In many ways writing a persuasive essay is very similar to presenting a case in a courtroom. In the same way that a lawyer delivers his defense to a jury, a persuasive essay presents a situation to the reader and attempts to persuade them to agree with it. Basically, when a student is asked to write a persuasive essay they are expected to take sides with a specific issue and compose a presentation that is both convincing and insightful. A successful persuasive essay should make a fact-base argument for why the author’s perspective is correct and why the opposing point of view is incorrect. We often find examples of persuasive writing in everyday life- marketing materials, newspaper articles and bloggers often share many of same qualities as a persuasive essay. It is quite common for persuasive essays to be written regarding controversial ideas because it is an effective narrative structure for presenting an opinion on a matter that is often debated. To help students become better at writing in this format we have included a helpful list of persuasive essay tips.
Before You Begin, Choosing A Side
When you first sit down to write your persuasive essay it is a good idea to begin by brainstorming different ideas in order to help you choose your position. One way to do this is with a two-sided chart where you list all of the arguments that you can think of supporting both sides of the issue.
Once you have done this you can select a side to write about using one of two methods.
- Emotional selection: choose your position based on your own personal opinions and thoughts regarding the given topic
- Logical selection: choose your position based on strongest evidence points and most “logical” perspective
After you have determined side you will be persuading the reader to take, choose your supporting evidence points based on the strongest examples that you have included in your list. You may have to do a bit of preliminary research to make sure that there is enough fact-based evidence to use for your essay