Persuasive Essays: Five Essential Rules Beginners Should Know

The basis of writing persuasive essays lies in providing the arguments that shows that one idea prevails over another. For such purpose, persuasive essays are also called argumentative essays.

Although writing persuasive essays is not an easy task, there is a number of rules that should be followed, several of which are provided in this article.

Persuasive Essays Rules

1. Choose a topic that implies opposing opinions or views. Defending a position that is obvious and which is not opposed is not logical, and in that regard, the persuasion element in persuasive essays will be useless.
2. Select the position that you are going to support. An essential element of writing persuasive essays is the clear indication of the side that the writer is taking. Such position can be outlined in the essay’s thesis and through the structure of the essay.
3. Follow generally accepted structure. This structure, although might vary, includes essential elements such as the arguments supporting your position, the arguments opposing your position, and the refutation of the latter.
4. Avoid bias. The later can be achieved through providing the argument for support and opposition of equal weight, i.e. credible sources for both, scholarly journals for both, etc. An example of bias in persuasive essays can be seen in citing peer-reviewed articles to support your position, while citing unknown web articles or personal statements for the arguments of the opposition.
5. Suit your audience. Although the last point might be debatable, when the topic is a clear controversy, but nevertheless, it is not usual in persuasive essays to provide arguments of support on issues unaccepted by general audience. Examples of the latter might include religious issues or statements that might be considered offensive by the majority in particular societies.

Conclusion

Generally, persuasive essays are assignments that are interesting to write, specifically if the issue is of interest to the writer. The main point in persuasive essays is to have sufficient knowledge to cover the issue, and to avoid the bias that might be caused by such interest.