

Janelle Harris
How to Convince a Reader: Writing a Powerful Persuasive Essay

What is a Persuasive Essay?
Can you say that you’re a confident person who can easily convince others of anything? If you never feel self-doubt and you’re sure you’re always right, this quality may help you write a good persuasive essay. You’ll find the words to prove that your opinion is the only opinion worth the reader’s attention, and you know the subject excellently to insist you have a point. But the lack of writing skills, low self-confidence, or limited knowledge of a subject can stand in your way to academic success. Since college professors will often ask you to prove your opinion is right in a written form, it’s necessary to improve your skills and learn everything about this type of paper. So let’s start with a persuasive essay definition first.
A persuasive essay is the reflection of your thoughts on some issues. When working on this piece, you’ll have to conduct comprehensive research and find powerful arguments that will help you convince a reader of the strength of your opinion. Your essay will be based on a discussable subject that can provoke the formation of different standpoints.
Notably, a persuasive essay is often called an argumentative essay, but these are two different paper types. Now, let’s analyze the disparities between them in detail
Difference Between a Persuasive Essay and an Argumentative Essay
When writing an argumentative essay, you have to research the issue and present strong evidence to make a reader believe your statement is right and important. It’s based on facts, and your emotions and opinion concerning the subject almost don’t matter for the audience. The success of your argumentative essay is achieved with the help of evidence that appeals to the reader’s mind.
A persuasive essay is less formal than an argumentative essay, as you can simply describe your experience connected with the subject and the emotions it brought you. Of course, you should also research the topic to make your piece look more convincing, but your thoughts are more important than facts you’ll find. That’s why your writing skills are essential for completing this task excellently because you’ll have to present your point of view on paper to convince a reader you’re right. Your essay should be good enough to make the reader think, “Oh my God, I’ve been there too!” or “I think so too!” Besides, even if their opinion differs from yours, your goal is to change their mind by appealing to their emotions.
How to Choose a Topic for a Persuasive Essay?
If the professor gives you freedom to choose a topic, you’re a lucky person because you can pick any subject you’re interested in and express your point of view. Of course, you can prefer another boring issue, like all the issues you had to discuss earlier in your papers. But today, it’s a perfect chance to write about something that disturbs you or a thing you really like. If you pick a subject you’re passionate about, researching and writing will be even more pleasant. So, here are a few tips for choosing good persuasive essay topics:
- Pick a topic that matters to you and not to your professor. Most students try to pick themes that could be potentially interesting for their teachers. It’s a rather risky decision because the chances are that your professor will criticize your paper a lot because they know the subject better than you and can argue your opinion. So, it’s better to rely on your interests and describe something you’re good at.
- Brainstorm your ideas. You can choose a few topics and write about each issue separately. Let it be a freewriting session so that you can figure out which subject you know better. If you choose two topics, you can research both and compare the facts you’ll find. You should choose a topic with stronger evidence to make a reader take your side.
- Choose a specific topic. It should be an interesting theme that will grab the reader’s attention and engage them. Of course, you can write about unreasonably high taxes, and everybody will agree with you. But you can go into the problem of budget allocation and try to persuade the audience that the government should partially donate tax money to orphans.
Sports Persuasive Essay Topics
- Paintball Persuasive
- Benefits Of Youth Sports
- Importance Of Youth Sports
- JD Sports And Oxfam Analysis
- Coaching Strategies For Youth Sports
- Sportswear And Nike Marketing Approach
- Sports Cannot Exist Without The Presence Of Money
Persuasive Essay Topics For Middle School
- GMO Persuasive
- Persuasive Speech about Racial Profiling
- Driving while Intoxicated
- Types and Causes of Criminal Homicide and Sexual Violence
- Martin Luther King Jr and Civil Rights Movement
- Industrial Revolution Expanded Throughout Britain
- Napoleon Bonaparte Influence on Art
- Thoreau and Martin Luther King about Society
- Printing Press and Protestant Reformation
- Religion in Renaissance and Elizabethan Age
Persuasive Essay Topics For Kids
- GMO Persuasive
- Persuasive Speech about Racial Profiling
- Driving while Intoxicated
- Types and Causes of Criminal Homicide and Sexual Violence
- Martin Luther King Jr and Civil Rights Movement
- Industrial Revolution Expanded Throughout Britain
- Napoleon Bonaparte Influence on Art
- Thoreau and Martin Luther King about Society
- Printing Press and Protestant Reformation
- Religion in Renaissance and Elizabethan Age
Animal Persuasive Essay Topics
- Against Animal Testing Practice
- Animal Rights and The Importance of Treating Animals with Respect
- Problem of Violence Against Animals
- The Issue of Conserving Endangered Animals in The Jungles of Southeast Asia
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Animals for Entertainment Purposes
- Animals in Human Society
- The Issue of Mistreatment of Animals at Seaworld
- Animal Right: Understanding The Importance of Keeping Animals Safe
- The Importance of Trees for Humans and Animals
- Discussion: Should Animals Be Used for Scientific Research
- Saving The Animals: Alternative Ways to Test Products
- Religion and Culture – Treatment and Rights of Animals
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More Topic Ideas
Sports Persuasive Essay Topics
