You can’t really avoid writing essays, particularly if you’re a college student. Why? The reason is simple, the professor wants to assess your knowledge of a certain subject, vocabulary skills, writing abilities, and so on. The best way to do so is to assign essays to students. If you decide to work as a writer, there’ll still come the time when you need to write them.
One of the most popular choices among clients and professors is a persuasive essay.
Personally, I like writing a persuasive essay because it gives me the liberty to express myself, my beliefs, opinions, and stuff like that. After all, the greatest advantage of essays is the ability to express yourself. I know how overwhelming it can be for some students to write a persuasive essay, particularly if you haven’t done it before. So, the goal of this post is to show you how to write a persuasive essay easily. Seriously, it’s not as complicated as you think.
Stuck on Your Persuasive Essay?
Check out these example persuasive essays.
But, I thought persuasive essay is the same as argumentative essay
The truth is; it is not uncommon for students and even some inexperienced writers to assume that persuasive essay is just another term for an argumentative essay. We’re discussing two different types of essay and although they may seem similar, persuasive and argumentative essays have numerous differences.
So, what is the difference?
Argumentative essay is defined as a genre of writing wherein a writer attempts to convince a reader (or more of them) to accept a certain idea as true by using statistics, facts and figures to form strong evidence that supports the argument. On the other hand, a persuasive essay is a form of writing which attempts to convince the reader to agree with the writer by using personal ideas, emotions, and so on.
One of the most notable points of difference between these two types is that argumentative essay relies on logic and reason, while persuasive essays focus primarily on personal opinions and emotions. The table below demonstrates main differences between persuasive and argumentative essays.
| Argumentative essay | Persuasive essay |
| Attempts to convince the readers to accept the writer’s idea with the help of statistics, facts etc. | Attempts to convince the readers to accept the writer’s idea via personal ideas, emotions etc. |
| Based on reason and logic | Emphasizes emotions and personal opinions |
| Acknowledges and discusses opposing views | May not acknowledge opposing views |
| Appeals to the reader’s mind | Aims to appeal to the reader’s heart |
| Goal is to get the reader recognize your opinion as valid | Goal is to get the reader agree with your opinion and adopt it |
| Always contains evidence to prove the argument | Writer may or may not use evidence |
Writing a persuasive essay
Before you start writing a persuasive essay it is essential to understand why it is different from the argumentative essay. At the same time, you should also understand that although your opinion and belief are the primary focus here, you shouldn’t neglect the power of good research and implementation of certain facts or evidence to enrich your essay and make reader even more willing to adopt your ideas.
The goal of your effort is to create an essay that will get you a good grade or a positive feedback from a client. Let’s face it; it’s not just about showing off your vocabulary skills and vast knowledge and stuff like that. You want to gain something after making all that effort, right?
To get that positive feedback or good grades, you have to submit a high-quality and well-structured essay. For that purpose, following a persuasive essay outline is always handy and, luckily for you, it’s available on this link. You’re welcome!
Your persuasive essay should contain the following:
- Introduction – never underestimate the importance of a well-crafted introductory paragraph. It should consist of the hook, the first sentence which grabs the reader’s attention as well as background information or something readers can relate to. Of course, the introduction ends with a strong, powerful, and precise thesis statement that shows the direction of your essay
- Body paragraphs – here, you basically have to mention all the reasons why someone should adopt a certain idea. This is where you have to motivate and persuade readers to think the same way as you do. You can use your opinions, beliefs as well as some examples and even evidence. You have the freedom to use any means necessary to persuade readers. Picture yourself as a lawyer who’s giving a closing argument at the court and has to persuade the jury why is defendant guilty or not guilty, and then just write
- Conclusion – this part is equally important as an introduction and body paragraphs. After making all that effort to create a powerful persuasive essay, you have to finish with a bang. The conclusion should provide a short summary of the topic, state its importance and benefits to the reader. You can also add call-to-action, depending on the subject, of course.
struggle as possible.
The process of writing persuasive essay
Although it may not seem like it to you now, writing persuasive essays can be fun. Seriously! You choose your side and try to persuade readers to think the same. This is something you do on a daily basis. You always have discussions with your friends or family members and try to make them think the same way you do about anything, politics, economy, sports and so on. This is also something you do online, just in a shorter form. Each time you engage in discussion about a certain idea or topic, you try to persuade another person why you’re right. Well, the persuasive essay does exactly the same, just in a bigger form.
So, how does the process work, actually? Following an outline is extremely helpful and guarantees you’ll submit a paper with all elements that persuasive essay should have.
Persuasive essay writing process should look like this:
Decide on topic or issue
There are two scenarios: you’ll either get a topic from your professor (or client) or you’ll have to think of one on your own. When the topic is assigned, you should think about the best way to approach it. On the other hand, if you have the freedom to choose the subject and title of your essay, you should always go for something you feel passionate about or topic you feel competent discussing.
Pros and cons
Sometimes you are assigned a certain topic but you don’t really know what side to take, particularly if you don’t know much about it in the first place. It is useful to take a piece of paper and write down a list of pros and cons. Do you agree with the topic? Do you disagree? You can also ask yourself whether your viewpoint is a good one. This will also come useful if you decide to include opposing views to your essay. You can just go through the list of topic pros and cons and you’ll know what to mention if necessary.
Know your audience
When it comes to persuasive essays, it is essential to know your audience. The best way to get them adopt your ideas is to write something they can easily relate to.
Research
Regardless of how much you know (or don’t know) about the topic, it is highly important to do a thorough research. Get informed, write stuff down, read reliable journals and other sources to get as much info as possible to use in a bid to persuade your reader. Although persuasive essay may or may not include evidence, it’s always better when you can support your ideas with valid proof. Combine that and your passion, beliefs, opinion, and you’re going to “nail it”.
Create a thesis statement
The thesis statement is crucial, as mentioned above. It’s the anchor that prevents you from drowning. As long as you stick to the thesis statement and try to elaborate what you wrote in it, you won’t wander off the subject. Without thesis statement, you risk of straying off the topic. Throughout your essay, you have to be specific and on point, being too vague is confusing for both you and the reader. So, take some time to create a powerful, specific, and interesting thesis statement. Write it down.
Organize your ideas
Once you create a thesis statement, you’ll have a bunch of ideas for your essay. Don’t neglect any of them. Instead, write them down one by one. These ideas are reasons why someone should adopt your opinion and you can use them in your essay. All you have to do is to organize them to make sure your essay has logical or chronological flow.
Write
At this point, you have your topic, approach you’re going to take, research notes, thesis statement, organized ideas, and all you have to do is to combine them in an essay. For this, you’ll have to follow persuasive essay outline, yet another reason to click on the link I posted and learn how to do so. When you’re done writing the first draft, it’s time to make necessary revisions and edits to get a well-written high-quality essay.
Bottom line
Persuasive essay allows you to use any “means necessary” to persuade readers to adopt your opinion. They’re fun to write as you get to play the lawyer or some important politician giving a speech to win the election. Follow the outline, explain why your idea is better and why a reader should think the same way, and feel free to express your passion and opinion. Once again, create a first draft and then start editing, proofreading, revising, to make the final version phenomenal.
