what is persuasive essay writing

what is persuasive essay writing

The Importance of Persuasive Essay Writing

1. Introduction

The persuasive essay is an art form. It is designed to change the attitudes or actions of the reader or the audience through the transmission of a message. This is why understanding how to create and read a persuasive message has a great deal of importance. If the reader can identify the nature of a message, they are more likely to be critical of its content and intent. This is important because we have a tendency to distance ourselves from messages we don’t agree with, while embracing messages we are in favor of, whether or not they are in our best interest. In a way, the identification of a persuasive message is synonymous with the discovery of a self-serving bias. This critical analysis provides a clearer understanding of the message and a choice of whether or not to agree with the message. This can be a great benefit to the reader who is trying to make an informed decision on an issue. At this point, the issue comes full circle. If the reader has critical analysis and the ability to identify a persuasive message, they can, in turn, create an effective persuasive message. The ability to identify and create an effective persuasive message plays a key role in the informed decision-making process.

Modern communication is a complex and multifaceted process that involves many different activities. We spend a large part of our communication time in persuasion, whether to convince others to believe or act a certain way. The majority of the messages we receive from others are persuasive in nature. If we can understand messages such as propaganda, advertising, or the persuasive essay in general, we can make more informed decisions. At the same time, the study of persuasive essay writing, speaking, and reading can be considered an art form.

2. Understanding Persuasive Essay Writing

The writer deciding to write the persuasive essay must plan what he wants to do with the essay. If the essay is not planned out, then the reader will not know what the essay is trying to accomplish and the essay will fail. This will result in a bad grade if the essay is for a class assignment. It is very important that the writer does not assume that the reader knows most everything about the topic. The writer should decide on a topic that can be proven in two ways. First, choose a topic that has more than one side. Second, choose a topic where the writer can collect an equal amount of detailed information on both sides of the argument.

After accumulating the evidence, the writer must find out how to implement that evidence into the paragraphs of the essay. There is no sense in putting evidence where it does not support the argument. The evidence should be put in the one place or places where it is strongest. Evidence is a crucial part of any argument as stated in the famous quote “A man with a good argument is always better than a man with a good argument.”

In order to do this, the writer can ask others if they have any facts that support the argument or look in good places where evidence can be found. A good place to find evidence is in your local library where you can access countless books on an infinite number of subjects. You can also ask a librarian for information and they will be happy to help you. The internet is also an excellent resource, however, anyone can put up a website so it’s important that the writer double checks the evidence to make sure it’s reliable.

In order to write a good persuasive essay, the writer must understand the reader’s perspective. This is the writer’s opportunity to really connect with the reader. The writer must consider why they are arguing a certain point as well as who the audience is. The writer can find out what the reader may feel by talking to people who are on both sides of the argument. After finding out what the reader’s attitude is, the writer must find evidence that supports the argument.

3. Strategies for Effective Persuasion

3.2. Go beyond your evidence It is always best to write with a specific audience in mind. For example, if you are writing a business proposal, you could write with a solution in mind that will target a certain group of investors. Because the purpose of a persuasive essay is to convince your audience that your opinion is the right, you must take special care to consider and counter arguments that would refute your own. This is an invaluable method of proving your comprehension of the argument, being an objective reader and improving your critical thinking skills. This will also help if you are applying for a role in an organisation or a promotion, as you will need to convince the interviewer that employing you would be a good move for his company.

3.1. Support your argument Use hard facts. You can gather these from your research, observations, or personal experiences. But be careful! In order to avoid plagiarism, you must cite your sources. You should always use verifiable statistics. It is important to be able to back up your argument with data. In order to further strengthen the argument in your persuasive essay, try using one or two direct quotes from experts on the topic. Finally, provide meaningful examples to enhance and clearly illustrate your argument.

To be effective, a persuasive essay must also be well-reasoned and well-constructed. The following are some useful strategies for convincing your reader.

4. The Role of Evidence and Reasoning

An important element of developing these skills is learning to consider an issue from more than one perspective. This is something that debating forces students to do, as no matter what their own opinions may be, they will always be assigned to debate from both affirmative and negative sides. This helps students to break down their own beliefs into core values and rationales, understand the arguments of others, and determine the validity of these arguments in relation to the issue.

In a world where misinformation is increasingly prevalent and where people are bombarded with conflicting ideas and arguments, it is essential to equip students with the skills required to evaluate the reliability and validity of information, in order for them to sift through it and make informed decisions on an infinite number of issues throughout their lives. Learning to critically evaluate the content and reasoning behind an argument is an invaluable skill. It is the very essence of academic and scientific inquiry; it is what scholars and scientists do in their everyday lives.

One of the most effective ways to foster critical thinking is to build lessons around debating. The act of debating requires students to draw on an array of complex intellectual tasks—skills that are among the highest thinking skills according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. Learning to debate has been shown to significantly increase students’ abilities in these areas. Overall, teaching the art of debate develops general cognitive abilities. It teaches an array of invaluable thinking and communication skills that will stand students in good stead no matter what they go on to do.

5. Conclusion

The lack of quality essay writing is one of the key elements that has seen public opinion change so drastically against the war. With the media and the government providing information to the public, the differing quality of persuasive writing has meant that some of this information has had more or less impact. This has meant that the side of the war being supported by the poorer quality of writing has diminished in public favour. This has led to some drastic political decisions on troop deployment and war end goals, such as the US withdrawal from Somalia in 1993 (Wikipedia – Battle of Mogadishu, 1993) because the public opinion on the warfare was framed by the media in a negative context due to Somali casualties and American losses. This was despite the opinion that this conflict would fulfill many of the requirements of a just war and thus was deemed to be a worthy cause. With the use of sound persuasive writing, such conflicting public opinion and political decisions may have been avoidable. By paying more attention to the small details and key explanations provided by persuasive writers, this type of event could be changed for the better. This is just one example that shows what can happen when quality persuasive writing does not get its required result.