Persuasive Essay Writing Essay Tips: The Basics
Take a stand! Persuasive writing has no room for wishy-washy declarations. Like I always tell
you, “Don’t ride the fence.”
Look at these examples of wishy-washy declarations:
Bad: The DH rule in baseball has good and bad aspects.
Good: Both the American and National leagues should adopt the DH rule.
Choosing your audience is very important. Know your audience before you ever begin your
essay, and remember that it doesn’t have to be the person who is reading your paper.
Knowing your audience is more crucial in persuasive writing than any other type of essay. It is
the audience that you are “targeting” in this essay.
Know your purpose. Are you trying to change the readers' minds? Are you simply attempting to
get someone to see things from a different vantage point? Are you trying to make people act?
Provide evidence, explanations, comments, logic and supporting details to support your claims.
Appeal to their sense of emotions or to their logic, depending on your approach.
Use appropriate language and tone for your audience. Did I mention the importance of you
needing to know your audience?
Strengthen your argument by acknowledging opposing views but disclaiming those views with
reason explaining why your position is better. Refute weaknesses in the opposing views.
Use active voice, where the noun of the sentence is performing the action of the verb.
How to Write a Persuasive Essay: Organization
When learning how to write a persuasive essay, remember that how you organize your persuasive writing
is just as important as what you put in it. Follow these suggestions for organization.
Adapt standard essay organization to suit your audience and purpose:
 Hook & Introduction - announces the topic. This should hook/grab the reader’s attention and
state your main idea or point of view. It should also include your thesis statement.
 Body Paragraph #1 – Consider your audience and identify the strongest points of your argument
that will help to persuade them. Support your argument with facts, evidence, and examples.
 Body Paragraph 2 – Identify another strong point of your argument that will help to persuade
your audience. Support your argument with facts, evidence, and examples.
 Body Paragraph 3 – Identify the most significant opposing point of view. Explain and refute this
point of view with facts, evidence, and examples. (Note: if you have a 4 th body paragraph, the
opposing point of view should be included there instead of in the 3 rd body paragraph. In other
words, it should go in the last body paragraph.)
 Conclusion – Restate your main idea and supporting points in a way that connects your audience
to the issue.
Expository Essay Writing Tips: Organization
Introductory Paragraph (#1)
 Hook & Introduction – announce the topic. This should hook/grab the reader’s attention. It
should also include your thesis statement. Conclude with a transition sentence that leads into
the next paragraph.
Body Paragraphs (#2, 3, 4)
 These paragraphs are the body of your essay.
 You can use a transition at the beginning of each paragraph but it’s not necessary. Start each
paragraph differently!
 In each paragraph, develop one your information, clarify your points or explanations, discuss
your advantages/disadvantages, etc. as fully as you can, by providing examples, details, facts,
and evidence that support the topic of the paragraph. DON’T FORGET THE SUPPORTING
DETAILS!!!!!!
 These are the most important paragraphs in the grading of the State Assessment Test. The
judges/scorers are looking at how you support the controlling idea/broad statements you make.
 Each of these paragraphs (as well as the body of the essay) needs an introductory sentence and
a concluding sentence.
 These are the paragraphs where it is important to use spectacular vocabulary to show a good
knowledge of words. Use words that you normally wouldn’t use in everyday speech…out-of-thebox words.
 A little well placed humor and creativity definitely add to the quality of the paper.
Concluding Paragraph (#5)
 This is your conclusion. Leave your reader with something that makes an impression, much like
a hook that you started with…just NOT the same one you used in the introduction.
 Restate your topic in words that are different from those in paragraph 1!
Elements of Voice in Writing
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Be lively and unpredictable. How much fun is it listening to someone drone on and on using
words that only he understands with a monotonous tone and rhythm? It's about as much fun as
reading an essay that drones on and on that uses words only the writer understands and has a
monotonous tone and rhythm. Having a good personality and strong voice in writing requires
using natural language, sensory details, action verbs, sentence variety, and varying
sentence lengths.
Use figurative language. Remember all those great things you’ve learned about figurative
language? Sure you do! You often wondered what purpose they served. Using figurative
language (metaphors, similes, analogies, personification) adds variety and personality to your
writing. Use it if you can! It allows you to explain the ordinary extraordinarily and the complex
simply. Unlikely comparisons express originality and create reader interest. Avoid clichés,
however. They are overused!
Use humor appropriately and sparsely. Humor appeals to the reader's intelligence, alleviates
boredom, and reveals your funny side. Note the difference between intelligent humor and
insulting the reader's intelligence with long narrative jokes ending in a punch line. Intelligent
humor consists of being playful, using puns, wit, irony, and hyperbole.
Steps to Improve Voice in Writing
1. Approach each writing assignment with vigor. Look at it as an opportunity to express yourself
creatively. Think of it as your chance to share ideas in a compelling manner.
2. Imagine your writing assignment is a party and everybody's bored. You'd figure out a way to
liven it up, wouldn't you? Identify boring sections of writing and think of ways to liven it up with
figurative language.
3. Use sensory details. Parents carry pictures of their children with them for a reason. You're the
parent of your ideas, so create pictures with sensory details.
4. Study great writers and notice how they create personal voice in writing. Focus especially on how
writers use humor. Shakespeare and Twain are two good places start.
5. Use active voice. When you are at a sporting event, what do you focus on? You focus on the
action - the players, the cheerleaders, the officials making a call. You're not paying attention to
the guy in the third row with his hands folded, staring blankly into space. If your writing is
passive, no one will pay attention to it.
What is a Strong Verb?
Poor writing that often found in student essays relies on adverbs and adjectives. Good writing relies on
verbs, good strong verbs.
Strong verbs show instead of tell
Example:
Bad
The horse ate the carrot.
Much Better
The horse devoured the carrot.
Example:
Bad
The Buffalo injured the hunter.
Much Better
The Buffalo gored the hunter.
Be verbs (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been) suck the life out of your writing!
Example:
Bad
He was bludgeoned by the boxer.
Much Better
The boxer bludgeoned him. (You DON’T need to use was, so don’t use it!)
Example:
Bad
The pedestrian was run over by the school bus.
Much Better
The school bus ran over the pedestrian. (You DON’T need to use was, so don’t use it!)
Have/has/had combined with a noun encourage readers to wedge their head in a
vice. 
Example:
Bad
I had an argument with the referee.
Much Better
I argued with the referee. (You DON’T need to use had, so don’t use it!)
Example:
Bad
I had dinner with the sheriff.
Much Better
I dined with the sheriff. (You DON’T need to use had, so don’t use it!)
Below are links to websites that are helpful with writing.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/1/
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Pages/Grade-8-WritingAssessment.aspx
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-andAssessment/Documents/Grade%208%20Topics%20and%20Sample%20Papers%202012%20Updated%20
022912.pdf