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Address the strongest relevant objection

About 31 minutes · 7 reading + 24 practice and checks
Time includes reading, practice, and questions. Extra videos or further study are optional.
See this course’s project requirements

Submit a 450–650-word argument about a fictional training-center equipment-loan trial, with a source ledger and revision memo.

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

  • Translate the assignment into a claim, audience, and evidence plan.
  • Keep a three-source ledger distinguishing supplied facts, paraphrase, and your own reasoning.
  • Integrate at least two sources in a reasoned argument with accurate attribution.
  • Address one strong counterargument and acknowledge a material evidence limit.
  • Revise the complete draft structurally and submit a memo documenting two substantive changes.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

  • Argument: a focused, defensible claim answers the assignment.
  • Evidence: facts are accurate, attributed, and connected through reasoning.
  • Complexity: the counterargument and limits are represented fairly.
  • Revision: the final structure improves the argument and the memo explains meaningful changes.
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Before you begin

The idea in everyday life

Counterarguments are useful when they engage a real weakness, cost, or competing priority. Inventing a foolish opponent makes the essay less convincing. Your source packet contains several legitimate concerns, including limited kits, uncertain staffing, and no replacement reserve. Choose the objection that most directly challenges your current recommendation and decide whether to answer, concede, or narrow the claim.

The idea

A strong objection tests the conditions under which your claim holds.

Try it

One step at a time.

Use the sample or information you have permission to use. Keep your work as you go. You can pause between steps.

  1. 1

    List three objections grounded in the packet: kit reserve, staff approval, and uncertain representativeness of demand. Select the one that most threatens your thesis as currently written.

  2. 2

    Write the objection as someone who holds it could recognize it. Name the evidence or missing information behind it instead of assigning motives to the person raising it.

  3. 3

    Choose your response: rebut with relevant evidence, concede and modify the recommendation, or explain a tradeoff. Do not claim an uncertainty has disappeared merely because a policy sounds sensible.

  4. 4

    Draft an 80–120-word counterargument paragraph. If using the reserve solution, distinguish the supplied 12-kit inventory from your proposed ten-loan cap and two-kit reserve.

  5. 5

    Revisit the thesis and outline to reflect any new condition. Save the original and revised versions so the final memo can explain how considering an objection improved the argument.

Example

See how it works.

Fictional scenario: Riley’s draft supports the loan trial. A serious objection is that using all 12 kits leaves no replacement reserve, so a damaged or late kit could interrupt access. Riley concedes that concern rather than accusing opponents of disliking learners. The revised proposal loans at most ten kits at once and keeps two in reserve, while tracking returns during the four-week trial. Riley acknowledges that the packet does not supply damage or late-return rates. The proposal is therefore a reasonable design choice to test, not a proven optimal allocation established by the sources.

Check your work

Did you cover these?

  • The objection cites a real packet concern.
  • The response identifies concession, rebuttal, or tradeoff.
  • Any proposed cap or reserve is labeled the writer’s recommendation.
Your work

What to finish

A fair counterargument paragraph and a thesis revised in response to its strongest concern.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Presenting a self-invented proposal as a policy already proven by the source packet.

How can I tell I understand it?

Your response addresses the objection’s reasoning and visibly changes the claim when evidence warrants it.

Try 3 questions

Quick knowledge check

Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.

Not yet passed

You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.

1A critic worries that a program has no confirmed staff time. Which response is strongest?
2A source lists 16 kits. You propose keeping four in reserve. How many could be on loan at once?
3Which wording represents an objection fairly?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
4
Finish this lesson

Pass the check. We’ll save the progress.

Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.

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Sources and further reading

Explore the references behind this lesson.

UNC Writing Center: Argument
Source & access notes · checked 2026-09-10

Opened the handout and read claims, evidence, audience, and charitable counterargument. The loan-program assignment is original.

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Reuse: Linked for further study. Life Starter explanations, scenarios, and assessments are original; free access alone does not grant reuse rights.

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