Persuasive Writing
About this strategy guide.
This strategy guide focuses on persuasive writing and offers specific methods on how you can help your students use it to improve their critical writing and thinking skills.
Research Basis
Strategy in practice, related resources.
Students often score poorly on persuasive writing assessments because they have no authentic audience or purpose; thus their counterarguments and rebuttals are weak. However, if they see writing as personally meaningful and a useful way to express their needs and desires, they will want to improve their skills in writing style, content, spelling, and other mechanics. Research shows that young children are capable of anticipating their readers’ beliefs and expectations when writing for familiar readers to get something they want and when prompted to think about their audience’s perspective while writing. 1 Teachers can also guide students to analyze examples of persuasive writing and understand the author’s purpose. Before writing a persuasive piece, students should understand how persuasion is used orally in everyday life by practicing making short, convincing speeches about something that’s important to them. 2 1 Wollman-Bonilla, J. (2000). Family message journals: Teaching writing through family involvement. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
2 Wollman-Bonilla, J. (2000). Family message journals: Teaching writing through family involvement. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Here are some ways you can help your students master persuasive writing:
- Have students listen to and analyze various persuasive speeches and writings in the media (e.g., newspapers, magazines, television, and the Internet), looking for words, phrases, and techniques (e.g., reasons, repetition, counterarguments, comparisons) that are designed to persuade. This improves critical reading and thinking skills. The Persuasive Strategies PowerPoint offers some of the more common techniques.
- Break down the elements of a persuasive speech or piece of writing: an introduction that states the position clearly, at least three pieces of evidence to support the position, and a conclusion that restates the topic and summarizes the main points. The interactive Persuasion Map provides a framework to help students organize their ideas before writing.
- Challenge students to address what people currently believe about the issue so that they can convince them to change through counterarguments. Have them interview 5–10 people (with varying perspectives) about their current beliefs on an issue and create a graph to see patterns in people’s arguments. Students can mention these different beliefs toward the beginning of their writing piece before they make their own argument.
- Find authentic opportunities for students to write persuasive letters to family or community, speeches, classified advertisements, and other persuasive pieces. After a unit on recycling, for example, students could write a persuasive letter to their families to convince them to recycle more. Or students might write to their school librarian and try to convince him or her to purchase something in particular for the library. The Speechwriting Website offers a student tutorial, tips from the pros, and audio samples of other students’ writing.
- Incorporate peer review techniques so students analyze and improve each other’s persuasive arguments (oral or written). See Teaching Writing: Peer Review for further guidance. Use the Peer Review Guidelines for Persuasive Letters to guide students’ review of persuasive letters.
- Challenge students to differentiate fact and opinion from an article. Start by discussing short examples to see if students understand the difference. Use the Fact vs. Opinion handout from Education Oasis to reinforce this concept.
- Show students examples of how community discussion on an issue can lead to alternative positions that take different people’s needs into account, perhaps by looking in the editorial section of the local newspaper. Issues such as adding bike paths or improving parks might be interesting for the students to follow. You might encourage them to participate by having them write a letter to the editor.
- Encourage students to participate in online role-play, respond to YouTube videos or blogs, or create their own websites as ways for students to debate a real issue with a broader audience.
Vary the types of assignments you give to meet the different learning needs, styles, and interests of your students. If students sense that voicing their opinions may lead to change, it can motivate them to formulate effective arguments for their positions and propose possible solutions.
- Lesson Plans
- Student Interactives
- Calendar Activities
- Strategy Guides
Through a classroom game and resource handouts, students learn about the techniques used in persuasive oral arguments and apply them to independent persuasive writing activities.
Students analyze rhetorical strategies in online editorials, building knowledge of strategies and awareness of local and national issues. This lesson teaches students connections between subject, writer, and audience and how rhetorical strategies are used in everyday writing.
The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate.
Students examine the different ways that they write and think about the role writing plays in life.
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- Kindergarten K
Learn About Persuasive Writing Techniques and Tips
Table of Contents
Persuasive writing is a kind of creative writing strategy that uses words and phrases in a way to convince the readers. By using appropriate persuasive writing techniques, as a writer, you can persuade your readers and make them believe your ideas, and perform an action. Moreover, to showcase to your audience that you know a lot about your field of study, you can implement persuasive writing strategies in your work. Basically, this kind of writing necessitates extensive research and knowledge of the subject. In general, Good persuasive writing not only explains why the author’s views are right but also why the opposing viewpoint is wrong. Most importantly, all these things will allow the reader to follow in the author’s footsteps and understand things from the author’s point of view.
Do you know how to include persuasive writing techniques in your work? In case, you have no idea, keep on reading this blog post. Here, you will understand everything about persuasive writing strategies.
Steps for Persuasive Writing
Here we will discuss some persuasive writing tips.
1. Plan outline
Planning is the first step. To write an effective essay, the writer should follow the reader’s prospect. Which side the reader is more prompted to favor?
