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How to Write a Persuasive Essay: Tips and Tricks

By Allison Bressmer

Most composition classes you’ll take will teach the art of persuasive writing. That’s a good thing.

Knowing where you stand on issues and knowing how to argue for or against something is a skill that will serve you well both inside and outside of the classroom.

Persuasion is the art of using logic to prompt audiences to change their mind or take action , and is generally seen as accomplishing that goal by appealing to emotions and feelings.

A persuasive essay is one that attempts to get a reader to agree with your perspective.

Ready for some tips on how to produce a well-written, well-rounded, well-structured persuasive essay? Just say yes. I don’t want to have to write another essay to convince you!

How Do I Write a Persuasive Essay?

What are some good topics for a persuasive essay, how do i identify an audience for my persuasive essay, how do you create an effective persuasive essay, how should i edit my persuasive essay.

Your persuasive essay needs to have the three components required of any essay: the introduction , body , and conclusion .

That is essay structure. However, there is flexibility in that structure.

There is no rule (unless the assignment has specific rules) for how many paragraphs any of those sections need.

Although the components should be proportional; the body paragraphs will comprise most of your persuasive essay.

How Do I Start a Persuasive Essay?

As with any essay introduction, this paragraph is where you grab your audience’s attention, provide context for the topic of discussion, and present your thesis statement.

TIP 1: Some writers find it easier to write their introductions last. As long as you have your working thesis, this is a perfectly acceptable approach. From that thesis, you can plan your body paragraphs and then go back and write your introduction.

TIP 2: Avoid “announcing” your thesis. Don’t include statements like this:

“In my essay I will show why extinct animals should (not) be regenerated.”
“The purpose of my essay is to argue that extinct animals should (not) be regenerated.”

Announcements take away from the originality, authority, and sophistication of your writing.

Instead, write a convincing thesis statement that answers the question "so what?" Why is the topic important, what do you think about it, and why do you think that? Be specific.

How Many Paragraphs Should a Persuasive Essay Have?

This body of your persuasive essay is the section in which you develop the arguments that support your thesis. Consider these questions as you plan this section of your essay:

What arguments support your thesis?
What is the best order for your arguments?
What evidence do you have?
Will you address the opposing argument to your own?
How can you conclude convincingly?

TIP: Brainstorm and do your research before you decide which arguments you’ll focus on in your discussion. Make a list of possibilities and go with the ones that are strongest, that you can discuss with the most confidence, and that help you balance your rhetorical triangle .

What Should I Put in the Conclusion of a Persuasive Essay?

The conclusion is your “mic-drop” moment. Think about how you can leave your audience with a strong final comment.

And while a conclusion often re-emphasizes the main points of a discussion, it shouldn’t simply repeat them.

TIP 1: Be careful not to introduce a new argument in the conclusion—there’s no time to develop it now that you’ve reached the end of your discussion!

TIP 2 : As with your thesis, avoid announcing your conclusion. Don’t start your conclusion with “in conclusion” or “to conclude” or “to end my essay” type statements. Your audience should be able to see that you are bringing the discussion to a close without those overused, less sophisticated signals.

If your instructor has assigned you a topic, then you’ve already got your issue; you’ll just have to determine where you stand on the issue. Where you stand on your topic is your position on that topic.

Your position will ultimately become the thesis of your persuasive essay: the statement the rest of the essay argues for and supports, intending to convince your audience to consider your point of view.

If you have to choose your own topic, use these guidelines to help you make your selection:

Choose an issue you truly care about
Choose an issue that is actually debatable

Simple “tastes” (likes and dislikes) can’t really be argued. No matter how many ways someone tries to convince me that milk chocolate rules, I just won’t agree.

It’s dark chocolate or nothing as far as my tastes are concerned.

Similarly, you can’t convince a person to “like” one film more than another in an essay.

You could argue that one movie has superior qualities than another: cinematography, acting, directing, etc. but you can’t convince a person that the film really appeals to them.

Once you’ve selected your issue, determine your position just as you would for an assigned topic. That position will ultimately become your thesis.

Until you’ve finalized your work, consider your thesis a “working thesis.”

This means that your statement represents your position, but you might change its phrasing or structure for that final version.

When you’re writing an essay for a class, it can seem strange to identify an audience—isn’t the audience the instructor?

Your instructor will read and evaluate your essay, and may be part of your greater audience, but you shouldn’t just write for your teacher.

Think about who your intended audience is.

For an argument essay, think of your audience as the people who disagree with you—the people who need convincing.

That population could be quite broad, for example, if you’re arguing a political issue, or narrow, if you’re trying to convince your parents to extend your curfew.

Once you’ve got a sense of your audience, it’s time to consult with Aristotle. Aristotle’s teaching on persuasion has shaped communication since about 330 BC. Apparently, it works.

Aristotle taught that in order to convince an audience of something, the communicator needs to balance the three elements of the rhetorical triangle to achieve the best results.

Those three elements are ethos , logos , and pathos .

Ethos relates to credibility and trustworthiness. How can you, as the writer, demonstrate your credibility as a source of information to your audience?

How will you show them you are worthy of their trust?

You show you’ve done your research: you understand the issue, both sides
You show respect for the opposing side: if you disrespect your audience, they won’t respect you or your ideas

Logos relates to logic. How will you convince your audience that your arguments and ideas are reasonable?

You provide facts or other supporting evidence to support your claims.

That evidence may take the form of studies or expert input or reasonable examples or a combination of all of those things, depending on the specific requirements of your assignment.

Remember: if you use someone else’s ideas or words in your essay, you need to give them credit.

ProWritingAid's Plagiarism Checker checks your work against over a billion web-pages, published works, and academic papers so you can be sure of its originality.

Find out more about ProWritingAid’s Plagiarism checks.

Pathos relates to emotion. Audiences are people and people are emotional beings. We respond to emotional prompts. How will you engage your audience with your arguments on an emotional level?

You make strategic word choices : words have denotations (dictionary meanings) and also connotations, or emotional values. Use words whose connotations will help prompt the feelings you want your audience to experience.
You use emotionally engaging examples to support your claims or make a point, prompting your audience to be moved by your discussion.

Be mindful as you lean into elements of the triangle. Too much pathos and your audience might end up feeling manipulated, roll their eyes and move on.

An “all logos” approach will leave your essay dry and without a sense of voice; it will probably bore your audience rather than make them care.

Once you’ve got your essay planned, start writing! Don’t worry about perfection, just get your ideas out of your head and off your list and into a rough essay format.

After you’ve written your draft, evaluate your work. What works and what doesn’t? For help with evaluating and revising your work, check out this ProWritingAid post on manuscript revision .

After you’ve evaluated your draft, revise it. Repeat that process as many times as you need to make your work the best it can be.

When you’re satisfied with the content and structure of the essay, take it through the editing process .

Grammatical or sentence-level errors can distract your audience or even detract from the ethos—the authority—of your work.

You don’t have to edit alone! ProWritingAid’s Realtime Report will find errors and make suggestions for improvements.

You can even use it on emails to your professors:

Try ProWritingAid with a free account.

How Can I Improve My Persuasion Skills?

You can develop your powers of persuasion every day just by observing what’s around you.

How is that advertisement working to convince you to buy a product?
How is a political candidate arguing for you to vote for them?
How do you “argue” with friends about what to do over the weekend, or convince your boss to give you a raise?
How are your parents working to convince you to follow a certain academic or career path?

As you observe these arguments in action, evaluate them. Why are they effective or why do they fail?

How could an argument be strengthened with more (or less) emphasis on ethos, logos, and pathos?

Every argument is an opportunity to learn! Observe them, evaluate them, and use them to perfect your own powers of persuasion.

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Allison Bressmer

Allison Bressmer is a professor of freshman composition and critical reading at a community college and a freelance writer. If she isn’t writing or teaching, you’ll likely find her reading a book or listening to a podcast while happily sipping a semi-sweet iced tea or happy-houring with friends. She lives in New York with her family. Connect at linkedin.com/in/allisonbressmer.

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Short Persuasive Essay

Short persuasive essay generator.

When we were still in school, we were often taught that writing is a part of being a student. Applicants for a scholarship or applicants for those who wish to attend a new school were often told to write an essay about themselves. There are of course a lot of different types of essays, but this article is going to show you how to write a persuasive essay. If you are a student hoping to find ways to write one, or simply anyone willing to find tips on writing an essay to persuade this article is for you. From definitions, examples and tips. Anyone can benefit from this, student, professional, anyone. What are you waiting for? Check this out now. 6+ Short Persuasive Essay Examples in PDF.

6+ Short Persuasive Essay Examples in PDF

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Defining Essay

A short nonfiction piece of literary writing. A written piece of writing where you show your argument on a single topic. The definition is often too vague and overlaps with the ideas.

Defining Persuasive Essay

This type of essay is a kind of academic writing. When you write a persuasive essay , you mainly use your logic and arguments to persuade your audience of your point of view. To do this, you must use solid proof like facts, doing your own research, statistics, examples and quotations from professionals.

Tips for Writing Persuasive Essays

As we all know, writing any kind of essay is tough. But it doesn’t have to be a problem that we could not solve. Rather, here are some tips to make a good persuasive essay to help you with your writing.

Do your research: One thing you must remember when writing a good persuasive essay is to do some extensive research. The reason for this is because you are going to convince your readers about your topic.
Make a draft: Before you write your essay, and after you do some research, make a draft. Check every small detail if they are correct. This way, when you are about to write the full essay, it would spare you lots of time to edit anything you need. Also, this helps you formulate your thoughts.
Choose a side: Choose a side when you want to persuade your readers. Explain everything clearly as well.
Tone of writing: Your writing tone should match your audience. Do not be too rude nor discriminate when you write. You are not there to pick a fight with your readers, rather, you are there to convince them to believe in your point of view.
Understand your audience: To draw your audience in, first you must understand them. Who are your targeted audiences? What do they need to know from you? What can you tell them so they would be convinced at what you are saying? How will you approach the topic you intend to write and persuade them of your point of view.
Short: Remember essays are not meant to be very long. Rather, essays are considered short since they are only written as a way for the author to express their opinions and their beliefs.

How do I make a good persuasive essay?

To make a good persuasive essay is to do follow the tips listed above. The tips are there to help you write a good persuasive essay. But to make a very good one takes practice.

What topic is okay when writing this type of essay?

You can talk about general topics. Avoid topics that may be too discriminating to your readers.

How much is the minimum word count for this type of essay?

Around 2500 words. Anything less than that will make the argument less convincing.

How do I make an impressive persuasive essay without practicing?

Unfortunately, there is no instant way of making a very good essay without practice. With practice and following the tips, you sure will be making the best essay.

Making a good persuasive essay can be tough. It can be a challenge to write when you have no idea what to write. But all that could change. Following the tips and downloading the examples can help you practice on writing this essay. The few things to always remember are, research, tone of writing, knowing your audience and persuade your reader why he or she must believe in your views. Give them a good reason, add a valid fact to make your research more convincing.

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Short Persuasive Essay on the importance of reading books

Short Persuasive Essay on adopting pets from animal shelters

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How to Write a Persuasive Essay

Last Updated: December 17, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 4,282,726 times.

A persuasive essay is an essay used to convince a reader about a particular idea or focus, usually one that you believe in. Your persuasive essay could be based on anything about which you have an opinion or that you can make a clear argument about. Whether you're arguing against junk food at school or petitioning for a raise from your boss, knowing how to write a persuasive essay is an important skill that everyone should have.

Sample Persuasive Essays

How to Lay the Groundwork

Look for language that gives you a clue as to whether you are writing a purely persuasive or an argumentative essay. For example, if the prompt uses words like “personal experience” or “personal observations,” you know that these things can be used to support your argument.
On the other hand, words like “defend” or “argue” suggest that you should be writing an argumentative essay, which may require more formal, less personal evidence.
If you aren’t sure about what you’re supposed to write, ask your instructor.

Whenever possible, start early. This way, even if you have emergencies like a computer meltdown, you’ve given yourself enough time to complete your essay.

Step 3 Examine the rhetorical situation.

Try using stasis theory to help you examine the rhetorical situation. This is when you look at the facts, definition (meaning of the issue or the nature of it), quality (the level of seriousness of the issue), and policy (plan of action for the issue).
To look at the facts, try asking: What happened? What are the known facts? How did this issue begin? What can people do to change the situation?
To look at the definition, ask: What is the nature of this issue or problem? What type of problem is this? What category or class would this problem fit into best?
To examine the quality, ask: Who is affected by this problem? How serious is it? What might happen if it is not resolved?
To examine the policy, ask: Should someone take action? Who should do something and what should they do?

For example, if you are arguing against unhealthy school lunches, you might take very different approaches depending on whom you want to convince. You might target the school administrators, in which case you could make a case about student productivity and healthy food. If you targeted students’ parents, you might make a case about their children’s health and the potential costs of healthcare to treat conditions caused by unhealthy food. And if you were to consider a “grassroots” movement among your fellow students, you’d probably make appeals based on personal preferences.

Step 5 Pick a topic that appeals to you.

It also should present the organization of your essay. Don’t list your points in one order and then discuss them in a different order.
For example, a thesis statement could look like this: “Although pre-prepared and highly processed foods are cheap, they aren’t good for students. It is important for schools to provide fresh, healthy meals to students, even when they cost more. Healthy school lunches can make a huge difference in students’ lives, and not offering healthy lunches fails students.”
Note that this thesis statement isn’t a three-prong thesis. You don’t have to state every sub-point you will make in your thesis (unless your prompt or assignment says to). You do need to convey exactly what you will argue.

A mind map could be helpful. Start with your central topic and draw a box around it. Then, arrange other ideas you think of in smaller bubbles around it. Connect the bubbles to reveal patterns and identify how ideas relate. [5] X Research source
Don’t worry about having fully fleshed-out ideas at this stage. Generating ideas is the most important step here.

For example, if you’re arguing for healthier school lunches, you could make a point that fresh, natural food tastes better. This is a personal opinion and doesn’t need research to support it. However, if you wanted to argue that fresh food has more vitamins and nutrients than processed food, you’d need a reliable source to support that claim.
If you have a librarian available, consult with him or her! Librarians are an excellent resource to help guide you to credible research.

How to Draft Your Essay

An introduction. You should present a “hook” here that grabs your audience’s attention. You should also provide your thesis statement, which is a clear statement of what you will argue or attempt to convince the reader of.
Body paragraphs. In 5-paragraph essays, you’ll have 3 body paragraphs. In other essays, you can have as many paragraphs as you need to make your argument. Regardless of their number, each body paragraph needs to focus on one main idea and provide evidence to support it. These paragraphs are also where you refute any counterpoints that you’ve discovered.
Conclusion. Your conclusion is where you tie it all together. It can include an appeal to emotions, reiterate the most compelling evidence, or expand the relevance of your initial idea to a broader context. Because your purpose is to persuade your readers to do/think something, end with a call to action. Connect your focused topic to the broader world.

For example, you could start an essay on the necessity of pursuing alternative energy sources like this: “Imagine a world without polar bears.” This is a vivid statement that draws on something that many readers are familiar with and enjoy (polar bears). It also encourages the reader to continue reading to learn why they should imagine this world.
You may find that you don’t immediately have a hook. Don’t get stuck on this step! You can always press on and come back to it after you’ve drafted your essay.

Put your hook first. Then, proceed to move from general ideas to specific ideas until you have built up to your thesis statement.
Don't slack on your thesis statement . Your thesis statement is a short summary of what you're arguing for. It's usually one sentence, and it's near the end of your introductory paragraph. Make your thesis a combination of your most persuasive arguments, or a single powerful argument, for the best effect.

Start with a clear topic sentence that introduces the main point of your paragraph.
Make your evidence clear and precise. For example, don't just say: "Dolphins are very smart animals. They are widely recognized as being incredibly smart." Instead, say: "Dolphins are very smart animals. Multiple studies found that dolphins worked in tandem with humans to catch prey. Very few, if any, species have developed mutually symbiotic relationships with humans."
"The South, which accounts for 80% of all executions in the United States, still has the country's highest murder rate. This makes a case against the death penalty working as a deterrent."
"Additionally, states without the death penalty have fewer murders. If the death penalty were indeed a deterrent, why wouldn't we see an increase in murders in states without the death penalty?"
Consider how your body paragraphs flow together. You want to make sure that your argument feels like it's building, one point upon another, rather than feeling scattered.

Step 5 Use the last sentence of each body paragraph to transition to the next paragraph.

End of the first paragraph: "If the death penalty consistently fails to deter crime, and crime is at an all-time high, what happens when someone is wrongfully convicted?"
Beginning of the second paragraph: "Over 100 wrongfully convicted death row inmates have been acquitted of their crimes, some just minutes before their would-be death."

Step 6 Add a rebuttal or counterargument.

Example: "Critics of a policy allowing students to bring snacks into the classroom say that it would create too much distraction, reducing students’ ability to learn. However, consider the fact that middle schoolers are growing at an incredible rate. Their bodies need energy, and their minds may become fatigued if they go for long periods without eating. Allowing snacks in the classroom will actually increase students’ ability to focus by taking away the distraction of hunger.”
You may even find it effective to begin your paragraph with the counterargument, then follow by refuting it and offering your own argument.

Step 7 Write your conclusion at the very end of your essay.

How could this argument be applied to a broader context?
Why does this argument or opinion mean something to me?
What further questions has my argument raised?
What action could readers take after reading my essay?

How to Write Persuasively

Step 1 Understand the conventions of a persuasive essay.

Persuasive essays, like argumentative essays, use rhetorical devices to persuade their readers. In persuasive essays, you generally have more freedom to make appeals to emotion (pathos), in addition to logic and data (logos) and credibility (ethos). [13] X Trustworthy Source Read Write Think Online collection of reading and writing resources for teachers and students. Go to source
You should use multiple types of evidence carefully when writing a persuasive essay. Logical appeals such as presenting data, facts, and other types of “hard” evidence are often very convincing to readers.
Persuasive essays generally have very clear thesis statements that make your opinion or chosen “side” known upfront. This helps your reader know exactly what you are arguing. [14] X Research source
Bad: The United States was not an educated nation, since education was considered the right of the wealthy, and so in the early 1800s Horace Mann decided to try and rectify the situation.

Step 2 Use a variety of persuasion techniques to hook your readers.

For example, you could tell an anecdote about a family torn apart by the current situation in Syria to incorporate pathos, make use of logic to argue for allowing Syrian refugees as your logos, and then provide reputable sources to back up your quotes for ethos.
Example: Time and time again, the statistics don't lie -- we need to open our doors to help refugees.
Example: "Let us not forget the words etched on our grandest national monument, the Statue of Liberty, which asks that we "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” There is no reason why Syrians are not included in this.
Example: "Over 100 million refugees have been displaced. President Assad has not only stolen power, he's gassed and bombed his own citizens. He has defied the Geneva Conventions, long held as a standard of decency and basic human rights, and his people have no choice but to flee."

Good: "Time and time again, science has shown that arctic drilling is dangerous. It is not worth the risks environmentally or economically."
Good: "Without pushing ourselves to energy independence, in the arctic and elsewhere, we open ourselves up to the dangerous dependency that spiked gas prices in the 80's."
Bad: "Arctic drilling may not be perfect, but it will probably help us stop using foreign oil at some point. This, I imagine, will be a good thing."

Good: Does anyone think that ruining someone’s semester, or, at least, the chance to go abroad, should be the result of a victimless crime? Is it fair that we actively promote drinking as a legitimate alternative through Campus Socials and a lack of consequences? How long can we use the excuse that “just because it’s safer than alcohol doesn’t mean we should make it legal,” disregarding the fact that the worst effects of the drug are not physical or chemical, but institutional?
Good: We all want less crime, stronger families, and fewer dangerous confrontations over drugs. We need to ask ourselves, however, if we're willing to challenge the status quo to get those results.
Bad: This policy makes us look stupid. It is not based in fact, and the people that believe it are delusional at best, and villains at worst.

Step 5 Acknowledge, and refute, arguments against you.

Good: While people do have accidents with guns in their homes, it is not the government’s responsibility to police people from themselves. If they're going to hurt themselves, that is their right.
Bad: The only obvious solution is to ban guns. There is no other argument that matters.

How to Polish Your Essay

Step 1 Give yourself a day or two without looking at the essay.

Does the essay state its position clearly?
Is this position supported throughout with evidence and examples?
Are paragraphs bogged down by extraneous information? Do paragraphs focus on one main idea?
Are any counterarguments presented fairly, without misrepresentation? Are they convincingly dismissed?
Are the paragraphs in an order that flows logically and builds an argument step-by-step?
Does the conclusion convey the importance of the position and urge the reader to do/think something?

You may find it helpful to ask a trusted friend or classmate to look at your essay. If s/he has trouble understanding your argument or finds things unclear, focus your revision on those spots.

You may find it helpful to print out your draft and mark it up with a pen or pencil. When you write on the computer, your eyes may become so used to reading what you think you’ve written that they skip over errors. Working with a physical copy forces you to pay attention in a new way.
Make sure to also format your essay correctly. For example, many instructors stipulate the margin width and font type you should use.

Expert Q&A

↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-a-persuasive-essay/
↑ https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/centers/writing/writing-resources/persuasive-essays
↑ https://www.hamilton.edu/writing/writing-resources/persuasive-essays
↑ https://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/sites/default/files/docs/learningguide-mindmapping.pdf
↑ https://examples.yourdictionary.com/20-compelling-hook-examples-for-essays.html
↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/transitions/
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/argument_papers/rebuttal_sections.html
↑ http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson56/strategy-definition.pdf
↑ https://stlcc.edu/student-support/academic-success-and-tutoring/writing-center/writing-resources/pathos-logos-and-ethos.aspx
↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/revising-drafts/
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/proofreading_suggestions.html

About This Article

To write a persuasive essay, start with an attention-grabbing introduction that introduces your thesis statement or main argument. Then, break the body of your essay up into multiple paragraphs and focus on one main idea in each paragraph. Make sure you present evidence in each paragraph that supports the main idea so your essay is more persuasive. Finally, conclude your essay by restating the most compelling, important evidence so you can make your case one last time. To learn how to make your writing more persuasive, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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What is a Persuasive Essay? Full Persuasive Essay Guide

In a world where effective communication is crucial, mastering persuasive writing is essential. It transcends simply expressing opinions by enabling you to influence others and clearly articulate your message. Say goodbye to difficulties in making your point; join us as we explore how to craft persuasive essays that are both informative and genuinely compelling in our guide!

Persuasive Essay Definition

This type of essay persuades the reader to agree with your viewpoint by presenting convincing arguments, research, and ideas. You rely on logic and reason to demonstrate why your perspective is more valid than others. You must present clear arguments supported by compelling facts. Several key elements should be included in these essays:

A clear thesis statement or main idea that guides your essay's focus.
An opening paragraph that introduces your thesis statement and sets the stage for your argument.
Body paragraphs that use specific research evidence to support your points.
Smooth transitions between paragraphs that connect ideas clearly and engagingly.
Addressing counterarguments to acknowledge and refute opposing viewpoints.
A conclusion that reinforces your central idea without repeating it word for word.

Elements of a Persuasive Essay

Persuasive essays rely on three key elements called modes of persuasion . These were introduced by Aristotle, a famous philosopher, to help make arguments strong and convincing.

First, there's logos , which means using evidence and logical reasoning to support your points. It's crucial to clearly state your main argument and back it up with solid evidence. Remember, what counts as convincing evidence can vary depending on who you're trying to persuade.

