Persuasive

Before You Write

Knowing your topic and audience well will help you create arguments that will appeal to your audience’s values and beliefs. When selecting a topic, choose something that is current and debatable. Arguing a perspective with which everyone agrees is easy but pointless—don’t be afraid to make a controversial argument if you have the evidence and logic to back it up.

Know your topic.

• • Select a topic and perspective that you can argue well.
    • Think about issues that are currently controversial and open to debate.
    • Select an issue, or topic, that you have some knowledge about and interest in.
    • Define your perspective on the issue. What reasons cause you to choose this perspective?
  • Research perspectives—yours and others—on your topic.
    • Read about your topic in a few general sources, such as encyclopedias or newspapers.
    • Write down interesting facts you find.
    • Write down questions you have about your topic.
  • Think about the ‘5 Ws’ of your topic.
    • What is it?
    • Who is involved, or to whom is it relevant?
    • When did it happen, or when does it matter?
    • Why is it important?
    • Where did it happen, or where is it relevant?

Know your audience.

• • Identify your audience—who, or what group, are you writing to?

In order to argue a point effectively, you must be aware of the criteria and values that your audience will use to evaluate and judge your argument. In a classroom, this is often a simple matter of research and logic; a well-researched and formed argument can succeed without truly persuading your teacher of your viewpoint.

However, in the real world, your powers of persuasion are measured by how well you convince the audience of your perspective. Thus, it is important to know what values, morals, and expectations your audience holds so you can address their concerns about your topic.

• • Think about who will read your writing.
    • What do they already know about your topic?
    • What beliefs might they already have on your topic?
    • Does your topic conflict with, or infringe on, their system of beliefs?
  • Consider whether there are aspects of your topic that your readers will find morally objectionable, offensive, or unfounded.
  • Plan how you will address points in your argument could lose your audience. How will you confront existing counterarguments to show your opinion is valid too?
  • Consider what your readers already know about your topic.
  • Gauge how familiar your readers are with your topic. How much background is necessary? How much explanation do you need to include?
  • Consider existing opinions, arguments, and theories on your topic. Which of these might your readers be familiar with or embrace? How do they fit into your argument?
  • Plan how your argument can build on your readers’ existing knowledge of the topic.
    • If you will contradict their existing knowledge, plan how you will introduce this conflict. How much attention do you need to give to others’ beliefs and theories in order to argue your point of view?

Know your purpose.

• • Think about why you are writing a persuasive piece.
    • Are you writing to educate readers of your perspective?
      • Why do your readers need to know about your values and beliefs in order to understand your perspective?
      • What other major perspectives or theories should you discuss to give your readers an educated understanding of the alternatives?
      • Which details are necessary for your readers to understand the topic from your perspective?
    • Are you trying to persuade readers into action?
      • What ultimate action do you want your readers to take? (e.g., buy a product, sign a petition, or stop a behavior such as littering)
      • Why do you think that they should do so?
      • What alternatives do you need to argue against to convince the reader to take your perspective? Which of these are worth mentioning?
    • Are you responding to another person’s perspective to provide a counterpoint?
      • Identify your points of contention (points with which you do not agree) with the original piece or article.
      • With which parts of the other author’s interpretation, logic, argument do you not agree?
      • What aspects of the topic did the other author miss or ignore?
      • How does your belief system differ from the other authors’? (For instance, politically, religiously, or moral-philosophically)
    • Are you writing an assignment or a report for an instructor or supervisor?
      • What requirements must you meet?
      • Are there specific questions you must answer?
      • How long should your final document be, according to your assignment or request?
      • What is the context of this assignment—how does the assignment fit into the course or project for which it is required?
  • Identify your goals for writing about your topic.
    • Think about what you want your readers to get out of your piece.
    • Identify your scope—focus your topic more specifically on the aspects which are most important to your perspective and purpose.
    • Consider what kind of argument you want to make to support your perspective.

Many ways to formulate an argument exist. They vary greatly in how much research and sound logic they require. Accordingly, each type differs in strength and validity.

For instance, an instructor would expect you to use a strong, research and fact-based argument, while op-eds and even political campaigns often use weaker, less valid appeals to emotion to persuade their readers to take a viewpoint. It is a good idea to back up any type of persuasive writing with facts and statistics.

Writing a Persuasive Piece

Once you have identified your topic, audience, and purpose, research your topic. Gather the notes, data, and quotations that you will need to write your piece. When you ready to write, use these guidelines to help you create an effective, well-written piece.

