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Persuasive Essay
What is a persuasive/argument essay?
Persuasive writing, also known as the argument essay, utilizes logic and reason to show that one idea is more legitimate than another idea. It attempts to persuade a reader to adopt a certain point of view or to take a particular action. The argument must always use sound reasoning and solid evidence by stating facts, giving logical reasons, using examples, and quoting experts.
When planning a persuasive essay, follow these steps
Choose your position. Which side of the issue or problem are you going to write about, and what solution will you offer? Know the purpose of your essay.
Analyze your audience. Decide if your audience agrees with you, is neutral, or disagrees with your position.
Research your topic. A persuasive essay must provide specific and convincing evidence. Often it is necessary to go beyond your own knowledge and experience. You might need to go to the library or interview people who are experts on your topic.
Structure your essay. Figure out what evidence you will include and in what order you will present the evidence. Remember to consider your purpose, your audience, and you topic.
The following criteria are essential to produce an effective argument
Be well informed about your topic. To add to your knowledge of a topic, read thoroughly about it, using legitimate sources. Take notes.
Test your thesis. Your thesis, i.e., argument, must have two sides. It must be debatable. If you can write down a thesis statement directly opposing your own, you will ensure that your own argument is debatable.
Disprove the opposing argument. Understand the opposite viewpoint of your position and then counter it by providing contrasting evidence or by finding mistakes and inconsistencies in the logic of the opposing argument.
Support your position with evidence. Remember that your evidence must appeal to reason.
The following are different ways to support your argument:
Facts - A powerful means of convincing, facts can come from your reading, observation, or personal experience.
Note: Do not confuse facts with truths. A "truth" is an idea believed by many people, but it cannot be proven.
Statistics - These can provide excellent support. Be sure your statistics come from responsible sources. Always cite your sources.
Quotes - Direct quotes from leading experts that support your position are invaluable.
Examples - Examples enhance your meaning and make your ideas concrete. They are the proof.
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What is a persuasive essay? Put simply, a persuasive essay is a short commentary designed to persuade your audience. It is an article traditionally five paragraphs long that communicates your position in a persuasive manner.
At the college essay level, the persuasive essay is used to demonstrate your writing skills and how well you understand a topic. In the real world, a persuasive essay can be a sales letter, a job application or even a presentation to a group of people.
The persuasive essay is constructed using a title, thesis statement, supporting paragraphs and a conclusion. Let’s break these down a little further:
1. Title
The title is straightforward. What topic are you writing about? You can be a little descriptive here to give your reader a brief overview of what you are discussing. For example, your title heading might be “Modern Eco Friendly Housing”. You haven’t taken a position yet but you are letting your reader know what is to come.
2. Thesis Statement
This is a statement about what you are trying to convince your readers of. For example, your thesis statement might be “Housing made from renewable resources have a low carbon footprint compared to traditional construction methods”. Make your thesis statement a little controversial to emotionally involve your audience. But only be a little controversial. If you take the extremist point of view, you risk alienating your readers.
The thesis statement is a bait to hook your readers. If you need help with how to write your thesis statement, then walk through your local mall or turn on the TV. You are surrounded by them every day. Advertising headlines are great examples of thesis statements that capture attention.
3. Supporting Paragraphs
A persuasive essay will normally have a minimum of three supporting paragraphs. Start each supporting paragraph with a statement that supports your main thesis. Back up their statement with facts or testimonials from well known sources. Facts form the foundation of your argument and allow you to act as an authority on the subject.
The key to your supporting paragraph is to remember that a fact is not debatable. The statement you make in these paragraphs is an emotional interpretation of these facts to persuade readers. Marketers know the best way to sell something is to use the Feature-Benefit rule. First, identify a feature (or a fact) and then draw the reader in with the benefit they will receive by agreeing with you. Marketers sell the sizzle, not the sausage.
For example, “Good orientation increases the energy efficiency of a home, making it more comfortable to live in and cheaper to run”. Good orientation and energy efficiency is the feature. But what does it mean to the house owner? The benefit to the owner is a house that is comfortable to live in and cheaper to run.