Next up is pathos , which involves appealing to people's emotions. Sharing personal stories can be really effective here because they help readers connect emotionally with your argument. Plus, personal anecdotes can give your essay a unique voice.

Lastly, there's ethos , which is all about building trust and credibility with your audience. The way you write your essay—whether it's serious, funny, or sincere—can affect how readers see you. Using reliable sources and showing empathy can also help establish your credibility. And when you're making claims, it's important to consider what your readers already believe and try to address any doubts they might have.

Feeling overwhelmed by all this info? Just say - ' write my paper ,' and our expert writers will jump in to assist you right away!

How to Write a Persuasive Essay in 7 Steps

Writing a persuasive essay usually follows a structured format: introduction, body, conclusion . Unlike argument essays, which involve discussing and attacking alternate views, persuasive essays aim to convince the reader of your argument's validity. They're a bit more gentle and understanding in tone. To craft a solid persuasive essay, follow the 7 steps in this section. And while you're at it, don't forget to explore our guide on how to write an argumentative essay , too. These two types of assignments are the most common in school and college.

Step 1: Topic Selection and Research

Choosing a good topic is where you start when writing a persuasive essay. Think about things that really interest you and make you feel strongly. But it's not just about what you like; you also need to think about what matters to your readers. Do some digging to learn more about your topic. Look into different parts of it by checking out reliable sources like books, websites, and academic articles.

While you're doing your research, keep an eye out for different opinions and new ideas about your topic. This helps you get ready for arguments against your point of view. It's also important to see if there's enough evidence out there to back up what you believe. Having lots of evidence makes it easier to make a strong case.

For more help on picking a topic, check out our persuasive essay topics .

Step 2: Develop a Strong Thesis Statement

A well-developed thesis statement should be specific, concise, and debatable. Avoid saying things that are too vague or broad, as they won't give your essay a clear direction. Instead, try to come up with a thesis that clearly says what you believe and encourages people to think about it critically.

Make sure your thesis statement is backed up by the evidence you found in your research. Use facts, numbers, or opinions from experts to support what you're saying and make your argument stronger.

Also, think about how your thesis statement fits into your whole persuasive essay. It should not only outline your main argument but also give a hint about why it's important.

Step 3: Create an Outline

An academic persuasive essay outline typically follows the 'classical' structure, which is based on techniques used by ancient Roman rhetoricians. Here are the basic elements your outline should include:

Section	Details
Introduction	1. Engaging opener 2. Providing context and necessary background information 3. Stating the writer's main argument or claim 4. Offering a preview of what will be discussed in the essay
Body Paragraphs	1. Introducing and providing evidence for each reason sequentially 2. Demonstrating how each reason aligns with values or beliefs held by the audience
Counterargument	1. Recognizing and addressing opposing viewpoints 2. Explaining why these opposing viewpoints are flawed or less persuasive
Conclusion	1. Bringing the essay to a close 2. Summarizing the main points or arguments presented 3. Leaving a lasting impression on the reader 4. Encouraging action or connecting the topic to broader societal issues

Step 4: Write the Introduction

When writing a persuasive essay introduction, it should not only give background information but also frame it as a problem or issue, known as the exigence. Presenting a clearly defined problem and proposing the thesis as a solution makes for a compelling introduction, as readers naturally want to see problems solved.

Here's a breakdown of an effective persuasive essay introduction:

Hook : Begin with a brief anecdote that highlights an emerging issue, capturing the reader's attention.
Context : Provide background information related to the topic.
Problem : Connect the anecdote with the emerging issue, presenting it as a problem in need of addressing.
Debate : Mention briefly the existing debate surrounding how to respond to the problem.
Claim : Conclude the introduction by hinting at how you intend to address the problem, presented in a conversational tone as part of an ongoing dialogue.

Step 5: Delve into Body Paragraphs

The core of a persuasive essay lies in presenting a claim supported by reasoning and evidence. This means that much of the essay's body is dedicated to providing supporting reasons backed by evidence. A common approach taught in schools and colleges is the PEAS formula:

Point : Start by explaining your reason clearly. For example, 'Another reason why we need to recycle is because...'
Evidence : After explaining your reason, give proof that supports it. You can mention facts or share what experts say. You might say, ' I saw in a study that.. .' or ' Scientists have found that.. .'
Analysis : Explain how your proof supports your reason. You can say, ' This means that.. .' or ' This shows us that... '
Summary/So what? : Finish by quickly summarizing everything you said before. Then, explain why it's important or what it means for your argument.

Step 6: Address Counterarguments

When you're dealing with counterarguments, pick the response strategy that matches your argument.

If you agree with some points from the counterargument, acknowledge them and explain why they're not important for your topic.
If the counterargument uses different evidence, say why it's not trustworthy.
If the counterargument looks at evidence in a different way, explain why their understanding is wrong.
If the counterargument weakens your point with evidence, explain why it doesn't actually disprove your argument.

Use phrases like these to introduce counterarguments:

Some researchers say...
Critics argue that...
Others might think...
There's a different view that...

And transition like this from counterargument to response:

While some of that makes sense, I still believe...
Even if that's true, it doesn't change the fact that...
Those points are interesting, but they don't affect my argument because...
I see where you're coming from, but I can't agree because...

Step 7: Conclude with a Call to Action or a Memorable Closing Statement

A good persuasive conclusion should do two things:

Summarize the main points of your essay. If it's a longer essay, using phrases like 'I have argued that' can help, but for shorter essays, it might not be needed since the reader will remember the main ideas.
Address the ' So what? ' or ' Now what? ' challenge. Imagine your reader asking, 'Okay, I'm convinced by your essay, but why are these ideas important? What should I do with them? Do you expect things to change?' Depending on whether your essay aims to change how people think or act, offer brief action points or insights into the implications of your ideas.

Consider ending with an anecdote, fact, or quote that highlights the significance of your argument.

Also, take a look at our guide on how to write a synthesis essay . It's a common type of assignment you'll encounter in school and college.

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Persuasive Essay Examples

Here are great examples of persuasive essays to inspire you. If you like the writing style of our authors, you can buy essay paper from them, who will ensure a high-quality document specifically tailored to your needs!

5 Tips for Writing a Persuasive Essay

Here are some additional tips to enhance your essay from our persuasive essay writing service :

Start with a Captivating Hook : Grab your reader's attention from the beginning with an engaging hook. Instead of using common approaches like surprising facts or quotes, try incorporating a unique angle or a suspenseful story related to your topic.
Build Your Credibility : It's crucial to establish your credibility to persuade your audience to trust your argument. In addition to presenting well-researched facts and statistics, share personal experiences or insights to demonstrate your expertise. Citing lesser-known experts or studies can also provide a fresh perspective and show a thorough exploration of the topic.
Clearly State Your Thesis: Craft a clear and concise thesis statement that effectively addresses the nuances of your argument. Take time to consider the wording of your thesis and how it aligns with your essay's direction. Provide a brief overview of the main points you'll cover to give readers a clear roadmap.
Use Persuasive Language : Choose words and phrases that evoke emotion and urgency, compelling the reader to take action. Experiment with rhetorical devices like parallelism or repetition to add depth to your argument. Maintain a tone that balances assertiveness with respect.
Appeal to Emotions and Logic : While emotional appeals can be powerful, support them with solid logic and evidence. Supplement personal anecdotes with relevant data, expert opinions, or logical reasoning for a well-rounded perspective. Anticipate and address potential counterarguments to demonstrate thorough consideration of the issue.

To bring it all together, you now understand the power of persuasion - it teaches you how to express your ideas clearly and convincingly. This means you can speak up for what you believe in, making society more active and informed. These skills are super useful not just in school but also in jobs and everyday life. And, if you want to make things easier, you can always check out our essay service . We'll save you time and give you some extra help with your writing!

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What are the 7 Tips for Persuasive Essays?

How do i make a persuasive essay.

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

Rewrote the whole article except the samples which are good and new, and FAQs section
Added new writing steps
Researched new information overall

1. Gladd, J. (2020, August 18). Tips for Writing Academic Persuasive Essays . Pressbooks. https://idaho.pressbooks.pub/write/chapter/structure-of-academic-persuasive-essays/

Writing a Persuasive Essay

Persuasive essays convince readers to accept a certain perspective. Writing a persuasive essay therefore entails making an argument that will appeal to readers, so they believe what you say has merit. This act of appealing to readers is the art of persuasion, also known as rhetoric. In classical rhetoric, persuasion involves appealing to readers using ethos, pathos, and logos.

In this tutorial, we refer to the sample persuasive draft and final paper written by fictional student Maggie Durham.

THE ART OF PERSUASION

Ethos refers to establishing yourself as a credible source of information. To convince an audience of anything, they must first trust you are being earnest and ethical. One strategy to do this is to write a balanced discussion with relevant and reliable research that supports your claims. Reliable research would include quoting or paraphrasing experts, first-hand witnesses, or authorities. Properly citing your sources, so your readers can also retrieve them, is another factor in establishing a reliable ethos. When writing for academic purposes, expressing your argument using unbiased language and a neutral tone will also indicate you are arguing fairly and with consideration of others having differing views.

When you appeal to your readers’ emotions, you are using pathos. This appeal is common in advertising that convinces consumers they lack something and buying a certain product or service will fulfill that lack. Emotional appeals are subtler in academic writing; they serve to engage a reader in the argument and inspire a change of heart or motivate readers toward a course of action. The examples you use, how you define terms, any comparisons you draw, as well as the language choices you use can draw readers in and impact their willingness to go along with your ideas.

Consider that one purpose of persuasion is to appeal to those who do not already agree with you, so it will be important to show that you understand other points of view. You will also want to avoid derogatory or insulting descriptions or remarks about the opposition. You wouldn’t want to offend the very readers you want to persuade.

Establishing an appeal of logos is to write a sound argument, one that readers can follow and understand. To do this, the facts and evidence you use should be relevant, representative, and reliable, and the writing as a whole should be well organized, developed, and edited.

STEPS FOR WRITING PERSUASIVELY

Step one: determine the topic.

The first step in writing a persuasive essay is to establish the topic. The best topic is one that interests you. You can generate ideas for a topic by prewriting, such as by brainstorming whatever comes to mind, recording in grocery-list fashion your thoughts, or freewriting in complete sentences what you know or think about topics of interest.

Whatever topic you choose, it needs to be:

Interesting : The topic should appeal both to you and to your intended readers.
Researchable : A body of knowledge should already exist on the topic.
Nonfiction : The information about the topic should be factual, not based on personal opinions or conspiracy theories.
Important : Your reader should think the topic is relevant to them or worthy of being explored and discussed.

Our sample student Maggie Durham has selected the topic of educational technology. We will use Maggie’s sample persuasive draft and final paper as we discuss the steps for writing a persuasive essay.

Step Two: Pose a Research Question

Once you have a topic, the next step is to develop a research question along with related questions that delve further into the first question. If you do not know what to ask, start with one of the question words: What? Who? Where? When? Why? and How? The research question helps you focus or narrow the scope of your topic by identifying a problem, controversy, or aspect of the topic that is worth exploration and discussion. Some general questions about a topic would be the following:

Who is affected by this problem and how?
Have previous efforts or polices been made to address this problem? – What are they?
Why hasn’t this problem been solved already?

For Maggie’s topic of educational technology, potential issues or controversies range from data privacy to digital literacy to the impact of technology on learning, which is what Maggie is interested in. Maggie’s local school district has low literacy rates, so Maggie wants to know the following:

Are there advantages and/or disadvantages of technology within primary and secondary education?
Which types of technology are considered the best in terms of quality and endurance?
What types of technology and/or programs do students like using and why?
Do teachers know how to use certain technologies with curriculum design, instruction, and/or assessment?

Step Three: Draft a Thesis

A thesis is a claim that asserts your main argument about the topic. As you conduct your research and draft your paper, you may discover information that changes your mind about your thesis, so at this point in writing, the thesis is tentative. Still, it is an important step in narrowing your focus for research and writing.

The thesis should

1. be a complete sentence,

2. identify the topic, and

3. make a specific claim about that topic.

In a persuasive paper, the thesis is a claim that someone should believe or do something. For example, a persuasive thesis might assert that something is effective or ineffective. It might state that a policy should be changed or a plan should be implemented. Or a persuasive thesis might be a plea for people to change their minds about a particular issue.

Once you have figured out your research question, your thesis is simply the answer. Maggie’s thesis is “Schools should supply technology aids to all students to increase student learning and literacy rates.” Her next step is to find evidence to support her claim.

Step Four: Research

Once you have a topic, research question, and thesis, you are ready to conduct research. To find sources that would be appropriate for an academic persuasive essay, begin your search in the library. The Purdue Global Library has a number of tutorials on conducting research, choosing search teams, types of sources, and how to evaluate information to determine its reliability and usefulness. Remember that the research you use will not only provide content to prove your claim and develop your essay, but it will also help to establish your credibility as a reliable source (ethos), create a logical framework for your argument (logos), and appeal to your readers emotionally (pathos).

Step Five: Plan Your Argument; Make an Outline

Once you have located quality source information—facts, examples, definitions, knowledge, and other information that answers your research question(s), you’ll want to create an outline to organize it. The example outline below illustrates a logical organizational plan for writing a persuasive essay. The example outline begins with an introduction that presents the topic, explains the issue, and asserts the position (the thesis). The body then provides the reasoning for the position and addresses the opposing viewpoints that some readers may hold. In your paper, you could modify this organization and address the opposing viewpoints first and then give the reasoning for your viewpoints, or you can alternate and give one opposing viewpoint then counter that with your viewpoint and then give another opposing viewpoint and counter that with your viewpoint.

The outline below also considers the alternatives to the position—certainly, there are other ways to think about or address the issue or situation. Considering the alternatives can be done in conjunction with looking at the opposing viewpoints. You do not always have to disagree with other opinions, either. You can acknowledge that another solution could work or another belief is valid. However, at the end of the body section, you will want to stand by your original position and prove that in light of all the opposing viewpoints and other perspectives, your position has the most merit.

Sample Outline of a Persuasive Argument

1. Introduction: Tell them what you will tell them.
a. Present an interesting fact or description to make the topic clear and capture the reader’s attention.
b. Define and narrow the topic using facts or descriptions to illustrate what the situation or issue is (and that is it important).
c. Assert the claim (thesis) that something should be believed or done about the issue. (Some writers also briefly state the reasons behind this claim in the thesis as Maggie does in her paper when she claims that schools should supply tablets to students to increase learning , engagement, and literacy rates ).
2. Body: Tell them.
a. Defend the claim with logical reasons and practical examples based on research.
b. Anticipate objections to the claim and refute or accommodate them with research.
c. Consider alternate positions or solutions using examples from research.
d. Present a final point based on research that supports your claim in light of the objections and alternatives considered.
3. Conclusion: Tell them what you told them.
a. Recap the main points to reinforce the importance of the issue.
b. Restate the thesis in new wording to reinforce your position.
c. Make a final remark to leave a lasting impression, so the reader will want to continue this conversation and ideally adopt the belief or take the action you are advocating.

In Maggie’s draft, she introduced the topic with facts about school ratings in Texas and then narrowed the topic using the example of her local school district’s literacy rates. She then claimed the district should provide each student a tablet in order to increase learning (and thus, literacy rates).

Maggie defends her claim with a series of examples from research that proved how access to tablets, technology-integrated curriculums, and “flipped classrooms” have improved literacy rates in other districts. She anticipates objections to her proposal due to the high cost of technology and counter argues this with expert opinions and examples that show partnerships with businesses, personalized curriculums that technology makes possible, and teacher training can balance the costs. Maggie included an alternative solution of having students check out tablets from the library, but her research showed that this still left students needing Wi-Fi at home while her proposal would include a plan for students to access Wi-Fi.

Maggie concluded her argument by pointing out the cost of not helping the students in this way and restated her thesis reaffirming the benefits, and then left the reader with a memorable quote.

Click here to see Maggie’s draft with feedback from her instructor and a peer. Sample Persuasive Draft

Feedback, Revision, and Editing

After you write a draft of your persuasive essay, the next step is to have a peer, instructor, or tutor read it and provide feedback. Without reader feedback, you cannot fully know how your readers will react to your argument. Reader feedback is meant to be constructive. Use it to better understand your readers and craft your argument to more appropriately appeal to them.

Maggie received valuable feedback on her draft from her instructor and classmate. They pointed to where her thesis needed to be even more specific, to paragraphs where a different organization would make her argument more convincing, to parts of the paper that lacked examples, sentences that needed revision and editing for greater clarity, and APA formatting that needed to be edited.

Maggie also took a critical look at her paper and looked back at her writing process. One technique she found helpful was to read her paper aloud because it let her know where her wording and organization were not clear. She did this several times as she revised and again as she edited and refined her paper for sentence level clarity and concision.

In the end, Maggie produced a convincing persuasive essay and effective argument that would appeal to readers who are also interested in the way technology can impact and improve student learning, an important topic in 2014 when this paper was written and still relevant today.

Click here to see Maggie’s final draft after revising and editing. Sample Persuasive Revised

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Persuasive Essay Writing

How to Write a Persuasive Essay: A Step-by-Step Guide

13 min read

Published on: Jan 3, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 29, 2024

What is a Persuasive Essay?

A persuasive essay presents logical arguments with emotional appeal.

Typically, persuasive essays begin with a question that the writer spends the essay arguing in favor of or opposition to.

For example: should kids be allowed to play video games on weekdays?

The writer would then spend the rest of the essay backing up their claim with reasons and evidence.

Persuasive essays often include counterarguments. These arguments oppose the writer's position.

By including counterarguments, persuasive essays become more interesting. They also force the writer to think critically about their position.

For example, an opponent of the previous argument might say that playing video games leads to poor grades.

The original writer could deny this claim by pointing to studies that show no correlation between bad grades and playing video games.

The best persuasive essays are well-researched and use data to support their claims.

However, persuasive essays are not just about logic. They also need to include emotional appeal.

After all, people are more likely to be persuaded by an argument that speaks to their feelings.

Elements of a Persuasive Essay

When a persuasive essay is a task, you must keep these three greek terms in mind. They are:

Ethos (appeal to ethics)
Pathos (appeal to emotion)
Logos (appeal to logic)

A good essay will use all of these elements to convince the reader that the argument presented is valid.

Let's take a closer look at each one.

Ethos - the Credibility Element

The persuasive power of ethos lies in the character or credibility of the person making the argument.

For an argument to be persuasive, the person presenting it must be someone that the audience trusts.

This could be because they are an expert on the subject or because they have first-hand experience with it. Either way, ethos establishes the speaker's credibility and makes the audience more likely to trust what they have to say.

Pathos -the Emotional Element

While ethos deals with the character of the person making the argument, pathos has to do with the audience's emotions. A persuasive argument will tap into the audience's emotions and use them to sway their opinion.

This could be done through stories or anecdotes that evoke an emotional response or by using language that stirs certain feelings.

Logos - the Logical Element

The final element of persuasion is logos, which appeals to logic. A persuasive argument will use sound reasoning and evidence to convince the audience that it is valid. This could be done through data or using persuasive techniques like cause and effect.

Using all these elements of a persuasive essay can make your argument much more effective.

How To Write a Persuasive Essay

Writing persuasive essays can be challenging, but they don't have to be.

With the following simple steps, you can quickly turn an ordinary essay into one that will make a lasting impression.

Tough Essay Due? Hire a Writer!

How To Start a Persuasive Essay

Here is a complete guide on how to start a persuasive essay. Follow them to compose a perfect essay every time.

Brainstorm All Possible Angles

The first step in writing a persuasive essay is brainstorming. You need to develop an angle for your essay that will make it unique and interesting.

For example, let's say you're writing about the death penalty. A lot has been said on this topic, so it might be hard to find an angle that hasn't been covered already.

But if you think about it, there are many different ways to approach the issue.

Maybe you could write about the personal experiences of someone affected by the death penalty. Or maybe you could write about the economic costs of the death penalty.

There are many possibilities here - it's all about thinking creatively.

Select Your Topic

Once you've brainstormed a few ideas, it's time to choose your topic. Pick the angle you think will most effectively persuade your reader.

Once you've chosen your topic, it's time to research. Use statistics, expert opinions, and real-life examples to support your position.

Choose Your Side

Now that you've researched, it's time to take a side in the debate. Remember, you must take a strong stance on one side of the issue.

After deciding your stance, research and support it with evidence.

Appeal to Human Emotions

One of the most effective ways to persuade someone is by appealing to their emotions.

After all, we're not robots - we're human beings and always make decisions based on our feelings.

Make your reader feel something, whether it's anger, sadness, empathy, or even amusement. You'll be well on convincing them of your point of view.

Anticipate Possible Objections.

Of course, not everyone will agree, and that's okay!

The important thing is that you anticipate some of those objections and address them head-on in your essay.

This shows that you take your reader's objections seriously and are confident in your position.

Organize Your Evidence

Once you have all of your evidence collected, it's time to start organizing it into an outline for your essay.

Organizing your essay is a key step in the writing process. It helps you keep track of all the evidence you've gathered and structure your argument in an organized way.

What Are The Steps To Write Your Persuasive Essay?

Now that you have your topic essay outline, it's time to move on to the actual writing.

Here are the steps you need to take:

Step 1: Create a Compelling Introduction

You want to hook your readers with a great opening for your persuasive essay, so they'll want to keep reading.

Here are 3 tips for writing an attention-grabbing introduction for your next essay.

Use a strong hook statement

Your hook statement should immediately draw the reader in and make them want to learn more.

A good hook statement will vary depending on whether you're writing for an academic or more casual audience.

Still, some good options include a quote, an interesting statistic, or a rhetorical question.

Make sure your thesis statement is clear and concise

Your thesis statement is the main argument of your essay, so it needs to be stated clearly and concisely in your introduction.

A good thesis statement will be specific and limit the scope of your argument so that it can be fully addressed in the body of your paper.

Use a transition

Transitions are important in writing for academic and non-academic audiences because they help guide the reader through your argument.

A good transition will introduce the main point of your next paragraph while still maintaining the connection to the previous one.

Step 2: Write The Body Paragraphs

Here is a formula for structuring your body paragraphs in a persuasive essay.

This formula will ensure that each body paragraph is packed with evidence and examples while still being concise and easy to read.

The Topic Sentence

Every body paragraph should start with a topic sentence. A topic sentence is a key sentence that sums up the paragraph's main point.

It should be clear, concise, and direct.

For example, if you were writing a paragraph about the importance of exercise, your topic sentence might be this:

"Regular exercise is essential for good physical and mental health."

See how that sentence gives a clear overview of what the rest of the paragraph will be about.

Relevant Supporting Sentences

Once your topic sentence is down, it's time to fill the rest of the paragraph with relevant supporting sentences.

These sentences should provide evidence to support the claims made in the topic sentence.

For the exercise example, we might use sentences like this:

"Exercise has been shown to improve heart health, reduce stress levels, and boost brain power."

"A sedentary lifestyle has been linked to an increased risk of obesity, heart disease, and type II diabetes."

See how each sentence ties back to the paragraph's main point. That's what you want your supporting sentences to do.

Closing Sentence

Last but not least, every body paragraph should end with a closing (or transition) sentence. This sentence should briefly summarize the main points of the paragraph and introduce the next point that will be discussed in the following paragraph.

For the exercise example, the closing sentence might look like this:

"So, as you can see, there are many compelling reasons to make exercise a regular part of your routine."

How to End a Persuasive Essay

The end of your essay is just as important as the introduction. You must leave your readers with a lasting impression and ensure your argument convinces them.

