Organizing an argumentative essay starts with a. creating an outline. b. thinking about the evidence. c. addressing counterclaims and counterarguments. d. gathering evidence and forming a claim.

D. gathering evidence and forming a claim.

Explanation:

An argumentative essay has as main objective to support the thesis formulated by the author, through the coherent and logical exposition of justifications or reasons, whose purpose is to persuade or convince the reader about a specific point of view.

The argument refers to the presentation of a set of reasons with the purpose of demonstrating or justifying a thing. Consequently, argumentation does not usually occur in a pure state and is usually combined with exposure. While the exhibition is limited to show, the argumentation tries to demonstrate, persuade, convince or change ideas. Therefore, in an argumentative text, in addition to the appellative function present in the development of the arguments, the representative function appears, in the part in which the thesis is exposed.