essay writing tips

essay writing tips

The Art of Persuasive Essay Writing

1. Introduction

Understand the purpose of writing a persuasive essay. Convincing someone of your point of view. Consistent use of ethos, pathos, and logos is the key to success. Focus on your main argument. Illustrate to the audience of the reader the significance of your views. Introduce the genre of persuasive essays. It’s important to give some kind of illustration that has a concrete idea. And the idea doesn’t have to be a rational idea necessarily because it can also be an emotion but in order to persuade people, we have to use our imaginative faculty. We cannot create anything new unless we envision an idea. We have to persuade people not only to see things our way but to feel and share an emotional experience. Because it’s not just in the academic world that scientists and writers use persuasive writing, but we all ought to. Every time we open so much as a cereal bar, we are targeted by people who want us to buy things. Every time we drive a car by which we have some freedom of movement, we’re persuaded to observe laws for our safety and that of others. Every time we vote in an election, we hope to persuade somebody. Every time we feel unjustly treated, we want to persuade somebody to take our part. Because when we can control our emotions and our ideas and learn to intertwine that with rationality, that will make our point of view much more persuasive. And that is exactly what we need when we try to persuade somebody orally and in writing. I’m professor of English and Director of the University Writing Program here at IUPUI, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis and of course my job involves what many of your teachers did which is to help students in mainly first year classes but also all across the university, to understand how important it is to develop sound arguments when they try to persuade someone of something. It’s very common when we talk about the kind media literacy and the kind of technology new generation students have and so forth, to forget the oral face of persuasion. But in fact, when we stand in front of a group of people, no matter how large or how small, we really have to understand our task as one of not only making ourselves clear but also inviting the audience to embrace the emotional stance that we’re asking them to take. And that’s where the imaginative aspect of persuading a person comes in. We have to get them to envision our ideas. I think really good writing and really good language learning, like anything else, is a developmental thing. And so over the course of the semester what I hope is that students who come from various backgrounds and various experiences and students who look to what they think they already know, about expressing themselves to the world, in any language, that they’ll be able to use a tool we often say is a tool, the writing and the language, that’s something’s very personal and it’s my hope that the students’ knowledge of persuading and using their own language will not only develop but they take that forward. Every time we open so much as a cereal bar, we’re persuaded to buy things. Every time we vote in an election, we hope to persuade somebody. Every time we feel unjustly treated, we want to persuade somebody to take our part. So, once we know how it all fits together in the genre of the essay, I can use the skill to persuade in many different forms. We know what it is, what the convention are, how to reach the audience, how to retain the focus and most importantly, how to move hearts. And that is how you write persuasively. All these lessons and work has been condensed to a maxim, a very famous maxim attributed to the Sophists of ancient Greece and it more or less tells you that the purpose of argument for them was to win, win over somebody. And it goes like this; “the man who knows to teach does not speak”. Thank you. Thanks for dropping in on at the Art of Persuasive Writing Program. Work hard and have much fun. Thank you.

2. Planning and Research

In section “2. Planning and Research” we discussed the paragraph writing processes. A key feature is advice on selection of the most appropriate point of view for the essay and the research and reading of the question. This topic can be enriched appropriately by consideration of existing viewpoints. And students can be encouraged to select a stance early in their planning and to continue to refine it as their reading progresses. By the time they come to write their essay, their long formal paragraph explaining a point should have more depth and character. I expand my approach to include a shared understanding that “differing viewpoints and approaches” can be read and explored. As an extension task, students can then locate an example of a reference to a scholarly point in the literature and discuss how and why the author has used these in support of the overall thesis. This activity would help to promote the appreciation of other forms of writing and expand on the gathering and selection of ideas. Mastery of perspective change in a formal paragraph is an exciting move for an A Level student. As well as insuring against writer’s block, this allows for alternative connections and allows the writer to incorporate a review into their own criticism, all essential skills for this level of study. In the “Art of Writing” there are many ways of catching your reader’s interest. Try to include a couple of identity details that will interest that reader and spark their attention to want to read more. Readers should be reminded that opinions are not evenly split along two or more groups. Each different standpoint should be considered holistically and students should be encouraged to use connectives and phrases which could introduce alternative viewpoints, for example, “on the other hand”. In conclusion, consideration of how to expand teaching, selection and the inclusion of the construction of argued essay paragraphs is an exciting move for a teacher seeking inclusive and innovative practices. Mastery of perspective change in a formal paragraph and the development of a new form of teaching and learning in the classroom is a thrilling opportunity for all involved and can offer great academic rewards for students in further study. Well that’s it. Thank you for visiting, I hope you found something useful for your own essay writing! And by the way – if you found this useful or interesting in any way, then please “like” my Facebook page to get the latest updates. I’ve just set it up, and my plans are for regular posts well into the future including free resources and ideas for teaching creative writing and much more! So don’t delay – like today!