To do this, you'll want to craft a persuasive conclusion that ties together all the points you have made in the essay.

Here is a video explaining the body paragraphs in a persuasive essay. Check it out for more information.

Step 1: Write a Persuasive Conclusion

Here are a few tips to help make sure your persuasive essay conclusion is as effective and persuasive as possible.

Restate Your Thesis

Begin your essay conclusion by restating the thesis statement you began within your introduction. Doing so will remind readers of what you set out to prove and provide a sense of closure.

Summarize Your Arguments

You can also use your conclusion to summarize the main points of your argument. This will help readers recall the evidence you presented and reinforce why it supports your thesis.

Offer a Call to Action

Lastly, don't forget to include a call to action in your essay conclusion. This can be anything from a persuasive plea to a persuasive suggestion.

Step 2: Polish Up Your Essay

After youâre done with the essay, take a few minutes to read through it. Ensure that your persuasive points and evidence are clear, concise, and persuasive.

Also, double-check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Ensure that all of your persuasive points are properly explained and make sense to the reader.

If youâre not confident in your persuasive writing skills, you can enlist a friend or family member to read through it and provide feedback.

You can follow a proofreading checklist after completing your essay to ensure you are on track.

By following these steps, youâll end up with a persuasive essay that will impress anyone who reads it!

Format Of A Persuasive Essay

Once you have your persuasive essay topic, it's time to craft an essay structure. Crafting the perfect persuasive essay format is essential for ensuring your paper has maximum persuasive power.

Here are some tips for formatting an effective persuasive essay.

Increase the Readability of Your Text

Ensure that you have adhered to all the paragraphing requirements of your instructor.

Double-check that your margins are set properly. A margin of 1 inch (2.5 cm) on all sides is the standard for most written documents.

This makes it easier for readers to focus and extract important information quickly.

Use Easy-to-Read Font

Choose a font that is easy to read and professional. Stay away from script fonts or anything too fancy or difficult to read. Stick with basic fonts like Times New Roman, Arial, and Calibri.

Keep a Defined Alignment

Align your persuasive essay to the left margin. This makes it easier for readers to follow along with your argument without having to do too much extra scrolling.

By following these simple tips, you'll be able to craft the perfect persuasive essay format.

Persuasive Essay Examples

Here are some examples of persuasive essays that can help you get the gist of essay writing.

Persuasive essay on the preservation of nature

Persuasive essay examples pdf

Example of a persuasive essay about covid-19

Check out some more persuasive essay examples here for more inspiration.

Good Persuasive Essay Topics

The right persuasive essay topics can make or break your essay. Here are a few examples of persuasive essay topics that can help you.

Should the government increase taxes on sugary foods to reduce obesity?
Do standardized tests accurately measure student intelligence and aptitude?
Should studying a foreign language be mandatory in schools?
Should all high school students complete community service hours before graduating?
Are video games affecting the concentration and cognitive development of children?
Should genetically modified foods be labeled as such in stores?
Are the current copyright laws protecting artists and content creators enough?
Should college tuition be reduced for all students?
Is the use of animals in medical research ethical?
Should the use of drones be regulated by the government?
Should college athletes receive payment for their performance?
Should students be allowed to have cell phones in school?
Is drug testing in schools an effective way to prevent substance abuse?
Does social media promote a healthy lifestyle or contribute to cyber bullying?
Should the voting age be lowered to 16?

If youâre stuck with choosing topics, these are great persuasive essay topics to get you started!

Pick one of these and craft an essay that will leave your readers thinking.

Tips to Write a Compelling Persuasive Essay

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you make a lasting impression on your reader:

Pick A Topic You're Passionate About

First, you need to choose a topic you're passionate about. It will be easier to write about the topic if you care about the essay.

This will make it easier to develop persuasive arguments, and you'll be more motivated to do research.

Research Your Topic Thoroughly

After picking a persuasive essay topic, you need thorough research. This will help you gain a better understanding of the issue, which in turn will make your essay stronger. This will also ensure that you fully grasp all counterarguments on your topic.

Know Your Audience

Knowing your audience before writing is important. Are you writing to your classmates? Your teacher? The general public? Once you know your audience, you can tailor your argument to them.

Knowing your audience will help determine the tone and approach of your essay.

Hook The Reader's Attention

The first few sentences of your essay are crucial - they must grab the reader's attention and make them want to keep reading.

One way to do this is by starting with a shocking statistic or an interesting story. The reader will be instantly hooked and will be enticed to read more.

Research Both Sides

A good persuasive essay will consider both sides of an issue and present a well-rounded view. This means researching both sides of the argument before taking a stance.

Make sure to consider all the evidence before making up your mind - otherwise, your argument won't be as strong as it could be.

Ask Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions are not meant to be answered but rather to make the reader think about the issue.

For example, "How can we expect our children to succeed in school if they don't have enough resources?"

Questions like this can help engage readers and get them thinking about solutions rather than just complaining about problems.

Emphasize Your Point

It's important to reiterate your main points throughout the essay so that readers don't forget what they are supposed to argue for or against by the time they reach the end of the paper.

Persuasive essays can be difficult to write, but following simple tips can help make the process easier.

In this blog, we've outlined the components of a persuasive essay and provided some tips on how to write one. We also shared examples of persuasive essays that scored high marks on standardized tests.

If you are looking for an essay writing service , look no further than CollegeEssay.org! Our experienced essay writer can provide the assistance you need to produce an essay that meets the highest standards.

Let our persuasive essay writer handle the hard work and get you started on your path to success.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Persuasive Essays

How long should a persuasive essay be.

Generally speaking, persuasive essays should be between 500-750 words. However, the length of your essay will depend on the instructions given by your teacher or professor.

What Techniques Are Used In Persuasive Essays?

Persuasive techniques include facts and statistics, emotion and logic, personal stories, analogies and metaphors, pathos, ethos, and logos.

How Do I Make My Persuasive Essay More Convincing?

To make your essay more convincing, cite reliable sources, use persuasive language, and provide strong evidence and arguments.

How Is Persuasive Writing Different From Argumentative Writing?

The main difference between persuasive and argumentative writing is that persuasive writing seeks to convince or persuade the reader. On the other hand, argumentative writing seeks to debate an issue.

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A Comprehensive Guide on How to Write a Persuasive Essay

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A persuasive essay is a potent literary tool designed to sway the reader's opinion and evoke a response. Unlike other types of essays , the primary goal here is not merely to inform or entertain but to persuade. In this guide, we'll explore what exactly a persuasive essay is, delve into its main components, and provide practical tips on how to write a persuasive essay that leaves a lasting impression.

What is a Persuasive Essay?

At its core, a persuasive essay aims to convince the reader to adopt a particular viewpoint or take a specific action. It's an artful blend of logical reasoning and emotional appeal, carefully crafted to sway opinions and inspire action. Whether addressing a controversial social issue, advocating for a change in policy, or expressing an individual opinion, the persuasive essay is a vehicle for influencing minds.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay: The Main Components

1. Introduction: Capturing Attention and Stating the Thesis The introduction serves as the gateway to your persuasive essay. Begin by grabbing the reader's attention with a compelling hook—an anecdote, a surprising fact, or a thought-provoking question. After capturing their interest, clearly state your thesis, which should encapsulate the main argument you'll be advocating throughout the essay. Make sure it's concise, focused, and sets the stage for what follows.

2. Body Paragraphs: Building the Argument The body of your persuasive essay is where you present your case in detail. Each paragraph should focus on a single point that supports your thesis. Begin with a topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph, followed by supporting evidence, examples, and logical reasoning. Be sure to anticipate counterarguments and address them in a respectful manner. This not only strengthens your position but also demonstrates a thorough understanding of the topic.

3. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos: The Triad of Persuasion A persuasive essay is most effective when it appeals to the audience's emotions, ethics, and logic. Ethos involves establishing credibility and showcasing your expertise or authority on the subject. Pathos appeals to the reader's emotions, invoking empathy or stirring passions. Logos relies on logical reasoning, presenting evidence and sound arguments to support your claims. Striking a balance between these three elements ensures a well-rounded and convincing essay.

4. Counterarguments and Rebuttal: Strengthening Your Position Acknowledge opposing viewpoints to demonstrate fairness and open-mindedness. Addressing counterarguments head-on not only strengthens your position but also shows that you've thoroughly considered different perspectives. Craft a persuasive rebuttal by presenting additional evidence or showcasing flaws in the opposing argument. This not only reinforces your stance but also reinforces your credibility as a thoughtful and informed writer.

5. Conclusion: Leaving a Lasting Impression End your essay with a powerful conclusion that backs your thesis and leaves a lasting impression. Summarise the key points from the body paragraphs and restate your thesis in a compelling way. Avoid introducing new information in the conclusion; instead, focus on leaving the reader with a clear understanding of your perspective and a sense of urgency or importance regarding your argument.

Writing a Persuasive Essay: Practical Tips

Know Your Audience: Tailor Your Approach Understanding your audience is crucial when crafting a persuasive essay. Consider their values, beliefs, and potential biases. Tailor your language and arguments to resonate with your target audience, making your persuasive efforts more effective.

Thorough Research: The Foundation of Persuasion Before diving into writing, conduct thorough research on your chosen topic. Familiarise yourself with relevant facts, statistics, and expert opinions. A well-researched essay not only strengthens your argument but also enhances your credibility as a writer.

Craft a Strong Thesis Statement: The Heart of Your Essay Your thesis statement is the focal point of your persuasive essay. Ensure it is clear, concise, and debatable. A strong thesis sets the tone for the entire essay and provides a roadmap for both the writer and the reader.

Use Persuasive Language: Engage and Convince Choose your words carefully to create a persuasive impact. Employ strong, vivid language that evokes emotion and captivates the reader. Be mindful of your tone, striking a balance between confidence and humility.

Revise and Edit: Polish Your Persuasive Gem The final step in crafting a persuasive essay is thorough revision and editing. Review your essay for clarity, coherence, and consistency. Check for grammatical errors, ensure a smooth flow of ideas, and confirm that your arguments are well-supported by evidence.

The refinement of your work is just as crucial as its creation. Let our team of skilled editors meticulously edit and proofread your essay , providing valuable insights to elevate your writing to its highest potential.

Writing a Persuasive Essay: A Skill That Goes Beyond Academia

Mastering the art of persuasion through essay writing is a valuable skill that extends beyond academia. Whether advocating for social change or expressing a personal viewpoint, a persuasive essay equips you to articulate your ideas effectively and influence others. By understanding the main components and following practical tips, you can confidently navigate the terrain of persuasive writing, leaving a lasting impact on your readers.

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Persuasive Essay

Definition of persuasive essay, why persuasion, difference between a persuasive essay and an argumentative essay, examples of persuasive essay in literature, example #1: our unhealthy obsession and sickness (by frank furedi).

“Governments today do two things that I object to in particular. First they encourage introspection, telling us that unless men examine their testicles, unless we keep a check on our cholesterol level, then we are not being responsible citizens. You are letting down yourself, your wife, your kids, everybody. We are encouraged continually to worry about our health. As a consequence, public health initiatives have become, as far as I can tell, a threat to public health. Secondly, governments promote the value of health seeking. We are meant always to be seeking health for this or that condition. The primary effect of this, I believe, is to make us all feel more ill.”

Example #2: We Are Training Our Kids to Kill (by Dave Grossman)

“Our society needs to be informed about these crimes, but when the images of the young killers are broadcast on television, they become role models. The average preschooler in America watches 27 hours of television a week. The average child gets more one-on-one communication from TV than from all her parents and teachers combined. The ultimate achievement for our children is to get their picture on TV. The solution is simple, and it comes straight out of the sociology literature: The media have every right and responsibility to tell the story , but they must be persuaded not to glorify the killers by presenting their images on TV.”

Example #3: The Real Skinny (by Belinda Luscombe)

“And what do we the people say? Do we rise up and say, ‘I categorically refuse to buy any article of clothing unless the person promoting it weighs more than she did when she wore knee socks?’ Or at least, ‘Where do I send the check for the chicken nuggets?’ Actually, not so much. Mostly, our responses range from ‘I wonder if that would look good on me?’ to ‘I don’t know who that skinny-ass cow is, but I hate her already.’

Function of a Persuasive Essay

Persuasive Essay: Definition, Examples, Topics & Tips for Writing a Persuasive Essay

Writing a persuasive essay might seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t need to be. In this article, we are going to be looking at how to write a great persuasive essay as well as taking a look at some ideas for topics. We will also take a look at a couple of examples as a way to get your creative juices flowing.

How To Write A Persuasive Essay

What is a persuasive essay.

Before we begin looking at how to write this type of essay, it is important that we understand what a persuasive essay is. Below is a short description of the persuasive essay.

A persuasive essay is one which is used to convince the audience of a particular viewpoint or opinion on a specific topic.

Tips For Writing A Persuasive Essay

Now that we are familiar with the type of essay we will be writing, let’s take a look at some great ideas for how to create the best piece of writing possible.

The most important point when it comes to writing a good persuasive essay is to choose your stance. For example, if you are writing about the topic of ‘should the death penalty be legal in every country?’ You are going to want to choose your point of view carefully and be sure that you can deliver a convincing take on this. In most cases, it is a good idea to write on a topic that you are passionate about because this will show in your writing. The main point here is to bring your reader around to your way of thinking and without a good position, this will not be achieved.
Before you begin writing, you should put in a good amount of research time in order to find statistics and data that can back up your argument. In the example of the death penalty, you might find facts about lower crime rates in countries which use this method. By having solid facts in your essay, the reader will be more easily brought around to your way of thinking.
You should also consider the audience that you are writing for and how they are likely to respond to the essay. Consider whether the reader will be currently opposed to your argument or whether they just need some gentle swaying, this will help you to write more persuasive points.

Outlining The Persuasive Essay

Before you actually put pen to paper, it is vital that you create an essay outline , and this is very important when writing a persuasive essay. You need to be sure that you have included all the relevant points and that the essay is structured and ordered in the correct fashion. Let’s take a look at what you should include in your persuasive essay outline.

Introduction

Use a hook to grab the attention of the reader. This could be a joke, some interesting data or a personal experience.
Detail the subject which will be discussed.
Present your thesis statement to provide the reader with your take on the subject.

Body 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc Paragraphs

The body of the essay is traditionally made up of three paragraphs but you are free to write more or less depending on the information you wish to present.
Each paragraph should contain one point of your argument, ordered in level of importance, starting with the most important.
You should include data as a way of backing up any claims you back and also as a way of further convincing the reader of your argument.

Opposing Paragraph

Use this paragraph to air the point of view of the opposition.
You can provide data and statistics here too.
You should then give reasons as to why this argument is not correct and refute any claims that have been made, with reasons.
Summarise all the points that have been made throughout the piece of writing.
Restate the thesis statement

Topics For A Persuasive Essay

When it comes to choosing a topic for your persuasive essay, the options are truly limitless. We are now going to take a look at some examples of topics you might wish to write on.

Females should always train female athletes.
Is chess a game or a sport?
The music of today is not composed as well as music 50 years ago.
Sad music encourages teenagers to suffer mental health problems.
Hunting is wrong/right.
Animal testing is right/wrong.
A dog should always be put down if it bites a human.
Physical education is not necessary for school children.
Modern kids are too reliant on technology.
Human beings are the greatest contributors to global warming .
The weekend should be made longer.
Parents should only be allowed a limited number of children.

Examples Of Persuasive Essays

We are now going to take a look at two examples of persuasive essays which have been well written and are easily able to convince the audience of the argument that is being discussed. You can use these as inspiration when it comes to writing your own persuasive essay.

Our Unhealthy Obsession With Sickness Written By Frank Furedi

The government today will do two things to which I object. First of all, they will encourage introspection, they will tell you that unless man examines his testicles, or keeps a check on his cholesterol levels then he is not a responsible citizen. He is letting himself down, his wife, his children, everyone. We’re encouraged to worry about health and as a consequence of this public health initiative’s are becoming a threat to the health of the public, or so it seems.

Second of all, the government promotes a value of seeking health. With us always expected to be seeking health for a variety of conditions. The main effect this brings, I believe, is that it makes us feel more ill than we actually are.

The Real Skinny Written By Belinda Luscomb

What do we say as people? Should we rise up and state ‘I absolutely refuse to purchase any item of clothing until I know that the one promoting it weights more than she was when she was a nipper?’ At the very least, should we say ‘Where should I send the money for some chicken nuggets?’ Well, maybe not this much. For the most part, our response will range from ‘I’m wondering whether that will look good on me.’ to ‘I’m not sure who the skinny cow is, but I already detest her.’

There are many important points to consider when writing a persuasive essay but the tips we have included here will guide you along your way. In essence, your persuasive essay should be able to convince the reader of your point of view and back this up with real data and facts.

Persuasive Essay Infographic

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What Is Persuasive Writing? (Complete Answer With Examples)

No matter what you do in life, you will probably find yourself needing to master persuasive writing.

What is persuasive writing?

Persuasive writing is a type of writing that is used to convince or persuade someone of something. It is often used in business and marketing contexts but can be used in any type of writing. Persuasive writing uses logical, emotional, and structural techniques to seek agreement and initiate change.

In this article, I will answer the most common questions related to “What is persuasive writing?”

What Is Persuasive Writing? (Detailed Answer)

Table of Contents

A more complete explanation of persuasive writing is that it is a type of writing that is used to try to change or influence the opinion of the reader.

It can be used in many different contexts, such as in business, politics, or marketing, but it can also be used in other types of writing, such as essays or articles.

These are the common characteristics of persuasive writing:

Evidentiary support (facts, statistics, case studies, etc)
Easy reading experience (transitions, word choice, etc)

In order to be persuasive, your writing must be well thought out, purposeful, and bookended with a strong introduction and conclusion.

Persuasive writing can be formal, informal, or even colloquial in style and tone.

As far as the point of view, you can use first-person, second-person, or third-person. No matter what point of view you use, keep the focus on the reader.

What Is the Purpose of Persuasive Writing?

The purpose of persuasive writing is to grab attention, compel readers to think differently, arouse emotions, challenge assumptions, facilitate agreement, change minds, and—ultimately—convince the reader to take a specific action.

For example, you can convince:

Website visitors to sign up to your email newsletter
Blog post readers to click on an affiliate link
Your manager to allow you to work remotely
Clients to buy your product or service
A politician to fix a broken streetlight
An artist to hire you as a ghostwriter for rappers
A literary agent to represent your novel or book
Your favorite writer to respond to your letter to an author
Dissertation reviewers to give you higher marks
Readers to positively comment on your Power Rangers Fan Fiction

3 Types of Persuasive Writing

The three major types of persuasive writing are ethos, pathos, and logos. In my opinion, the best persuasive writing includes all three.

Here are definitions and examples of all three types.

Ethos is the writer’s character or credibility.

In order to be persuasive, a writer must establish trust with the reader. One way to do this is by being transparent and honest about who you are and your credentials.

You can also build ethos by using credible sources, such as statistics, case studies, and expert opinions.

An example of ethos in persuasive writing is:

“As a lifelong resident of this community, I know the importance of keeping our streets clean. I urge you to vote in favor of the cleanup proposal.”

Pathos is the emotional appeal to the reader.

The persuasive writer must connect with the reader on an emotional level in order to convince others to agree with them.

You can use word choice, stories, and “emotional” language to trigger a guttural feeling response in readers.

Here is an example of pathos in persuasive writing:

“Please fix this streetlight. It’s been broken for weeks and it’s very unsafe. Our children play in this neighborhood and I’m worried about their safety.”

Logos is the logical appeal to the reader.

The persuasive writer must make a rational argument in order to be persuasive. You can use facts, statistics, and expert opinions to make your argument.

Here is an example of logos in persuasive writing:

“The national evidence shows that working remotely can increase productivity by up to 43%. My productivity is even higher at 47%. Please consider allowing me to work from home.”

13 Forms of Persuasive Writing

There are many forms of persuasive writing.

Here are 13 forms:

Editorials —Opinion pieces that argue for or against a position.
Letters to the Editor —Written responses to articles or editorials, often voicing an opinion.
Print advertisements —Adversiting materials that try to sell a product or service.
Sales letters —Written materials used to sell a product or service.
Pamphlets —Flyers or brochures that promote a product, service, or cause.
Songs —Emotional music-based lyrics to inspire unity and action.
Social media postings —Tweets, posts, and pins that try to create agreement.
Speeches —Presentations given before an audience in order to persuade them of an idea or course of action.
Treatments —Proposals made to individuals or groups in order to influence them.
Websites —Pages or sites that attempt to persuade the reader to take a desired action.
Poems —Verses that try to convince the reader to believe in a certain idea or course of action.
Email marketing —Messages that try to convince the recipient to buy a product or service.
Personal essays —Narratives that argue for or against a position.

Related: Best AI Essay Writer (Tested & Solved)

What Is Persuasive Writing? (Examples)

One of the best ways to learn persuasive writing is to read actual examples.

Here are 5 persuasive writing examples to answer that question.

Example 1: Editorial on Car Accidents at an Intersection

It’s time for the city to take action and stop car accidents from happening at an intersection. There have been too many accidents at this intersection, and it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed.

The city needs to install a traffic light or stop sign to help control the flow of traffic.

This will help to prevent accidents from happening, and it will also make the intersection safer for pedestrians.

Example #2: Essay on Changing the School Mascot

The school should consider changing its mascot. There are many reasons why this is a good idea.

One reason is that the current mascot is offensive to some people.

Another reason is that the mascot doesn’t reflect the diversity of the school’s student body.

Changing the mascot would be a symbolic gesture that shows that the school values all of its students.

Example 3: Letter to the Editor about Gun Control

I am writing in support of gun control. I believe that we need stricter gun laws to prevent mass shootings from happening.

The current laws are not working, and we need to take action to make our schools and public places safer.

I urge you to join me in supporting gun control. It’s time for us to take a stand and make our voices heard.

Example 4: Advertisement for a Credit Card

Looking for a credit card that offers low-interest rates and no annual fees? Look no further!

Our credit card has everything you need and more. It offers 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers, and no annual fees.

Apply today and get started on your path to financial freedom!

Example 5: Email to Teacher to Allow Extra Credit for Class Participation

Hi Mrs. Jones,

I was wondering if I could get some extra credit for class participation. I have been trying to participate more in class, and I think it has improved my grades and helped the entire class feel more motivated.

Is there any way that I could get an extra point or two for my participation grade?

Thank you for your time and consideration!

What Is Persuasive Writing? (Famous Examples)

Here are a few famous examples of persuasive writing:

Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
Tilbury Speech by Queen Elizabeth I
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
Ain’t I A Woman by Sojourner Truth
Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States by Susan B. Anthony

What Is Persuasive Writing? (The Parts)

Persuasive writing is made up of several parts. To truly answer the question, “What is persuasive writing?” it’s helpful to understand these various parts.

Let’s explore the following four persuasive writing terms:

Counterargument
Call to action

What Is a Hook in Persuasive Writing?

A hook in persuasive writing is a technique that writers use to capture the reader’s attention. It’s a way to get the reader interested in what you have to say.

There are many different types of hooks, but some of the most common include:

Here is a good example of a hook in persuasive writing:

“Birth control is not about birth, it’s about control.”—Anonymous

This quotation is a good hook because it is provocative and makes the reader think. It gets them interested in the topic of birth control and makes them want to read more.

What Is a Claim in Persuasive Writing?

A claim in persuasive writing is a statement that you make to support your argument. It is your position on the topic that you are discussing.