Focus/Purpose

• • Before you start writing, formulate a main idea, or thesis, that states your perspectives and arguments.
    • Make sure your main idea is controversial enough to spur reader interest—avoid covering a one-sided topic or arguing the obvious.
    • Make your main idea specific enough that you can cover it fully in the amount of writing you plan to do.
    • State your topic and perspective on it.
    • List the major arguments, or reasons your reader should support your perspective, that you will use.
    • Write out your main idea in a concise sentence that makes your topic, perspective, and arguments clear.

Development/Elaboration

• • Catch your readers’ attention with an interesting, informative introduction.
    • Start with a startling statement, fact, or quotation that will catch your readers’ attention.
    • Provide relevant background information that will help your readers understand the topic of your essay.
    • Define key words or major terms that your readers may not know.
    • Tell your readers what they will read about and why they should keep reading your piece.
    • Focus on information that will help your readers understand your topic and perspective.
    • Make sure your topic and main idea are clear from your introduction.
  • Include a powerful thesis statement at the end of your introduction that directly states your topic, perspective, and arguments.
    • State the subject or topic of your paper.
    • Indicate your perspective on the topic—what are you arguing?
    • List the major subtopics that you will discuss, in the order that you will discuss them.
    • Use precise, descriptive wording to make your thesis statement focused and concise.
  • Support your perspective with strong arguments and subarguments..
    • Identify major arguments, or themes, that will support your perspective and thesis.
    • Put your arguments in a logical order, so they flow and build on each other naturally.
    • Make sure the reader has enough background or general knowledge before introducing complex evidence and ideas.
    • Check that each argument and subargument clearly relates to and supports your thesis statement. Reword your thesis statement if it does not relate to the arguments you make to support your perspective.
  • Support your arguments and subarguments with examples, facts, anecdotes, and other evidence.
    • Use evidence such as facts and anecdotes, or other appeals, to persuade your readers to accept your perspective.
    • Group your evidence and information into your general arguments and then more specific sub-arguments.
    • Try to gather a range of evidence types, from statistics to quotations and anecdotes (short stories).
    • Arrange evidence or supporting details in a logical, convincing order.
  • Evidence is usually arranged according to type and reliability:
    • ‘Hard’ facts

Hard, indisputable facts, such as definitions, accepted explanations, and many figures or statistics are considered the most reliable form of evidence and usually introduced first.

• • • Formal reports and statements

Authorized reports, such as police or court reports, and formal statements are also treated as reliable forms of evidence.

• • • Examples

Real or hypothetical examples are the next most reliable source of evidence, as they provide a ‘perfect’ or ideal explanation of the topic or phenomena.

• • • Anecdote and quotation

These first-hand accounts provide only one person’s experience of the topic or phenomena. They help to illustrate the topic but are not as reliable as other forms of evidence.

• • Provide counter-evidence

Give evidence which goes against your perspective, and explain how it is faulty and why your perspective is still valid in spite of the counter-evidence.

• • Group information and evidence into paragraphs by topic.

In each paragraph:

• • • Begin with a topic sentence that states the argument or subargument you will put forth in the paragraph.
    • Tell how the argument relates to your perspective on the topic and supports your thesis statement.
    • Introduce the first fact, quotation, or piece of evidence that you are using to support your subtopic. Tell how it relates to the main topic of your paragraph and your overall point, your thesis statement.
    • State your evidence and details. Include the source, if necessary for your purpose in writing.
    • Explain the significance of this piece of evidence toward your main point. How does it support your perspective?
    • Repeat introducing, stating, and explaining pieces of evidence for additional evidence you have grouped into this paragraph.

1. • • 1. Do not include more than three (3) separate pieces of evidence in one paragraph.
       2. Divide groups of evidence into shorter paragraphs if necessary.
       3. Group the pieces of evidence that most strongly relate to, or support, one another in the same paragraph.
       4. Try to balance your arguments and evidence. Avoid creating one argument that has just one paragraph while another has three or four paragraphs full of evidence.
     • Conclude each paragraph with a sentence that sums up the point of the paragraph. Use concluding sentences to transition into the idea of the next paragraph, “bridging” ideas between paragraphs.
   • Sum up your points in a conclusion.
     • Restate your thesis in different words, wrapping up the main points of your essay and relating them to your stated perspective. Avoid phrases like in conclusion or to conclude.
     • Summarize each argument that you make in the essay.
     • Reiterate how these relate to your perspective and why they are important.
     • Stick to the information you have already presented in your essay. Conclusions are not the place to add surprise twists or finally show the reader what you are talking about—if you find you want to do this, revise your thesis and body paragraphs to include this ‘surprise’ information.
     • Write more personally and passionately in your conclusion. This is your place to ‘bring home’ the facts and evidence you have provided and make them real to the reader.
   • If appropriate for your purposes, make a call to action in your conclusion.
     • Tell the reader how to change their behavior, support your cause, or otherwise make a difference in the issue which you have written about.
     • Provide brief, specific instructions on what to do—where to go, who to contact, what website to visit.

