议论文的写作
议论文的主要目的是说服，说服读者同意你的观点，支持你的观点，说服读者改变其观点或行为，说服读者赞同一项政策或参与一次行动。报纸的社论、政治家的演讲、各种各样的建议文章，都属议论文范畴。
常见的展开议论文的手段和常见的展开说明文的手段一样，议论文只不过比说明文多了一个任务，即劝说。
1. 典范议论文的共性
（1）有一个可争议的论点。
有了可争议的论点，不同的人可以从不同的角度来看待，因而才有争论的价值。一般来说，下面几种情况都不是好的论题：
1）仅仅是事实的陈述
“Chinese doctors use acupuncture to treat diseases.”是一个不争之实。如果该成“Acupuncture should replace western medical approaches to treat diseases.”，这样就有了争议的空间。
2）表明个人偏好的表述
“Lin Yu-tang is my favorite author.”表明的是个人爱好，不能引起争议。而“Lin Yu-tang is the greatest Chinese writer of the 20th century.”是有争议，要使这个论题站得住脚，作者必须给出足够的证据。
3）大家都接受、或者可以很容易证实的的观点。
“Spitting in public places is not good manners.”是大家都接受的观点，“The Earth is round.”是很容易证实的观点。写文章论证这些观点没有什麽意义。
（2）给出足够的证据
既然你的观点不能是事实、个人偏好、大家都接受或很容易就证实的的观点，那麽你就要给出足够的证据，合乎逻辑地论证，以说服读者。充分的证据包括：常识、具体的例子、确凿的证据与事实、权威的观点、数据。另外，说服力强的证据还要与将要证明的论点有直接的联系。
（3）极强的逻辑性
相对于其他体裁的文章，逻辑性强对议论文来说，更为重要。所有的证据和推理都应该合乎逻辑地彼此联系起来，共同论证结论。推理过程中任何一个闪失都会让读者怀疑你的整个论证。常见的推理方法有归纳法和演绎法，这些大家都很熟悉，编者这里不再赘述。
（4）条理清晰的论证
典型的议论文包括三部分：开始部分给出讨论的问题以及讨论的必要；主体部分给出论据；结尾部分给出结论，结论如果在开始部分已经提到，在结尾段以不同的语言重述结论。
主体部分，提出你的论点之前，最好以一到两段，讨论一下反方的观点或读者可能会提出的问题，这样更有说服力。然后，列出证明你论点的重要的论据，这些论据按照下面的顺序排列：从最不重要的到最重要的；从最熟悉的到最不熟悉的；从最容易接受或理解的到最难以接受或理解的。
（5）诚实、友好的态度
争论不是争吵。有力的论辩不是来自于诋毁、讽刺、夸张、谩骂，而是来自于确凿的证据、合乎逻辑的推理、缜密的分析。专横、敌意的语调只能让人怀疑你的品质，弱化你论辩的的可信度，而诚实、友好的态度却能为你赢得读者的信任。
另外，还要注意：不要夸张（overstate），也不要低叙（understate）。避免过多使用下列词语：perhaps, maybe, sometimes, most often, nearly always, I think, in my opinion，这些表达法会减弱你论辩的力量。
下面是一篇例文。对照上面的讲解，细细揣摩文章的妙处，以资借鉴。
Men and Extravagance, or How I Learned to Hate Diamond
We are all sure to have at least one acquaintance who is stingy and we complain to all our friends about what a loser this miser is. Our complaints are justified, too, given the psychology of this affliction: the person who is retentive with money is likely to be equally stingy with love and attention. Since everyone desires a balanced give-and-take relationship, the flinty-souled miser is high on the list of undesirables.
But when we encounter the opposite—a spendthrift (挥霍无度的) in all his glory—where are the complaints? Where is the Freudian diagnosis? We hear few downgrading remarks because we all love to see a fool and his money part, especially if some of that money comes our way. This is particularly true when it comes to male-female relationships. Many women, for instance, are pleased to be in the company of a man who always grabs the tab (待付帐单), who drives suavely into a ten-dollar parking garage without complaint instead of cruising around, cursing and perspiring, before finding a dollar parking lot a mile away. How much a man spends on a woman must have something to do with how much he loves her, and besides, how can that wonderful feeling of being pampered be wrong?
I think it is time that we stop encouraging this distorted idea of masculinity (a woman who goes wild with money is hardly admired!) and give more credit to a man of average income who is trying to behave sensibly. I am referring to the man who picks up the tab most times but not always, who takes some troubles to buy gas from self-service stations and sometimes shops at a discount men’s wear store. We are so forthright in considering a stingy man a loser; isn’t it time to consider his opposite—as at least equally undesirable?
Just look at how our society teaches males that extravagance is a positive characteristic. Scrooge, the main character of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, is portrayed an evil man until he is rehabilitated—meaning that he gives up his miserly ways and freely distributes gifts and money on Christmas Day. This behavior, of course, is rewarded when people change their opinions about him and decide that perhaps he isn’t such a bad person after all.
Diamond Jim Brady is another interesting example. This individual was a financier who was known for his extravagant taste in women and food. In any given night, he would consume food enough to feed at least ten of the many poor who roamed the streets of late nineteenth-century New York. Yet, despite his selfishness and infantile self-gratification（自我满足）, Diamond Jim Brady’s name has become a synonym for the good life.
In my own experience, as unpleasant as a stingy man may be, his frugality is preferable to the hypocrisy of the big spender. I say hypocrisy because the spendthrift really operates out of some insecurity and not out of generosity or, as most women want to believe, enchantment with them. Usually he is so worried about his masculinity or lovableness or something that he has to make a bigger impression than anyone else. Vanity, not generosity or love, is his driving force.
This type of men, at least in my experience, usually seems to revel in owing money too. Carefully observe such men a while, and just listen to them brag about how they would absolutely die without their credit cards or how they probably owe more banks and collection agencies than anyone else they know. Just after a woman has seriously fallen for a big spender and his flair (潇洒) for living, she usually has to face the bitter reality that he is not affluent or self-assured at all—just extravagantly in hock (抵押；典当)!
Certainly the big spender might make good date for two or three nights, but as a serious lover, husband, and father, he is a total disaster.
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