Your claim should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. You should also be able to back it up with evidence.

Here is an example of a claim:

“Donating to Clean Water International will save thousands of innocent lives.”

What Is a Counterargument in Persuasive Writing?

A counterargument in persuasive writing is a statement that opposes your position.

It is an argument that the other person could make against you.

You should be prepared to address any counterarguments that the other person might raise. This will help you to strengthen your argument and convince the other person of your position.

Here is an example of a counterargument:

“Donating to Clean Water International is not a sustainable solution.”

What Is a Call to Action in Persuasive Writing?

A call to action is a request that the reader takes some specific action. It is a plea for the reader to help you achieve your goal.

Your call to action should be clear, specific, and actionable. You should also make it easy for the reader to take action.

Here is an example of a call to action:

“Please donate to Clean Water International today to help save thousands of lives tomorrow.”

Persuasive Writing Techniques & Tips

When writing to change hearts and minds, there are techniques and tips you can use to maximize your results.

Apply these proven persuasive writing techniques:

Reframing —Presenting the issue in a different light.
Framing —Using specific language to create a particular impression.
Bandwagoning —Emphasizing that many people support your position.
Pathos, Logos, & Ethos —Appealing to the reader’s emotions, logic, and association with authority.
Figurative language —using creative language to make your argument more impactful (stories, analogies, similies, etc).
Repetition —Using the same words or phrases to convince the reader. Repeating your claim.
Language patterns —The artful use of phrases to subtely shift a reader’s thinking.
Rhetorical questions —Asking the reader a question that forces them to think about the issue.
Speak directly to the reader —Making a direct appeal to the reader.

When using these techniques, it’s important to be aware of your readers and their interests.

Tailor your message to match their needs, hopes, fears, and belief systems.

What Is a Persuassive Writing Map?

A persuasive writing map is a way to structure and organize your argument.

Here is a persuasive writing map that works well for me:

Start with a strong and clear claim.
State your reasons for supporting that claim.
Include supportive evidence.
Sprinkle in persuassive techniques.
Address any counterarguments that the other person might raise.
Finish with a short and simple call to action.

Using a persuasive writing map can help you stay on track and make sure that your argument is clear and easy to follow.

It can also help you to be more persuasive by addressing the other person’s interests and concerns in the most compelling way.

A persuasive writing map is also known as a persuasive writing outline.

How Is Persuasive Writing Different than Other Forms of Writing?

Persuasive writing is easy to confuse with different types of writing.

Many people ask me how persuasive writing is different from:

Argumentative writing
Expository writing
Informational writing

Persuasive Writing vs. Argumentative Writing

Argumentative writing is a type of persuasive writing. It is a more formal type of writing that mainly uses evidence to support your position.

The big difference is that argumentative writing is based more on logic and reason.

Persuasive writing usually relies heavily on emotion-laden opinions.

Expository Writing vs. Persuasive Writing

Expository writing is a type of informative writing.

It is a less formal type of writing that explains a topic or idea.

The main difference between expository writing and persuasive writing is that persuasive writing attempts to convince the reader to take a specific action.

Informational Writing vs. Persuasive Writing

Informational writing is a type of non-fiction writing. It is a formal type of writing that provides information about a topic or idea.

Persuasive writing might inform but its main goal is to change thinking, feeling, and behavior.

Persuasive Writing vs. Narrative Writing

Narrative writing is a type of creative writing.

It tells a story and uses the writer’s own experiences to support the story.

The main difference between persuasive writing and narrative writing is that persuasive writing is non-fiction and uses evidence to support the argument, while narrative writing is fiction and does not have to be true.

However, narrative writing can include elements of persuasive writing.

Persuasive Writing vs. Technical Writing

Technical writing is a type of informative writing. It is a formal type of writing that provides information about a technical topic or idea.

Both types of writing are nonfiction.

One major difference is that technical writing is usually written for people who are already familiar with the general topic, while persuasive writing might be written for people who are not as familiar with the topic.

Technical writing also includes step-by-step guides on how to perform a specific task.

What Is Persuasive Writing for Kids?

Many kids start to learn persuasive writing in first or second grade.

As kids get older, their teachers give them more challenging persuasive writing assignments.

In high school and college, students often write persuasive essays, speeches, and arguments.

Here is a short video that goes over persuasive writing for kids:

What Is a Persuasive Writing Anchor Chart?

A persuasive writing anchor chart is a visual tool that helps younger students learn and remember the key elements of persuasive writing.

It typically includes:

The 5 W’s (who, what, when, where, why)
The 3 C’s (claim, clear evidence, clever reasoning)
How to Appeal to Emotions
How to Appeal to Logic
How to use Persuassive Devices

A persuasive writing anchor chart might also give students sentence starters to help jog their creativity.

It serves as a kind of “Mad Lib” or “fill in the blank” template for students.

Why Is Persuasive Writing Important?

Persuasive writing is important because it can be used in so many different contexts.

It’s a great way to get your point of view across or to convince someone to do something. Additionally, persuasive writing is an essential skill for business and marketing.

If you know how to write persuasively, you can write better resumes and cover letters.

That can get you a better job— with more pay.

If you sell anything (and, let’s be honest, we ALL sell something), you can attract more clients. You can also convert more clients into customers.

In school, you can get better grades. As an employee, you can foster better teamwork and move people to action.

Persuasive writing can also convince funders to give money to worthwhile causes, such as feeding children or bringing clean water to people in need.

In short, persuasive writing can make the world a better place for all of us to live.

Can You Use Persuasive Writing in Any Type of Writing?

Yes, persuasive writing can be used in any type of writing. However, it is often most effective when it is used in business or marketing contexts, where the goal is to change or influence the opinion of the reader.

You can apply persuasive writing tips and techniques to:

School assignments (reports, essays)
Nonfiction books
Grant proposals
Reviews (movies, books, products, etc)
Blog posts and articles
Love letters
Writing a Dungeons and Dragons book
Internal newsletter
Affiliate marketing
And much more!

What Are Some Tips for Writing Persuasively?

Here are some good tips for writing persuasively:

Know your audience : In order to be persuasive, you must understand who you are trying to persuade.
Start with a strong claim: In order to be persuasive, you must make a strong argument that is not easily deconstructed or debunked.
Support your claim with evidence : This is where the rubber meets the road. You must back up your argument with facts, data, and expert testimony (if applicable).
Use deep reasoning to explain the evidence: Once you have presented your evidence, you must then explain why it supports your argument.
Make an emotional appeal: People are often persuaded more by emotion than logic. You can use powerful words and images to create an emotional response in your reader.
Be succinct: Don’t ramble on and on. Get to the point and make your argument understandable by everyone.

Persuasive Writing Topics

There are an almost unlimited number of persuasive writing topics. Below you’ll find a few ideas to spark your own creativity.

Here is a list of possible persuasive writing topics to consider:

Education: Should college be free?
Dating: Is it bad to give up on dating and relationship?
Prosperity: How to achieve financial prosperity
Politics: Is it time for a new political party?
Lifestyle: Veganism – pros and cons
Environment: Should we all become vegetarians?
Morality: Abortion – is it right or wrong?
Art: Books are better than TV
Texting: Do guys like good morning texts?
Science: Is cloning moral?
Technology: AI will one day take over the world
Food: Is our food killing us?
Energy: Should we all live off grid?
Health: Is organic food better for you?
Pets: Should exotic animals be kept as pets?
Transport: The rise of the electric car
Religion: Is there a God?
Parenting: Raising a child in the internet age
Gaming: Can a DM cheat at D&D?

Best Persuassive Writing Tools and Resources

I’ve been writing persuasively for over 20 years.

Here are my favorite persuasive writing tools and resources:

Persuasive Writing Tools	Check the Price
Jasper AI Writer
Writer’s Blocks Software
Spellbound Storytelling
HP Chromebook

If you only try one tool, I highly recommend Jasper AI (formally known as Jarvis and Conversion.ai).

I use Jasper every day to automatically generate thousands of original words for persuasive writing, blog posts, contracts, and more.

Final Thoughts: What Is Persuasive Writing?

The next step in learning persuasive writing is lots of practice. You’ll get better the more you do it.

There are a ton of helpful articles on this site about how to write better.

Here are a few related posts hand-selected for you:

How To Write An Editorial (Your Expert Cheat Sheet)
How to Write an Ode (Step-by-Step with Examples)
Time Skips in Writing: 27 Answers You Need To Know

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40 Strong Persuasive Writing Examples (Essays, Speeches, Ads, and More)

Learn from the experts.

The American Crisis historical article, as an instance of persuasive essay examples

The more we read, the better writers we become. Teaching students to write strong persuasive essays should always start with reading some top-notch models. This round-up of persuasive writing examples includes famous speeches, influential ad campaigns, contemporary reviews of famous books, and more. Use them to inspire your students to write their own essays. (Need persuasive essay topics? Check out our list of interesting persuasive essay ideas here! )

Persuasive Essays
Persuasive Speeches
Advertising Campaigns

Persuasive Essay Writing Examples

First paragraph of Thomas Paine's The American Crisis

From the earliest days of print, authors have used persuasive essays to try to sway others to their own point of view. Check out these top persuasive essay writing examples.

Professions for Women by Virginia Woolf

Sample lines: “Outwardly, what is simpler than to write books? Outwardly, what obstacles are there for a woman rather than for a man? Inwardly, I think, the case is very different; she has still many ghosts to fight, many prejudices to overcome. Indeed it will be a long time still, I think, before a woman can sit down to write a book without finding a phantom to be slain, a rock to be dashed against. And if this is so in literature, the freest of all professions for women, how is it in the new professions which you are now for the first time entering?”

The Crisis by Thomas Paine

Sample lines: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”

Politics and the English Language by George Orwell

Sample lines: “As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.”

Letter From a Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sample lines: “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was ‘well timed’ in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.'”

Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

Sample lines: “Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.”

Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Roger Ebert

Sample lines: “‘Kindness’ covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime.”

The Way to Wealth by Benjamin Franklin

Sample lines: “Methinks I hear some of you say, must a man afford himself no leisure? I will tell thee, my friend, what Poor Richard says, employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and, since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. Leisure is time for doing something useful; this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never; so that, as Poor Richard says, a life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things.”

The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sample lines: “Of course all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work—the big sudden blows that come, or seem to come, from outside—the ones you remember and blame things on and, in moments of weakness, tell your friends about, don’t show their effect all at once.”

Open Letter to the Kansas School Board by Bobby Henderson

Sample lines: “I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. … Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. … We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him. It is for this reason that I’m writing you today, to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories.”

Open Letter to the United Nations by Niels Bohr

Sample lines: “Humanity will, therefore, be confronted with dangers of unprecedented character unless, in due time, measures can be taken to forestall a disastrous competition in such formidable armaments and to establish an international control of the manufacture and use of the powerful materials.”

Persuasive Speech Writing Examples

Many persuasive speeches are political in nature, often addressing subjects like human rights. Here are some of history’s most well-known persuasive writing examples in the form of speeches.

I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sample lines: “And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

Woodrow Wilson’s War Message to Congress, 1917

Sample lines: “There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.”

Chief Seattle’s 1854 Oration

Sample lines: “I here and now make this condition that we will not be denied the privilege without molestation of visiting at any time the tombs of our ancestors, friends, and children. Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as they swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch.”

Women’s Rights Are Human Rights, Hillary Rodham Clinton

Sample lines: “What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations do as well. … If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all.”

I Am Prepared to Die, Nelson Mandela

Sample lines: “Above all, My Lord, we want equal political rights, because without them our disabilities will be permanent. I know this sounds revolutionary to the whites in this country, because the majority of voters will be Africans. This makes the white man fear democracy. But this fear cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the only solution which will guarantee racial harmony and freedom for all. It is not true that the enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination. Political division, based on color, is entirely artificial and, when it disappears, so will the domination of one color group by another. … This then is what the ANC is fighting. Our struggle is a truly national one. It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by our own suffering and our own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live.”

The Struggle for Human Rights by Eleanor Roosevelt

Sample lines: “It is my belief, and I am sure it is also yours, that the struggle for democracy and freedom is a critical struggle, for their preservation is essential to the great objective of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. Among free men the end cannot justify the means. We know the patterns of totalitarianism—the single political party, the control of schools, press, radio, the arts, the sciences, and the church to support autocratic authority; these are the age-old patterns against which men have struggled for 3,000 years. These are the signs of reaction, retreat, and retrogression. The United Nations must hold fast to the heritage of freedom won by the struggle of its people; it must help us to pass it on to generations to come.”

Freedom From Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi

Sample lines: “Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and to uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society. Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.”

Harvey Milk’s “The Hope” Speech

Sample lines: “Some people are satisfied. And some people are not. You see there is a major difference—and it remains a vital difference—between a friend and a gay person, a friend in office and a gay person in office. Gay people have been slandered nationwide. We’ve been tarred and we’ve been brushed with the picture of pornography. In Dade County, we were accused of child molestation. It is not enough anymore just to have friends represent us, no matter how good that friend may be.”

The Union and the Strike, Cesar Chavez

Sample lines: “We are showing our unity in our strike. Our strike is stopping the work in the fields; our strike is stopping ships that would carry grapes; our strike is stopping the trucks that would carry the grapes. Our strike will stop every way the grower makes money until we have a union contract that guarantees us a fair share of the money he makes from our work! We are a union and we are strong and we are striking to force the growers to respect our strength!”

Nobel Lecture by Malala Yousafzai

Sample lines: “The world can no longer accept that basic education is enough. Why do leaders accept that for children in developing countries, only basic literacy is sufficient, when their own children do homework in algebra, mathematics, science, and physics? Leaders must seize this opportunity to guarantee a free, quality, primary and secondary education for every child. Some will say this is impractical, or too expensive, or too hard. Or maybe even impossible. But it is time the world thinks bigger.”

Persuasive Writing Examples in Advertising Campaigns

Ads are prime persuasive writing examples. You can flip open any magazine or watch TV for an hour or two to see sample after sample of persuasive language. Here are some of the most popular ad campaigns of all time, with links to articles explaining why they were so successful.

Nike: Just Do It

The iconic swoosh with the simple tagline has persuaded millions to buy their kicks from Nike and Nike alone. Teamed with pro sports-star endorsements, this campaign is one for the ages. Blinkist offers an opinion on what made it work.

Dove: Real Beauty

Beauty brand Dove changed the game by choosing “real” women to tell their stories instead of models. They used relatable images and language to make connections, and inspired other brands to try the same concept. Learn why Global Brands considers this one a true success story.

Wendy’s: Where’s the Beef?

Today’s kids are too young to remember the cranky old woman demanding to know where the beef was on her fast-food hamburger. But in the 1980s, it was a catchphrase that sold millions of Wendy’s burgers. Learn from Better Marketing how this ad campaign even found its way into the 1984 presidential debate.

De Beers: A Diamond Is Forever

Diamond engagement ring on black velvet. Text reads "How do you make two months' salary last forever? The Diamond Engagement Ring."

A diamond engagement ring has become a standard these days, but the tradition isn’t as old as you might think. In fact, it was De Beers jewelry company’s 1948 campaign that created the modern engagement ring trend. The Drum has the whole story of this sparkling campaign.

Volkswagen: Think Small

Americans have always loved big cars. So in the 1960s, when Volkswagen wanted to introduce their small cars to a bigger market, they had a problem. The clever “Think Small” campaign gave buyers clever reasons to consider these models, like “If you run out of gas, it’s easy to push.” Learn how advertisers interested American buyers in little cars at Visual Rhetoric.

American Express: Don’t Leave Home Without It

AmEx was once better known for traveler’s checks than credit cards, and the original slogan was “Don’t leave home without them.” A simple word change convinced travelers that American Express was the credit card they needed when they headed out on adventures. Discover more about this persuasive campaign from Medium.

Skittles: Taste the Rainbow

Bag of Skittles candy against a blue background. Text reads

These candy ads are weird and intriguing and probably not for everyone. But they definitely get you thinking, and that often leads to buying. Learn more about why these wacky ads are successful from The Drum.

Maybelline: Maybe She’s Born With It

Smart wordplay made this ad campaign slogan an instant hit. The ads teased, “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” (So many literary devices all in one phrase!) Fashionista has more on this beauty campaign.

Coca-Cola: Share a Coke

Seeing their own name on a bottle made teens more likely to want to buy a Coke. What can that teach us about persuasive writing in general? It’s an interesting question to consider. Learn more about the “Share a Coke” campaign from Digital Vidya.

Always: #LikeaGirl

Always ad showing a young girl holding a softball. Text reads

Talk about the power of words! This Always campaign turned the derogatory phrase “like a girl” on its head, and the world embraced it. Storytelling is an important part of persuasive writing, and these ads really do it well. Medium has more on this stereotype-bashing campaign.

Editorial Persuasive Writing Examples

Newspaper editors or publishers use editorials to share their personal opinions. Noted politicians, experts, or pundits may also offer their opinions on behalf of the editors or publishers. Here are a couple of older well-known editorials, along with a selection from current newspapers.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1897)

Sample lines: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.”

What’s the Matter With Kansas? (1896)

Sample lines: “Oh, this IS a state to be proud of! We are a people who can hold up our heads! What we need is not more money, but less capital, fewer white shirts and brains, fewer men with business judgment, and more of those fellows who boast that they are ‘just ordinary clodhoppers, but they know more in a minute about finance than John Sherman,’ we need more men … who hate prosperity, and who think, because a man believes in national honor, he is a tool of Wall Street.”

America Can Have Democracy or Political Violence. Not Both. (The New York Times)

Sample lines: “The nation is not powerless to stop a slide toward deadly chaos. If institutions and individuals do more to make it unacceptable in American public life, organized violence in the service of political objectives can still be pushed to the fringes. When a faction of one of the country’s two main political parties embraces extremism, that makes thwarting it both more difficult and more necessary. A well-functioning democracy demands it.”

The Booster Isn’t Perfect, But Still Can Help Against COVID (The Washington Post)

Sample lines: “The booster shots are still free, readily available and work better than the previous boosters even as the virus evolves. Much still needs to be done to build better vaccines that protect longer and against more variants, including those that might emerge in the future. But it is worth grabbing the booster that exists today, the jab being a small price for any measure that can help keep COVID at bay.”

If We Want Wildlife To Thrive in L.A., We Have To Share Our Neighborhoods With Them (Los Angeles Times)

Sample lines: “If there are no corridors for wildlife movement and if excessive excavation of dirt to build bigger, taller houses erodes the slope of a hillside, then we are slowly destroying wildlife habitat. For those people fretting about what this will do to their property values—isn’t open space, trees, and wildlife an amenity in these communities?”

Persuasive Review Writing Examples

Image of first published New York Times Book Review

Book or movie reviews are more great persuasive writing examples. Look for those written by professionals for the strongest arguments and writing styles. Here are reviews of some popular books and movies by well-known critics to use as samples.

The Great Gatsby (The Chicago Tribune, 1925)

Sample lines: “What ails it, fundamentally, is the plain fact that it is simply a story—that Fitzgerald seems to be far more interested in maintaining its suspense than in getting under the skins of its people. It is not that they are false: It is that they are taken too much for granted. Only Gatsby himself genuinely lives and breathes. The rest are mere marionettes—often astonishingly lifelike, but nevertheless not quite alive.”

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (The Washington Post, 1999)

Sample lines: “Obviously, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone should make any modern 11-year-old a very happy reader. The novel moves quickly, packs in everything from a boa constrictor that winks to a melancholy Zen-spouting centaur to an owl postal system, and ends with a scary surprise. Yet it is, essentially, a light-hearted thriller, interrupted by occasional seriousness (the implications of Harry’s miserable childhood, a moral about the power of love).”

Twilight (The Telegraph, 2009)

Sample lines: “No secret, of course, at whom this book is aimed, and no doubt, either, that it has hit its mark. The four Twilight novels are not so much enjoyed, as devoured, by legions of young female fans worldwide. That’s not to say boys can’t enjoy these books; it’s just that the pages of heart-searching dialogue between Edward and Bella may prove too long on chat and too short on action for the average male reader.”

To Kill a Mockingbird (Time, 1960)

Sample lines: “Author Lee, 34, an Alabaman, has written her first novel with all of the tactile brilliance and none of the preciosity generally supposed to be standard swamp-warfare issue for Southern writers. The novel is an account of an awakening to good and evil, and a faint catechistic flavor may have been inevitable. But it is faint indeed; novelist Lee’s prose has an edge that cuts through cant, and she teaches the reader an astonishing number of useful truths about little girls and about Southern life.”

The Diary of Anne Frank (The New York Times, 1952)

Sample lines: “And this quality brings it home to any family in the world today. Just as the Franks lived in momentary fear of the Gestapo’s knock on their hidden door, so every family today lives in fear of the knock of war. Anne’s diary is a great affirmative answer to the life-question of today, for she shows how ordinary people, within this ordeal, consistently hold to the greater human values.”

What are your favorite persuasive writing examples to use with students? Come share your ideas in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, the big list of essay topics for high school (120+ ideas) ..

Find strong persuasive writing examples to use for inspiration, including essays, speeches, advertisements, reviews, and more.

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101 Interesting Persuasive Essay Topics for Kids and Teens

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113 Perfect Persuasive Essay Topics for Any Assignment

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Do you need to write a persuasive essay but aren’t sure what topic to focus on? Were you thrilled when your teacher said you could write about whatever you wanted but are now overwhelmed by the possibilities? We’re here to help!

Read on for a list of 113 top-notch persuasive essay topics, organized into ten categories. To help get you started, we also discuss what a persuasive essay is, how to choose a great topic, and what tips to keep in mind as you write your persuasive essay.

What Is a Persuasive Essay?

In a persuasive essay, you attempt to convince readers to agree with your point of view on an argument. For example, an essay analyzing changes in Italian art during the Renaissance wouldn’t be a persuasive essay, because there’s no argument, but an essay where you argue that Italian art reached its peak during the Renaissance would be a persuasive essay because you’re trying to get your audience to agree with your viewpoint.

Persuasive and argumentative essays both try to convince readers to agree with the author, but the two essay types have key differences. Argumentative essays show a more balanced view of the issue and discuss both sides. Persuasive essays focus more heavily on the side the author agrees with. They also often include more of the author’s opinion than argumentative essays, which tend to use only facts and data to support their argument.

All persuasive essays have the following:

Introduction: Introduces the topic, explains why it’s important, and ends with the thesis.
Thesis: A sentence that sums up what the essay be discussing and what your stance on the issue is.
Reasons you believe your side of the argument: Why do you support the side you do? Typically each main point will have its own body paragraph.
Evidence supporting your argument: Facts or examples to back up your main points. Even though your opinion is allowed in persuasive essays more than most other essays, having concrete examples will make a stronger argument than relying on your opinion alone.
Conclusion: Restatement of thesis, summary of main points, and a recap of why the issue is important.

What Makes a Good Persuasive Essay Topic?

Theoretically, you could write a persuasive essay about any subject under the sun, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Certain topics are easier to write a strong persuasive essay on, and below are tips to follow when deciding what you should write about.

It’s a Topic You Care About

Obviously, it’s possible to write an essay about a topic you find completely boring. You’ve probably done it! However, if possible, it’s always better to choose a topic that you care about and are interested in. When this is the case, you’ll find doing the research more enjoyable, writing the essay easier, and your writing will likely be better because you’ll be more passionate about and informed on the topic.

