A Complete Guide on a Persuasive Essay

You will hardly find a more common task, which is given to students of all academic levels. A persuasive essay is by right called the quintessence of college writing and can become your strength or a terrible headache.

It requires a variety of skills: lexical and grammar knowledge, critical approach, ability to gather and analyze information, and much more! However, don’t think that it is impossible to write an outstanding persuasive essay if you lack some of these skills. Just go on reading and we guarantee that you will be able to write such an essay without any efforts.

So what is a persuasive essay? It is a written task, which aims to persuade the audience that the author’s point of view is the most valid and informative one. The writer needs to not only explain the matter but also provide arguments and explain every issue, backing it with credible sources. Using logic and evidence is the key to a persuasive essay, so you should always spend enough time on a proper research.

Persuasive essay writing

How to complete a persuasive essay

In most of the cases, you will be given a persuasive essay topic, so take your time to understand it and decide what side you are on. You can make notes and write down your thoughts on the subject, deciding whether you agree with the matter or not. Don’t think about your tutor’s or classmates’ opinion: this task aims to show your personal approach and critical thinking, so it is crucial to provide original thoughts on the subject.

You need to be ready that in most of the cases you will be given a controversial topic, which may stir up a hot discussion. However, you don’t need to be nervous and should concentrate on your arguments to be able to protect your point of view.

Get started

Any written assignment should start with a research. Especially when you need to persuade the reader to take your side! Make sure you have enough time not to do anything in a hurry and collect data from multiple sources. Remember that you should use only credible articles, books or websites. Your tutor may even ask you to redo the whole essay if you use forums or social media pages as the basis for your evidence.

Once you have completed the research, you need to create an outline. Many students neglect this stage, considering it not important. However, an outline helps to organize your thoughts and your writing style becomes more structured and clear. You won’t have to wander from one argument to another, and will always be able to stick to the point.

An outline of the persuasive essay

Your outline should consist of three main parts, each of which can have a different number of subsections: introduction, body paragraphs and conclusions.

As all of you know, the main purpose of the introduction section is to grab interest of the audience and make it go on reading. The best introduction always consists of three key parts: a so-called ‘hook’, definition of the audience and a thesis statement. The ‘hook’ is the part, which contains a catchy phrase, a fact or a quote to interest the reader. Then you need to explain why the topic is important for a particular reader. You need to give the audience a clear explanation why the subject matters. Finish your introduction with a thesis statement, where you state all the matters and arguments you are going to discuss in the text;
Main paragraphs. There are no clear recommendations on the quantity of arguments and paragraphs you need to include, as everything depends on the topic and the word count. However, you should always remember that one arguments equals one paragraph. If the word count allows, you can also give a description of opposing ideas to prove that they are wrong;
Many students neglect this section but it is equally important and summarizes all the points you have stated before. Your conclusions should contain information on the topic, the benefits it can bring and prognosis for the future. If the topic allows, you can provide possible solutions and why they are important for the society. Finish your persuasive essay with a call to action or a ‘hook’ sentence.

Format of a persuasive essay

The number of words greatly depends on your tutor but usually a persuasive essay should be 500, 1 500 or 2 000 words long. You need to use readable fonts, for example Arial or Times New Roman, in 12-points for the text and 16-points for a title. The spacing should be double if other is not indicated.

Structure:

Introduction (the hook, the audience and thesis);
Main paragraphs (paragraphs number 1,2,3 – topic sentence and evidence);
Conclusions (summary, benefits, prognosis);
Call to action.

Topics of a persuasive essay

Here is a list of topics you may use if you are given a chance to choose:

How Trump policy can influence the democratic world;
Should there be different classes for male and female students?
Should teachers obtain grades from students?
Is it ethical to keep animals in cages?
Can secure cameras protect our privacy?
If you want to cure yourself, write a personal diary;
Availability of social communities for teenagers;
Physical activity is good not only for health but also for mental abilities;
Sports should be compulsory at schools;
How sexual exploitation influences the world;
How can science and religion coexist?
Should we invest in space exploration?
Who rules social media?
Should IQ testing be compulsory to have a voting right and a chance to have children?

Examples of a persuasive essay

One of the most popular problems of completing a persuasive essay is that we don’t always have inspiration and proper ideas to complete an outstanding paper. In such cases, we only need a push and some help to see which direction to go.

The solution is simple: you can download examples of persuasive essays and use them to get fresh ideas and understand how your own work should look like.

Help with a persuasive essay

There are different types of solutions for those, who need help with a persuasive essay. Here are only some of them:

Writing services. Even if you decide to complete an essay on your own, you may still need help with proofreading and editing. Unfortunately, not all students can provide mistakes-free essays, so it is important to use services of professional writers, editors, proofreaders and managers to provide an outstanding paper. When you contact us, you get a full package of first-class services at a reasonable price;
Essay samples. It is always important to create original and plagiarism-free content. However, not everyone has enough time and imagination. In such cases, we have created a database with examples to give you inspiration and motivation. Just upload examples and get all the information on the structure or topic you may need;
Generator of the topic – when you need to choose the topic on your own, you may easily get lost among thousands of hundreds of ideas. Just go to our section of topic solution, indicate the essay type and choose the best topic immediately!
Paper checker. For those of you, who are not sure whether they have completed an essay properly, there is a great solution. Our software allows correcting all the mistakes, including plagiarism, structure of the sentence, lexis, grammar, readability and much more! Just upload your essay, wait a minute and get a full analysis of your work.

As you see, writing a persuasive essay is quite simple if you know all the rules and tips. Follow our advice and you will surely have a positive experience dealing with an essay of any kind!