4. Conclusion
The last part of the persuasive essay is the conclusion. If you are like most students, you are writing your essay just hours before it is due. Your writing skills are fading and you just want it done. Make a mistake here and all your effort is down the drain. The conclusion is the call to action. If you are selling something, then this is a real physical action such as clicking on the buy button. In your essay, the call to action is having your reader agree with you.
Use your conclusion to remind the reader of what your thesis statement is together with your supporting facts. Next, tell your reader what to. If you’re selling a product, tell them to buy. If it’s a job application, ask for the interview.
What happens if your reader does not take action? It does not mean you have failed, it just means you have not taken into account the objections your readers have. These are the “No’s” that you must overcome before you can get to a “Yes”. Persuasive essays use passive argument to overcome objection. When you first sit down to write, ask yourself what objections will your readers have to your ideas? Now, what features and benefits can you discuss to overcome these objections? For example –
Objection: Eco-friendly housing is expensive when compared to other designs.
Feature/Benefit: Savings in heating and cooling will quickly offset the price over just a few years.
In the paragraph above I stated that a persuasive essay uses passive argument. This is where you focus on the features and benefits of your point of view. You do not actively discuss the opposing view. If you are in a job interview, you don’t talk about how good the other candidates are for the job, you focus on how you can fill their needs. If you use an active argument discussing both sides of the topic, then you are writing an argumentative essay. Both essays are often confused and I will discuss the argumentative essay in my next article.
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How to Write a Persuasive Essay
When writing a persuasive essay, your purpose is to convince your audience to embrace your idea or point of view. Keeping this purpose in mind is the key to writing an effective persuasion.
Essential steps for writing a persuasive essay:
Identify your main idea or point of view. Your purpose will be to persuade your audience to accept this idea or point of view.
Identify your audience. To write an effective persuasive essay, try to understand your audience. For example, are your readers undecided about your issue? Or are your readers hostile to your point of view?
Considering your audience, identify the strongest supporting points for your persuasion.
Identify the most significant opposing view. Explaining and then refuting the opposing view strengthens the credibility and scope of your essay.
How to organize your persuasive essay:
Introduction
Your introduction should hook your reader's attention and provide background information on your topic or controversy.
The paragraph should end with a clear statement of your main idea or point of view.
Body paragraphs
Your body paragraphs should present the points in support of your main idea.
Each body paragraph should focus on one point.
Be sure to provide evidence or examples for each point.
Opposing view
After presenting your supporting points, develop one paragraph to accurately explain and then refute the most significant opposing view.
Conclusion
Creatively restate your main idea and supporting points.
Try to leave your audience even more connected to your topic and persuaded by your main idea or perspective.
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Persuasive essay
The main aim of persuasive essay is to show that your argument is true. It attempts to convince the reader that your point of view is more legitimate than others. Once you have developed some argument, you should back it up with available evidence and examples.
For many students the planning of the persuasive essay is not an easy matter. The following steps will facilitate the process:
- Define your attitude on the mater. You should express clearly and convincingly why you have chosen this position on the subject of your research.
- Study your prospective audience. Try to find out whether your audience will agree with the argument, whether it accepts or disapproves of your position.
- Examine closely the subject. All arguments in persuasive essay should be backed up with reliable and trustworthy evidence.
- Plan your essay. Try to design your essay by figuring out the order in which you will present your evidence.
To write a sound persuasive essay, do:
- be well informed about the subject you research. You should research thoroughly the topic and provide reliable legitimate resources to back it up.
- Re-examine your thesis. Your thesis, like a coin should have two sides. It should be arguable. In order to make it arguable provide counter thesis to your argument.
- Understand another point view. In order to make the best of your presentation, find out why other people hold a different point of view. Examine the weak points of their arguments (on this stage it you should closely examine the weakness of your points as well).
- Back up your arguments. All your evidence should be reasonable and reliable. You might include some statistics as well. In this case, do not forget that you must cite the sources.
- Provide some quotes. Sometimes, it is indispensable to provide some quotes from reliable and reputable experts.
- Include examples. They enhance the reader's credibility.