You Have Enough Evidence to Support Your Argument

Just being passionate about a subject isn’t enough to make it a good persuasive essay topic, though. You need to make sure your argument is complex enough to have at least two potential sides to root for, and you need to be able to back up your side with evidence and examples. Even though persuasive essays allow your opinion to feature more than many other essays, you still need concrete evidence to back up your claims, or you’ll end up with a weak essay.

For example, you may passionately believe that mint chocolate chip ice cream is the best ice cream flavor (I agree!), but could you really write an entire essay on this? What would be your reasons for believing mint chocolate chip is the best (besides the fact that it’s delicious)? How would you support your belief? Have enough studies been done on preferred ice cream flavors to support an entire essay? When choosing a persuasive essay idea, you want to find the right balance between something you care about (so you can write well on it) and something the rest of the world cares about (so you can reference evidence to strengthen your position).

It’s a Manageable Topic

Bigger isn’t always better, especially with essay topics. While it may seem like a great idea to choose a huge, complex topic to write about, you’ll likely struggle to sift through all the information and different sides of the issue and winnow them down to one streamlined essay. For example, choosing to write an essay about how WWII impacted American life more than WWI wouldn’t be a great idea because you’d need to analyze all the impacts of both the wars in numerous areas of American life. It’d be a huge undertaking. A better idea would be to choose one impact on American life the wars had (such as changes in female employment) and focus on that. Doing so will make researching and writing your persuasive essay much more feasible.

List of 113 Good Persuasive Essay Topics

Below are over 100 persuasive essay ideas, organized into ten categories. When you find an idea that piques your interest, you’ll choose one side of it to argue for in your essay. For example, if you choose the topic, “should fracking be legal?” you’d decide whether you believe fracking should be legal or illegal, then you’d write an essay arguing all the reasons why your audience should agree with you.

Arts/Culture

Should students be required to learn an instrument in school?
Did the end of Game of Thrones fit with the rest of the series?
Can music be an effective way to treat mental illness?
With e-readers so popular, have libraries become obsolete?
Are the Harry Potter books more popular than they deserve to be?
Should music with offensive language come with a warning label?
What’s the best way for museums to get more people to visit?
Should students be able to substitute an art or music class for a PE class in school?
Are the Kardashians good or bad role models for young people?
Should people in higher income brackets pay more taxes?
Should all high school students be required to take a class on financial literacy?
Is it possible to achieve the American dream, or is it only a myth?
Is it better to spend a summer as an unpaid intern at a prestigious company or as a paid worker at a local store/restaurant?
Should the United States impose more or fewer tariffs?
Should college graduates have their student loans forgiven?
Should restaurants eliminate tipping and raise staff wages instead?
Should students learn cursive writing in school?
Which is more important: PE class or music class?
Is it better to have year-round school with shorter breaks throughout the year?
Should class rank be abolished in schools?
Should students be taught sex education in school?
Should students be able to attend public universities for free?
What’s the most effective way to change the behavior of school bullies?
Are the SAT and ACT accurate ways to measure intelligence?
Should students be able to learn sign language instead of a foreign language?
Do the benefits of Greek life at colleges outweigh the negatives?
Does doing homework actually help students learn more?
Why do students in many other countries score higher than American students on math exams?
Should parents/teachers be able to ban certain books from schools?
What’s the best way to reduce cheating in school?
Should colleges take a student’s race into account when making admissions decisions?
Should there be limits to free speech?
Should students be required to perform community service to graduate high school?
Should convicted felons who have completed their sentence be allowed to vote?
Should gun ownership be more tightly regulated?
Should recycling be made mandatory?
Should employers be required to offer paid leave to new parents?
Are there any circumstances where torture should be allowed?
Should children under the age of 18 be able to get plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons?
Should white supremacy groups be allowed to hold rallies in public places?
Does making abortion illegal make women more or less safe?
Does foreign aid actually help developing countries?
Are there times a person’s freedom of speech should be curtailed?
Should people over a certain age not be allowed to adopt children?

Government/Politics

Should the minimum voting age be raised/lowered/kept the same?
Should Puerto Rico be granted statehood?
Should the United States build a border wall with Mexico?
Who should be the next person printed on American banknotes?
Should the United States’ military budget be reduced?
Did China’s one child policy have overall positive or negative impacts on the country?
Should DREAMers be granted US citizenship?
Is national security more important than individual privacy?
What responsibility does the government have to help homeless people?
Should the electoral college be abolished?
Should the US increase or decrease the number of refugees it allows in each year?
Should privately-run prisons be abolished?
Who was the most/least effective US president?
Will Brexit end up helping or harming the UK?

What’s the best way to reduce the spread of Ebola?
Is the Keto diet a safe and effective way to lose weight?
Should the FDA regulate vitamins and supplements more strictly?
Should public schools require all students who attend to be vaccinated?
Is eating genetically modified food safe?
What’s the best way to make health insurance more affordable?
What’s the best way to lower the teen pregnancy rate?
Should recreational marijuana be legalized nationwide?
Should birth control pills be available without a prescription?
Should pregnant women be forbidden from buying cigarettes and alcohol?
Why has anxiety increased in adolescents?
Are low-carb or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
What caused the destruction of the USS Maine?
Was King Arthur a mythical legend or actual Dark Ages king?
Was the US justified in dropping atomic bombs during WWII?
What was the primary cause of the Rwandan genocide?
What happened to the settlers of the Roanoke colony?
Was disagreement over slavery the primary cause of the US Civil War?
What has caused the numerous disappearances in the Bermuda triangle?
Should nuclear power be banned?
Is scientific testing on animals necessary?
Do zoos help or harm animals?
Should scientists be allowed to clone humans?
Should animals in circuses be banned?
Should fracking be legal?
Should people be allowed to keep exotic animals as pets?
What’s the best way to reduce illegal poaching in Africa?
What is the best way to reduce the impact of global warming?
Should euthanasia be legalized?
Is there legitimate evidence of extraterrestrial life?
Should people be banned from owning aggressive dog breeds?
Should the United States devote more money towards space exploration?
Should the government subsidize renewable forms of energy?
Is solar energy worth the cost?
Should stem cells be used in medicine?
Is it right for the US to leave the Paris Climate Agreement?
Should athletes who fail a drug test receive a lifetime ban from the sport?
Should college athletes receive a salary?
Should the NFL do more to prevent concussions in players?
Do PE classes help students stay in shape?
Should horse racing be banned?
Should cheerleading be considered a sport?
Should children younger than 18 be allowed to play tackle football?
Are the costs of hosting an Olympic Games worth it?
Can online schools be as effective as traditional schools?
Do violent video games encourage players to be violent in real life?
Should facial recognition technology be banned?
Does excessive social media use lead to depression/anxiety?
Has the rise of translation technology made knowing multiple languages obsolete?
Was Steve Jobs a visionary or just a great marketer?
Should social media be banned for children younger than a certain age?
Which 21st-century invention has had the largest impact on society?
Are ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft good or bad for society?
Should Facebook have done more to protect the privacy of its users?
Will technology end up increasing or decreasing inequality worldwide?

Tips for Writing a Strong Persuasive Essay

After you’ve chosen the perfect topic for your persuasive essay, your work isn’t over. Follow the three tips below to create a top-notch essay.

Do Your Research

Your argument will fall apart if you don’t fully understand the issue you’re discussing or you overlook an important piece of it. Readers won’t be convinced by someone who doesn’t know the subject, and you likely won’t persuade any of them to begin supporting your viewpoint. Before you begin writing a single word of your essay, research your topic thoroughly. Study different sources, learn about the different sides of the argument, ask anyone who’s an expert on the topic what their opinion is, etc. You might be tempted to start writing right away, but by doing your research, you’ll make the writing process much easier when the time comes.

Make Your Thesis Perfect

Your thesis is the most important sentence in your persuasive essay. Just by reading that single sentence, your audience should know exactly what topic you’ll be discussing and where you stand on the issue. You want your thesis to be crystal clear and to accurately set up the rest of your essay. Asking classmates or your teacher to look it over before you begin writing the rest of your essay can be a big help if you’re not entirely confident in your thesis.

Consider the Other Side

You’ll spend most of your essay focusing on your side of the argument since that’s what you want readers to come away believing. However, don’t think that means you can ignore other sides of the issue. In your essay, be sure to discuss the other side’s argument, as well as why you believe this view is weak or untrue. Researching all the different viewpoints and including them in your essay will increase the quality of your writing by making your essay more complete and nuanced.

Summary: Persuasive Essay Ideas

Good persuasive essay topics can be difficult to come up with, but in this guide we’ve created a list of 113 excellent essay topics for you to browse. The best persuasive essay ideas will be those that you are interested in, have enough evidence to support your argument, and aren’t too complicated to be summarized in an essay.

After you’ve chosen your essay topic, keep these three tips in mind when you begin writing:

Do your research
Make your thesis perfect
Consider the other side

What's Next?

Need ideas for a research paper topic as well? Our guide to research paper topics has over 100 topics in ten categories so you can be sure to find the perfect topic for you.

Thinking about taking an AP English class? Read our guide on AP English classes to learn whether you should take AP English Language or AP English Literature (or both!)

Deciding between the SAT or ACT? Find out for sure which you will do the best on . Also read a detailed comparison between the two tests .

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What Is a Persuasive Essay?

Posted by 11trees | Types of Writing

A persuasive essay explains a specific topic and attempts to persuade the audience that your point of view is the most informed, logical and valid perspective on the topic. This genre is also known as the argumentative essay.

While an expository essay written for an exam or a standardized test may have a persuasive element, most persuasive or argumentative essays are written out of class and require extensive research. The research may include several kinds of sources:

Articles from high-quality non-scholarly magazines or journals (for example, The Atlantic, Harpers, Scientific American, etc.)
Scholarly or non-scholarly books
Scholarly or technical journal articles
Government agency websites
Statistical analysis
Interviews with experts

Persuasive essays use such research both to educate the audience about the topic and to supply evidence supporting the writer’s opinions.

The main goal of an argumentative paper is to persuade your audience that your view is among the most compelling opinions on the topic. You should attempt to persuade even those who start out strongly disagreeing with you. To do that, you need to show that you’re very well-informed about your topic.

What Are the Elements of a Persuasive Essay?

A persuasive essay does have certain baseline requirements that are standard in nearly every essay type:

A clear thesis or controlling idea that establishes and sustains your focus.
An opening paragraph that introduces the thesis.
Body paragraphs that use specific research evidence to illustrate your informative or argumentative points.
Smooth transitions that connect the ideas of adjoining paragraphs in specific, interesting ways.
Use of counterarguments to summarize and refute opposing positions.
A conclusion that emphasizes your central idea without being repetitive.

How Do You Write a Persuasive Essay?

One common formula for the persuasive paper is the 5-Paragraph Essay. If you don’t have much experience with essay writing, this is a good method to start with, since it’s basic and straightforward. The 5-Paragraph Essay incorporates the elements listed above in the following basic structure:

Introductory paragraph with a clear, concise thesis.
Three body paragraphs that offer evidence and analysis connecting that evidence to the thesis.
A concluding paragraph that sums up the paper by reevaluating the thesis in light of the evidence discussed in the essay’s body.

While the 5-paragraph structure gives you a helpful formula to work with, it’s only one among many valid options, and its suitability will depend on other factors like the length and complexity of your essay. If you’re writing a paper that’s more than 3 or 4 pages long, it should be more than 5 paragraphs. In most cases, the structure of a longer essay will be similar to that of the 5-paragraph essay, with an introduction, a conclusion and body paragraphs performing the same basic functions—only the number of body paragraphs will increase. The length of the paragraphs may also increase slightly in proportion to the length of the essay.

Composing a Persuasive Essay: A Process Guide

Preliminary Steps

Begin by reading the assignment carefully to make sure you understand it. Then find a topic that fits the assignment. It’s important that you narrow your topic so that it’s directly relevant to the assignment. But make sure your topic is not so narrow that it lacks significance. It’s best if you find a topic that you’re really interested in—this will make the work more enjoyable for you and will probably lead to higher quality research and writing.
Before starting your research, make a list of facts—everything you already know about your topic. This list may be long or short depending on your level of knowledge.
Make another list, this time of your ideas and opinions on the topic. Begin with the strongest opinions and list them in descending order according to your level of conviction.
Ask yourself why you hold these opinions. It’s important to clarify your own views on the topic so you don’t get too overwhelmed by expert opinions when you begin your research. But you should also be open to changing these opinions if facts and logic warrant such change.
Try to come up with an original, debatable perspective on your topic and write a tentative thesis statement that reflects your view concisely. Being original in this case doesn’t mean you have to come up with some earth-shattering revelation about human nature—it just means you should stay away from general, bland, or obvious ideas that most people would readily agree with.
Familiarize yourself with the resources of your school’s library—the physical books and periodicals and the online databases. Describe your project ideas to a librarian and ask for recommendations on where to look for the resources you need.
The main purpose of your research is to for you to become very well-informed about your topic. Immerse yourself in all the relevant factual data AND acquaint yourself with the most prominent, compelling opinions on the central issues.
Look for sources that include unusual aspects of your topic, or unconventional perspectives on it—these may provide interesting, surprising angles from which to approach your argument.
Read your sources critically and ask yourself what informs the various perspectives on your topic. Which sources seem best informed? Which use the most compelling logic? Which are guided more by ideology or assumptions than by credible evidence?
Take notes on your sources as you read them. Summarize the parts of each source that are relevant to your thesis. In addition to the summary, write down your thoughts on the facts and opinions laid out in these sources. Critique the sources you disagree with. This note-taking will help you to process the research material and develop your perspective on the topic.

Composing and Revising

Once you’ve compiled some research, revisit your tentative thesis statement and revise it according to what you’ve learned—see if you can make it more specific or original. Think of the thesis as your opening statement in a debate with people whose views oppose yours.
Sift your research notes and sources for examples you can use to discuss conflicting opinions on your topic and to illustrate your own views. Each example should have some clear connection to your central idea.
Your essay should devote one body paragraph to each of your major ideas and examples. So begin an outline by writing a topic sentence about each major example for each of your body paragraphs. Since the topic sentence will be part of each paragraph transition, it should make a clear, logical connection between your thesis and the evidence that paragraph will discuss.
Complete your outline by thinking of an interesting, meaningful way to end the essay. Remember that the conclusion should sum up your central points without merely repeating what you’ve said earlier. You might suggest the larger implications of what the essay has discussed and analyzed. One way to do this is to offer a concise review of what you’ve covered combined with a reasonable forecast or recommendations for the future.
You might want to experiment with writing the body paragraphs before you write your introduction. The details of analysis in the body of the paper often help you to determine more precisely how to word your thesis and the sentences that surround it.
Define your key terms or ideas.
Describe and analyze specific examples of your topic.
Summarize and evaluate contrasting opinions on your topic.
Compare and contrast your examples and their relation to your thesis.
Connect your examples explicitly to your central idea and to each other.
Use plenty of quotations and paraphrase of your sources to support your analysis and argument. Integrate the quotes into your own sentences so the discussion reads more smoothly.
Make sure you cite ALL information that comes from your sources, whether quotations or paraphrase. Use the citation format required by the class or the assignment—MLA, APA, etc. The Writers’ Toolkit citation tools will make the process easy for you by automating the format.
Polish your essay through revision to make it artful, original, and interesting. Avoid clichéd language or the most obvious examples. You want your reader to learn something new and compelling, whether it’s an unusual fact or a novel perspective on your topic.

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Persuasive Essay Examples

50 free persuasive essay examples (+best topics).

There are plenty of persuasive essay examples available online and you can access them to learn more about what this type of essay is all about. Persuasive essays explain a topic while trying to persuade the readers that your perspective is the most logical, valid, and informed one about the topic. Read on to learn more about persuasive essays before looking through sample persuasion essays.

Table of Contents

1 Persuasive Essay Examples
2 What is a persuasive essay?
3 Persuasive Writing Examples
4 Elements of persuasive essay
5 Persuasive Paper Examples
6 Choosing a topic for your essay
7 Persuasive Essay Samples
8 Creating the outline of persuasive essay examples
9 Tips for writing persuasive essay examples

What is a persuasive essay?

A persuasive essay which is also called an argumentative essay is a type of written document that’s academic in nature. Here, you use reason and logic to convince the reader of the legitimacy of your perspective. Therefore, you must use clear arguments and support these with logical reasons and compelling facts.

Persuasive Writing Examples

Elements of persuasive essay

Persuasive writing examples make use of reasons and logic to make them more persuasive. When you write your own persuasive essay examples, you must convince your readers to adopt your point of view or to take a specific action. To do this, you must present solid arguments using facts, examples, and quotes from experts.

If you want to come up with an effective and well-written persuasive paper example, make sure to include these elements:

Introduction and thesis statement An essay isn’t complete without an introduction. Here, you provide an explanation for the relevant points of your chosen topic to help the readers understand your position. Keep in mind that any argument can have many aspects. Therefore, you should give as many details and information about the specific aspects you plan to discuss in your essay. As for the thesis statement, you would include this as the very end of your essay’s introduction.
Supporting facts Provide facts to support your point of view in the sample persuasion essay. These facts may include statistics, the information you’ve researched, excerpts from academic journals or publications, and quotes from experts. Don’t forget to cite all of the facts properly.
Proof for your arguments When presenting the facts in your persuasive writing examples, make sure to follow a sequence which strengthens your argument. Start with the least relevant facts and move up to the most important ones. When explaining these points, follow the same sequence so as not to confuse your readers. The first argument you prove must be the first issue that you stated in your thesis statement. From there, build your explanations all the way to the main point of your essay.
Conclusion This is the last part of your persuasive essay. Don’t just think of this as a summary. Instead, you must use it to explain why you’ve written the essay in the first place. This creates a stronger paragraph which helps persuade the reader.

Persuasive Paper Examples

Choosing a topic for your essay

Although you may know the definition of a persuasive essay, do you know what it means and how to create one correctly? Before you even start writing persuasive essay examples, you must choose a topic for your essay first. This is the first step in writing any essay.

When you’re assigned to write a persuasive paper example, how do you choose a topic? There are so many options for you to choose which you can take from the various areas of study. Once you’ve chosen your topic, format your title as a question. This gives you a good basis to defend and express your opinions.

If you’re feeling stuck and you can’t think of a good topic, you can go online and search for one. Write down all of the topics which “speak” to you before making a final choice. Having more options will give you a better idea of what a persuasive essay calls for.

Finally, you should select a topic which inspires you but which also provides you with a wide range of materials to research. There’s no point in writing a persuasive essay about something which you don’t believe in. Otherwise, you won’t feel compelled to create persuasive arguments.

Persuasive Essay Samples

Creating the outline of persuasive essay examples

Persuasive essay examples must achieve a balance between ethos, pathos, and logos. This convinces the readers to think carefully about your point of view and even go as far as adopting it. But how do you create an effective persuasive essay? What comes after the topic and title?

The next step in the essay writing process is to come up with an outline to serve as your essay’s structure. Here are some tips for creating the outline:

Introduction Provide some background about the topic you’ve chosen. Indicate your main argument and create your thesis statement.
Body In the paragraphs following your introduction, provide your arguments and the facts you have researched to support them. Make sure that you do a lot of research, especially if you want to create a compelling and persuasive piece of writing. Choosing the arguments, reasons, and facts that you want to include in your essay involves a lot of careful consideration. You should only choose those which you believe make your essay stronger and more convincing.
Conclusion If you want your conclusion to be as organized and readable as the rest of your essay, make this a part of the outline too. That way, you know exactly how to approach writing your conclusion when the time comes.

Tips for writing persuasive essay examples

Once you’ve already understood what sample persuasion essays are all about, it’s time to start writing your own. It may take some time before you can start writing more fluidly but if this is your first time to write such an essay, here are some tips to guide you:

Start by reading the instructions of your assignment regarding the persuasive essay you must write. If you have the freedom to choose the topic to write about, then you may want to look at different persuasive writing examples to get inspiration. Remember, choose a topic that you’re interested in, one which inspires you.
Before you start with your research, make a list of all the facts you know about the topic you’ve chosen. Then create another list, this time containing your opinions and ideas about the topic. Arrange these points according to how important you see them.
Now it’s time to reflect on what you’ve written. Think about why you have these opinions. You must first clarify your views so that you don’t get overwhelmed by all the information you come across when you do research.
Try to think of your own perspective on the topic. In doing this, you can come up with a draft of your thesis statement to reflect your view in a concise manner.
The next step is to start doing research. Use different sources to give you a broader perspective regarding your topic. From library books to academic sources to online journals and more, there are so many resources available.
As you’re doing research, take note of the things you want to include in your essay. If you can find facts which support the information you already know about your topic, all the better! The point of doing research is to collect enough information to strengthen the statements you include in your persuasive essay.
After researching, go back to the thesis statement you’ve created. If you think that it’s still relevant, keep it. But if all of the information you’ve gathered makes your thesis statement seem weak, revise it. Think of another thesis statement which is more compelling and thought-provoking.
Create an outline for your essay . After your research, you would have a better idea of the overall content of your essay. Try to come up with a clear outline to guide you as you write the content.
The next step is to go through all of your notes. Organize the information according to relevance. If you’ve already placed the points you want to discuss in your outline, search for information about those points and put them together. Make sure that all the points in your outline have clear facts and explanations.
Finalize your outline after organizing all of the information you have at your disposal. This makes it easier for you to follow when you start writing your essay.
Most people start writing their essays with the introduction. But for some, they prefer to write the body of the essay before writing both the introduction and the conclusion. Either way, use the outline and the notes you’ve gathered to help guide you.
When writing your essay, make sure to include the following: Definitions of key ideas or terms. Descriptions and analyses of specific examples included in your essay. Summary and evaluations of conflicting opinions about the topic. Comparisons and contrasts of the examples you’ve given and how they relate to the thesis statement. Connections of the examples to each other and to the main idea.
If needed and if appropriate, use a lot of quotations from experts. Just make sure that they support your arguments and analyses.
Cite all information you use properly. Follow the citation format required by your assignment or your professor.
Before printing, emailing or submitting, make sure to proofread your essay to ensure that it doesn’t contain any errors.

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100 Persuasive Essay Topics

M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Persuasive essays are a bit like argument essays , but they tend to be a little kinder and gentler. Argument essays require you to discuss and attack an alternate view, while persuasive essays attempt to convince the reader that you have a believable argument. In other words, you are an advocate, not an adversary.

Writing a compelling persuasive essay requires you to select a topic that ideally stirs your readers' emotions. Before settling on a subject, explore some options to find one that helps craft the strongest and most engaging argument.

Below is a list of potential persuasive essay topics to spark your brainstorming process. You can choose a topic from this list or use it as inspiration to develop an idea of your own.

Main Components of a Persuasive Essay

Introduction : This is the opening paragraph of your essay. It contains the hook , which is used to grab the reader's attention, and the thesis , or argument, which you'll explain in the next section.
Body : This is the heart of your essay, usually three to five paragraphs in length. Each paragraph examines one theme or issue used to support your thesis.
Conclusion : This is the final paragraph of your essay. In it, you'll sum up the main points of the body and connect them to your thesis. Persuasive essays often use the conclusion as a final appeal to the audience.

Learning how to write a persuasive essay is an essential skill people use every day in fields from business to law to media and entertainment. English students can begin writing a persuasive essay at any skill level. You'll surely find a sample topic or two from the list of 100 persuasive essays below, sorted by degree of difficulty.

Watch Now: 12 Ideas for Great Persuasive Essay Topics

Beginner topics.

