How to write a persuasive essay?Do you want to influence people by your opinion? Persuasive essays represent an important type of academic writing that you may encounter at different educational levels. Building an excellent argument compels your audience to share and support your point. No matter where you are studying, learning how to write a persuasive essay professionally will help you improve grades and achieve desired results. This article provides you with relevant writing persuasive essay tips, steps and examples for your reference.
一.what is a persuasive essay
Most students struggle with finishing an excellent persuasive assignment because it requires extensive research. Readers might already have a viewpoint regarding a specific issue. You are the one who should show them the other side of the story.
An effective persuasive essay has three essential parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. In the introduction paragraph, it is your job to present the topic of the essay and grab readers' attention. This part is critical as it encourages readers to go through the whole text. The next section is composed of body paragraphs. This section usually requires the greatest amount of work and will contain the results of your research. Your opinion should be supported with logical evidence that proves it to be right. You should also tackle the opposing viewpoint and explain why it is wrong. In the final concluding paragraph, sum up the issue and illustrate your point of view one more time.
一篇有效的說服性文章有三個基本部分:引言、正文和結語。在引言段,你的工作是介紹文章的主題,抓住讀者的注意力。這部分很重要,因為它鼓勵讀者通讀全文。下一節(jié)由主體段落組成。這部分通常需要大量的工作,將包含您的研究結果。你的觀點應該有邏輯的證據(jù)來證明它是正確的。你也應該處理相反的觀點,并解釋為什么它是錯誤的。在最后的總結段落中,總結問題并再次說明你的觀點。
The core of a persuasive essay is to pick a side and present reliable evidence that influences readers. You must pick a side (either for or against a certain issue), and build a strong argument that encourages the audience to agree. Following a logical structure in a persuasive essay will help you compose an excellent text that grabs attention and provides value to readers.
二.how to write a persuasive essay
Take a look at American politicians, successful business people, and impressive entrepreneurs. What do they have in common? That’s right: the power of persuasion.
Influencing others is the key to success in online business, marketing, law, politics, and various aspects of life. Because of this, it is crucial to practice effective persuasive essay writing skills in order to submit killer projects that impress your professors as well as your colleagues.
Writing a persuasive essay is not easy. But there is a simple approach that can help you finish this assignment with top-quality work. All you have to do is follow these steps:
1.Prewrite a Persuasive Essay
Planning is a critical step in academic writing. Before you start to write your persuasive essay, you must pick a certain position on a topic. Your position should be clear, as your task will be to support this opinion with relevant evidence.
Researching information for your subject gives you a brilliant opportunity to examine various sides of the issue you are writing about. Pick different sources; don’t rely on one source alone, as you will want to have varied and reliable information to offer. Refer to the most reputable online academic sites, trustworthy American TV channels (CBS, NBC), or scientific journals. This provides rich data that can be used to craft a mind-blowing persuasive essay later on.
研究你的主題的信息給了你一個很好的機會來檢查你所寫的問題的各個方面。選擇不同的來源;不要只依賴一個來源,因為你會想要提供各種各樣的可靠信息。參考最著名的在線學術網(wǎng)站,值得信賴的美國電視頻道(CBS, NBC),或科學期刊。這提供了豐富的數(shù)據(jù),可以用來編寫一篇令人興奮的有說服力的文章。
2.Draft your Writing
If your school or college professor has provided you with a specific outline, follow it. If not, stick to the most common essay outline among the top US universities: the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion.
Start writing everything you think about on your chosen topic. Do not stop - just let it flow. Once you are done, take a look at your notes and see if you can draw links between them. Don’t worry about grammar mistakes and typos. There is always time for editing and revision after you are done.
開始寫下你所選主題的所有想法。不要停止,讓它流動。一旦你完成了,看看你的筆記,看看你是否能在它們之間畫出聯(lián)系。不要擔心語法錯誤和打字錯誤。在你完成之后,總有時間來編輯和修改。
3.Revise the Persuasive Essay
Now your writing is almost ready. It is time to review your task. Here is what you should do:
Provide a strong argument that makes sense using reliable evidence that the audience will believe.
Prove that other opinions don’t make sense and should be discarded.
Every paragraph should be devoted to a single point or idea in order to avoid confusion.
Refute the counterargument to add value to your writing.
Avoid being repetitive. Use unique vocabulary that conveys the right meaning.