The writer should decide which issue he wishes to advocate? The writer must be ready to present enough evidence to defend his side. He should have a solid command over the topic. Gather information from multiple sources and reference works for incorporating the correct persuasive writing techniques in your writing. Communicate with teachers and subject matter experts. Highlight key points and relevant facts. The author must understand both parts of the matter. Also, identify the key points for the opponent’s view.
To frame an outline, bring the evidence in support of his document.
- Paragraph: Provide an introduction to the argument. Grab the attention of the audience and end with a statement that acknowledges the side to be defended.
- Body paragraph: The author should focus on a single piece of evidence. Provide supporting arguments, in favor of your every detail.
- Opponent’s view: Also, highlight the key points of the opposition party.
- Conclusion paragraph: Summarize the contention and supporting evidence.
2. Draft the essay
The introductory paragraph should be self-explanatory and should hold the audience’s attention. Begin the paragraph with an emphatic statement, statistic, quotation or question. The thesis should be clear about the writer’s intention. Each sentence in a paragraph should give evidence such as real-life explanations, accepted and relevant facts, quotations from experts, data, and statistics in support of it.
Learn several ways to support your argument like illustrating a situation and drawing comparisons. The audience may not have a deep knowledge of the topic. So the author must give some brief information. Summarize the concluding paragraph with strong evidence so that the reader is encouraged to take action. The closing lines should imply that the immediate reaction is required. It should provoke readers to take the issue seriously and bestow the readers with definite solutions.
3. Alter the essay
In this phase, the writer should review, reorganize and modify so that it can turn out to be the best one.
Review the below points.
- Does the essay is supported by facts, events, and analysis?
- Does it support every point with strong pieces of evidence?
- Are the grammar, punctuation, and structuring of the sentences up to the point?
- Does the essay keep the reader’s engaged?
- Does the essay compel the reader to stay on it for a long time and prompt to act?
The thesis should present the clear viewpoints of the author and also the opponent’s opinion. If the essay is still missing the preciseness, review it again and make the necessary changes.
4. Edit the essay
Next, proofread the document before publishing. Check grammar, punctuation, and editing to maintain the clarity and style of the document. Also, allow others to read it. They can find the mistakes more accurately.
5. Publish the essay
Finally, publish the essay and wait for feedback from the people. Allow friends and colleagues to read it. This will make the entire process more exciting.
Read more: Understanding the Tips of Writing Persuasive Text.
Types of Persuasive Writing
The types of persuasive writing are:
1. Logos/Call to reason: In this type, the writer will use strong facts and evidence to assure the reader about your strong arguments. The use of graphs, numbers, and percentages can strengthen your writing.
In the example, the numbers persuade the readers.
E.g. Eating 6 almonds and 10 raisins improves your health.
2. Pathos/call to emotion: This type of writing is like an emotional appeal to the readers. The author uses a strong weapon of emotions. The emotional appeal allows the reader to follow the author’s side.
For example, every day so many people die because of eating unhygienic food.
Homeless people and animals have no one to take care of.
These sentences persuade the reader to have faith in the author’s writing. They will make a sentimental appeal in the minds of the people. You can also write about how to fight corruption, how to stand up against intolerance, and why people should not disrespect their elders.
3. Ethos/call to character: In such writings, the author attempts to portray his image as a person of virtue and character. Here, the writing will show his knowledge, moralities, and spirit. The reader will be a judge here and will decide if he wants to believe the writer or not. The common example is when famous people are endorsed through advertisements.
For example, if a medical student wrote about the business will not be well-granted and credible
Why Students should learn it?
This type of writing explains to the students to carefully chose the words and develop rational discussions. Moreover, students will learn to present string evidence and use balanced and correct information with reasonable instances. They can also enhance their observations and develop their research skills. His opinion can make the article more credible.
Techniques used in Persuasive Writing
Some persuasive writing techniques, that author can use are:
- Use words that convey a particular emotion to the readers.
- Repeat the words to intensify the effect.
- To make a point, use personal experiences and short stories.
- Connect with each section of the audience by writing in everyday language.
- To rouse the audience, use words that make you feel.
- Make use of metaphors and definitions to influence.
- Include homonyms and rhymes.
- Adapt mocking tone.
- Use experts’ opinions to make your argument stronger.
The Bottom Line
We hope you have now gained a better understanding of persuasive writing strategies. If you find it difficult to make your write-up more persuasive, reach out to us immediately. At greatassignmenthelp.com, we have numerous assignment experts in diverse fields of study to assist you in writing persuasive assignments as per your needs. Simply utilize our online assignment writing services at a reasonable cost and enjoy the extraordinary scholastic benefits it offers.
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Persuasive Writing
In this language arts unit, students learn how to “argue on paper” using a fictional case about a school dress code rule against band t-shirts. The lessons take them through the process of writing two persuasive essays: one supporting the rule and one opposing it. After the essays, we suggest having your class play the game Supreme Decision to see how these arguments relate to issues of freedom of speech in schools. Supreme Decision is an excellent fit with the language arts classroom because it requires reading comprehension and higher-order thinking skills in the application of rules and evaluation of arguments.
Lesson 1: So You Think You Can Argue
Lesson 2: I Can't Wear What??
