What's up everyone? I'm Miss Peer Editor and today I'm going to show you how to write a counter-argument and rebuttal for academic papers including argument essays, position papers, and research papers. Before we start, Make sure to check out the description of this video for some helpful tools that I use to improve my writing, including Grammarly Premium and other resources.
Let's get started. Your paper will include three components. Your argument, counter-argument, and rebuttal. Your argument is the position or perspective you are defending throughout the essay, and the argument is explained in your thesis statement.
The counter-argument is the position or perspective you are defending throughout the essay, is a perspective that opposes your argument and it shows that you are analyzing the issue from multiple angles. Including a counter-argument enhances your credibility as a writer because you're showing your willingness to be balanced and open-minded. Your essay can include one large counter-argument or multiple smaller counter-arguments. The rebuttal is a reputation of the counter-argument and it supports your original argument.
The rebuttal will convince the reader that your argument is stronger than the opposition's. It's important to always include a rebuttal after your counter argument. You don't want to leave your counter argument dangling in your essay without any refutation because that may give the impression that the opposing perspective is unbeatable.
To learn how to construct these three elements, let's use a sampled essay topic which asks Is social media more beneficial or harmful to society? Our argument is that social media is more beneficial than harmful. To form our counter-argument, we're going to ask ourselves a couple of questions.
The first is, what stakeholders are affected by this issue? What would their perspective be? One example of a stakeholder group that's affected by this issue is teenagers.
And teenagers may feel less confident when... seeing idealistic or unrealistic images on social media and they may also experience cyberbullying on multiple social media platforms. Another question is, does this issue cause any intended or unintended effects?
Are those effects positive or negative? And what current events are related to this topic? This is an opportunity for you to think about different items in the news, any recent articles that you might have read.
anything you saw on different social media platforms such as YouTube or Instagram, for example. So to answer this question, I actually looked at a quote from Facebook researchers in a 2021 Wall Street Journal article. And this quote states that 32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.
So that this is definitely a strong counter argument against the idea that social media is beneficial to society. Another question to ask is, how does this issue impact people, the economy, the environment, domestic and foreign governments, education, global health, etc? So there's a couple of different answers to this question in this topic.
For example, social media can lead to anxiety and depression. This spread of disinformation on social media can threaten election processes and therefore governments, and social media can distract students from learning in schools. And the last question we can ask to form a counter-argument is how have people's perspectives on this issue shifted over time? There are a couple of ways to form a rebuttal.
One is to provide evidence of solutions or remedies that alleviate the issues posed in the counter-argument. Another way is to show how the impact of your argument outweighs the impact of the counter-argument. And a third way is to explain a perspective that the audience may consider to be more credible. For instance, you might weigh the opinion of an expert more heavily than that of an everyday person who hasn't researched the topic.
If your argument is discussing how electric vehicles can help reduce global warming, you might want to include the perspective of an engineer at Tesla or a climate scientist in order to refute a counter-argument. And a fourth way to form a rebuttal is to discuss a related issue that is causing causing or exacerbating or worsening the effects outlined in the counter-argument. Now, let's return to our topic of social media's impact on society.
For our argument, we might write that social media is beneficial to society because it allows people to communicate with friends, family members, and new connections around the world. When people feel as though they are part of the community online, their mental health improves. So this is a summary of our overall argument. And a counter argument might be that while social media may create a sense of belonging and satisfaction for some, it can hurt users'mental health. Constantly exposed to images and videos that portray idealistic beauty standards, teenagers who view content on different social media platforms may feel inadequate.
Along with the pressure to conform, this lack of self-confidence can can lead to anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Notice how the counterargument directly addresses the points made in the argument. In our original argument, we're stating that social media improves mental health, but the counterargument says that social media damages mental health.
We're not talking about the impact of social media on elections or classroom learning, so you want to make sure that your argument and counterargument are the same. counter-argument match, and that you're not just listing different perspectives haphazardly. Our rebuttal could be the fact that creators and brands are trying to combat these negative effects by sharing more realistic images online and providing resources to bolster teenagers'self-esteem. For example, Dove shed light on digital filters through its Reverse Selfie campaign and partnered with celebrities including Shonda Rhimes and Lizzo to spread the message of body positivity. Thus, social media can become a tool for change when users work together to create an inclusive environment.
The rebuttal includes concrete evidence, including an example of a campaign from a beauty company to make the argument even stronger. Here's a list of different transition words and phrases that can help you lead into your... counter argument and rebuttal and just make your essay cohesive overall. I have a graphic on my Instagram that categorizes multiple transition words so check out the link in the description to my Instagram account to find that resource.
There are a couple of different ways you can structure your essay when you include those three elements. One way is to have your introductory and concluding paragraphs and each body paragraph will include an argument, counter argument, and rebuttal. I would recommend this method if you are writing counter arguments that are highly specific and highly targeted to the points that you are making within each body paragraph. Another method is to have a couple of body paragraphs just devoted to your argument and then a last body paragraph that includes a counter argument and rebuttal.
And a third method is to have one paragraph focused on your argument, one paragraph focused on your counter argument, and a last paragraph that solely focuses on your rebuttal. I would recommend this method if you want to build out a larger counter argument and then end really strongly by refuting all of the points made in the counter argument with your rebuttal, which allows you to show that your points are more valid than the opposition's. Thanks so much for watching.
In the comments below, feel free to ask any questions you have on how to create your counterarguments and rebuttals. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe, and stay tuned for my next video. I will see you next time.