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Persuasive Writing ENGAGES, INFORMS and SWAYS

Persuade an audience with concise information organized in an engaging manner. 

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Understand your own opinion. What do you think about the issue? What side will you take? Be aware of any prejudices you might have that influence your argument. What conclusion do you want the reader to make based on the original essay?

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Understand the audience. Determine if your audience will agree with your position and why they may not. The writer must be able to understand both sides of the issue in order to successfully argue a specific point of view.

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Research the topic. The point of a persuasive essay is to provide detailed and compelling evidence. The author should be able to disprove the opposing argument. Read other authors’ work on the topic.  Explore the issue. Know all sides before taking a stance. Use facts.  Never plagiarize or take the words directly from a source, without citing sources. Any statistics must be from reliable sources.  Wikipedia is not reliable.

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GET THE READER'S ATTENTION. Consider the structure of the argumentative essay.  What will grab a reader’s attention – statistics, or interesting examples?  What is the best order to present details to make the argument stand out? What is the most powerful evidence available?

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PRESENT THE FACTS and MAKE AN ARGUMENT  Using well-researched and organized evidence, present both sides of an issue and help the reader understand why they should take your side.