Persuasive Essay Topics For Middle School
Persuasive Essay Topics For Kids
Animal Persuasive Essay Topics
Persuasive Essay Outline
Writing an outline is the best way to find out what information you already have and which details still need to be researched. Every section of the outline will contain only topic sentences that explain the idea of the paragraph and a list of arguments you’re planning to include in your text. Like most other academic papers, a persuasive essay structure consists of three parts:
- Introduction. The purpose of this section is to prepare a reader for your essay – it explains what you’re arguing about in your paper. You’ll have to present all the issues of the subject and express your opinion concerning one of these problems. It’s necessary to take the side of one of the issues or judge it. To grab the reader’s attention, you’ll need to use a hook. Students can use different tricks to engage the audience, including the statistical data concerning the subject, intriguing fact, open question, and quotation.
- Body text. This part will consist of a topic sentence, explanation on an issue background, arguments that will support your opinion, and an analysis of these arguments. The transition sentence will smoothly take a reader to the next paragraph or section.
- Conclusion. This section will remind a reader of all the strongest arguments and thoughts you’ve described in your essay. Your final words should form a powerful thesis statement that will convince the audience of the undeniable potential of your idea.
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Persuasive essay template
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Persuasive techniques
Persuading readers of something is a complicated task for most students. That’s why we’ve picked three most effective techniques that will help you express your thoughts in the most convincing manner:
1. Repetition
One of the easiest ways to make a reader change their mind and believe your opinion is right is to repeat your idea again and again in your essay. Of course, you can’t just copypaste sentences. It’s necessary to get creative and rewrite parts where you describe your point of view.
2. Storytelling
Your essay will be more appealing if you tell your story connected with the subject you’re researching. You can develop a strong emotional connection with a reader just by sharing your experience or a story you’ve heard from one of your friends, for example. Empathy is one of the most important human qualities, so you don’t have to miss a chance to reach your audience through it.
3. Dealing with dissent
Normally, your topic will generate more than one opinion. Although you’ll defend your point of view, it’s necessary to consider your reader’s beliefs. You’ll have to research arguments that may support their opinion, describe them in your essay, and find evidence that will prove that you’re right.
4. Call to action
A call to action is a powerful marketing tool that can be used in persuasive essays. Usually, a writer adds it in a conclusion part to motivate a reader to take the necessary action. For example, if you write about adopting kittens from an animal shelter, you can write “Rescue a homeless kitten – adopt a pet from a shelter.”
Persuasive Essay Examples
If you’re still struggling with the absence of topic ideas, you should check persuasive essay examples online. You’ll find hundreds of samples that will help you awaken your creativity. By the way, you can check these persuasive essay ideas to pick an excellent topic and learn how to write a convincing piece:
- https://library.shoreline.edu/ESL099/example
- http://facultyweb.ivcc.edu/rrambo/eng1001/sample_persuasive_essay.htm
More Essay Examples
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Persuasive Essay Writing Tips
Although you might think that there’s nothing easier than writing a persuasive essay, some aspects will still confuse you. But you shouldn’t be worried about it because here are a few tips that will help you make a reader believe that green is the new black:
1. Choose the subject you’re passionate about
If you choose a topic you’re interested in, researching and writing will be more exciting. Besides, you’ll find out many interesting facts connected with the subject, which will only raise your confidence in your beliefs. It will be easier to defend your opinion and persuade a reader to take your side.
2. Use the introduction as your weapon
The introductory part is essential because it can be compared to advertising – you have to intrigue a reader to make them wonder what to expect from your essay. You should explain the core idea of your paper by using an attention-grabbing hook like a surprising detail, anecdote, or rhetorical question that will prove that your text is worth reading. With the understanding of how to start a persuasive essay, you’ll easily engage the audience.
3. Appeal to the reader’s empathy
As a persuasive essay appeals to the reader’s emotions, you shouldn’t be afraid to describe your feelings or try to awaken empathic qualities in your audience. If you’re writing about your experience, it will be easy to make a reader take your story to heart. Besides, chances are that they had the same experience as you did. So, you’ll develop a connection with your reader on a deeper level.
4. Prove your opinion with strong arguments
When working on a persuasive essay, you should pick the strongest arguments to support your point of view. For example, if you want to prove that the service at a particular café is horrible, you can’t just use some general explanations like “bad food” or “poor quality.” It’s necessary to describe why you think that this café isn’t worth anyone’s attention. You can write that when you visited it last time, a waiter brought you a salad with hair, meat was raw, and the glasses were dirty.
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References

Written by:
Janelle Harris
Janelle Harris is a Colorado-based writer with over eleven years of academic writing experience. She graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver with an MBA degree. Janelle is a passionate expert who believes that assignment instructions must always be impeccably followed.


