How to Write a Persuasive Essay?

Are you looking for tips on how to write a persuasive essay? In this article are simple guidelines for writing a convincing, persuasive paper.

Have you tried convincing a friend or a group of your opinion? It is difficult to persuade others to see things from your perspective, especially if they hold strong contrasting views. To convince them, you must present evidence and examples to support your opinion. This is how you write a persuasive essay.

A persuasive essay is a significant type of writing you may encounter at various academic levels. Often, students are required by their learning institutions to write a persuasive paper to help them learn how to discuss their analysis and also to strengthen their critical thinking abilities. Therefore, understanding how to write a persuasive essay will improve your grades and ability to think critically and construct an interesting argument.

A persuasive essay aims to persuade readers that your position on a topic is correct. This can be difficult to achieve because your reader may already have preconceived notions about the topic. Therefore, you must make a convincing argument to persuade the reader to accept your position.   

This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to craft an excellent persuasive paper that will earn your desired grades. You will also find an example of a persuasive essay that you can use as a reference and tips on how to structure your essay and make your writing process easier. 

What Is a Persuasive Essay?

A persuasive essay is a type of academic writing that requires the writer to hold a position on a subject. The writer can either support or oppose a position. In this essay style, you must convince the reader that your position is more valid than the opposing one by providing convincing arguments.

Persuasive essay writing differs from an explanatory essay in that you give information and attempt to maintain a balance between diverse opinions. In a persuasive essay, you are not trying to provide both sides of an argument, but only your side. 

The goal of a persuasive essay is to convince your readers that your opinion is valid. Clear evidence and support for your point of view are required to do this.

If you have not been given a topic, choose the one that interests you. This will give you the advantage of expressing yourself as much as possible. 

However, the topic and position you are passionate about may need more facts to warrant an entire essay. Given that you are writing an academic essay that is likely to have a required word limit consider choosing a topic and position that provides a lot of information.

Writing a persuasive essay requires significant research on your argument. In your research, it would be best to comprehend both your side of the argument and the opposing side. This can assist you in developing convincing and logical arguments to eliminate any biases your reader may have.

After gathering as much information as possible on the topic, you must write an outline to structure your essay. So, let us discuss essay structure.

Persuasive Essay Structure

The first step in learning how to begin a persuasive essay is understanding how to structure it so it is organized correctly. The structure of a persuasive essay, like any other essay, contains an introduction, body, and conclusion, but each section has a specific purpose in this essay type.

The persuasive essay type typically comprises five paragraphs. However, this standard structure is rarely employed in college courses because many topics cannot be analyzed and discussed in five paragraphs. Therefore, persuasive essays are flexible. Your essay's length will largely depend on your subject and viewpoint.

Here is a breakdown of each persuasive essay component and how to structure them correctly.

Introduction

The introduction to persuasive essays must be concise and attention-grabbing, which is why it usually begins with a hook to pique your reader's interest. It could be a debatable quote, an interesting statistic, a short narrative (anecdote) relating to your theme, or a thought-provoking question. Your question should not be an open-ended one but should be focused and persuasive.

After the hook, provide background information on the topic to provide an overview of the argument. Then include a thesis statement that clearly states your position on the topic. Later in this article, we will examine developing a good thesis statement.

Body

Three body paragraphs are required under the standard format. However, if you want to construct a convincing argument effectively, you need over three paragraphs.

The topic statement should be the first sentence of each body paragraph. This sentence introduces your argument and explains the paragraph's fundamental concept. Afterward, you must elaborate by providing relevant explanations to complement your topic statement. Then provide evidence to which the audience can relate. It could be facts, a physical description, or personal experience, but it must be logical.

Finally, conclude with a statement that references your topic sentence. Use phrases or words that effectively summarise your point. For example, "this shows that," "this aids in answering the question," and so on.

Conclusion

To ensure your audience knows your stance, you should briefly summarise the essay's essential points in the conclusion. The most effective way to begin your conclusion is to paraphrase and restate your thesis. Then, you can summarise your major points and explain how they support your thesis. Finally, ensure that the reader comprehends the significance of your essay and the arguments you have presented throughout the article.

How to Write a Good Essay Thesis

You need a strong thesis statement to understand how to make a persuasive essay that will convince your reader. A well-crafted thesis statement is likened to a road map because it introduces the subject of your essay and informs the reader of what to expect. In addition, a thesis statement guides your writing and keeps your argument focused as it entails your paper's topic and central theme.

A thesis statement is usually one or two sentences long and at the end of your introduction paragraph. It should be precise and arguable, so avoid broad or general statements. It should include the topic areas you want to address in your essay.

Before you craft your thesis statement, you first need an adequate understanding of your position on the topic. This can be accomplished by conducting extensive research before starting. Then, following your research, highlight three central ideas in your thesis statement that you still intend to cover in your essay.

Therefore, to write a persuasive paper, you need a thesis statement that states your position on the essay's main topic and three main points to support it. Here is an example of a thesis statement on the topic, “Should there be an increase in the production's taxation of sugary drinks?”

“Because frequent sugary beverages are linked to obesity, type II diabetes, and heart disease, the federal government should raise the tax on sugary drink production to discourage their consumption.” 

The above thesis statement clearly states the writer’s position on the argument topic and is supported with three significant points.

Persuasive Essay Writing Tips

Writing a persuasive paper can be challenging, so we have provided you with some tips to make your writing process easier. Here are some tips to remember when you want to write a persuasive paper.

  • In composing an attention-grabbing introduction, do not get caught up in creating a shock that you forgo accuracy. Your priority should be the accuracy of your essay.

  • It is common practice to save the best for last, but doing so in a persuasive essay will cause you to lose your audience. Instead, have a sound argument as your first body paragraph and another in the middle to draw your audience's attention if you lose it. You can also include one as the last of your body paragraphs.

  • Your persuasive essay should be formatted in MLA or Chicago. These formats are suitable for writing persuasively.

  • Organize your essay logically so that transitioning from one idea to the next does not appear to be a leap. You can accomplish this by using transition phrases or words such as "furthermore," "additionally," "Ultimately," or "next."

  • Your audience needs to know that you are knowledgeable about the topic and can prove your knowledge and credibility by acknowledging opposing perspectives. So, in one or two paragraphs, explain and refute some strong points of the opposing stance. 

  • The last of the persuasive essay steps is to double-check your essay to ensure it has proven the thesis. You do not want to support the opposing side mistakenly.

Persuasive Essay Example

Having persuasive essay examples as a reference for your essay can help you comprehend this form of writing better. As a result, we have included an example of persuasive essay writing. 

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