Students Ability in Developing the Paragraphs of Argumentative Essay

Writing is an important skill to be mastered by students especially at university since they are required to produce an academic paper. This article aimed to find out students� ability in developing the paragraphs of argumentative essay. The data were taken from the argumentative essays written by the third year students. Based on the analysis results, this study reveals that the students� ability in developing the paragraphs of argumentative essay is categorized as fair (62.5 %). The most frequent problem the students had in developing the paragraphs of argumentative essay was related to the use of evidence. The students did not add sufficient sources to support they arguments. Then, most of the students did not have a thesis statement in their essay. This study concludes that students should improve their ability in developing the paragraphs of argumentative essay.