Organization

• • Organize your ideas and information so they flow logically.
    • Examine your thesis statement or main idea.
      • Does it capture all of the points that you make in your writing?
      • Does it address your subtopics in the same order you do in your paper?
    • Identify ‘background information’ you provide.
      • Is it relevant to your main idea?
      • Do you include enough information for your readers to understand your topic and follow along?
    • Make sure necessary background information is provided early so that readers can make sense of the rest of your piece.
    • Use sound logic and reasoning when making your arguments.
      • Outline your arguments before beginning to write. It may be easier to see connections between ideas, notes, and evidence in an outline.
      • Make sure cause-and-effect statements are accurate—just because one thing comes before another does not mean it ’caused’ it.
      • Use words like however, although, therefore, thus, and so to reinforce logical relationships between ideas, but use them carefully. Do not imply logical connections by mistake.
      • Avoid ‘jumping to conclusions’ and interpreting evidence in unsupported ways. Make sure you can back up your arguments.
  • Use transitions to show how ideas are related to one another.
    • Think about how ideas or information are related, and use meaningful transitions.

Are ideas…

• • ordered by importance, in which the significance of one piece of information is greater than another?

Choose from the following words to show relationships of importance:

• • contradicting or being contrasted with another subject, argument, or statement?

Choose from the following words to show relationships of contrast or contradiction:

• • compared to another subject, argument, or statement?

Choose from the following words to show relationships of comparison or similarity:

• • cause-and-effect, in which one piece of information or action causes another?

Choose from the following words to show cause-and-effect relationships:

• • logically related, in which one piece of information leads to another through reasoning?

Choose from the following words to emphasize logical relationships:

• • Use appropriate transitions at the beginnings of sentences, linking ideas. Follow transitional words and phrases with commas when they are used at the beginning of a sentence.
    • Use transitions to build complex sentences, joining ideas within a sentence and showing how they are related.
      • When using a transition to introduce the first idea in a complex sentence:
        • Do not place a comma after the transition.
        • Write out the first part of the sentence, including a subject and a verb.
        • Place a comma after the first part of the sentence to separate it from the second idea that you include.
        • Make sure the second part of the sentence has a subject and a verb as well.

Example: Since the bald eagle was placed on the endangered species list, its population has recovered remarkably.

• • • • When using a transition between ideas in a complex sentence:
        • Write out the first part of the sentence, including a subject and verb.
        • Place a semi-colon (;) after the first part of the sentence.
        • Write the selected transition, followed by a comma.
        • Write the second part of the sentence, including a subject and verb.

Example: Winds from the tropical storm reached record velocity; however, no property damage has been reported in our area.

• • • Use transitions to begin paragraphs, showing how the subtopic in one paragraph relates to the one before it.

Language/Style

• • Write in a style that is appropriate for your audience and purpose.
    • Use a level of language that your readers will be able to understand.
    • Use a level of formality that is appropriate for your purposes:
      • Class papers = very formal
      • Newspaper articles = more formal
      • Professional writing = usually formal, depending on audience
      • Advertisements = informal
      • Online publishing (blogs) = more informal
      • Personal letters to friends = very informal
    • Avoid slang and jargon, unless your audience will understand and expect this kind of language use.
    • Use proper spelling and grammar.
  • Choose descriptive, active words to convey your points convincingly.
    • Choose your words carefully—avoid words that may have offensive or derogatory meanings to your audience.
    • Replace words that are vague or overused with more precise words.

For instance:

• • • • Replace a lot with an estimated or real figure, such as twice daily or 200 dollar’s worth.
      • Replace really with extremely, impressively, awfully, etc.
      • Replace nice with friendly, amenable, considerate, etc.
      • Replace good with pleasing, talented, delicious, etc.
    • Make sure you are using words correctly. Look up words whose meaning you do not know.
    • Use the Lexipedia word choice tools to help you find more descriptive words and synonyms and their meanings.