Order 1111465: Persuasive Essay

Writing a Persuasive Paragraph or Essay

Choose a debatable topic

A debatable topic has two valid arguments. Your topic should be one about which you know something. The more

evidence you can provide, the more likely you are to sway your audience. You must plan on doing research and your

essay must be documented properly.

Formulate an argumentative thesis

Some topics have been discussed so often they are tired, uninteresting and not worthy of discussion. Choose a

current topic. Because the purpose of a persuasive essay is to convince readers to accept your position, your thesis

must take a stand. One way to make sure that your thesis actually does take a stand is to formulate an antithesis, a

statement that takes an arguable position opposite from yours.

Define your terms

You must make clear the terms you use in your argument. Be careful to use precise language in your thesis, avoiding

vague words such as wrong, bad, right and immoral, which convey different meaning to different people.

Accommodate your audience

Who are your readers? Are they unbiased observers or people deeply concerned about the issue you are discussing?

Are they skeptical, hostile, emotional or unconcerned? How will you convince each type?

Consider opposing arguments

You must know how to refute opposing arguments. Do this by showing that opposing views are untrue, unfair,

illogical, unimportant or irrelevant. Discuss the limitations of the opposing view. When you acknowledge an

opposing view, do not distort it or present it as ridiculously weak. This tactic, called creating a straw man, could

seriously undermine your credibility.

Gather evidence

Build your argument on assertions, claims you make about a debatable topic backed by evidence which is

supporting information in the form of examples, statistics or expert opinion. Document your evidence carefully.

Establish your credibility

Establish your credibility by finding common ground, demonstrating knowledge, and maintaining a reasonable tone.

Demonstrate knowledge about your subject by personal experiences and research. Make certain that you document

source material very carefully. For your instructor, an undocumented quotation or even an incorrect date can call an

entire paper into question. Use reasonable language, not emotionally charged language that will turn away the

reader.

Present your points fairly

Avoid distorting evidence and quoting out of context. In other words, be honest. Don’t Apologize

Never suggest that you don't know what you're talking about or that you're not enough of an expert in this subject

that your opinion would matter. Avoid phrases like, "In my humble opinion....I'm not sure, but....." Make a BOLD

statement and proceed with confidence!

Don’t Refer to Yourself

Do not announce what you are about to do in the essay. "In this paper, I will.......... The purpose of this essay is

to......." JUST DO IT! Do not say, "I believe students need less homework....I think there are other important

things.” State your opinions as FACTS. "Students need less homework because......"

Persuasive Essay Outline

Thesis:

I. The introduction

The introduction to your persuasive essay orients your audience to your subject. Tell the reader why your

subject is a valid concern, why it is interesting, or explain how it has been misunderstood. This is a short

paragraph.

II. Background Statements

Present a brief overview of the subject. You may include a narrative of past events, a summary of others’

opinions on your subject, or a summary of basic facts. Keep your background statement short; long,

drawn-out discussions at this point will distract your readers from the focus of your argument.

Your thesis statement should be toward the end of this paragraph. The thesis must contain your subject

and your stance. Follow the thesis with a statement of your major support ideas.

III. Support 1-This should be your weakest support.

A.

B.

etc.

IV. Support 2

A.

B.

V. Support 3-This should be your strongest support

A.

B.

VI. Refutation of opposing arguments

Anticipate the arguments, admit their strengths and then refute the points.

VII. Summarize key points, restate your thesis, reinforce the weaknesses of opposing arguments, or

underscore the logic of your position.

The conclusion restates in general terms the major arguments you have presented to support your thesis.

End with a strong last line, an apt quotation or a statement that captures the sentiments and intensity of

your argument.

A Persuasive Essay – Example

Writing the persuasive essay is not an English-class-only task. You will find that complaint letters, job

application letters, business presentations, grant applications, speeches, and many others can be structured

as persuasive essays. And why not? After all, their task is to persuade the reader. Most persuasive essays

are approximately 5 paragraphs in length, with the 3 middle paragraphs as the Body. The example here

has only 1 Body paragraph, and is in the form of a letter of complaint to Time magazine.