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3. Structuring Your Essay

Draft and work to an essay plan. Structuring your essay. Like all other essays, your first paragraph in a persuasive essay should begin with a topic sentence. This is the first sentence of your paragraph. What this does is let the readers know what your paragraph is going to be about. The rest of your paragraph should also be focused on proving your point. You should always start your first sentence with a ‘basic’ statement and then elaborate and develop the point, making it much more specific by the time you reach your last sentence. This is called shifting from the ‘general’ to the ‘particular’. In order to give a reason why your opinion is important, you will need to make your opinion clear to the reader. Some good sentences for giving a reason are ‘in order to,’ ‘in other words,’ or ‘for this reason.’ Try to explain your point further, for example, ‘as a result’, ‘therefore’, or ‘because.’ A good paragraph will always have some sort of concluding sentence. It can be like a ‘kicker’ sentence. It should be well-structured with a fantastic kicker so that all the people can learn from your persuasive essay writing. The kicker is the very last sentence in the essay. It gives the reader a sense of closure on the topic given up. However, the kicker should be used only when it’s necessary. Many’s the time that it’s left off. You always know a kicker is needed when you see ‘in conclusion’ or ‘in summary.’ However, it is shorter and to the point. A conclusion should include a connection to the bigger picture – even in a science-related essay. This means you can include a thought-provoking sentence that will make the person think about what you said. All these points should be summed up in the kicker.

4. Writing Techniques and Tips

• You should give well-structured and well-reasoned argument without irrationality or anger. Read through your essay at least twice to identify and amend grammatical and spelling errors. Always ask your friends, classmate or a college tutor to give you a hand, as they may provide you the best advices and even support.

• Always connect your evidence to the main point. Each piece of evidence should be fully explained and clearly stated in the main body of the essay.

• Make sure you fully understand the viewpoint of the majority of people before you start your writing. You should have a deep knowledge about the different powerful ways of supporting your opinion.

• You should use your strongest arguments in the first and last body paragraphs, with the others falling in the middle. It is not wise to irritate your readers by shifting main arguments to different places; it makes readers feel your writing is illogical.

• You must do a thorough research in order to enlighten yourself with different facts and statistics for you to be better equipped to present logical arguments. Do not overlook the importance of making an outline before you begin writing. An essay must have an introduction, main body, and conclusion.

• You must have a firm opinion about an issue that you want your readers to accept. It can be a controversial topic like abortion, capital punishment or anything that your reader has a strong viewpoint about.

Practicing the below mentioned writing techniques can significantly affect the grade and feedback on your essay:

5. Conclusion

Based on all these aspects of persuasive writing, it is clear that the study of our “The Art of Persuasive Essay” book in the classroom offers so many practical applications in our society. The students and the society will definitely reap fruitful results when all said and done. There is no doubt in the fact that to become a good persuasive writer, we have to learn and practice at our best. The more we practice this, the more we will be able to harness this skill in a productive manner. This is for sure that nothing happens overnight. It needs time, patience and love for that subject in order to do it well. When the people start really writing in this form and start learning the value of that persuasive writing in our everyday situations, then the society can easily realize the valuable effect of writing in their life. Also, the benefit of employing those skillful techniques that are apparent chiefly in such occupation as law, advertising, and politics will be widened. On the final note, I hope that from the first page of introduction until the conclusion, I expect that readers will see a very useful and informative of all the tools in the “The Art of Persuasive” which has established a good understanding for developing a new skill of persuasive writing. This will definitely help for me and as well as for my classmates. Not only that, it will also help for all of us to become great fluent English writers. I am sure that after reading the book, I will have a good idea how to teach next time. I am hopeful that I will have fully understood how to use each aspect of a strategy of introducing a persuasive writing. This would definitely help me to identify the right methods in a proper order and the right tips in order to produce a well-established and a good piece. This book and the study will help us to know about a new era of English language. Also, even if I set up my class someday to teach some young students, I would definitely have an idea what textbooks should be used in my class in order to give a proper knowledge of persuasive writing. Wow, this was a great experience for me. I never thought that one day I have to go through such a long book which was assigned by INTI lecturers. And amazingly, it was very interesting. Especially the way of explanation in each chapter. I never get bored. Each page I turned and each example that I read, I was wishing that I should have learnt that this long time ago. But anyway, in my conclusion, I hope that I can put all these new ideas into my teaching in my new job soon. This was amazing. Thanks a lot for the writers once again. This would definitely help for me to recognize how to start and how to continue and finish a very persuasive writing. Such a good work. Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! Such a great book for wishing teachers like me. All the best! Brilliant once again!