Hi Laila,

That’s quite a broad topic! I would suggest by narrowing down the focus of your topic. For example, rather than talking about endangered elephants in general, you could focus on African elephants and the reasons why they are endangered (e.g., the ivory trade, poaching). Once you have the “source” of their endangerment, the claim will likely reveal itself very quickly. In this example, your claim could be “The global ivory trade requires greater regulations to help prevent the poaching of African elephants, which are an endangered species.” Here, you mention the broader topic of endangered elephants, and you specify the context of your argument (the ivory trade, business regulations, the relationship between economics and nature, etc.). This is just one of many ways you could approach the topic, but the more specific you get, the easier your claim will be 🙂

I am in need of help. I have a 5-8 page argument and persuasion essay to write but I can’t think of a claim to use for my topic. My topic I chose to write about is endangered elephants. I just can’t seem to think of a good claim to use…

Any help will do!

Thank you!

Oh my gosh, you are brilliant! Thank you sooo much!

Hi MaryAnn! What a great (and timely) topic! It seems to me that your argument is that the pursuit of beauty is ultimately corruptive or destructive. That in the search to become “beautiful” we are actually destroying ourselves or corrupting our self-confidence, relationships, and self-image. Frankly, that could be the start of your thesis :D. Best of luck in writing your paper! – Amanda

You’re welcome! Glad to hear you found a topic 🙂 Best of luck in writing your paper!

Thank you! I believe I am going to write my paper on felony disenfranchisement.

Hi there! This post lists a lot of great choices for argumentative essays, was there one or two that seemed appealing to you? We have another post on the same topic with different possibilities here: https://www.kibin.com/essay-writing-blog/30-argumentative-essay-ideas-will-pick-good-fight/.

As to your question about using the illustration strategy, I can’t be 100% sure as that seems pretty specific to your classroom, however, I would guess that you’re meant to use examples or scenarios to prove your argument, similar to an illustration paper, but with the aim of convincing your reader. You might still need to do some research to understand the possible real-life examples depending on what topic you choose. For example, if you talk about the opioid crisis and why prescription drugs should be more heavily regulated, you might not have personal experience with that to draw from, but there are plenty of examples in news stories online of how this problem has affected people.

I hope that’s helpful! I know I didn’t necessarily answer your questions, so let me know if you need more support or would like more resources on illustrative and/or descriptive essays.

Amanda