Paragraph 1: The Introduction

I've been a loyal Time reader for as long as I

can remember.

 Hook

I appreciate Time's ability to provide a clear

summary of the major news stories of the

week, supported by colorful pictures and the

occasional chart. For someone with little time

for newspapers, Time allows me to skim

through a week's worth of news quickly. Your

new layout, however, is hard to read and makes

skimming impossible.

 Transition

Time should return to its original design. Thesis statement

Paragraph 2: The Body

Readability studies published in the December,

2000 issue of Computer Magazine show that

most people read serif fonts faster and more

comfortably than they do sans-serif fonts.

Such studies also show that ragged-right or

justified layouts are easy to read, while ragged

left is not. Why, then, would the editors of

Time allow the magazine to be published using

a sans-serif font in a ragged-left format? A

one-page article, which I could skim in under

five minutes, now takes me at least ten to

decipher.

 The paragraph sticks to a single topic: the lack of readability of the new magazine.

 The paragraph uses an authoritative study as evidence to support the primary

argument.

Paragraph 3: The Conclusion

If you care at all about your loyal readers, you

will see the importance of returning Time to its

original design.

 Restates the thesis statement without using the exact same words.

Time is meant to be a time saver. It is meant to

provide a quickly-read summary of the week's

news for those of us too busy to read the

newspaper or watch CNN. Creating a layout

that makes quick reading difficult is bound to

cost you readers. This is a cost I am certain the

editors of Time are unwilling to bear.

 Summary of your central idea in the body paragraph(s).

Returning to your old format will help you to

keep me as a reader for many years to come.

 Graceful exit, here connecting back to the hook in the first paragraph

PERSUASIVE ESSAY RUBRIC

Criteria Quality

1 2 3 4

Make a claim I do not make a

claim

I make a claim but it

is buried confused,

or unclear

I make a claim but

don’t explain why it

is controversial

I make a claim and

explain why it is

controversial.

Give reasons in

support of the claim.

I do not give

convincing reasons

in support of the

claim.

I give 1 or 2 reasons

which don’t support

the claim well,

and/or irrelevant or

confusing reasons

I give reasons in

support of the claim,

but overlook

important reasons.

I give clear and

accurate reasons in

support of the claim.

Consider reasons

against the claim.

I do not give reasons

against the claim.

I acknowledge that

there are reasons

against the claim,

but don’t explain

them.

I discuss reasons

against claim, but

leave out important

reasons and/or don't

explain why the

claim still stands

I thoroughly discuss

reasons against the

claim and explain

why the claim is

valid anyway.

Organization

My writing is

aimless and

disorganized.

My writing is

usually organized

but sometimes gets

off topic. Has

several errors in

paragraph format.

My writing has a

clear beginning,

middle and end. I

generally use

appropriate

paragraph format.

My writing is well

organized, has a

compelling opening,

strong informative

body and satisfying

conclusion. Has

appropriate

paragraph format.

Word choice

I use the same words

over and over and

over.... Some words

may be confusing.

My words are dull,

uninspired or they

sound like I am

trying too hard to

impress

I use mostly routine

words.

The words I use are

striking but natural,

varied and vivid.

Sentence

Fluency

Many run-ons,

fragments and

awkward phrasings

make my essay hard

to read

My sentences are

often flat or

awkward. Some run-

ons and fragments

I wrote well

constructed but

routine sentences.

My sentences are

clear, complete and

of different lengths.

Conventions

Many errors

in grammar,

capitalization,

spelling and

punctuation make

my paper hard to

read.

Frequent errors are

distracting to the

reader but do not

interfere with the

meaning of my

paper

My spelling is

correct on common

words. Some errors

in grammar and

punctuation. I need

to revise it again.

I use first-person

form, and I use

correct sentence

structure, grammar,

punctuation and

spelling.