10 Effective Persuasive Essay Writing Tips and Techniques

Persuasive Essay Writing Tips and Techniques - You want to write a persuasive essay but you don't know how. Here are 10 persuasive essay tips and techniques in .

A persuasive essay is an essay that aims to influence the reader's mind so that they can agree with your opinion and leave their old opinion behind. Often, a persuasive essay becomes a synonym for an argumentative essay. These two essays have significant differences but I do not intend to discuss them in this article.

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Persuasive essays are usually found in an academic context. Some lecturers assign their students to write persuasive essays to measure their ability to argue. But actually, persuasive essays are also used in various contexts such as health, technology, religion, and politics.

A persuasive essay can only be said to be effective if it produces a change in the thoughts, attitudes, and decisions of the reader. Meanwhile, writing an effective persuasive essay can be very challenging. Therefore, consider some of the tips below so that you can write an effective persuasive essay.

Tips #1. Choose a topic you are good at and passionate about

The topic of the persuasive essay that you will write must be a topic that you are really good at. To write an effective persuasive essay, you are not only required to have good argumentative skills, but also information in the form of ideas and facts related to the topic you choose.

You also need to have a strong psychological connection to the topic of the persuasive essay you are going to write unless you want the essay to be bland and ineffective. For example, let's say that you are writing a persuasive essay in the context of health, and in that essay, you want to argue that smoking is not as dangerous as most people think. Of course, you need to have some authentic evidence to prove your idea. But if you're not a smoker, you won't be able to write a persuasive essay about "cigarettes aren't that dangerous"; especially if the reader knows that you are not a smoker.

Tips #2. Know your and your readers’ position

Even though a persuasive essay can be read by the public, where you cannot predict who will read your essay, you need to have the target audience in mind. For example, you will write a persuasive essay on the topic "National exams should be removed from the education agenda in Indonesia". Some people may not care about your essay because they are not in any educational institution or have no interest in it. The people who will be interested in reading your persuasive essays are parents whose children are in school, teachers and principals, and education policy-making officials in Indonesia.

Who is the target audience for your persuasive essay? Most parents will agree and be behind you to fight for the abolition of the national exam in their children's schools. But you will be dealing with educational policymakers in Indonesia or your country.

This is where your position is tested and challenged. Are you able to decipher the ideas and facts that support the abolition of the national exam or in the process of writing the persuasive essay you actually support the implementation of the national exam?

Your position determines the details of your argument. You must be really aware of your position and the position of your readers. Know that the opposition has their own arguments that you need to "break" in your persuasive essay.

Tips #3. Catch the reader’s full attention

You need to catch the reader's full attention for your persuasive essay to be effective. What makes a persuasive essay get the reader's attention is a clear (unambiguous) statement of ideas and a logical description of ideas reinforced by unavoidable data or facts.

People don't like reading persuasive (or argumentative) essays that are not based on data or facts. If your persuasive essay is supplemented with data or facts to support the ideas you clearly state, then your persuasive essay will even get the full attention of readers who are on the opposite corner.

Your statement of ideas, in addition to being clear or unambiguous, must be able to show how important the idea you are conveying is; and what are the risks if the idea is ignored. People will pay attention to something that (1) provides benefits and (2) removes risk. Would you pay your full attention to a poisonous snake? Would you pay your full attention to a suitcase filled with gold or money? You get what I mean. People don't like to lose something or be hit by misfortune; people like to get something or be kept away from misfortune. Use this theory in formulating your idea statement. I'm sure that your readers of persuasive essays will be captivated.

Tips #4. Do research

Facts or data that support the statement of your ideas must be found and collected through research. You can conduct a large-scale survey through social media or printed questionnaires, read various relevant research articles published in scientific journals, collect information from magazines or newspapers, conduct interviews with experts, and so on. All of this aims to prepare data and facts as arguments that will support your ideas and also disprove the ideas of opposing parties.

You also need to study the arguments that the opposing side has used so far. In addition, you must also prepare other arguments to guard against the possibility of a backlash prepared by people who have opinions that are contrary to yours.

Tips #5. Formulate your thesis statement

The way you formulate a thesis statement or idea affects the reader's understanding. You must clarify your position. You have to know what to say and how to say it.

In writing an effective persuasive essay, at least four things need to be stated: (1) what you agree/disagree with, (2) why you agree/disagree with it, (3) why other people should agree with you, and (4) what are the risks if they disagree with you. Does this sound more like a threat? Of course. Even if you don't threaten or force readers to agree with you, an effective persuasive essay will produce a similar psychological impact.

Tips #6. Create a working outline

Writing an effective persuasive essay is just like writing any other essay. Professional writers write their essays through three writing stages, namely prewriting, writing, and rewriting or revision stages.

One of the tips for writing an effective persuasive essay is to outline at the beginning of writing. Your outline should include statements, arguments, and conclusions. Don't keep the best arguments at the end of your essay because that will weaken your persuasive essay.

1. State your thesis;
2. State your position and purpose;
3. State that others should be in the same position and what the risks are if they don't;
4. Describe the main arguments and reasons by including authentic evidence, data, and facts collected through research;
5. Review opposition arguments;
6. Weaken and refute their arguments by including data and facts;
7. Strengthen your argument by adding another argument that was not described in the previous section (this is like siege to the opposition argument);
8. State your conclusion.

The outline above can be used as an effective persuasive essay outline. However, you may need to make some adjustments to fit the context of your persuasive essay.

Tips #7. Be Sympathetic

No matter how passionate you are, logic and argument are not the only strengths in your persuasive essay. A persuasive essay will be more effective if it contains some ethical values so that the essay does not seem to manipulate the reader's mind.

To maintain your integrity as a persuasive essayist, you must be aware that a persuasive essay aims to persuade and convince, not to coerce. The authentic evidence and empirical data you present do not necessarily suggest that the opposite party is bad and has disgrace. The evidence and data you present in your persuasive essay aim to convince the reader that you are in a better position. It is very difficult to strike a balance between logic and ethics in persuasive essay writing. Often, the passion that burns in the heart makes a writer forget the ethical values in his persuasive essay. Imagine that readers on the opposition side shouldn't be offended, angry, or embarrassed after reading your persuasive essay.

Tips #8. Invite readers to think with you

Invite readers to think about what benefits they will get if they agree with you and what risks they will face if they disagree with you. Give some examples of real cases that can open the minds of readers. A few rhetorical questions are certainly sufficient to make them think and answer for their own sake.

Tips #9. Make use of hyperbole

Using figurative language such as hyperbole is an effective persuasive essay writing technique. Of course, certain words will not be interpreted literally but have a psychological impact on the reader. You should not use words like this too often in your persuasive essays, just a few to touch the emotions of your readers.

Tips #10. Repeat yourself

Another effective persuasive essay writing technique is to repeat your statement several times in certain sections of your essay. Repeating a statement aims to increase the level of "pressure" and keep the reader's mind on track with your ideas.

At the end of your persuasive essay, a strong and consistent conclusion is a must. When readers reach the last point of your persuasive essay, they should agree with you. This can be achieved by restating your thesis in different words as a conclusion that closes your article.

The techniques and tips above should help you write an effective persuasive essay. Do you have difficulty writing persuasive essays at school or university? Please leave a question in the comments section.

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