In order to get students familiar with the concept of the argumentative essay, I do an exercise called “believing and doubting.”

A student writes their thesis on the board, and then the other students are asked to “believe” or “doubt” it, and these pros and cons are listed on the board. (If no one doubts or believes it, then perhaps there is a problem with the thesis.) 

But usually there are both beliefs and doubts, and the next stage of the exercise involves how a writer might handle the doubts, how they deal with con arguments. Should these be ignored, acknowledged, carefully addressed, or somehow incorporated into the thesis as it’s developed throughout the paper? 

The next stage requires the introduction of the concept of a paper’s conclusion–how it needs to end on a “concluding thesis,” i.e., one that is not a xerox of the initial thesis.