Kids should get paid for good grades.
Students should have less homework.
Snow days are great for family time.
Penmanship is important.
Short hair is better than long hair.
We should all grow our own vegetables.
We need more holidays.
Aliens probably exist.
Gym class is more important than music class.
Kids should be able to vote.
Kids should get paid for extra activities like sports.
School should take place in the evenings.
Country life is better than city life.
City life is better than country life.
We can change the world.
Skateboard helmets should be mandatory.
We should provide food for the poor.
Children should be paid for doing chores.
We should populate the moon .
Dogs make better pets than cats.

Intermediate Topics

The government should impose household trash limits.
Nuclear weapons are an effective deterrent against foreign attack.
Teens should be required to take parenting classes.
We should teach etiquette in schools.
School uniform laws are unconstitutional.
All students should wear uniforms.
Too much money is a bad thing.
High schools should offer specialized degrees in arts or sciences.
Magazine advertisements send unhealthy signals to young women.
Robocalling should be outlawed.
Age 12 is too young to babysit.
Children should be required to read more.
All students should be allowed to study abroad.
Yearly driving tests should be mandatory past age 65.
Cell phones should never be used while driving.
All schools should implement bullying awareness programs.
Bullies should be kicked out of school.
Parents of bullies should have to pay a fine.
The school year should be longer.
School days should start later.
Teens should be able to choose their bedtime.
There should be a mandatory entrance exam for high school.
Public transit should be privatized.
We should allow pets in school.
The voting age should be lowered to 16.
Beauty contests are bad for body image.
Every American should learn to speak Spanish.
Every immigrant should learn to speak English.
Video games can be educational.
College athletes should be paid for their services.
We need a military draft .
Professional sports should eliminate cheerleaders.
Teens should be able to start driving at 14 instead of 16.
Year-round school is a bad idea.
High school campuses should be guarded by police officers.
The legal drinking age should be lowered to 19.
Kids under 15 shouldn't have Facebook pages.
Standardized testing should be eliminated.
Teachers should be paid more.
There should be one world currency.

Advanced Topics

Domestic surveillance without a warrant should be legal.
Letter grades should be replaced with a pass or fail.
Every family should have a natural disaster survival plan.
Parents should talk to kids about drugs at a young age.
Racial slurs should be illegal.
Gun ownership should be tightly regulated.
Puerto Rico should be granted statehood.
People should go to jail when they abandon their pets.
Free speech should have limitations.
Members of Congress should be subject to term limits.
Recycling should be mandatory for everyone.
High-speed internet access should be regulated like a public utility.
Yearly driving tests should be mandatory for the first five years after getting a license.
Recreational marijuana should be made legal nationwide.
Legal marijuana should be taxed and regulated like tobacco or alcohol.
Child support dodgers should go to jail.
Students should be allowed to pray in school.
All Americans have a constitutional right to health care.
Internet access should be free for everyone.
Social Security should be privatized.
Pregnant couples should receive parenting lessons.
We shouldn't use products made from animals.
Celebrities should have more privacy rights.
Professional football is too violent and should be banned.
We need better sex education in schools.
School testing is not effective.
The United States should build a border wall with Mexico and Canada.
Life is better than it was 50 years ago.
Eating meat is unethical.
A vegan diet is the only diet people should follow.
Medical testing on animals should be illegal.
The Electoral College is outdated.
Medical testing on animals is necessary.
Public safety is more important than an individual's right to privacy.
Single-sex colleges provide a better education.
Books should never be banned.
Violent video games can cause people to act violently in real life.
Freedom of religion has limitations.
Nuclear power should be illegal.
Climate change should be the president's primary political concern.

Key Takeaways

Persuasive essays aim to convince rather than confront, effectively making you advocate for a position or idea.
Choosing a compelling topic that evokes emotions is crucial for crafting a strong persuasive essay.
The main parts of a persuasive essay are the introduction (with a hook and thesis), body paragraphs (explaining themes supporting the thesis), and conclusion (summarizing main points and making a final appeal).

Hamilton College. " Writing a Persuasive Essay ."

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Types of Persuasive Writing You Should Know

Do you want to change someone's mind through writing? That's what persuasive writing style is all about. This type of writing tries to make readers agree with the writer's ideas. People have been using it for a long time in politics, business, and everyday life.

There are different types of persuasion to adopt in writing, but they all want to do the same thing: help readers understand and agree with the writer's thoughts. Each type works well in different situations, and knowing which one to use can help you get what you want.

Let's look at the main ways people write to persuade others and how you can get better at sharing your ideas.

What Is Persuasive Writing Style?

Persuasive writing style is any kind of writing that tries to convince the reader to agree with an idea or a course of action. It's a strong tool that uses good reasons, feelings, and trust-building to change what people think and do.

You can find this kind of writing in more places than just school essays or speeches. It's in ads, opinion articles, product reviews, and social media posts. The important part is knowing when someone is using it and learning how to use it yourself.

Why and Where Persuasive Writing Matters

Being able to persuade through writing is useful in many parts of life. If you're a student writing an essay to prove a point, someone looking for a job writing a letter to get hired, or a worker making a business plan, knowing how to persuade can help you do well.

A study found that 73% of employers think being able to write well is very important for people who want jobs. This shows why it's good to get better at persuasive writing. It can help you do better in school and at work.

Types Of Persuasive Writing Techniques

There are four types of persuasive writing that have been used since ancient times in Greece. Let's look at each one:

1. Ethos: Making People Trust You

Ethos is about showing that you know what you're talking about and can be trusted. It's trying to make the reader believe you're a good source of information. For example:

"I've been a nutrition expert for over 15 years, so I can tell you that eating more green vegetables can really make you healthier."

2. Pathos: Connecting Through Feelings

Pathos tries to make the reader feel emotions that support your idea. For instance:

"Think about how happy a child would be to get their first book. By giving money to our reading program, you can make thousands of kids who don't have much feel that happy."

3. Logos: Using Facts and Logic

Logos uses facts, numbers, and good reasons to persuade the reader. Here's an example:

"Studies show that exercising regularly can lower the chance of heart disease by 28% to 38% . If we start a fitness program for everyone in our company, we might be able to pay less for health insurance and help employees do better work."

4. Kairos: Choosing the Right Time

Kairos isn't as well-known as the others, but it's about making your point at the best time. For example:

"Because of the recent disasters caused by weather, it's really important to start using renewable energy in our community now."

Examples of Persuasive Texts and Media

What are some examples of persuasive texts or media? Let's look at a few common types:

Persuasive Essays

Types of persuasive essays include papers for school, opinion articles in newspapers, and some kinds of news stories. These writings present a clear idea and use proof to support it.

Opinion Pieces

Opinion articles in newspapers, blogs, and online often use persuasive techniques to change what people think about different issues.

Cover Letters

Job applications often include cover letters, where people try to persuade employers to hire them.

Reviews of products or services, whether on shopping websites or review sites, try to convince readers that something is good or bad.

Tips to Improve Your Persuasive Writing Style

To improve your persuasive writing style, try these ideas:

Do a lot of research to support your ideas with good facts and numbers.
Connect with readers by talking about what they care about and offering solutions.
Use writing tools like Aithor to make your persuasive techniques and structure better.
Ask questions that make your readers think.
Say important points more than once in different ways.
Choose your words carefully, thinking about who will read your writing.
Change how you write to fit the purpose and the people who will read it.

Final Thoughts on Persuasive Writing

The key to good persuasive writing is understanding your readers, giving strong proof, and sharing your ideas clearly and confidently. Whether you're writing an essay, a cover letter, or a review, these ideas will help you create more impactful and persuasive content.

For those trying to improve their persuasive writing skills, Aithor offers valuable assistance. If you want to get better at persuasive writing, Aithor can help. Aithor can assist you in writing great essays, making your arguments stronger, and making sure your writing fits what you want to do. By using Aithor, you can improve your persuasive writing skills more quickly, helping you share your ideas in a way that has a bigger impact and makes you feel more confident.

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The Ezra Klein Show

Nate Silver on Kamala Harris’s Chances and the Mistakes of the ‘Indigo Blob’

By Ezra Klein

Nate Silver on How Kamala Harris Changed the Odds

Nate Silver came to fame in American politics for election forecasting. But before Silver was in politics, he was a poker player. And after getting into politics, he went back to being a poker player. He’s been running through poker championships and out there on tables — partly because he’s been writing a book about risk.

The book is called “ On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything .” And it applies the frameworks of the gambler to politics, to A.I., to venture capital.

The way Silver thinks about politics I find very useful. So I invited him on my podcast to talk about how that thinking has guided him over the past year and how he’s thinking about the election going forward.

This is an edited transcript of part of our conversation. For the full conversation, watch the video below, or listen to “ The Ezra Klein Show .”

The election forecaster discusses 2024 and what politicians can learn from gamblers.

