1 Introduction

Emphasis was placed on the importance of argumentative writing in academic English, highlighting its role in enhancing critical thinking and communication skills. In academic evaluation and course assessment, argumentative writing is a key task type. Domestic students face the challenge of language and cultural thinking differences in English argumentative writing. Academic English courses focus on teaching argumentative writing, aiming to improve the quality of students' writing. Argument, evidence, and reasoning are the three basic elements of argumentation, among which evidence is the key to determining the quality of argumentation. Teachers should pay attention to students' use of evidence and improve their writing skills. The article divides the use of evidence into three steps: awareness of use, quality assessment, and integration. It reviews relevant literature at home and abroad, aiming to provide inspiration and suggestions for English argumentative writing teaching.

2. Awareness of using evidence

In teaching English argumentative writing, teachers should first cultivate students' awareness of using evidence, recognizing the necessity and importance of evidence. The cultivation of cognitive thinking is the key to enhancing argumentation ability, including understanding the essence of knowledge and the way of thinking that recognizes the process of knowledge. Teachers should pay attention to students' cognitive thinking development in the four dimensions of knowledge "simplicity", "certainty", "source", and "explanation", especially evidence-based explanation, to enhance students' awareness of using evidence in writing.

Quality assessment of three arguments

The quality of evidence is crucial for English argumentative writing, and teachers need to cultivate students' ability to evaluate the quality of evidence. Students usually obtain evidence through personal experiences and the internet, but the quality of online information varies and requires the ability to make judgments. The evaluation of evidence quality mainly focuses on relevance, credibility, and usefulness, involving three aspects: content, source, and context. Previous studies have mostly focused on improving students' ability to assess information sources and scenarios, such as enhancing their ability to evaluate the quality of online information through training, using fact checker strategies and horizontal reading skills to improve their ability to assess and locate information resources.

Integration and incorporation of four arguments

In English argumentative writing, students need to effectively integrate the high-quality evidence resources they have obtained and incorporate them into their own arguments. Teachers should guide students to improve their ability to integrate and incorporate evidence, including selecting, organizing, and connecting different information resources, as well as understanding, comparing, and evaluating these resources. The development mode of student evidence use usually goes through three stages: descriptive, explanatory, and explanatory. In terms of language use and expression, students need to express their personal evaluations through specific language, establish personalized voices and author identities, and enhance the credibility and persuasiveness of their arguments. The use of report verbs is crucial for expressing personal evaluations, and different types of report verbs have different rhetorical functions. Teachers should also cultivate students' citation awareness and behavioral norms when using evidence, to avoid plagiarism and other issues, including indicating the original author, accurately presenting the original ideas, and significantly transforming the original language. The teaching method of combining demonstration and practice helps students make progress in interpretation, citation, and other aspects.

5 Conclusion

The use of evidence is the core of English argumentative writing, and teaching should focus on improving students' ability to use evidence. The article proposes a "three-step" framework: evidence awareness, quality assessment, and integration. The teaching of English argumentative essays in China often neglects the cultivation of cognitive thinking, and students rely on personal experiences in constructing arguments, lacking the use of factual evidence. Teachers should enhance students' awareness of evidence, cultivate cognitive thinking, recognize the complexity of knowledge and the role of evidence. The quality of online resources varies greatly, and teachers need to guide students in evaluating the quality of evidence. Students need to integrate information resources into argumentation, and teachers should help students improve their language skills and understanding of academic norms, comprehensively enhancing their writing abilities.