Wikipedia
• Look at government, non-profit and university websites
• Talk to a professional in the industry related to your topic (you can also use this as a chance to get quotes and opinions to use for direct sources in your essay)
• Talk to classmates doing similar topics

Before you start doing each of these things, you should have some kind of filing system in place. For example, keep online sources together; book sources together, etc. and you can also divide them by relevancy, date, category, author, or strength of argument. As long as you somehow keep things tidy and you always know where each one is. It’s more important to do this than most students realize. Even though it takes more effort, you’ll thank yourself later when you don’t have to waste time looking for that quote you thought was saved somewhere…

Using your Research with your Topic

The right sources are needed for your arguments to be effective. From your organized research, choose the best one for each paragraph and circumstance to make your point. Generally, the strongest arguments should be first, followed by the weakest, and then the middle ones. This keeps the reader hooked and eager to read more. You need to impress your teacher by your writing, research skills, and presentation of the information. Try out different orders if things don’t seem quite right. Almost nobody gets it right on the first draft, so don’t feel discouraged.