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how to write a persuasive essay - Coggle Diagram
how to write a persuasive essay
Introduction
In the introduction the student will, naturally, introduce the topic. Controversial issues make for great topics in this writing genre. It's something of a cliche in polite society to discourage discussions involving politics or religion or much more for the reason that they can often be very divisive.
Let’s take a look at some of the key elements of the introduction:
Title:
This will often be posed as a question, for example, if the essay is on the merits of a vegetarian lifestyle it may be called something like: To Eat Meat or Not?
Hook:
As with any genre of writing, capturing the reader's interest from the outset is crucial. There are a number of methods of doing this, known as hooks. Students may decide to open their essay with an anecdote, a joke, a quotation, or a relevant statistic related to the topic under discussion.
Background:
In this section of the introduction, students will provide the reader with some background to the topic. This will place the issue in context and briefly weigh up some of the different opinions on the subject.
Thesis statement:
After surveying the topic in the first part of the introduction, it is now time for the student writer to express their own opinion and briefly preview the points they will make later in the essay.
Body Paragraphs
The number of paragraphs that will form this section of the essay will depend on the number of points the writer chooses to make to support their opinion. Normally three main points will be sufficient for beginning writers to coordinate. For more advanced students, they can simply increase the number of paragraphs based on the complexity of their arguments.
Topic Sentence:
The topic sentence states the central point of the paragraph. This will be in the form of one of the reasons in support of the thesis statement made in the introduction.
Explain:
These sentences will build on the topic sentence by illustrating the point further, often by making it more specific.
Evidence:
It is the purpose of these sentences to support the paragraph’s central point by providing supporting evidence and examples. This evidence may take the form of statistics, quotations, or anecdotal evidence.
Link:
The final part of the paragraph links back to the initial statement of the topic sentence, while also forming a bridge to the next point to be made. This part of the paragraph provides some personal analysis and interpretation of how the student arrived at their conclusions and also connects together the essay as a cohesive whole.
Conclusion
The conclusion weaves together the main points of the persuasive essay. It does not normally introduce any new arguments or evidence, but rather reviews the arguments made already and restates them by summing them up in a unique way. It is important at this stage to tie everything back to the initial thesis statement. This is the writer’s last opportunity to drive home their point; to achieve the goal of the essay to begin with - persuade the reader of their point of view.