Final answer:
Starting an essay with a counter-argument challenges your thesis against opposing viewpoints. It's crucial to state counterclaims clearly, empathize, and refute them with evidence to strengthen your argument. Using connective words helps to refute counterpoints effectively.
Step-by-step explanation:
When you start your essay with a counter-argument, you are pitting your essay's thesis against opposing viewpoints. Including a counter-argument at the beginning of your paper gives your own argument something to focus on and refute throughout the essay. Not addressing counterclaims can make your argument seem incomplete or insufficiently researched.
To effectively deal with counter-arguments, it's essential to state them clearly, show empathy towards those who hold those views, and immediately refute them with logical reasoning and evidence. By placing the counterclaims at the beginning and providing refutations, you reserve the strongest areas of your argument—the introduction and the conclusion—for your own position.