Argument papers?

Question

I have to write an argument paper for my college English class and the only problem I am having is how to give my opnion without stating , "I think", or "I feel"....How do you do this without actually saying that, because I dont want to use I in my paper alot.

My thesis was as follows.......Accessing information about the personal life of job applicants during the hiring process is both acceptable and necessary in order for an employer to make an accurate interpretation about a potential employee.

My professor stated that this was not my opinion and it is my opinion...I do not see any other way to state this without saying "I think"

Answer 1

You shouldn't use "I" at all. State everything as if it were a fact, dont give your reader leeway by saying "I think." Your paper should be written like this: "George Washington was the greatest president the US has ever had. He accomplished many things, and without him, we wouldn't be the nation we are today." Good luck!

Answer 2

I think what your professor was getting at is that there are facts to prove why your thesis is true, so it wouldn't technically be YOUR opinion, therefore you don't need to say "I think." Instead, you can use facts to explain why "studies show" or "many businesses believe" that employers should access this information.

By writing a paper that clearly favors one side of an argument, you have already given your opinion. That's what your thesis statement does. It's unnecessary to say "I think" or "I believe" and if you think about it, these statements actually make your facts seem less credible. Saying that Dr. So-and-so from Such-and-such University agrees with your thesis is going to give your paper much more credibility.

As someone else said, you shouldn't ever use "I" in a formal paper unless the professor specifically asks you to give YOUR opinion in an informal format. It's usually somewhat acceptable to write your personal feelings on the subject to conclude your paper once you've already given the facts in the body of the paper but it's not something you would want to do in a research papter.

Answer 3

Since you are the one writing the paper, your reader is automatically going to assume that what you write is your opinion, whether you say "I think" or not. So, for example, instead of saying "I think that teachers shouldn't give out any homework," say "Teachers should not give out any homework" and then go on to back up your argument. Taking out the phrase "I think" makes your argument stronger because you sound more assertive, and your reader still knows that this is what you think (why would you be writing something you didn't think, after all?). If it's easier for you, you could include the "I think"s and "I feel"s when writing your rough draft, and then just go through and delete them after you finish writing.

Answer 4

Just use facts to prove it. I am in a class about that at this very moment. My professor has said we can use opinion based on fact: Because A+B+C, I believe X. Try "X is necessary because Y" without the "I think". Or use, "As stated by Jo Blo in....." Or, Without blahblah, blah blah. (John Smith, 2005). Don't tell him what you think- tell him what someone else thinks.

Answer 5

the way I do it is write "I think..." or "I feel..." then take off the I think or I feel part and you've got an argument. Say for example, "I feel that uniforms are good." you could say "Uniforms are good." Of course in a college class, you wouldn't write such a simplistic sentence, but you got the idea? now i'm not in college so if your teacher wants a simple sentence go right ahead. i'm just giving an easy example. please feel free to elaborate in your paper. Also, today in my english class I read about not using "I" and it said one way you could do it is to write "if one were to..." or instead of "I went for a walk and I fell in love" you could write "people go for walks and fall in love everyday"

hope it helps! english is my FAV!

Answer 6

I just finished writing an opion essay(sort of the same as argument) when i wanted to state my own opions i said "My opion on this is that __________ and that i disagree/agree that they way that they are doing this is right/wrong"

Good Luck!