Make sure your conclusion paragraph provides value to readers and encourages them to adopt your belief.
Include relevant examples and proofs that support your point of view.
Plagiarism is wrong and will affect your academic performance. Cite the sources you use and show that you’ve done it on your own by submitting an original persuasive essay.
4.Edit your Task
Leave the essay for a few hours, to give your mind a chance to process and come back with a fresh outlook. When some time has passed, go back and read the assignment once again, checking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Such errors can change meanings and may eventually affect the overall quality of any assignment. Make sure you are following the right format and outline. This guarantees that the task is well-written and provides clear information for potential readers.
5.Get a Second Opinion on a Completed Essay
Share what you have completed with friends and family. Give them a chance to read your persuasive essay before submission. Ask them for criticism. Receiving feedback improves writing skills and draw attention to the parts you might have missed.
與朋友和家人分享你完成的事情。在提交之前,給他們一個機會閱讀你的有說服力的文章。請求他們的批評。接受反饋可以提高寫作技巧,讓你注意到你可能錯過的部分。
三.persuasive essay example
Prompt:The title of this essay is:The Importance Of Persuasive Devices Of Logos, Pathos And Ethos In Speeches.
In 1960s Alabama there was a lot of civil unrest, especially in a city called Birmingham. Martin Luther King, Jr. was leading protests fighting for the equality of his people and eventually got arrested. This led to the letter called A Call For Unity, which is a statement by Alabama clergymen addressing the protests led by Dr. King. In this statement the clergymen wanted all the protests to end even though they were peaceful, saying that the protests at no point would solve anything and that all this should be solved in court. The clergymen even went as far to say that law enforcement handled them in a “calm manner” and that they should be allowed to keep protecting the city. They wanted the black and white community to work together in solving the issues through the courts. This letter from the clergymen led to a response from Dr. King that would be recorded forever in history. Dr. King wrote Letter from a Birmingham Jail in response to the clergymen, and to rile up the people. In this letter, Dr. King successfully claimed that he will not stop revolting until all black people have equal rights by effectively appealing to logos, pathos, and ethos.
Throughout history for things both perceived as good or bad, the same three persuasion techniques have always been used. Both Dr. King and his would-be silencers appealed to logos, pathos, and ethos in order to try and persuade their audience. Each of these devices are essential with each having a specific meaning such as: logos being an appeal to logic, pathos being an appeal to emotion, and ethos being an appeal to credibility. In A Call For Unity the clergymen appealed to the logical side of the audience in trying to make them go the non-agitative route in achieving equality for the races by the courts. In Letter from a Birmingham Jail even though Dr. King used appealed a lot to logos, he also appealed to pathos mostly to convince the audience towards following his movement for equality and passionately turned even the moderates over to his cause. This really shows how impacting using the three persuasive devices can be in anything whether it be calming down a movement or urging for an uprising.
A Call For Unity is a document where less radical clergymen are urging Dr. King to use more “l(fā)awful” strategies in seeking change, such as through the courts and not through protests. Their appeal to logos is even stated flat out in the quote “an appeal for law and order and common sense”, showing that they are trying to pacify the audience through logical reasoning. They also try to gain credibility by starting the letter introducing themselves as the clergymen, which appeals to ethos and tries to gain the trust of the audience through their position. The approach of the eight clergymen is mostly form a logical standpoint where they state facts and issues calling for “negotiation of racial issues”. By reading the letter it can be inferred that the purpose of this document is to end the so-called civil unrest being caused by Dr. King and his movement. The audience of this document are the followers of King and the body of the church. As shown by the effects of Dr. King’s letter, the clergymen had no success in their appeal.
In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. even degrades them a bit in appealing to logos like when he said that if he responded to “all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other”. This quote shows how much he dislikes their criticism by emphasizing how he does not address every concern, or else he would accomplish little. This shows how even in the sneakiest and most logical way Dr. King can show his discontent for the criticisms displayed by the clergymen. Dr. King always wanted to stand for equality in all states and he stated that he logically couldn’t “sit idly by in Atlanta”, because he stated that his purpose was to achieve equality for all the blacks no matter where in the nation. This went to him organizing more protests and doing anything to address the injustices in Birmingham. Dr. King even laid out his four steps in a nonviolent campaign in a very logical manner that showed the audience why he was right to address injustices and his process as mentioned in the letter. This all shows that besides pathos Dr. King mostly appealed to logos as well to convince the people that he is the voice of reason and is correct in the letter.