“Nate Silver came to fame in American politics for election forecasting. He built models that were pretty damn successful at predicting American politics.” “Nate Silver is the founder of fivethirtyeight.com, a polling website that correctly predicted the winner of 49 of the 50 states in the last presidential election.” “Election Oracle, ESPN’s Nate Silver, he predicted every state in the last presidential election.” “And once again, Nate Silver completely nailed it.” “The guy’s amazing.” “But before Silver was in politics, he was a poker player. And after getting into politics, he went back to being a poker player. He’s been running through poker championships and out there on tables —” “Savage, savage bluff by Silver. Oh, my God.” “— partially because he’s been writing a book about risks. The book is called ‘On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything.’ And it applies the frameworks of, I would say, the gambler, maybe say the poker player, to politics, to AI, to venture capital. Nate, the way he thinks about politics I find very useful. I find that he thinks more clearly about risk and probabilities than a lot of people do and maybe more people should follow. So I wanted to have him on to talk about how that thinking has guided him over the past year and how he’s thinking about it in the election going forward. As always, my email, [email protected].” [THEME MUSIC] “Nate Silver, welcome to the show.” “Thank you, Ezra. Happy to be here.” “Last I looked, your model has Harris winning the election at around 52 percent. It might be mildly different today. But this has been an unusual election. So how much stock do you put in your model right now?” “I think the model is balancing the different factors pretty well. I mean, there are some things you could argue are favorable to Harris, one of which is that for the past few weeks we’ve been in what the model thinks is supposed to be the convention bounce period for republicans, where typically you poll pretty well after your convention. There’s the afterglow of the new nomination and things like that — the afterglow of the VP pick, often, too. And Kamala Harris kind of stomped on Donald Trump’s news cycle. So maybe it’s an overly favorable assumption for Harris. There’s also in polls what’s known as nonpartisan response bias. So when voters get more enthusiastic, you’d rather have that than not as a candidate. But it also means that they sometimes are more likely to respond to polls. At the same time, her momentum has been pretty good, which usually I dismiss. We don’t really kind of know what the baseline is here, right? You know, Hillary Clinton, who was, I think, kind of a terrible candidate, won the popular vote by two points. Is she a little bit better than Hillary Clinton? Probably, right? So can she win by three or four? Well, if you win by three or four, then you win the electoral college in most instances.” “I don’t think many people expected — if you did, I’d like to know it — the turnaround in her numbers we have seen since she’s become the presumptive nominee. She’s gone to net favorables, which I would not have bet a ton of money on at this speed at least. People were looking at a lot of data on Harris and assuming that data was solid. That data was not solid.” “When a candidate’s a hypothetical candidate, you have to treat that polling very carefully. People are — I think it’s a weird thing to ask, you know, what if Gavin Newsom ran against Trump. It’s not the same thing as when you actually have the candidate in front of you, and have the advertisements, and have the news articles, and everything else to actually evaluate. I mean, I think this is, like, on the higher side for a jump in favorables, but, you know, she was amazingly well-organized at getting the entire establishment behind her within literally minutes [LAUGHS]: of Biden announcing that he was going to step down. And so that suggested that maybe she did have more support in the party than she let on. And also, you know, I don’t — I think the Biden people may have been in somewhat bad faith. Maybe not consciously, but I’m not sure they weren’t trying to undermine her. Because the obvious thing to do would be to have this qualified, if not always that politically adept, you know, much, much younger vice president take over for you when you’re about to be 82. But they gave her the border. They gave her voting rights, which is kind of the one major domestic policy area where they got very little done. So I don’t think they gave her a very good hand to play. But meanwhile, she’s getting a lot of reps, and giving speeches, and building connections, and played the game really well. I have a lot of respect for that.” “Well, the key thing, I think, is that Biden had a huge amount of influence over how the party viewed her in both directions. There was a long period, I would say, when the quiet signals out of Biden world were this isn’t going well.” “Yeah.” “And when there was pressure to push Biden off the ticket, those signals got louder — Harris cannot do this. If you get rid of him, you’re going to get her. You’re going to lose. But then the thing you saw happen is a moment Biden actually stepped aside and fully endorsed her. That was a signal so powerful that it functionally won the potential primary for Harris instantly. Nobody was going to go against Joe Biden in that moment. And so, in both directions, Biden had, and the team around him, a lot of influence. When implicitly Biden world told the Democratic Party Harris can’t do it, the Democratic Party believed them. And then when explicitly Biden himself told the Democratic Party and the world Harris could do it, the Democratic Party believed him. And by the way, from what I could tell, it seems he was right. And I don’t blame Biden, I think, for things that happened earlier in the administration. That was a lot of staff talk. And to be fair, it was based on some things. There were problems in her office. There were reasons to be skeptical. But he and they had tremendous power. In a way, this was not, to me, like a mini primary. This was a parliamentary process, right? The party came together and chose a leader through endorsements from elected officials. That’s functionally what happened.” “Yeah, it felt very British. It felt like —” “It felt very British.” “— the Liz Truss kind of thing or something, right, where, yeah. There’s a loss of confidence. Those are fascinating dynamics to study. But yeah, it’s interesting to have the inside view versus the outside view a little bit. And, you know, again, we talk about this in the book a little bit, but I come at a position where I’m more skeptical about the competence of people who work in politics. Right? Even if I like the candidates they endorse — I mean, I plan to plan to vote for Kamala Harris. I would not have voted for Joe Biden, by the way. I think it was deeply irresponsible to nominate him, and I would have voted libertarian or something. But I have a more skeptical view, and I think even the rationales they state out loud are sometimes maybe the rationales they believe or not. But, you know, I think human behavior is pretty strategic when you understand people’s incentives, and kind of information set, and things like that. And I think it was in Biden’s narrow self-interest to make Harris look weaker. And I think that plays a role at all sorts of subconscious margins in terms of how she was treated.” “Well, let’s talk about that skepticism. You and I have known each other a long time. We’re old-school bloggers. And my read of you is that somewhat over the 2016 election, then specifically over the pandemic —” “Yeah.” “— and your experience, I think, with online liberalism in the pandemic, you became much more disillusioned with the people who once felt to you like your group, your coalition, your tribe. There’s been a kind of an alienation for you. Is that a fair read?” “Yeah, I’d say it’s three things, right. Number one, the 2016 aftermath, I thought a lot of the kind of liberal and centrist news media, kind of were in denial about their own role in the ‘But her emails’ stuff and then picked scapegoats for Trump’s victory that were not the real reasons that he won. You know, Russian bot farms have approximately nothing to do with why Donald Trump won the 2016 election. And the Russia stuff, in general, I think was treated with an order of magnitude more importance than it probably objectively had. And blaming Facebook and the tech industry for that, I thought that was irresponsible. And also kind of the obsession over the polls in 2016, where I think there was some revisionist history where the polls actually showed a pretty close race. I mean, we had Trump with a 30 percent chance. And it was kind of the conventional wisdom that assumed that he was dead in the water. So the ability to conveniently lie a little bit or manipulate facts and spin facts, I mean, that was part one. Part two was the pandemic. Absolutely. And, you know, ‘orange man bad,’ I think, was often the reason that people believed a lot of what they believed. Because in some ways, the move to shut down society in some ways kind of went against the values of traditional liberalism, right? There’s a transfer of welfare from younger people [LAUGHS]: and people who are not able to work from home to wealthy suburbanites and older people who you’re protecting their health, but you’re undermining the education of millions and millions and millions of schoolkids around the country, and essential workers are still putting themselves at risk that you deem unacceptable for people who are able to work with laptops to take. So I thought it was very self-serving, and I thought kind of expertise was co-opted and corrupted by political partisans. And then third was the Biden stuff.” “Well, it seemed to me it happened for you before the Biden stuff.” “Yeah. I mean —” “And you were crosswise with a lot of liberals on Twitter. I mean, I came back to Twitter for three weeks during the height of Bidenmania to try to be sort of in touch with that sentiment and mostly stay away from it. But Twitter is a place that groups that exist outside the online hothouse purify inside the online hothouse. So there’s the public health community outside Twitter, and then there’s how it acts inside Twitter — political scientists outside Twitter and then inside Twitter, republicans outside Twitter, then inside Twitter. And my sense was that you ended up in a lot of fights with liberals who had a much lower risk tolerance than you did. And between that and what was, I believe, unfair criticism of the 2016 model, which got the election much more right than most did, that it sort of — you began to see habits of — you call it ‘the village.’ The village is your term for —” “Yeah. And that’s been a term that’s been used by other right. But the village is basically media, politics, government, progressive —” “The establishment.” “The establishment, ‘The New York Times,’ Harvard University.” “The regime.” “The regime. Yeah. The Democratic White House. Maybe not a Republican White House, but that’s a more complicated kind of edge case.” “Or maybe a different Republican White House.” “Yeah.” “Right? George W. Bush was part of the village.” “Absolutely.” “Maybe Donald Trump wasn’t.” “Absolutely.” “I think you’ve also called it the indigo blob in different ways, that you began to see it as a kind of set of aligned cognitive tendencies that you disagreed with. What were they?” “So one of them is the failure to do what I call decoupling. It’s not my term. Decoupling is the act of separating an issue from the context. So the example I give in the book is that if you’re able to say I abhor the Chick-fil-A’s CEO’s position on gay marriage — I don’t know if it’s changed or not, but he was anti-gay marriage, at least for some period of time — but they make a really delicious chicken sandwich. Like, that’s decoupling.” “I abhor their treatment of chickens.” “Yeah.” “I have a strong direct take on Chick-fil-A. I don’t like how they treat chickens.” “O.K. Or you can say or separate out, you know, Michael Jackson, Woody Allen, separate the art from the artist kind of thing. Right? You know, that tendency goes against kind of the tendency on the progressive left to care a lot about the identity of the speaker in terms of the racial or gender identity and in terms of their credentials. And this other world that I call ‘the river,’ the kind of gambling, risk-taking world, all that matters is that you’re right.” “The river is your name for the community of people who think about risk roughly the way you do and are willing to make big bets, willing to accept loss. The river is your — it’s your world of gamblers at all levels of society.” “Capital and lowercase g gambling.” “So hedge funds —” “Expected value.” “— venture capitalists.” “Yeah. And then you get kind of the more —” “Crypto.” “— groundwater stuff where it’s like crypto, and meme stocks, and things like that. It doesn’t matter who you are, it matters that you’re right and you’re able to prove it or bet on it in some way. And that’s very against, I think, the kind of credentialism that you have within the progressive Democratic left, which I also call the indigo blob, because it’s a fusion of purple and blue. There’s not a clear separation between the nonpartisan, centrist media and the left-leaning progressive media that’s kind of rooting for Democrats. Different parts of ‘The New York Times’ have both those functions in place. And as someone who’s kind of more on the nonpartisan side, even though, again, I would prefer to see Kamala Harris than Donald Trump, I think people are exploiting the trust that institutions have earned for political gain. And particularly in the kind of pre-Elon pandemic-era Twitter days, the pile-ons were kind of insane, and 98 percent of people don’t have the tolerance for that. But I didn’t really care because these people are not my friends, and I have a good life outside of Twitter, and because, you know, to some extent, even if you run a newsletter, being a little polarizing is O.K., right? If I have 10 random people yelling at me on Twitter and 10 people sign up to be paid subscribers to ‘Silver Bulletin,’ then I come out like way ahead in that deal. And so I think I couldn’t do my job without running afoul of this group of people.” “Let me ask you about the definition of decoupling there, because I think decoupling is interesting. And I found the examples you pick also interesting but contestable.” “Yeah.” “So in the Chick-fil-A example, I’m between a vegetarian and vegan these days, so I got my own issues with Chick-fil-a, but was not a believer necessarily in boycotting it if you didn’t have my issues. But I understood it as more like a boycott, that theory, right? You don’t want to give money to something that’s going to work against your interests. The question of decoupling art and artist, which I’m more on the side of decoupling, but also has a dimension of — those both strike me as versions of activism, right? What you want to do, what people who hold those positions are trying to do, is affect change in the world by applying consequences to beliefs. And maybe you don’t want that, or you don’t agree that the beliefs they are trying to affect should have those consequences on them. But it’s kind of different than the idea of things are being pressed together that don’t go together. I think an interesting sort of decoupling issue that happened in the pandemic was the same public health voices who were at one point saying you had to be so careful, even outside oftentimes were then pro joining the George Floyd protests, which a lot of people found very upsetting. What people were looking to the public health world for right then was not their views on protests but their views on distancing. And that felt like it coupled things in a way that undermined one to achieve another.” “Well, and they framed it in, like, oh, this is good for public health reasons, right? If they had said, look, I’m a big believer in racial equity; there is a little bit of risk here; but outside, wear a mask, and probably not a huge problem — I mean, that would be honest, right?” “Which ended up being true too.” “Yeah. But instead it was in the name of public health, right? I think people don’t do enough thinking about thinking and don’t read enough of the literature on cognitive biases. Ironically, this is kind of like the expert literature on how powerful the human mind is at confirmation bias, and how powerful a drug political partisanship is, and how smart people are maybe better rationalizes in certain respects. I mean, a lot of irrational traits are like rational on some halfway approximate different version of the universe. You know what I mean?” “My first book was on polarization. And what I understand you as doing in the book in part is making an interesting cut in society between people with different forms of both risk tolerance and thinking about risk. And you write something that caught my eye where you say, quote, ‘COVID made those risk preferences public, worn on our proverbial sleeves and our literal faces.’ And you go on to say, quote, ‘People are becoming more bifurcated in their risk tolerance, and this affects everything from who we hang out with to how we vote.’” “Yeah.” “Tell me about both sides of that — the way that it made risk tolerance visible, but then your view that since then risk tolerance is becoming a deeper cleavage in society.” “I mean, on the one hand, there are lots of signs that risk tolerance is going down, right? Among young people in particular, they’re smoking less, drinking less, doing fewer drugs, having less sex. A different type of risk tolerance, they are less willing to defend free speech norms if it potentially would cause injury to someone. That’s kind of a — free speech is kind of a pro-risk kind of take in some ways because speech can cause effects, of course. On the other hand, you have this boom and bust, and various booms and busts, in crypto. You have Las Vegas bringing in record revenue. You have record revenue in sports betting and things like that. You have the CEO of OpenAI saying, yeah, this might destroy the universe, but it’s worth it. It’s a good gamble to take. You have FTX and all this stuff. And the first trip I made after COVID was to a Casino in Florida, which is every bit the shit show that you think it might be. And the tournament drew record numbers of Poker players. And so it just seems to me like we are in a world now where institutions are less trusted. And some people respond to that by saying, O.K., I make my own rules now, and this is great, and I have lots of agency. And some respond by kind of withdrawing into an online world, or maybe clinging on to beliefs and experts that have lost their credibility, or just by becoming more risk averse. I mean, I think the pandemic also revealed that there’s a lot of differences in introversion versus extroversion. I just can’t deal with being cooped up inside all day. This doesn’t work for me at all. But I think some people kind of secretly like the idea that, O.K., there’s no more FOMO. I can kind of be cozy all day. And that’s fine. There’s differences in desire for human companionship and things like that too.” “Let’s talk about a couple of those people. One of the things that’s kind of fun about the book is you spend time with people whose approach to risk you find sophisticated and interesting.” “Yeah.” “One of them is Peter Thiel. What were your impressions of Peter Thiel? What did he learn spending time with him?” “The first impression is that he’s a weird dude. I interviewed him by phone. And the first question I asked him he took half an hour to answer. So he’s very thoughtful. And the question was what I thought was kind of a softball question. It’s like, if you ran the world 1,000 times or 10,000 times, how often do you think you’d wind up in a situation like the one that you’re in? And it was kind of a nerdy way to ask, do you think you got lucky. Which in Thiel’s case is interesting. There’s an anecdote in the book about this famous or infamous car trip he took with Elon Musk. They were going to pitch Michael Moritz at Sequoia Capital, and Elon had a new McLaren F1 and was going way too fast, and spun out of control in the middle of whichever Sand Hill Road or whatever, and they totaled the car. They could easily have been killed. And instead, they actually hitchhiked to this meeting and saved what was then called Confinity — it was like the future of Paypal, right? And so this twist of fate, twist of good fortune, kind of helped [LAUGHS]: Peter Thiel out. But most people understand, like —” “Wait, how did it help him out? I mean, he didn’t die.” “Well, he didn’t die. So he avoided — yeah, he avoided dying, I guess I’d say. So probably the expectation was not that he’d die. But the point is still that you can easily have a world in which Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are not a part of it if there’s a car going the wrong way and the other side of the road. So most people, when you ask that question — I asked Mark Cuban, for example — they’ll give the politically correct response. Which is, oh, of course I’ve been very lucky, and I’m a talented person, but of course it’s a 1 in a million thing. Right? And Thiel objected to the question. He said, you know, well, if it’s predetermined, then the odds are 100 percent. And if the world’s not predetermined, then the odds are probably approximately zero. But that doesn’t really make sense. Like, how can you perturb the world by exactly this amount? But I think he kind of believes in predestiny a little bit. And —” “As a spiritual thing or as a matter of classical physics?” “There’s a good book by I think Max Chafkin was the journalist — or ‘Chaff-kin’— I don’t how you say his last name — about Peter Thiel called ‘The Contrarian,’ which is convincing that Thiel is actually quite conservative, more than libertarian, and probably quite religious. But I also think that if you ARE one of these people, just the amounts of wealth, and success, and power that Silicon Valley has, I do think some of these people kind of pinch themselves and wonder if they have been one of the chosen ones in some ways or been blessed in some ways, or, maybe the nerdy version of it, think they’re living in a simulation of some kind. Like, what odds would you give yourself that that actually makes sense that you’re the protagonist of the story? It must be kind of weird, right?” “So I used to interview Thiel. Not super regularly but every so often. My impression of him, which has been my impression of a lot of the I would call them ideologist VCs, which is not all VCs, but the ones who are heavily behind or out online and sort of pushing a kind of what I would think of as like VC ideology that leans now right, talking to him always interesting. Because over the course of a conversation, he would offer like 15 or 20 ideas. I would call them more thought experiments than analytical arguments. They were not empirically backed, typically. And you would leave and be like, 13 of those seem genuinely ridiculous to me. Two of them might be very importantly right. I’m not 100 percent sure which are the two and which are the 13. And Peter Thiel, I think, is very — he is a sort of template of the VC mind, and a lot of VCs try to be him. And he’s been very successful. I mean, he’s a guy who has backed a number of very important companies, found a number of very important founders. He is able to do something there. But it is oriented towards being right in important and counterintuitive ways, like, three out of 20 times and doesn’t care about being wrong 17 out of 20 times. Whereas if you think about media, media is oriented towards being right 17 out of 20 times, and the three that it gets wrong are going to be really big because they’re going to be correlated across the entirety of American institutions. But it’s a very different way of thinking about risk. It’s like you want big payouts, not a high betting average.” “And that’s because this is core to the VC mindset. The two things that you hear from every VC, one is the importance of the longer time horizon. So you’re making investments that might not pay off for 10 or 15 years. But number two, even more important, is the asymmetric ability to bet on upside. They are all terrified because they all had an experience early in their career where Mark Zuckerberg walked through their door, or Larry Page or Sergey Brin walked through their door, and they didn’t give them funding. And then they wound up missing on an investment that paid out at 100x or 1000x or 10,000x. And so if you can only lose 1x your money, but you can make 1000x if you have a successful company, then that changes your mindset about everything, and you want to avoid false negatives. You want to avoid missed opportunities. And I think there’s a tendency for a certain type of smart person to provoke, to troll a little bit. I think he’s like that a little bit mean. This is also partly the thing on Twitter, right? I kind of us Twitter sometimes as a sketch pad [LAUGHS]: a little bit for slightly irreverent, half-trollish ideas that might later turn into newsletter posts or something like that, or might be developed further, and probing around and seeing what things land and what don’t. Like a stand mic night at a comedy show or something. And I think that’s how Twitter is meant to be used. But other people use it for enforcing consensus. But we’ve already talked about Twitter. But yeah —” “Well, you can never talk about it enough, particularly with these people. The one thing I will say on that, and I think this is true for virtually everybody I know who has been on that platform for a long period of time, is they will tell you that I have this persona on Twitter.” “Yeah.” “Right? Twitter is not real life. I mean, I use it to provoke. I’m having fun. I’m shitposting. I’m trolling. And people, over time, if they spend a lot of time there, become more like who they are there. That is true for Marc Andreessen, another person who you profile and talk to in the book. It’s true for lots of people in politics I know. Ted Cruz has become his Twitter persona even more than he once was. It happened in Democratic politics I think in 2020. Different campaigns became more like their Twitter incarnations than that person had been in politics before. And I think it has to do with social dynamics. Because over time, the people you get praise from become more persuasive and credible to you. The people who begin to hate you, you sort of repel from. People I think always think they can be playful in their social dynamics, but actually who you end up surrounding yourself, even online, you become them. It’s very, very hard to maintain that kind of separation.” “I mean, clearly, Elon Musk maintained a stance for a while that, oh, I’m just kind of a libertarian moderate. Like, no, he’s kind of like a right-pilled conservative.” “Yeah. And I’m just having fun. I’m posting funny things. He’s his Twitter persona now. You spent some time with Sam Bankman-Fried.” “Yeah.” “Tell me what you learned from him or learned about him.” “I think Sam is kind of insane [CHUCKLES]:, and I’m not very sympathetic to him. I mean, I’m sympathetic in the sense that this is this very dramatic reversal of fortune, where he’s kind of literally emerging and on top of the whole world, and shooting commercials with Tom Brady, and it kind of all collapses, and he becomes very abandoned overnight. So he’s kind of reaching out to a couple of journalists to have conversations because he basically no friends left in the Bahamas anymore. And his parents are there and two of his employees are there, but everyone else has fled the island. Sam is somebody who has to be owned by the river. But, you know, he is unabashedly a part of that world. I mean, he had his tentacles in every part of that world. He was active in Democratic and actually, under the radar, Republican political donations. He was trying to figure out how to get into sports betting legally and things like that. And so he is kind of everywhere. And of course, most of all, with the effect of altruists — in the original plan for the book, there was this awkward transition between the chapter on crypto and the chapter on effective altruism. I’m like, how do I have a natural transition? And then SBF is very important in both worlds, and it’s a very strange connection that somehow crypto profits are funding these people who want to cure malaria or something in Africa. But, you know, I think there are a couple of things. One is that I think people were overly impressed by SBF, partly because he was able to manipulate his self image. I mean, he’s not the most conventionally normal guy, right? But he was very aware that founders — the founder algorithm, the VC algorithm is like we can’t — weirdness is good for VCs. The fact that SBF would play video games in investor pitch meetings or things like that, or dress down, or have a fidget spinner, they’re like, oh, he’s a little bit on the spectrum, and that’s actually probably good for a founder because you want the single-minded devotion. And he’s a little weird, but you want variance, variance, variance.” “Sleeps on a beanbag. Right? There was a real mythos around him.” “Which is kind of carefully constructed. He’s kind of inhabiting a character which is inspired by some inner SBF. And he’s kind of playing that character and then kind of forgets what has ever inner core values, whatever they were, might have been. But he is not a very competent manager of risk. He invested all this money in this Democratic primary for a candidate named Carrick Flynn in Oregon’s — I forget which — six or seventh district, maybe eighth district. And the candidate had been ahead in the polls by 15 points and wound up losing by 15 points. Because to spend $8 million in a congressional primary is kind of insane if you’re not in the New York media market or something. So the candidate would go to people’s houses, and they’d be like, hey, I’m Carrick Flynn. I’m a candidate for the Oregon primary. And they’re like, oh, I have your literature and bring out a stack of 20 flyers that SBF’s super PAC had sent on behalf of Carrick Flynn and made him look like a weird freak backed by this mysterious crypto billionaire. So, yeah, he had a tendency — and this is based on testimony from both the court case and an interview I did with Tara MacAulay I think his her name, his original co-founder at Alameda. He had the kind of often good initial instincts, and being a good estimator is an important skill in my world, but then would kind of double down on that a lot and rationalize things a lot. And there was also a bystander effect problem where so many people vouched for him — Sequoia Capital and all these Oxford philosophers, these effective altruists. And he’s on stage with Bill Clinton or whatever, and he’s invited to the Met Gala, and Tom Brady is shooting commercials with him. So what could possibly be wrong with this guy? I mean, maybe he seems a little bit weird to me, but all these other people are kind of in his corner. But no one was doing the due diligence. And he kind of figured out that despite — there’s a little contradiction in the river, where on the one hand we tend to think of ourselves as being contrarian. On the other hand, we’re pretty big fans of markets, because we know that it’s kind of hard to beat the Las Vegas point spread or it’s hard to beat the S&P 500 Index funds or things like that. So the market judgment is that SBF is a credible actor, and how would I trust my own judgment over the market judgment a little bit. And there was too much deference toward that and too much actually groupthink about SBF, because the problems were evident the whole way. I mean, he told Tyler Cowen that if he could flip a coin to double the amount of utility in the world plus 1 epsilon or something but there’s a 50/50 chance of blowing the world up, that he would take the coin flip and repeatedly.” “So you’re actually getting two earths, but you’re risking a 49 percent chance of it all disappearing.” “And again, I feel compelled to say caveats here of how would you really know that’s what’s happening, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Put that aside. Take the hypothetical — the pure hypothetical. Yeah. Yeah.” “And then you keep on playing the game. So what’s the chance we’re left with anything? Don’t I just Saint Petersburg paradox you into non-existence?” “Well, not necessarily. Maybe Saint Petersburg paradox into an enormously valuable existence. That’s the other option.” “I remember seeing that Tyler Cowen interview and thinking, that’s nuts. But I think it gets at a kind of nuts that there is a bias towards in the world you’re describing. There is an aesthetic around talking in probabilities. There’s an ability to think in probabilities, and there’s an aesthetic around probabilities — people attaching, I would often say, almost random probabilities to things. I see this a lot in Silicon valley, people who I would call it like faux Bayesian reasoning where they’re given some probability, but they have no reason to base the probability — 50 percent of this. And it makes you sound much more precise. It makes you sound like what you’re talking about. SBF was known for always talking in terms of expected value. Which is very appealing to the kinds of people you’re describing, maybe the kind of person even that you are. And people who know how to talk like that get through a lot of filters, because you sort of assume, if they’ve converted everything into probabilities, and they’re great at math, and he worked at Jane Street. I worried about this a lot with effective altruists for a while, which is a group I have a lot more sympathy for than most people now have. But there can be this tendency, I think, to fetishize a certain form of discourse. It’s like the first people into that form of discourse are doing something valuable, and then, after that, I think it can become a kind of costume of sloppy thinking. This worries me about models too. I’m curious how you think about it, because I often find that people talk in terms of probabilities but people hear them in terms of certainties. That somehow talking in terms of probabilities makes people more willing to believe you without actually being skeptical or attaching a failure risk to you.” “Yeah. I mean, there’s two things here. One is just there is a kind of jargon. In some ways I liken being from the river to being from the South of the United States or something, where there’s just a lot of shared cultural norms and unspoken discursive tendencies — it’s just the way we communicate, I think, in the river. But also, it’s really easy to build bad models. Even in narrow problems, like I want to forecast the NFL or something or build an election model, it’s easy to build bad models. And on these open-ended problems, it’s really easy to fall in love with the incomplete model of the world and then forget that — what’s the Kamala Harris coconut tree quote? A model does not fall from a coconut tree. It exists —” “It exists in the context of all that came before it. Sure.” “So a model is supposed to describe something in the real world. And if you lose sight of the real world and it fails to describe the real world, then it’s the model’s fault and your fault for building the model and not the real world’s fault. And that’s a lesson that people, I think, have a lot of trouble learning.” “Bankman-Fried is in prison. Thiel might in some ways be responsible for destroying the Republican ticket this year. I mean, in a close election, JD Vance now seems to have about as much negative value as we’ve seen from a recent Vice President. I’m not saying Peter Thiel’s the only reason Vance got chosen for the ticket, but he is one of the key reasons Vance is in politics. Before now, you would said JD Vance was Peter Thiel’s political bet that paid off best.” “Yeah.” “And now it might be his political bet that pays off worst. You mentioned Bankman-Fried’s political donations, which were kind of disastrous in a direct way sometimes. Also ended up taking a lot of other people down over time. If these guys are so good at making bets or seem to be so good at making bets, what are they missing in politics? As somebody who straddles those worlds, what is not in their models? So both these groups, both the river and the village, are groups of elites. And I think, ironically, both groups’ critiques of one another are kind of true, right? I mean, they kind of can be epistemic trespassers, but they are not very data driven when it comes to politics. And part of it, too, is that if you’re a VC, and you’re evaluating a lot of pitches and a lot of opportunities, you have very quick twitch reflexes for saying, O.K., something about this founder seems smart. Let’s investigate further. Let’s do an initial seed round of investing. But it’s like thin slicing and not necessarily — for this part of the river, the VC part of the river — more profound analytical takes on things. And so you’re surrounded by people that are inclined to agree with you, and you kind of see enemies on the other side. He thought maybe that people had some deeper intuitive sense in 2016 that something was wrong with Hillary Clinton, even though she was ahead in the polls. And to his credit, he did back Trump at a time when that seemed like a big risk to take. It seemed like it was probably going to be the wrong bet, and it seemed like he was losing a lot of credibility. And now, it turns out that he was kind of ahead of the curve. You know, people like Peter Thiel thought that the village had been discredited by 2016 and other things. You can’t really trust the polls, and they said Trump would never do x, y or z. But no, I mean, these guys often are pretty dumb about [LAUGHS]: politics. And it’s the same — the guys in the hedge fund poker game that I play sometimes are the guys that are like, I think Gavin Newsom is going to replace Joe Biden on the ticket. And it’s like, you actually were kind of right about part of this, but why Gavin Newsom? What is the infatuation with Gavin Newsom.” “I heard so many versions of that. I always thought it was so crazy.” “Yeah.” “But, you know, it’s funny. I would say what they’ve often missed, and Thiel’s particular on this, is how human beings react to different human beings. So JD Vance, for instance, wildly underperforms in the Ohio Senate race. And Vance’s problem right now, he’s pushed onto the ticket by, as best we can tell, people like Steve Bannon, Don Trump, Jr., Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk — so the very online, very reactionary pale, the people around Trump. And what is missed about him is he’s kind of offputting. He doesn’t talk to other people in a way they would like to be spoken to. He’s able to make even popular ideas like a child tax credit sound completely bizarre when he talks about them in terms of punishing childless adults — that there is something here, I think, when people look at the world — and I’ve seen this in a lot of different dimensions of these kinds of folks — when they look at the world too much in numbers, the intangibles begin to dissolve for them.” “Although I think some of these tangibles aren’t so intangible. Right? Where you can look at JD Vance’s margins in Ohio, you can look at historically candidates who don’t have experience getting elected to some lower office and then ascending the ranks, underperform. It’s been a factor in our congressional midterm models for years, for example. But, look, in some ways, these VCs are obviously incredibly, deeply flawed people. And so, why do they succeed despite that? I think because the idea of having a longer time horizon, number one, and being willing to make these plus expected value, positive expected value, high risk, but very, very, very high-upside bets, and gathering a portfolio of them repeatedly, and making enough of these bets that you effectively do hedge your risk, those two ideas are so good that it makes up for the fact that these guys often have terrible judgment and are kind of vainglorious assholes — half of them, right? They’re interesting people too. I mean, they’re very interesting I think. And they — I’m happy that the book is able to present, I think, a complete journalistic portrait of some of them. But they have lots and lots of flaws, and it’s made up for by the fact that this is kind of a magic formula for making money.” “Let me get us back to the election. So we mentioned before Harris’s approval ratings have gone from significantly underwater to net favorable very, very fast. She’s now leading in head-to-head polls. More than that, there’s a real deep, whatever Republicans have convinced themselves to the contrary, organic enthusiasm that has unleashed itself around her. She turns out to be very memeable in a way I’m not sure people quite predicted. I know most Democrats didn’t predict this. I don’t think you predicted it. So what was missed here? What wasn’t in the Harris model that should have been?” “Yeah, maybe you really can meme your way to victory. [CHUCKLES]: I don’t know. I wouldn’t necessarily have thought that. I mean, there’s something about how it’s off trend a little bit, and it’s kind of unexpected a little bit. And there’s something about that, that I think people were ready for a vibe shift, right? I think people in politics neglect just how annoying the pedantic, dramatic, no fun tone of politics was and the having to be like serious all the time. And if the worst Republicans can say about Kamala Harris, oh, she laughs a lot, maybe it kind of suits the mood a little bit after so many years of doom and gloom. So maybe it was just spontaneous and lucky. I mean, it’s also the case maybe when Kamala Harris was a candidate for the nomination in 2019, I had these tiers, and the top tier was Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. And the line was always, O.K., I got one of those right and one of those about as wrong as possible. But she was seen as this rising, up-and-coming political talent, and maybe the combination of misaligned strategy in 2019 and then not being marketed well by the White House, and we debated before what the reasons for that are, maybe that was the underperformance. And the rising star that people thought she was kind of the real Kamala Harris after all.” “So Harris ended up choosing Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her VP pick. You made a case that it should have been Josh Shapiro. Tell me why.” “Pennsylvania, number one. There’s about a 4 percent chance in our model that Harris will lose the election because of Pennsylvania, where she wins the other Midwestern swing states but she’s 19 votes or fewer electoral votes fewer because of Pennsylvania. And if you’re a probabilist, then a 4 percent chance — because campaigns often don’t make a difference, right? If we go into a recession in the third quarter, then Harris will probably lose through no fault of her own. But in the worlds where campaign strategy can make a difference, then the VP being from Pennsylvania is a reasonably big upgrade. And the fact that he has demonstrated his popularity with this very diverse state that’s kind of a microcosm of the US as a whole — in Pennsylvania, you have the Northeast, you have the Midwest, and even you have a little bit of the South creeping in the Appalachian part of the state. You have the suburbs, you have rural areas, and you have one of the biggest cities in the United States. You have a big African-American vote. You have lots of famous colleges and things like that. You have everything there, and he’s 15 points above water approval-wise. And that’s pretty powerful information to work with. I happen to think that Tim Walz is an above-average pick, better than most, better than JD Vance. Not a particularly high bar, but better than a lot of the recent picks. I mean, I think he’s kind of memeable as America’s goofy dad kind of way, and he had a pretty moderate track record in Congress. And again, my premise is that, generally speaking, moderation wins. A lot of people disagree with that, but I think the empirical evidence is strong there. More progressive governance, of course, in Minnesota. But I think it was a somewhat risk-averse decision. Now, if you read —” “Why do you say that? I found this argument you’ve made very weird. So I think there’s a very good chance — I always told people on the VP pick my head says Shapiro and my heart says Walz.” “Yeah.” “I think that because I am a cautious person, if I were running for president, worried about losing Pennsylvania, I would have found it very hard not to pick Shapiro. Because if you don’t pick Shapiro, and you end up in a we lost Pennsylvania scenario, everybody’s going to blame you for blowing the decision that could have won Pennsylvania. In terms of the expected value, both on the front end and the back end, I understood Walz as a choice on vibes, this sort of energy, this momentum she has created. He was sort of able to upend and remake all Democratic messaging in a single morning Joe appearance. There is some intangible charisma to Walz that has made him — developed him overnight, this huge online fan base, that the cautious candidate, the one, listening to the consultants, the one reading Nate Silver polls, that candidate goes with Shapiro. Walz is something else. Why did you say that you understood Walz as risk averse?” “Because I think they were worried about news cycles where the left got mad, and/or the Gaza issue was elevated, and/or you had protests at the convention in Chicago in a couple of weeks. I think they were worried about that, and maybe kind of undermining what is clearly good vibes right now, and maybe overrating — I mean, maybe it’s not. Maybe I just think it’s the lower expected value decision of what gives Kamala Harris a higher chance of winning the electoral college in November.” “I think one of the questions I’ve been reflecting on — because I often think about, where do I disagree with writers I otherwise agree with? And I think I’m typically pretty aligned with you on a bunch of things, or Iglesias, or [INAUDIBLE], or some others. But a lot of you have really gotten into a view that I think takes the median voter theorem almost too seriously. That it’s like as if politics is unidimensional, and how close you are to ideologically the median voter is what decides elections. Which I do think moderation has an effect in. I mean, we see this in the political science research. But that doesn’t have a lot of room in that model for energy, for enthusiasm, for the mediation of politics — the thing that happens in between the candidate and the public for what is happening on social media, for what is happening on cable news. And you can often sort of back out explanations here and there. But I, for instance, think this sort of in retrospect explanation that what led Obama to victory was careful moderation — one of the things he did was moderate on some issues like gay marriage. Another thing he did was unleash astonishing levels of enthusiasm in the electorate for reasons orthogonal in many ways to his policy positions. And so I’m curious how you think about that. Because to me, one of the questions Shapiro and Walz raised, Shapiro and Harris sort of are a lot like each other. I think they sort of come off as the two smartest members of the law review. Right?” “Yeah, that’s interesting —” “Which is like kind of —” “— for sure.” “— not necessary the visual you want — maybe it is but might not be — and that there is something here that is I guess people call it vibes now. I feel like it’s a little dismissive. But how you play out in earned media, in social media, how much people want to talk about you, that feeling of enthusiasm, how do you think about that as somebody who builds models and handicaps politics?” “I mean, look, if you’re literally building a congressional model, there’s a model that forecasts the vote based on fundamentals, which means not the polls if you don’t have polling, for example, based on whatever it is, seven or eight factors. And one of those factors, if you’re incumbent, is how often do you vote with your party. And the more often you buck your party, actually the more often — like Susan Collins or Joe Manchin — then you tend to overperform in your congressional race. Now, that’s also one of eight factors. Right? And even when you have all eight factors, there’s still quite a bit of uncertainty in the race. So to me, it’s like this is something where if you’re used to looking at larger data sets, you can come up with counterexamples of Jon Tester is pretty progressive actually and somehow manages to get reelected in Montana with this kind of maybe Tim Walz-like folksy personality or something —” “Sherrod Brown. Sort of similar to that.” “Also pretty progressive. But if you take all the data from every congressional race since 1990, then it becomes clear in the aggregate, right? And I’d also say, if we could get progressives to the point where — I don’t know who we is in this sentence, because I’m not sure I identify as progressive — liberal but not progressive, I’d say — if we could get them to the point where they said, yes, the median voter theorem is mostly true but sometimes outweighed by other factors. But yeah, to get them to that point, instead of thinking, oh, you win elections by winning the base — I mean, that might have narrowly been true in an earlier —” “Wait, you’re turning this around on progressives. Because I’m asking it of you. I agree that progressives should take the median voter theorem more seriously. But I am asking you whether energy, enthusiasm, media — I just think attention in politics is undertheorized. I think if you look at Donald Trump, and you do a thing that I’ve seen people do, and say, look, he is more like the median voter on certain things like immigration, et cetera, or at least he was perceived as more moderate than Hillary Clinton and that’s why he won, I think that is an undertold story about Donald Trump that is somewhat true. I think that missing the showmanship of Donald Trump, the entertainment value, the energy he unlocks in people. There’s a reason that Trump had Dana White from the UFC and Hulk Hogan on his night of the RNC. So in 2020, Joe Biden’s view is that the election should be about Donald Trump, and Donald Trump’s view is that the election should be about Donald Trump. And that was a theory of attention they both agreed on, and it worked out for Joe Biden. In 2024, Joe Biden’s view is the election should be about Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s view was the election should probably be about Donald Trump. And that was a bad theory of attention. Biden had no way of shifting a narrative that wasn’t any good for him.” “Yeah.” “And so I guess this is what I’m getting at, that one thing that I worry about in some of this thinking among people I like is that attention is important. Candidates have different theories of it, but I don’t know that we know how to think about it as rigorously as I wish we did.” “Look, I agree. I mean, again, with Harris, maybe you do have to revise your views a little bit. I think also maybe in a campaign that’s a sprint and not a marathon, then maybe you never reach the long run. It seems possible. Usually, I’d say don’t worry about momentum over the next two weeks, because inevitably you’re going to have a bad news cycle later on. It’s just how the media works and it’s how elections work. It is possible they can just sprint their way to a memeified victory in this shortened, modified campaign. That they have a good convention, and that she wins whenever the debate is held, and then you’re in October and everyone’s crazy and explicitly partisan, they may be able to sprint to a narrow electoral college victory without having this skeptical news cycle. So that may be an argument for Walz, I think.” “One of the reasons on my mind is not actually Walz. And as I said before, because I do want to say this, I’m not sure who she should have picked as VP. I actually have very conflicted views on this, although I really, really enjoy Tim Walz, and really enjoyed interviewing him, and think he’s a pretty unusual political talent. But I think you could say the same about Josh Shapiro in different ways, and Pennsylvania is a very big state. But I’ve been interested in the shift in — look, you have a campaign staffed by many of the same people, particularly in the first two weeks, and yet the campaign’s tenor has completely changed. The tone of press releases is now they are trying to get you to talk about them and doing that by courting controversy, by being kind of mean in a way. Democrats have not been mean in a long time. That Tim Walz actually made a JD Vance couch joke in his introducing himself as her vice presidential pick speech — let’s put it this way, that is not something that Joe Biden campaign was going to do. They want people to talk about them. They want to court kind of controversy, outrage. They want attention. But I think the reason it’s all on my mind is what I am seeing in them is a radically different relationship to attention than the campaign that the same people were running two weeks ago.” “Yeah. And this why we rely on you for how much these people overlap. Like, that’s not something I really —” “They overlap tremendously.” “Yeah.” “I mean, it’s not the exact same people. Mike Donilon isn’t running things anymore. But there’s enough of the same people here that you’re not dealing with ‘nobody knew how to write these press releases’ a month ago.” “It is interesting that Joe Biden, based on the polling, would probably have been better off in election with low turnout. The one thing that might have saved him is if you get that special election, midterm election, lower turnout where people aren’t very happy about it, but they go to the polls and vote for Biden and the Trump people don’t bother to show up. Because unlike in the past, the marginal voters have been more likely to vote for Trump than for Biden. So maybe by having a really boring campaign, it kind of suited their interests. With Harris, who is bringing back some of the younger voters and some of the voters of color that had defected to Kennedy, or defected to Trump, or defected to sitting out the election, those are also some of the more marginal voters. And so, now, all of a sudden, she probably doesn’t mind as much higher turnout which is going to get young Latino women to vote for her or young Black men to vote for her when they might not have voted for Biden. And so it kind of matches the incentives of where you want to turnout to be on November 5.” “Tim Alberta in the Atlantic had a great piece on the way the Trump campaign was thinking about the race that came out around the time of the debate or right after the debate. And they felt they had Nevada, North Carolina completely locked up — and Georgia — and that this was really a race in three, maybe four states. My understanding is Harris and her team think they have re-expanded the map. They think that Nevada, Arizona, Georgia are for sure back in play. They think that North Carolina might be back in play. Do you think that’s true? Do you think the map has gotten bigger?” “I think that’s right. Because, again, look at the voters that Biden was falling off with. Nevada, people don’t remember, they think of it as kind of libertarian old miners, right? No, Nevada is extremely diverse, and it’s working class voters of color. Big fall-off constituency for Biden. Georgia, you have tons of young professionals, and tons of great colleges and universities, and, of course, tons of Black voters — the same groups that he’s declining from a little bit. North Carolina has been, interestingly, kind of close in the polls. Arizona is the one that didn’t seem to have moved quite as much, though there was one poll yesterday with Harris ahead there. But that’s right. I mean, I think the map has expanded, and it’s obviously plausible again now that she would win Georgia, especially with the Brian Kemp stuff not helping Trump one bit. At the moment — I was playing in a poker tournament, very on-brand, right — when Trump gets shot and has the iconic photo, which I’m not a Trump fan, but you kind of have to admire that, I think a little bit, I think a lot of people assume he’s going to win the election. I mean, with Biden already, he’s not going to lose after this. They try to shoot him, and he has this great photo opportunity, right? And then it seems like he’s at a high water mark. And then he picks JD Vance, and I think got a little arrogant.” [LAUGHS] “Because his initial instinct apparently was not to pick necessarily JD Vance and kind of talked out of it by his sons. And I don’t know what influence Peter Thiel or whatever had. But the VC guys were like, oh, JD Vance is kind of one of us. And he probably is smarter than the average VP or something. But that appeal has been demonstrated not to work. I mean, you saw it with Blake Masters for example, right? It works every now and then. I guess Rick Scott had a background in I don’t know what exactly, but like —” “Medicare fraud.” “O.K., yeah. [LAUGHS]: But for the most part, these —” “The guy the guy ran a health company that was convicted of the single largest Medicare fraud at that point in history.” “What I tell my VC friends is if you have a rich guy, just have him buy a basketball team or something. He’s not going to come across very well to the average voter. And I think they don’t understand that. And then, again, in a poker tournament or a poker home cash game, when you go from having a big stack and you’re kind of like, oh, this is so nice. Man, I’m going to go home and cash out my winnings. Maybe I’ll have a nice little whiskey at the bar or something. And this is going to be — I’ll text my friends about how well my session ran. And then you lose a big pot, and then you lose another big pot, and then you go on tilt. And before long, you have no chips left.” “What is tilt?” “Tilt is playing emotionally, particularly in poker or other forms of gambling. It’s often sparked by a bad beat. Meaning that you got unlucky. Or it can be sparked by getting bluffed and getting mad at your opponent. Or bad luck. Or sometimes you can actually have what’s called winner’s tilt too, where maybe this is what Trump had in picking JD Vance. You have a bunch of things that are going really well. I mean, this election was going about as well as it could for Donald Trump. He’s not a popular guy, yet he had moved ahead in some of the National polls by four or five points. It’s pretty hard to do. I mean, he’s lost the popular vote twice.” “Trump feels very on tilt to me. When you think about him, for Donald Trump, he had been pretty on his message. He was talking a lot about immigration. He was talking a lot about inflation. He was letting it be known that he was thinking about picking Doug Burgum. He seemed to be enjoying this idea that he was — people were longing for a stability They now associated with his presidency rightly or wrongly. They wanted the lower prices back. They don’t like the war in Gaza. They don’t like the war in Ukraine. Maybe Trump is a strong man who can bring it back. And he was kind of playing into that. And since the Harris switch and him beginning to fall in the polls, you feel this old Trump returning. The Trump who goes to Georgia and begins yelling at the governor — the Republican governor — of Georgia. The Trump that goes to the National Association of Black Journalists and begins to talk about how nobody knew Kamala Harris was Black. The Trump who is just trying out attack lines, trying to find something that will work no matter what the kind of cost might be. I mean, your description of him playing emotionally — he’s not listening to anybody right now. He’s flailing.” “And the fact that, according to the reporting, that they weren’t prepared for the eventuality when Joe Biden dropped out was kind of inexcusable. I mean, if you looked at prediction markets, it was immediately a live consideration after the debate. I think they overestimated the degree to which Democrats are a personality cult. I mean, they can be. There was maybe a personality cult around Obama, or Bill Clinton, or things like that. But there wasn’t one around Joe Biden. He was kind of always the candidate of the party. And it was not in the party’s interest any longer to have him as their nominee. And so the Democratic Party is capable and powerful in a way the GOP is not. And they extrapolated from their views to how Democrats would behave and underestimated the smart decision that the party was capable of making.” “I talked to Republicans about this, about why they weren’t more prepared, and one thing I heard from them is they just didn’t think Biden was going to step aside. I mean, if you’re a party that has completely bent the knee to Donald Trump and is now years and years into not being able to convince Donald Trump of functionally anything, it might shift your sense of how people in power, particularly the apex of power, act. It’s one reason — this is a place where you and I’ve been a little bit different — I’ve been more on the side of Joe Biden did something difficult that deserves praise. Because — and I think you see this in how Republicans were thinking — leaders just often don’t do this. The kind of personality that gets you to that point is not the kind of personality that leaves power gracefully. It’s why, when people are talking about dictators, there’s endlessly this talk of how to create golden parachutes for dictators. You’re dealing with a kind of human being that has told a story about their own essentialness. Going back to your point about Elon Musk and feeling like you’re the main character of global life — particularly you’ve become the American president — you sort of were the main character of global life for a while — that does something to you. Those people don’t give it up easily.” “No. And if you look at the history of — before there was whichever Amendment it was, 20-something Amendment —” “22.” “— that prevents you from running for more than two terms, it was pretty routine for candidates to tease — Woodrow Wilson had a stroke and wanted a third term. Harry Truman had like a 32 percent approval rating and wanted a third term, second full term. Old men are often pretty stubborn. And I think the most interesting thing is that if Harris wins — or maybe comes close, but mostly if she wins — what that will say about the primary system, right? Maybe we should go back to giving a larger role to superdelegates for example.” “I want to end on a part of your book I found really interesting, which is about the physical experience of risk — in gambling, but in other things. You talk about pain tolerance. You talk about how the body feels when you’re behind on a hand and you’re losing your chips. You’ve talked about being on tilt. But I see it in politics too. I mean, there is a physical question that comes into the decisions you make. I see it on this podcast. There are times when a question is physically uncomfortable for me to ask another person. Tell me a bit about how you think about this relationship between the body and the ability to act under pressure to make intuitive decisions in moments of very high stress.” “So human beings have tens of thousands of years of evolutionary pressure which is inclined to respond in a heightened way to moments that are high stakes, that are high-stress moments. If you’ve ever been in a situation where you saw someone’s life in danger or your own life was in danger — you know, I was in LA in January, and there was an armed robbery outside the place where I was trying to get just a cup of coffee. And time kind of slows down a little bit in situations like that. And you don’t realize how stressed out you are until I texted my partner and be like, LOL, almost got shot, ha, ha. And I was kind of like, oh yeah, I was too cool for school. And then an hour later, I’m getting some tacos or something and I almost break down. It’s like, oh my god, it could have gone really, really badly. Public speaking also triggers this for people because objectively it’s a pretty high-stakes thing. If you’re playing a $1 or $2 poker game, and it’s nothing for you, your body will when you’re playing a $100-200 game where it really matters — you will just know. You’ll experience that stress. Even if you suppress it consciously, it will still affect the way that you’re literally kind of ingesting your five senses. So if your heart rate goes up, that has discernible effects. But actually, your body is providing you with more information. You’re taking in more in these kind of short bursts of time. People who can master that zone — and I use the term zone intentionally, because it’s very related to being ‘in the zone’ like Michael Jordan used to talk about, or golfers, or hockey goalies, or whatever else — learning to master that and relish that is a very powerful skill. Because you are experiencing physical stress whether you want to or not.” “How much is that, in your view, in your experience, learnable, and how much of it is a kind of natural physical intelligence some people have and some people don’t?” “I think it’s actually quite learnable. It’s a little bit like if you’ve been on mushrooms before [LAUGHS]: then you kind of learn, oh, this is the part of the brain that is — this is the things that look a little funny when you’re on mushrooms, right? You can kind of maybe tone it up or tone it down a little bit. So it’s very much like that. I mean, it’s terrifying the first time it happens. But when you start to recognize it, and you kind of make a conscious effort to slow down a little bit, and take your time, and try to execute the basics, it’s not as much about trying to be a hero. It’s about trying to execute the basics. Because when everyone’s losing their shit, if you can do your basic ABC blocking and tackling, then you’re ahead of 95 percent of people. And keeping bandwidth free for dealing with emergency situations, that will take you very far.” “It’s funny, because that feels to me like a very important question that is hard to test in politics.” “Yeah.” “People have to make profound decisions under incredibly high stress. And we have simulacrums of it. The debate, in a way, is a simulacrum of that. Very, very high stress. Speeches on teleprompters are not very good analogies for that. But this question of how good is a person at that moment —” “I mean —” “— how do you evaluate that?” “I mean, Trump, after getting shot, kind of performed very well. And I think, again, the Harris moment of leaping right into action to secure the nomination also has to be seen as very good performance under stress. And Biden’s failure under stress — I mean, he went to some kind of spiral of some kind or another, physical, or mental, or whatever else. So those kind of three pivotal moments — the assassination, the debate, and then Harris seizing the nomination in record time — speak to the difference in performance. And that’s why the two of them, Harris and Trump, are still candidates for the presidency, and Biden is not.” “I was just reading Nancy Pelosi’s new book before I was reading yours, because I just had her on the show, and she talks about how, above all, she says, that what a Speaker of the House needs is intuition. They need to be able to act. And she says that the key thing is you have to act fast. Because every moment you don’t act, your options are diminishing. And I ended up thinking, then, when reading your book, of it. Because what she was describing is quite, I think, for her, physical. Like something in her knows how to act and is unafraid to act in those moments. The thing that was crucial about her, I think, in this process, inside the Democratic Party of getting Biden out, is she was willing to act in public to take the pressure of that in ways very few people were. And somebody had to be doing that in public to create space for others to be considering it in private. But you look at her career, and she has this sort of intuitive capability to know when to move. And there’s something in it that I don’t think she can explain how she does it, but it makes her a fascinating leader. People believe that she will act. And she will act because something in her knows when to act, and she’s unafraid.” “Yeah. So is gut instinct overrated or underrated? Well, it depends on how much experience you have, right? Poker players have — because now poker is actually kind of a solved game. There are computer solvers they’re called that spit out this very complicated solution to poker. Hard to execute in practice, but it’s technically speaking a solved game. However, the best poker players can have uncannily good instincts based on reading physical tells, just the kind of vibe someone gives off. And if — you know, I played a lot of Poker and writing this book, more live poker than I have in the past, and you develop a sixth sense. Not all the time. It helps if you’re well rested. But you develop a sixth sense for whether someone has a strong hand or something. Like they’re glowing green or something almost sometimes. And you can test it, because you can say, I know that I’m supposed to fold this hand here. It’s a little bit too weak to call against a bluff. But I just have a sense that he’s bluffing. And lo and behold, you’re right more often than you’d think — more often than you need to be to make that call correct based on the odds that you’re getting from the pot. So if Nancy Pelosi has decades and decades of experience in politics and reading the moves of how the coalition is moving, I mean, that’s something where intuition probably plays a pretty good role. And also the fact that being willing to work with incomplete information — I mean, I don’t know how much longer Biden could have — maybe they could have run out the clock [LAUGHS]: potentially.” “Oh, they 100 percent could of. That day when he sent that letter to congressional Democrats and said, I’m not leaving — this conversation is over, stop trying to overturn the will of the primary voters — I was getting congressional Democrats telling me, this is done. It’s a fait accompli. He’s quelled the rebellion. It looked to me like he had. I was talking to other people. They said, 10 percent shot he’s out. Nancy Pelosi goes on ‘Morning Joe’ two days later and says, we’re really looking forward to him making a decision. And I asked her about it. And I said, what was happening? I mean, he had just sent that letter. And she said, yeah, but that was just a letter.” “Yeah.” “I didn’t accept the letter as anything but a letter. I mean, there are some people who were unhappy with the letter. Let me say it a different — some said that some people were unhappy with the letter. I’ll put it in somebody else’s mouth. Because it was a — I don’t think — it didn’t sound like Joe Biden to me.” “I’m like, oh, you read a bluff.” “So I think Nancy Pelosi might be pretty good at poker.” “Good place to end. Always our final question — what are three books you’d recommend to the audience.” “So one book is pertinent to the discussion that we had a moment ago, which is called ‘The Hour Between Dog and Wolf.’ It’s written by John Coates, who is an academic economist who then became a derivatives trader, I think, for Deutsche Bank in New York and found out that the traders that he studied were really weird. Like these traders would have strange physical and mental stress responses to the market rising or falling. And he was so fascinated by it that he went back and became a neuroscientist and basically did studies of traders. So you test the testosterone of like an options trader or a guy who works at a hedge fund and see how it varies from day to day and correlates with performance. So yeah, so he studies the physical responses of risk-takers, and the book is called ‘The Hour Between Dog and Wolf.’ So that’s one recommendation. Number two, in a totally different direction, ‘The Making of the Atomic Bomb’ by Richard Rhodes. We didn’t talk as much about some of the AI stuff today, but at the end of the book there’s a pretty long, elaborate comparison between the Manhattan Project and the building of these large language models that some people think could be potentially very dangerous. And nuclear weapons are, I think, a pivot point in human history, and this book is kind of the best history of that. The third is called ‘Addiction by Design,’ by Natasha Schüll. And Natasha is an NYU anthropologist who studied Las Vegas as her thesis basically. She did a lot of reporting just about the properties of slot machines, and how addictive they are, and about the kind of casino gambling industry in general. And of course, she draws metaphors between that and the rest of society.” “Nate Silver, thank you very much.” “Thank you, Ezra.” [THEME MUSIC]

