Building Your Portfolio 
Writer’s Workshop 
Persuasive Writing: Persuasive Essay 

Have you ever been sure you were right but you couldn’t convince the person you were talking to? You’ll sharpen your skills of persuasion as you write this essay, and you’ll be able to use the same skills with your friends and family (when you’re trying to persuade your brother to lend you his car), in school (when you’re trying to convince your teacher to give an essay test as a final), and at work (when you’re trying to persuade your boss that you deserve a raise). 

ASSIGNMENT 
Write a persuasive essay about a debatable issue you feel strongly about. 
AIM 
To persuade. 
AUDIENCE 
Your classmates, members of a club, readers of a local newspaper. (You choose.) 

Prewriting 
1. Choose a Topic 

Check your Writer’s Notebook for topic ideas. If you’re still undecided, brainstorm with a small group for more ideas. The topic that you choose should meet these criteria: 

• You care about the issue. To be convincing, you need to feel strongly about your topic. 
• Reasonable people disagree on the issue. “War is bad” and “Eating is important” aren’t topics that most people have serious disagreements on. 
• You can research the issue. Choose a current topic so you can easily find evidence to support your views (facts, examples, quotations). 

2. What Do You Think? 
Before you take a stand on an issue, you may need to do some research. Once you figure out what you think, write a thesis statement that clearly states your view. 

Try It Out 
The daily news is a good source of topics for a persuasive essay. Write a thesis statement expressing your opinion on each of these recent laws. 

• In an Oregon city parents are held responsible for crimes committed by their children under eighteen. Parents may be fined $1,000 and required to attend classes on parenting and/or alcohol and drug abuse. 
• In an Indiana city it’s illegal to wear gang colors or emblems in school and to carry a cellular phone or pager to communicate with a gang member. 

Find two more news stories and write a thesis statement expressing your opinion of each one. 

3. Who’s Your Audience? 
Tailor your argument to fit your specific audience. What are their main concerns? What are their biases? What do they know about the issue? What reasons will they find most convincing? 

4. Elaborate: Use Logical Appeals 
You can elaborate on your thesis statement by developing a logical argument step by step. First, draft two or three statements that express your reasons for believing that your opinion is the best one possible. Then, use supporting evidence—facts, statistics, examples, anecdotes, and quotations—to illustrate the validity of your reasons. As you develop your argument, be sure to avoid fallacies (see the Elements of Literature essay found in this collection), or errors in logic—they make your point of view less convincing. 

5. Use Emotional Appeals 
It helps to appeal to readers’ feelings. In both “Homeless” and “Darkness at Noon,” anecdotes make the writers’ points more powerfully than facts could. Loaded words can also influence your audience’s emotional response. 

6. Plan What You’ll Say 

• The introduction should grab the readers’ attention and contain your thesis statement. 
• The body states your argument point by point and gives reasons in order of importance. As in a debate, you’ll attack the opposing views in counterarguments. A pro-con chart like this one will help you plan your essay. 

• The conclusion may include a call to action that asks your audience to do something specific, like write a letter.

Drafting 
1. Say It Simply and Clearly 
Wordiness weakens your argument by making it hard for your audience to follow your reasoning, so be as clear and direct as Chief Joseph is in the speech “An Indian’s Views of Indian Affairs.” The repetition of a catchy phrase may be effective because it stays in the reader’s mind, but you should cut unnecessary repetition and padding. 

2. Watch Your Tone 
No one will believe you if you sound unsure of yourself, so eliminate “hedge words” (like probably, possibly, maybe, and perhaps) and phrases like “I think,” “I feel,” “I believe,” “in my opinion,” and “it seems to me.” 
WEAK: There are four reasons that I can think of that explain why I think that the curfew probably isn't a good idea. 
STRONGER: The curfew is a bad idea for four reasons. 

Evaluating and Revising 
1. Peer Review 
Read your draft aloud to your writing group or give it to them to read. Ask them for feedback on parts of your essay that concern you. For example: Do you think the anecdote works better at the beginning or at the end of the essay? Is my third reason strong enough? Is there enough supporting evidence? 

2. Self-Evaluation 
As you read your essay to yourself, focus first on content. Are your reasons clearly identified? (You might state them as topic sentences or add transitions, such as first, second, most important, finally.) Read your draft a second time for style, paying attention to the way the sentences sound together. Are the ideas smoothly connected? Maybe you can combine some sentences by using participial phrases or adjective or adverb clauses. 

Evaluation Criteria 
A good persuasive essay 
1. has an attention-grabbing introduction and a clear thesis statement 
2. provides at least two strong reasons that are supported by evidence 
3. may also contain emotional appeals 
4. states the opposition’s arguments and refutes them 
5. presents an effective conclusion that may include a call to action 

Publishing Tips 

• Turn your essay into a speech. 
• Conduct a panel discussion or a debate with students who have written about the same issue. 
• Include your main points in a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

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