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evidence that supports the topic sentence, and your own commentary about how that
evidence supports that part of your claim. You will include as much or as little evidence
as you need to make your point, though it is always important to follow every piece of
evidence with your commentary. In this way, you will be sure to “connect the dots” for writing workshop
your reader and keep the emphasis on your own voice and ideas.
Again, this structure is not intended as a formula but is suggested as a guide for you
to use when it suits you and your argument. You can see how elements of this structure
are in place in a section from Mckesson’s essay:

And sometimes, even as we challenge the bully, we come
Topic sentence
to accept him as just a part of our world.
Clarification/
Bullies don’t just happen, they are enabled. There were
context
bystanders who lived on my grandmother’s block who chose
Evidence to do nothing every single day. I think those people simply
thought of bullying as another feature of childhood, a condition

of growing up-just “kids being kids” or “boys being boys.”
They didn’t suppose that simple child’s play could have any
lasting negative consequences, and thus did not consider

themselves responsible for ending it. So they chose a third
option that, in some ways, was the most dangerous: they
chose to ignore him, to pretend that he and his tyranny were Commentary

not what they were. And then there was the bully’s family.
They loved and cared for him but never corrected his

behavior. Indeed, they never held a mirror up to show him
what he was becoming.

Mckesson often goes back and forth between commentary and evidence. Again,
the structure suggested above is not a rigid formula. The point here is that evidence
should never stand on its own. It should be accompanied by commentary from you, the
writer. In an argumentative essay, telling your audience what the evidence proves, and
why it is relevant to your overall argument, makes it more likely that your audience will
understand and appreciate what you have to say.

Addressing Counterarguments
An essential part of making your argument is to address counterarguments (p. 000),
those ideas that challenge your claim. These ideas are not necessarily against your
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