How to Write a Persuasive Essay
Persuasive essay is also known as an argumentative essay. This type of academic assignment requires a student to formulate a certain idea (or use an existing one) and prove that it is more legitimate than the others. A writer has to persuade a reader and make him/her agree with the author’s point of view. The argumentation of a persuasive essay should be based on a good reasoning and solid evidence by presenting statistics, facts, and logical reasons quoting professionals and using examples.
As a rule, students fail to compose a winning persuasive essay because they are not convincing enough. To make your persuasive essay really persuasive, you have to keep up with certain writing and researching strategies. Find out more about these strategies in the article below.
Follow these 4 simple steps when writing a persuasive essay
- As a rule, an issue or a problem discussed in a persuasive essay has two and more sides. First, you should come up with your own opinion and get a solution that can solve this issue. This first step will help you formulate the purpose of your persuasive essay.
- Evaluate your audience according to a chosen opinion. Try to figure out the potential reaction of your readers: will they agree, disagree, or stay neutral? Provoke critical thinking in your reader.
- Perform a solid research. The core of your persuasive essay is convincing evidence. Therefore, you should go far beyond your personal opinion and personal experience to develop a strong and confident position. Use the Internet to find reliable sources and visit a college library. You can also interview people who are experts in your question and include their opinion in your paper.
- Don’t forget about the structure and logic. Think carefully about the evidence you are going to provide and figure out the order in which you will present it. Work up the seed of your argument while writing and decide in what order your ideas will be presented to make the overall argument more convincing. Remember to place each new idea in a separate paragraph and back them up with quotes or statistics. Things to consider while you are structuring your paper are your topic, your purpose, and your potential audience.
How to produce an argument for your persuasive essay
- Research your topic and take notes to get enough knowledge before you start writing your persuasive essay. You should be well-informed about the both sides of an argument to defend your point of view effectively.
- Develop a good thesis. To determine whether your thesis for a persuasive essay is a good one, test whether it has two sides. Your argument should be debatable. Try to write a thesis that is opposing to your own. If you can do that, it means that your thesis is effective and debatable.
- Try to disprove the opposite point of view. To do that, you should learn the opposite argument carefully and counter it by means of strong and contrasting evidence or by highlighting uncertainties and mistakes in the logic of an opposite idea.
- Appeal to reason and support your position or idea with trustworthy evidence.
Ways to support the argument of your persuasive essay
- Statistics. Statistics provide perfect support. Remember to sue the statistics from the reliable sources only.
- Facts. To convince your audience, you should use facts from the readings or your personal experience.
- Quotes. Include direct quotes from the reliable sources expressed by professionals that support your position.
- Examples. Examples make the ideas more concrete and deliver proof.
Persuasive essay writing is not easy, but hopefully these recommendations will come in handy.