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University Writing: Persuasive and Argumentative Essays
253 students
University Writing: Persuasive and Argumentative Essays
Master academic argument writing for university, ESL, and SAT/ACT/TOEFL success: from outline to persuasive essay
Created byDaniel Current
Last updated 9/2025
English
What you'll learn
- Identify the difference between a five-paragraph report and a university-level academic argument and know exactly how to bridge the gap
- Apply the complete academic argument structure: introduction, position, counterposition, refutation, and conclusion
- Write a strong thesis statement that is positive, assertive, and strategically framed to persuade your target reader
- Use the seven roles of an effective introduction to attract readers and set up a compelling argument from the first sentence
- Build a counterargument and refutation that strengthen your position by engaging and defeating the opposing view with evidence
- Choose the right type of evidence: narrative, secondary, or primary; and place it correctly in each section of your argument
- Analyze any audience using six dimensions to tailor vocabulary, tone, evidence, and argument structure to your specific reader
- Answer the burning questions before writing to define your subject, topic, position, audience, and purpose with precision
- Select from six organizational strategies to arrange your argument for maximum persuasion based on your audience and purpose
- Write academic essays and term papers for university courses across any discipline using a repeatable, proven argument process
- Prepare for the SAT, ACT, TOEFL, IELTS, and GRE writing sections using memorizable argument outlines and structures
- Apply harmony principles — consistency, logical uniformity, and concept evolution, to produce polished, professional academic writing
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Course content
4 sections • 16 lectures • 3h 13m total length
Requirements
- Be able to write a paragraph in English.
Description
Don't Let a Writing Course End Your University Career Before It Starts
University writing courses have one of the highest failure rates of any required class in American higher education. Most students don't fail because they aren't intelligent. They fail because nobody ever taught them what a university argument actually is — or how to write one.
If you're coming from an American high school, an ESL program, or a university in another country, here's what likely happened: you were trained to write 100–300-word reports summarizing information someone else gave you. That skill will not get you through a university writing class that requires a 1,000–5,000-word argument defending a position against real opposition.
That gap costs students a semester. Sometimes it costs them their GPA. Sometimes it costs them their spot in graduate school.
This course closes that gap.
What You Will Be Able to Do After This Course
- Write a complete, well-structured academic argument, the exact form required in university writing classes and on standardized tests, including the SAT, ACT, TOEFL, IELTS, and GRE
- Understand the difference between a five-paragraph report and an academic argument, and know exactly how to move from one to the other
- Build any argument from scratch using a proven outline structure, regardless of the subject, the discipline, or how complex the topic is
- Analyze any audience, identify their position, choose the right organizational strategy, and tailor your argument to change their minds
- Use evidence correctly: the right types, in the right places, at the right level of credibility for your reader
- Walk into your university writing class prepared — not scrambling to figure out what the assignment is actually asking for
What This Course Covers
Fifteen lessons, taught in plain English, with outlines, diagrams, and worked examples throughout:
- The structure of a university argument and how it differs from everything you were taught before
- The burning questions to answer before you write a single sentence, and why skipping them kills most arguments before they begin
- The seven roles of a strong introduction and the six roles of a conclusion that actually change minds
- How to build a counterposition that looks fair but is strategically designed to be defeated
- How evidence works: four types, four credibility levels, and exactly where each one belongs in your argument
- How to tailor the same argument for different audiences by changing nothing but the order
- Six organizational strategies for arguments ranging from simple to complex, with worked examples for each
Why This Course Works for Students at Any Level
Whether English is your first language or your third, whether you have written dozens of papers or none, the course uses simple language, clear visual structures, and real examples to make the concepts stick. The same tools that help a first-generation university student from rural America also help a postgraduate student from South Korea preparing for an English-language doctoral program.
Every concept in this course is used in real university writing assignments. Every tool is transferable across disciplines — from sociology to engineering to business. And every lesson is designed so that you can apply it immediately, not just understand it in theory.
Who This Course Is For
- High school students preparing for standardized writing tests (SAT, ACT),
- Students transitioning from high school to university
- International students entering an American university writing program, preparing for (TOEFL and IELTS)
- ESL/EFL students preparing for academic writing in English
- Any university student who has struggled with term papers and wants to understand why and how to fix it
About the Instructor
Daniel Current has spent years teaching academic writing to students making exactly the transition this course is designed for. His approach is direct, practical, and built around one goal: getting you through your university writing class successfully the first time, so you can spend your energy on the subjects that matter to you.
The Bottom Line
University writing classes don't have to be the course that derails your academic career. With the right preparation, they become one of the most useful skills you carry into every other class you take.
Enroll today and arrive at your first writing assignment knowing exactly what to do.
Who this course is for:
- High school students preparing for the writing sections of the SAT, ACT, TOEFL, IELTS, or GRE
- Students transitioning from high school to a university writing program who want to arrive prepared
- International students entering an American university whose writing training was in a different academic system
- ESL and EFL students learning to write academic arguments in English for the first time
- University students who have struggled with or failed a writing course and want to understand why
- Students who know how to write a five-paragraph report but have never been taught to write a full academic argument
- Anyone who needs to write term papers across multiple university disciplines and wants a repeatable system for doing it well
- Test-takers preparing for timed academic writing tasks who need a flexible, memorizable argument structure
- Students who want to improve their GPA by producing stronger written arguments in any subject area
- TEFL and ESL instructors looking for a structured framework to teach academic argument writing to their students