Dr. King’s letter is one of history’s best organized documents that appeals to every persuasive device. The letter starts with an emotional appeal to pathos by Dr. King saying, “while confined here in the Birmingham city jail” which expands on the circumstances which he was facing for defending his beliefs. This quote is an example of emotional appeal because, it creates a sense of sympathy from the audience towards Dr. King and all the hardships which he faced. Pathos was his second most appealed to rhetorical device in the letter and, one which he truly used to appeal to the people. It can even be said that Dr. King not only in the letter but in most of his speeches relied on pathos, something the clergymen did not use too much in their letter. Martin Luther King, Jr. goes on to end the letter in the most respectful and inspiring manner using a strong appeal to pathos saying, “one day the south will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best.” This quote truly shows his emotional appeal to the people by creating a sense of hope in the audience that the next generation will be treated as equal, and how he wanted true equal rights for blacks no matter if even the youth had to rebel.
Dr. King held the clergymen as his equals, and felt no shame is expressing it publicly and proving his credibility. One such appeal to ethos is when he portrayed the others as his “fellow clergymen”, showing that they are not above or below him being his equal colleagues. Dr. King used credibility not only to defend himself but, also to defend his people and showing that all are equal. Dr. King proved that he is a experienced leader and religious scholar when he said, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference”. He said this to show the people that he isn’t just a problematic protester, but a religious man who has led people throughout his life and is on a holy mission to gain equality for his people truly showing ethos. Throughout the whole letter he appeals to ethos less than the other two rhetorical devices but, he appeals to it just enough that overall he is justified and a credible person who can be followed with an effective message.
King博士把神職人員視為與自己地位相等的人,公開表達自己的觀點以證明自己的可信度,對此他并不感到羞恥。其中一種對精神氣質的訴求是,他將其他人描述為他的“牧師伙伴”,表明他們不是在他之上,也不是在他之下,而是與他平等的同事。金博士不僅用信譽為自己辯護,也為他的人民辯護,并表明人人平等。金博士說:“我有幸擔任南方基督教領袖會議主席”,證明了他是一位經(jīng)驗豐富的領袖和宗教學者。他說這番話是為了向人民表明,他不只是一個有問題的抗議者,而是一個宗教人士,他一生都在領導人民,肩負著為他的人民爭取平等的神圣使命,真正展示了民族精神。在整封信中,比起其他兩種修辭手法,他更傾向于精神氣質,但是,他對精神氣質的運用恰到好處,總體上,他是合理的,是一個值得信賴的人,能夠傳達出有效的信息。
In conclusion, to deliver a message in the most effective way it is necessary to use the three persuasive devices. A Call For Unity uses these devices for pure logical persuasion; Letter from a Birmingham Jail uses these devices in an emotional response stating why these acts are necessary and urging a call to action to resolve the injustices. It can be seen that even though Dr. King and the clergymen have different ways to reach their goal, they use the same exact devices to convince the audience. Dr. King’s response to the clergymen turned out to be a historical event that set the precedent for major political activists to use the three devices, and this shows how important logos, pathos, and ethos are in our society. His appeal to logos showed the audience how logical and strategized he is in executing his plans for change, this makes the audience trust Dr. King in a great way. Dr. King appealed to pathos in such a way that inspired great want to make a change from the audience, this is a very successful strategy that can be used by any changemaker who wishes to reach his audience in one of the best ways. Finally, ethos is very important because if one does not establish credibility, then they can lose support very quickly and Dr. King avoided this effectively by establishing himself early in Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Martin Luther King, Jr. has set a clear example that rhetorical devices are essential in the argument of any changemaker that wants to be effective.
A good persuasive essay convinces people that your view is correct and the opposing view is incorrect. It is a bit challenging to accomplish as the audience may already be biased toward a particular viewpoint. Therefore, it is your job to present a strong argument that persuades them otherwise. Moreover, finding reliable sources that make sense and fit with your argument is another issue you must address.
一篇好的說服性文章能讓人們相信你的觀點是正確的,相反的觀點是錯誤的。這是一個有點挑戰(zhàn)性的完成,因為觀眾可能已經(jīng)偏向于一個特定的觀點。因此,你的工作就是拿出一個強有力的論據(jù)來說服他們。此外,找到有意義的和你的論點相符的可靠的來源是你必須解決的另一個問題。
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