How to write a for and against essay

Writing an essay can be difficult because it requires serious preparation. You need to determine the topic with potential examples that will serve as arguments, the order of argumentation, do some research, and then form the central part of the text with all the necessary references. Yes, the essay looks simple only at first glance. However, if you understand the specifics of writing well, you can make your task easier. 

This article focused on writing an essay that requires a dual view of a particular problem. This is a frequent task in schools and universities because it allows you to see the author’s analysis and understanding of the issue. This essay is not difficult to write, so that everyone can cope with it. If you need help with this task, writing services like writance can help you with that. 

Below you will find everything you need to write the essay “For and Against correctly.” We’ll look at what is the “pro and contra” statement, find its characteristic features and structure, and give a few suggestions on how to write the statement. 

What is a For and Against Essay?

According to the analysis of top essay writing services,  For and Against essay in English is one of the most common types of essays, but it is also one of the most difficult. In this case, you will have to look at a natural world phenomenon and analyze its positive and negative sides. The particular difficulty represents that you are obliged to be objective in consideration of a matter. Both arguments “for” and statements “against” should be approximately equal in value or, at least, a similar number.

You can express your attitude to the matter only in confidence, which shouldn’t be seen in the central part of the essay. It is also essential to include those arguments that you do not think are acceptable or true, but others do. In this case, you can challenge them, but you must do so with objective evidence or data. You don’t have to express your discontent indirectly – that’s what an Opinion Essay is for.

Structure of the essay “pro and contra” in English

The Opinion Essay is written according to the same plan as other essays and consists of a title, an introduction, the central part, and a summary. The main difference between this kind of essay and all the others is in the article’s central position or “body,” which can be of two kinds. Below we will consider what features of each element of the structure of the for and against essay.

Title

The title contains the topic of the essay, so it sometimes names the phenomenon that it will be necessary to examine. Often the label shows that it is the “pros and cons of,” “advantages and disadvantages of” that the writer expects, as in “The Pros and Cons of Wearing a School Uniform” or “Advantages and Disadvantages of a Mandatory Retirement.”

In other cases, the title is in the form of a question that can be used as a basis for both pros and cons and an opinion. You need to know beforehand whether you need any of these two types of texts or whether you can write any of them. Examples of such titles might be “Should Sport Hunting be Banned?” or “Should Kids under the Age of 13 Have a Phone?”

Introduction

The pros and cons in English are spelled the same as in any other essay. It names the phenomenon, the advantages, and disadvantages you will consider, and gives three pieces of information about what it is. Also, the introduction can briefly show the plan of the central part.

Main body

In the essay’s main body, you are obliged to write down the positive and negative sides of the phenomenon the article is devoted to and present the arguments for and against it. You can do this in two ways.

The first method, the most common, is to divide the “body” of the world into two parts. One of the parts will be devoted to the advantages of the phenomenon, the other to its disadvantages. Each piece starts with a new paragraph, which, in turn, can be divided into more detailed sections if the composition of the essay requires it.

Another way is to look at the issue in several aspects and for each element to give the argument(s) “for” and the opinion (s) “against,” placing them side by side in the form of oppositions. This method suits those who can be divided into a dozen different topics. For example, suppose you are faced with the task of analyzing whether it is possible to use animals for entertainment. In that case, you can separately select types of entertainment, which are used animals (movies involving animal actors, keeping in zoos, circus performances, sports, etc.), and bring arguments about each of them. In this case, each new topic requires a new paragraph.