Tips for Writing Really Persuasive Essays

A persuasive essay is sustained through writing techniques

Even though every essay tries to catch the reader’s attention, that is especially true when it comes to this specific kind of essay. Persuasive essays apply a series of techniques for persuading the readers to adopt the same point of view or opinion as the author. When you are writing this kind of essay, basically you must use logic and reason to demonstrate that one idea (your own) is more valid than another. By using a series of procedures and writing techniques, you try to persuade the reader to adopt the same point of view you are expressing or even taking an action based on the reading. The purpose is almost the same as advertising, even when in the last one, the action is always the same: buy, buy, keep buying and buy more!

How do these essays manage to persuade?

The basic rule to apply when it comes to writing argumentative essays is the following: do not try to prove other people wrong only by listening to your heart and intuition. On the contrary, in order to write a good argumentative essay, you should consider supporting your point of view with valid reasons, using facts, experts quotation and plenty of examples to prove your statement. It is this proper employment of rhetorical procedures and writing techniques, what gets the reader to embrace your same ideas.

Appropriate topics

When writing persuasive essays, you should choose a topic which must be debatable: no one can write a persuasive essay about the Sun being a star, since there are no doubts about it. Controversial subjects can include political systems, death penalty, taxes, immigration restriction, globalization or any other topic in which you can write down a thesis statement as well as its opposite.
From that list you can probably deduce that persuasive essay topics are unsolved issues, and when writing the essay, you must take a position, considering real facts that support it (maybe it isn’t really your own belief what you adopt, but the position you find more easily sustainable). Don’t try to move the reader’s feelings or beliefs, on the contrary, always base your whole essay on logic and reason. For example, you can’t support capitalism by saying “the reds were really bad guys”, but you can provide actual facts on how many people were executed in communist countries because of their beliefs.
That is the reason why, before actually starting to write, you should do a research and be well informed about your topic.

How to support your point of view

You must obtain facts from reading, observation or interviewing experts. Other way to support your argument is using plenty of examples, which make an abstract idea concrete. In order to find them you should read newspapers and books, so a visit to your local library sounds like a great idea. Direct quotes from experts in the topic are other valuable source of information.
Finally, always identify the opposite statement’s main points, and eventually prove them wrong. Reductio ad absurdum is the best resource to use in this part of your essay.

Tags: argumentative essays, persuasive essay, persuasive essays, writing techniques