Lecture 13

Argumentative/
Persuasive
Essay


Recap
•

•

•

How to Write a Compare & Contrast
Essay?
Well Written Compare & Contrast Essay
Steps for Writing a Compare & Contrast
Essay

•

Topic Selection

•

Dos and Don’ts

•

Common Mistakes

Argumentative Essay
An argumentative essay is one that attempts
to persuade the reader to the writer's point of
view.
The writer can either be serious or funny, but
always tries to convince the reader of the validity
of his or her opinion.
Examples: An argumentative essay may persuade a
reader that . . .
* he or she should use public
transportation instead of driving

3


Argumentative Essay
•

In persuasive or argumentative writing, we
try to convince others to:
–

agree with our facts,

–

share our values,


–

accept our argument and conclusions, and

–

adopt our way of thinking


•

Elements toward building a good
Argumentative/Persuasive essay
include…
establishing facts
–

•

clarifying relevant values
–

•

for your audience (perspective)

prioritizing, editing, and/or sequencing
–

•


to support an argument

the facts and values in importance to build the
argument

forming and stating conclusions


How to Write a Argumentative/Persuasive
Essay?
•

A persuasive essay is a form of essay
writing that is built around a certain
argument.

•

Persuasive essays are thus also called
argumentative essays.

•

In this type of essay, the writer aims to


Steps for Writing a Argumentative/Persuasive
Essay
Step # 1: Decide upon the issue you will

discuss. It needs to be something you
have a solid opinion on, and also
something people disagree about.
Step # 2: Research the issue, to be aware of
how to best prove your point.
Consider what your possible opponents
can object to with every point you
make.


Steps for Writing a Argumentative/Persuasive
Essay
Step # 3:

Make an outline, listing your

strongest

arguments that will help

you prove your point.

Look for statistics,

factual data and quotes of

famous

people to support your arguments.
Step # 4:


Write an introduction, stating

how debated the

issue is and why it is


Steps for Writing a Argumentative/Persuasive
Essay
Step # 5: Argue your point, introducing a
new

reason or fact in every paragraph.

There should be no less than three
strong arguments to support your
of view.

point


Steps for Writing a Argumentative/Persuasive
Essay
Step # 6: Draw a conclusion. Here you
may
express your understanding as to
why the matter is so hard to agree
on,
but conclude that the position

you
support is the best possible (or
most
likely to be true) variant based
on the
evidence you provided earlier
in the
essay.
Step # 7:
essay

Thoroughly proofread your


Topic Selection
•

•

There are limitless opportunities for good topics, since
there are a lot of debated issues you can discuss in your
persuasive essay.
Here are just a few examples of good topics for your
argumentative essay:
–

Is boarding school a good idea for your child?

–


Should there be a division between boys’ and girls’ sports?

–

People should not be allowed to keep guns at home

–

If we want to stop the global warming process, we need to stop
driving cars

–

Is school uniform a good idea?

–

Children should not be allowed to play computer games


Key Points to Consider
•

•

There
are
various
persuasion
techniques that have been proven to be

the most effective in a good argumentative
essay. Three basic persuasion techniques
are:
–

appeal to emotions,

–

appeal to facts and evidence

–

appeal to logic

Try to combine and mix them to make a
stronger point.


Key Points to Consider
•

Always build your argument based on
your audience and its qualities.
–

Think of whom you are appealing to

–


envision your audience’s main characteristics

–

build your arguments based on what your
audience most values.


Key Points to Consider
•

A very good approach to persuasion is
when the writer is aware of the point of
view of an opposing side, and then
argues about its weakness.
–

Use parenthesis clauses, like:
•

•

“however”
“nevertheless”


Key Points to Consider
•

Combine main points with minor points

that also contribute to the general idea.
–

Start each paragraph with the major point,
then go on to explain it, and introduce a minor
point closer to the end of the paragraph to
support your initial major point.


Dos
•

Do always prove your point with factual
data.
–

Just stating something as a fact is considered
a weak point

–

a successful essay should have quotes that
serve as good supporting evidence.


Dos
•

•


Do be certain about your position.

Do appeal to the emotions of your
readers. This always has a much stronger
effect than just raw facts.


Dos
•

Do make sure to review the points of
both sides of the argument before you
start building your outline.

•

Do remain tolerant of other people’s
opinion, even if you strongly disagree


Don'ts
•

Don’t be too flat and immovable in
trying to prove your point.
–

Recognizing the fact that a lot of people might
not agree does not mean that you expose
your argument’s weak side.



Don’ts
•

Don’t choose a topic where you are
hesitant about which side to take.
–

You should be solid and steady in what you
are trying to prove, otherwise it will be almost
impossible to persuade your reader.


Don’ts
•

Don’t

try

to

introduce

another

argument in the conclusion.
–


The conclusion should be about summarizing
and making the final point, not about making
another argument.


Don’ts
•

Don’t appeal to subjective personal or
religious beliefs – this is crossing the
line.
–

Try to remain objective and focus on facts.


Common Mistakes
•

Becoming too aggressive–

while trying to prove your point only shows
your weakness.

–

A good persuasive essay should be thoroughly
based

on


cold-hearted

arguments,

even

though it may apply to emotions as well.
–

It is important to stay within the boundaries of


Common Mistakes
•

Changing your mind as you develop
your arguments.
–

This is why you need to get acquainted with
both sides of the issue you are planning to
discuss.

–

Do not rush into writing.

–


Research all of the arguments of the opposing


Common Mistakes
•

Overloading your essay with facts and
arguments without a clear structure or
a general logical idea.
–

This is why you need to make a plan or an
outline for your persuasive essay before you
start writing it.

–

If you just randomly list arguments and quote
relevant data, but fail to organize your essay,
then the paper will not be effective in
persuading your readers, no matter how good