The aim of a persuasive essay comes from its name – to persuade the reader that a certain idea is true or to make them take action towards a concrete goal. Usually, you have to compare the mentioned idea with other ones and through a chain of logical evidence proves its accuracy. Of course, people who don’t have much experience in writing a persuasive argument essay might find it difficult at first. Here are a few tips to guide them through this process.
Before you get down to writing a persuasive essay, plan the following steps in advance.
- Find your position. The main thing you need to do when planning a persuasive essay is deciding what precise idea you’re going to support. Usually, if you have a conflicting situation, you’ll discover a few different points of view on it, and one should resonate with you.
- Who is your audience? Once you’ve got your point of view, analyze what your audience will think of it. Will they be in favor or will they view it skeptically? This will predetermine the tone of your essay.
- Do a research. After you know what and how you need to write, accumulate a sufficient amount of information for your essay. If you want to write a complex essay that provides enough strong arguments, you often need to research the topic to deepen your own knowledge.
- Write a plan. After you’ve done your reading and found all evidence you needed, work on the structure of the essay. Try different orders in which you can incorporate parts of your essay and decide which one works the best for you.
- Use different techniques. When it comes to supporting your idea with evidence, you should use different types of information. The most popular and useful ones are facts, statistic numbers, quotes of recognized figures and examples.
To be able to write a successful persuasive article, you need to fulfill the following criteria:
- Know what you’re writing about. If you feel like you lack in knowledge – research. Don’t just slack the essay because it might cost you the grade.
- Write the right thesis. The thesis statement is the core of your essay so avoid making mistakes in it. Present the idea you’re going to support but don’t discredit other points of view. In addition, don’t show everything in the thesis, keep your evidence for the main part.
- Find a way to refute opposing viewpoints. Your essay will be judged critically so you should be one step ahead and already disprove the counter-arguments that might arise. Though don’t spend too much time doing so because you still need to focus on your own idea.
Remember that the key to writing a good persuasive essay is in strong arguments. If you manage to get enough evidence and present them in a smart way, no one will be able to disprove your idea, and you’ll get the highest grade for your essay.