Persuasive Writing: Building a Solid Argument

Favorite color, coolest car, most exciting class, underage drinking, women’s rights, school uniforms, hottest guy in school, favorite cartoon… 

People are born with the innate ability to categorize, critique, and judge information as a means of processing personal opinions.  Depending on the subject, a person may have stronger or weaker opinion.  The point is that everyone has or can have an opinion about anything and everything. The catch is, the successful persuasive writer can persuade others to share his opinion, to wear this new style of pants, to use the earth-friendly laundry detergent, to ban school policies about dress code… Get the picture? 

At some point throughout academia, every student should encounter a persuasive writing assignment.  When this happens, remember these tips: 

DON’T:

- worry

- take a passive stance

- procrastinate

- plagiarize the ideas of other sources

- write a disorganized paper

DO:

- seize the opportunity to express yourself

   (How often do teachers, or anyone for that matter, take class time to ask you about your personal opinions?)

- use a planner to track your due dates

- choose a topic (or determine the specified assignment topic)

- brainstorm, research, and take notes

- write a clear thesis statement, and organize your thoughts

ASSIGNMENT BREAKDOWN: What does it all mean?

THE ASSIGNMENT

Your persuasive essay is your “soapbox.” Any persuasive writing assignment is an opportunity to express your own opinions about a subject in a coherent, organized way so that others can either choose to agree with you or simply gain a deeper understanding of your way of thinking. 

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN

Use your planner or calendar to record the final due date for this assignment.  In addition, add in mini-deadlines for all steps of your writing process so that you can pace your work in a way that will keep you on track without feeling overwhelmed.  Do not procrastinate because waiting to the last minute will not give you enough time to properly organize your thoughts, edit, or revise your paper.  Also remember that technical difficulties can arise to prevent on-the-spot printing, and when planning ahead, you can plan time to cope with such issues.

EMBRACE THE TOPIC

Sometimes teachers provide a specific topic.  In this case, be sure to know what the topic is and understand the aspects of the topic that are pertinent to the assignment.  For example, if the broad topic is global warming, the specific focus may be whether or not the government should define laws to prevent the process of global warming.

However, other times, teachers may allow you to choose your own topic.  In this case, browse a newspaper or legitimate online news source for current events that strike your interest.  Take time to look around and decide which topic you have strong feelings about and for which you can find ample factual information to support your opinion. 

Either way, define your topic clearly before beginning the writing process. 

FORMULATE A THESIS STATEMENT

A thesis statement is a specific claim, or opinion, about the broad topic.  For example, if your topic is to persuade an audience to use or reject a new earth-friendly laundry detergent, you will develop a thesis statement relative to your opinion, or claim.  A potential thesis statement for this topic might be: “Consumers should use GreenKlean laundry detergent rather than other brand-name products because of it is environmentally safer for people, plants, and animals.”  Another potential thesis for the same topic might be: “Consumers should not purchase or use GreenKlean laundry detergent because the high cost of the product is not worth the few environmental benefits when compared to the qualities of other brand name products.”  After formulating your thesis statement, it should be placed as the last sentence in your introduction paragraph so that your introductory information culminates in this central idea.  Every main body paragraph following your introduction should introduce a topic that supports your thesis statement with a topic sentence and supporting details.

JUST SAY “NO” TO PLAGIARISM

Always credit the source of any quoted or summarized fact or idea that you borrow.  Even if you do not use the information word for word, if the idea belongs to someone else, do not take credit for it in your own work.  Colleges and high schools are now enacting stricter policies about plagiarism and cheating, and the excuse, “I didn’t know” will not get you off the hook.  Be aware of plagiarism policies and know how to avoid it.

Pay attention to the assignment instructions.  Know what types of sources are acceptable.  If your teacher tells you not to look at any outside resources at all, the go with what you know.  If you can do outside research using sources, such as databases, websites, books, articles, commercial advertisements, or other legitimate sources, take notes as you research by writing down interesting and significant facts, and for each piece of information that you record, whether you use it in your final draft or not, write down the citation information at the time that you find it so that you do not have to search for it later. 

Typically, teachers will require a specific formatting style, such as MLA or APA.  Either way, a great source for internal citation and reference page formatting guidelines is the Purdue Owl website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/.

DIVE INTO THE WRITING PROCESS

All of the coins are at the bottom of the pool.  Take your time, dive deep down, and collect your thoughts.  At first, you may not know what you are looking for, but after tossing ideas around on paper or on the computer, you may come up with a list of related, significant ideas that eventually direct the current of your writing.

This is your brainstorming session.  Feel free to use a variety of methods here, such as free-writing sessions (jotting down random, stream of conscious thoughts starting with your topic in mind), creating a concept map (organizing thoughts about the topic into bubbles and using straight lines to connect related ideas), or developing an outline (organizing thoughts into clearly organized sections of your paper).

This is also the most important section for completing your research.  When you locate important facts and details from websites, databases, books, television, or other sources, be sure to record the facts and their citations somewhere in your brainstorming notes, either on index cards, your free-writing notes, concept map, or outline so that you can refer to it when you are writing your essay or works cited page.

While researching, remember that you are looking for significant facts and statistics to support your thesis statement in order to persuade your audience to agree with you.

At this point, the swimmer is making her way to the shallow water to take a look at the collected treasures.  Now, you can organize your main points, flesh out your thoughts, and experiment with the order and organization of your thoughts.  At first, strive for the standard five paragraph essay (introduction paragraph + three body paragraphs + conclusion paragraph).  As you write, add in more details, and develop your personal writing style, you may find that it is easier than you thought to expand the limits of the standard five paragraph essay format.

Start writing wherever you feel most comfortable. It is often helpful to write out body paragraphs before adding “official” introduction and conclusion paragraphs.

The diver can now plant her feet firmly on the pool floor and take a closer look at the shiny coins in her hand.  Viewing the coins, or essay, in a clearer light can help you spot the areas in need of improvement.

Reread your paper for grammatical and spelling errors, as well as to check for valid information and citations of facts or ideas that you have borrowed from other sources. 

The diver reviews the treasure but sees that something is missing.  She takes another dive to find the missing pieces.  Like the diver, continue to edit and redraft as needed.  As you reread your paper, take a look at the structure and organization of details.  Ask the following questions: Is your thesis statement clearly written at the end of your introduction paragraph?  Does each body paragraph have a clearly defined topic sentence that supports the overall thesis statement?  For each body paragraph, are there at least three factual examples to support each topic sentence?  Have I written a well-developed conclusion paragraph?  If the answer is no to any of these questions, then go back and rearrange information or add in information where areas are sparse.

The diver moves to the shallow, kiddie pool to take one last look at her treasures before packaging them and presenting them to a new group of divers.

Take this step to make final adjustments before the final draft of your document.  Now is the time to consult a friend, parent, or teacher to help you proofread your work.  It is always helpful to have a fresh set of eyes to look over your work.  (One helpful internet source is the SparkNotes Ask Miss Marm writing blog.  With enough advanced notice, students can submit written works to Miss Marm for general assistance.http://community.sparknotes.com/index.php/2009/01/08/ask-miss-marm-how-do-u-do-that/.)

Read your paper.  You should now be holding a well-developed persuasive essay that could convince cat to hug a mouse or consumers to switch to your recommended brand or your teacher to enact a Friday yoga period.  Remember that writing takes practice, and the more you write, the more your skills and sense of personal style will improve.  Ensure that your paper meets all formatting requirements of the assignment, and attach a reference page.  Finally, be sure to submit your finished product on time!