NHD ARGUMENT SUMMARY
Essay Type
Project Summary
Writer’s Purpose
Writer’s Role
Audience
Form
This paper is a one page informative essay explaining to your
reader how you plan to support your claim statement. After
stating your claim, you will provide your reader with an
overview of the background information that they will need to
understand your argument. You will then describe your main
points and an overview of the evidence that will support each
main point. You will also tell your reader the primary and
secondary sources that provide you with the evidence.
Your purpose is to write an informative essay that
demonstrates how well you have collected and organized
information in support of your claim.
To inform the audience about what evidence you have
collected to support your claim and how you will organize that
evidence.
Your Teacher
In about one page, using a sentence / paragraph format, you
should:
1. State your claim.
2. Provide an overview of the background/context information
that you will provide to your reader.
a. Include the sources that provide you with that
information and note whether they are primary or
secondary sources.
3. State the main points that will support your claim.
a. After each of the main points, state what
evidence/information you will use to support that
main point.
i. Include the sources that provide you with that
information and note whether they are primary or
secondary sources
Focus Correction Areas
1. Main points support claim
2. Evidence to prove each main point is identified along with
the sources
3.Correct comma usage
Example:
[Claim] During World War I, European nations explored the use of chemical weapons in warfare,
causing soldiers to encounter unneeded suffering while rarely helping to achieve a military objective.
[Claim Statement]
[Background] I will provide context and background about WWI in general and the development
(exploration) of chemical weapons. I will briefly explain the start of the war and who was fighting on
each side. I will then discuss how the war on the ‘western front’ became a stalemate of ‘trench warfare’
early in the war (very little territory was exchanged once the fighting began). I will then provide some
details about when and where chemical weapons were used and how often. I will rely upon three
secondary sources for this information – The First World War by John Keegan; The Guns of August by
Barbara Tuchman; and The World Undone by J.G. Myer.
[First main point] I will then make my first main point about how chemical weapons caused
soldiers to encounter unneeded suffering. I will describe the effects of certain types of chemical
weapons like mustard gas and chlorine gas. My secondary source, The Guns of August provides a
general description of the effects and some statistics about the number of soldiers effected. I have
several first-hand accounts from British and German soldiers who suffered from the attacks. These
primary sources will help to the reader understand how terrible these gas attacks were.
[Second main point] I will then make my second main point about how chemical weapons rarely
helped to achieve military objectives. I have three parts that fit under this second main point. First,
there were several battles, like the Second Battle of Ypres, where chemical weapons were used, but did
not help decide the outcome of the battle. I have accounts from British and German officers who
participated in that battle that make this point. Second, I can show that the chemical attacks did not
usually result in many casualties. I will use statistics from two British government sources (primary) to
illustrate this point. Third, I can also show that the stalemate on the western front was not broken until
America entered the war. It was the large number of new soldiers that helped the Allies to break the
stalemate, leading to an exchange of territory, not chemical weapons. I have a couple of speeches
(primary sources) from British and American leaders that make this point. I will also rely on Keegan’s
The First World War, to better explain this point.