LEARN TO WRITE A PERSUASIVE ESSAY IN THESE EASY STEPS Persuasive essay writing is similar to being a lawyer, standing in front of a jury trying to provide suitable arguments for winning a case in point. As the writer you must take a stand on an issue which is either ‘for’ or ‘against’ and then build on the strongest possible arguments to persuade and win over the readers.
Your job as a writer of persuasive essays is that, you must convince the readers to accept your point of view or take a specific action. You must research well, be aware of the biases your readers’ have, as well as possess a solid understanding of both the sides of the argument you are proposing. Your ultimate goal with writing such an essay should be only to prove why your (the writer’s) point of view is correct and the opposing viewpoint incorrect.
Modern life uses persuasive writing as a daily fixture, so for a student of management studies it is a highly useful skill. Persuasive writing specimens can be found in advertisements, newspaper editorials, political speeches and blogs. More often than not, persuasive writing prompts include contemporary issues. For instance, “the school administration wants to determine if use of smart phones in schools should be allowed. Write a persuasive essay trying to convince the board to adopt your stand.” As it is understandable from this prompt the main point of writing such an essay is not only to inform people but more importantly to persuade them to think in a certain way.
We take the 4 step approach for writing persuasive essays:
At Management Paper we use the 4-step approach for writing a quality persuasive essay. Follow these steps to write a persuasive essay that will fetch you good grades:
Prewriting the persuasive essay: this step involves planning the whole essay and writing the first draft which will include most of the main points. You must choose your position, understand the audience, conduct the research,
and identify the most convincing points.
Organize your persuasive essay outline: plan and organize the evidence to put the strongest possible arguments in support of your point of view. If the instructor has provided with an essay structure then incorporate that into the outline. Usually a persuasive essay must contain 5-6 paragraphs. The main parts of a persuasive essay are – introductory paragraph, body
paragraphs, opposing view paragraphs, and finally a concluding paragraph.
Drafting the persuasive essay: when you pen down the initial draft of the essay always use a hook that grabs the readers’ attention. It may be a good idea to open with an unusual statistic or fact, a quote or question, or you may also use an emphatic statement. For example, “having your eyes stuck to your cell phone while walking through the school hallways is equivalent to driving drunk”. Revise the essay: in this step you should concentrate on modifying, reviewing and reorganizing your work with the goal to put it in the best way it can be. But make
sure you have these considerations in mind:
1. Is the point made in the essay firm enough? Has it been supported by ample facts? 2. Is the hook an effective one? 3. Is each paragraph complete with ample supporting facts and numbers? 4. Has the opposing view been refuted convincingly? 5. Does the concluding paragraph convey the main idea of the writer’s viewpoint and
effectively urge the reader to think and act accordingly?
Edit and proof read the persuasive essay: the final step of writing a persuasive essay is to edit and proofread it, for improving the grammar, style and clarity. It is recommended that you get your essay peer reviewed, i.e. read bya friend from the same field to be able to edit the essay with a fresh perspective.
What you choose to include in your persuasive essay is equally important to how you organize it!
Here are a few more tips for organizing your persuasive essay right:
1. When writing to an audience that will most likely agree with your point of view, always take a direct approach. 2. When delivering bad news, write in an indirect approach. 3. Also adopt an indirect approach when writing to an audience that is disagreeable or hostile to your position. 4. Follow proof first approach when presenting an argument to a sceptical crowd, but take the opposite method of providing the assertion first followed by the evidence when dealing with a favourable audience. 5. Make sure you end with a conclusion which is replete with recommendations and reassert your primary argument.
In closing thoughts, we would like to end with the following quote by Mikhail Bulgakov –
“There exists no bigger misfortune in the world apart from the loss of reason.”
So, understandably reason is the best tool you can use to persuade your audience be it sceptical readers or discerning peers, when trying to get a point through to influence them to change their perspective or take action, use the power of reason and truth wisely and you will be rewarded with loyal eyes and ears... We can provide you with essay writing help to persuade readers of diverse age groups and way of thinking. Simply drop in a line at our online chat box at our website and we will get you started from there.