Lesson 3: Lookin' for Evidence
Lesson 4: no rambling allowed, lesson 5: yeah, but..., lesson 6: the dreaded outline, lesson 7: emphasize, minimize, lesson 8: from outline... to essay, see how it all fits together.
Writing a Persuasive Essay
View in pdf format, the introduction.
Simply enough, the introductory paragraph introduces the argument of your paper. A well-constructed introductory paragraph immediately captures a reader’s interest and gives appropriate background information about the paper’s topic. Such a paragraph might include a brief summary of the ideas to be discussed in body of the paper as well as other information relevant to your paper’s argument. The most important function of the introductory paragraph, however, is to present a clear statement of the paper’s argument. This sentence is your paper’s thesis. Without a thesis, it is impossible for you to present an effective argument. The thesis sentence should reflect both the position that you will argue and the organizational pattern with which you will present and support your argument. A useful way to think about the construction of a thesis sentence is to view it in terms of stating both the “what” and the “how” of the paper’s argument. The “what” is simply the basic argument in your paper: what exactly are you arguing? The “how” is the strategy you will use to present this argument. The following are helpful questions for you to consider when formulating a thesis sentence:
- What is the argument that I am trying to convince the reader to accept?
- How exactly do I expect to convince the reader that this argument is sound?
Once you have answered these questions, the next step is to synthesize these answers into a single thesis sentence, or, if necessary, two thesis sentences.
For example: You want to convince your reader that the forces of industry did not shape American foreign policy from the late 19th century through 1914, and you plan to do this by showing that there were other factors which were much more influential in shaping American foreign policy. Both of these elements can be synthesized into a thesis sentence:
Fear of foreign influence in the Western hemisphere, national pride, and contemporary popular ideas concerning both expansion and foreign peoples had significantly more influence on American foreign policy than did the voices of industrialists.
This sentence shows the position you will argue and also sets up the organizational pattern of your paper's body.
The body of your paper contains the actual development of your paper’s argument. Each body paragraph presents a single idea or set of related ideas that provides support for your paper’s argument. Each body paragraph addresses one key aspect of your paper’s thesis and brings the reader closer to accepting the validity of your paper’s argument. Because each body paragraph should be a step in your argument, you should be mindful of the overall organization of your body paragraphs. The first step in writing an effective body paragraph is the construction of the first sentence of this paragraph, the topic sentence. Just as the thesis sentence holds together your essay, the topic sentence is the glue binding each individual body paragraph. A body paragraph’s topic sentence serves two main purposes: introducing the content of the paragraph and introducing the next step of your argument. It is important to keep in mind that the goal of the topic sentence is to advance your paper's argument, not just to describe the content of the paragraph. For example: The first part in your thesis on page two states that fear of foreign influence in the Western Hemisphere had more influence on American foreign policy than did industry. Thus, you need to elaborate on this point in your body paragraphs. An effective topic sentence for one of these paragraphs could be:
American fear of foreign influence was a key factor in the United States’ actions in the Spanish-American War. Subsequent body paragraphs might offer further evidence for the idea presented in this body paragraph.
A good way to test the strength of both your topic sentences and your argument as a whole is to construct an outline of your paper using only your paper's thesis statement and topic sentences. This outline should be a logical overview of your paper's argument; all of your paper’s topic sentences should work together to support your thesis statement.
The Conclusion
A basic purpose of your paper’s concluding paragraph is both to restate the paper’s argument and to restate how you have supported this argument in the body of the paper. However, your conclusion should not simply be a copy of your introduction. The conclusion draws together the threads of the paper’s argument and shows where the argument of your paper has gone. An effective conclusion gives the reader reasons for bothering to read your paper. One of the most important functions of this paragraph is to bring in fresh insight. Some possible questions to consider when writing your conclusion are:
- What are some real world applications of this paper’s argument?
- Why is what I am writing about important?
- What are some of the questions that this paper’s argument raises?
- What are the implications of this paper’s argument?
While the organization and structure described in this handout are necessary components of an effective persuasive essay, keep in mind that writing itself is a fluid process. There are no steadfast rules that you need to adhere to as you write. Simply because the introduction is the first paragraph in your essay does not mean that you must write this paragraph before any other. Think of the act of writing as an exploration of ideas, and let this sense of exploration guide you as you write your essay.
by Adam Polak ’98 and Jen Collins ’96
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This strategy guide focuses on persuasive writing and offers specific methods on how you can help your students use it to improve their critical writing and thinking skills
Persuasive writing intends to convince readers to believe in an idea or opinion and to do an action.Many writings such as criticisms, reviews, reaction papers, editorials, proposals, advertisements
By using appropriate persuasive writing techniques, as a writer, you can persuade your readers and make them believe your ideas, and perform an action. Moreover, to showcase to your audience that you know a lot about your field of study
The lessons take them through the process of writing two persuasive essays: one supporting the rule and one opposing it. After the essays, we suggest having your class play the game Supreme Decision to see how
Persuasive writing intends to influence how someone thinks, feels, acts, and makes decisions in relation to a particular issue, idea, or proposal. The writer is making a case and using language in a deliberative manner