The last I looked, your model has Kamala Harris winning the election at around 52 percent — it might be a little different today. But this has been an unusual election. How much stock do you put in your model right now?

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Persuasive Writing Strategies and Tips, with Examples
Persuasive essays are most closely related to argumentative essays, in that both discuss a serious issue with logical arguments and offer conclusive resolutions. The main difference between a persuasive essay and an argumentative essay is that persuasive essays focus more on personal experience and appeal to emotions, whereas argumentative ...
How to Write a Persuasive Essay: Tips and Tricks
TIP 1: Some writers find it easier to write their introductions last. As long as you have your working thesis, this is a perfectly acceptable approach. From that thesis, you can plan your body paragraphs and then go back and write your introduction. TIP 2: Avoid "announcing" your thesis. Don't include statements like this:
Short Persuasive Essay
Short Persuasive Essay When we were still in school, we were often taught that writing is a part of being a student. Applicants for a scholarship or applicants for those who wish to attend a new school were often told to write an essay about themselves.
How to Write a Persuasive Essay: Tips and Tricks
The first step in writing a persuasive essay is choosing a topic and picking a side. If the topic is something you believe in, it will make the entire experience of researching, writing, and arguing your perspective more personal. Choosing a topic that appeals to you on an emotional or sentimental level will make its defense easier.
How to Write a Persuasive Essay (with Pictures)
Pick a topic that appeals to you. Because a persuasive essay often relies heavily on emotional appeals, you should choose to write on something about which you have a real opinion. Pick a subject about which you feel strongly and can argue convincingly. [3] 6. Look for a topic that has a lot of depth or complexity.
What is a Persuasive Essay? Full Persuasive Essay Guide
Step 3: Create an Outline. An academic persuasive essay outline typically follows the 'classical' structure, which is based on techniques used by ancient Roman rhetoricians. Here are the basic elements your outline should include: Section. Details.
Writing a Persuasive Essay
The thesis should. 1. be a complete sentence, 2. identify the topic, and. 3. make a specific claim about that topic. In a persuasive paper, the thesis is a claim that someone should believe or do something. For example, a persuasive thesis might assert that something is effective or ineffective.
Make It Perfect: The Definitive Guide to a Persuasive Essay
Here are the steps you need to take: Step 1: Create a Compelling Introduction. You want to hook your readers with a great opening for your persuasive essay, so they'll want to keep reading. Here are 3 tips for writing an attention-grabbing introduction for your next essay. Use a strong hook statement.
A Comprehensive Guide on How to Write a Persuasive Essay
A persuasive essay is a potent literary tool designed to sway the reader's opinion and evoke a response. Unlike other types of essays, the primary goal here is not merely to inform or entertain but to persuade.In this guide, we'll explore what exactly a persuasive essay is, delve into its main components, and provide practical tips on how to write a persuasive essay that leaves a lasting ...
Persuasive Essay Guide: How to Write a Persuasive Essay
The last time you wrote a persuasive essay may have been in high school or college, but the skill of writing a strong persuasive argument is always a useful one to have. Persuasive writing begins with a writer forming their own opinion on a topic, which they then attempt to convince their reader of this opinion by walking them through a number of logical and ethical arguments.
Examples and Definition of Persuasive Essay
The term "persuasive" is an adjective derived from verb "persuade," which means "to convince somebody.". A persuasive essay is full of all the convincing techniques a writer can employ. It presents a situation, and takes a stand - either in its favor, or against it - to prove to readers whether it is beneficial or harmful for them.
Persuasive Essay: Definition, Examples, Topics & Tips for ...
What Is A Persuasive Essay? Before we begin looking at how to write this type of essay, it is important that we understand what a persuasive essay is. Below is a short description of the persuasive essay. A persuasive essay is one which is used to convince the audience of a particular viewpoint or opinion on a specific topic. Tips For Writing A ...
Writing a Persuasive Essay
A persuasive essay is a written essay that attempts to get the reader to do or think something. The essay acts in the same way that the commercial does. It gives reasons and examples why someone ...
How To Write an Effective Persuasive Essay in 6 Steps
What is a persuasive essay? A persuasive essay uses rhetorical techniques to convince the reader to accept a particular viewpoint or take a specific action. It is a popular type of creative writing. Many types of articles use persuasive techniques because they are effective in short forms like an advertisement or long forms like an essay.
What Is Persuasive Writing? (Complete Answer With Examples)
Table of Contents. A more complete explanation of persuasive writing is that it is a type of writing that is used to try to change or influence the opinion of the reader. It can be used in many different contexts, such as in business, politics, or marketing, but it can also be used in other types of writing, such as essays or articles.
Persuasive Writing Examples: From Essays to Speeches
Some persuasive writing examples can help you get a start on your own texts. If you're trying to sway someone towards a certain viewpoint, we can help you.
40 Persuasive Writing Examples (Essays, Speeches, and More)
Harvey Milk's "The Hope" Speech. Sample lines: "Some people are satisfied. And some people are not. You see there is a major difference—and it remains a vital difference—between a friend and a gay person, a friend in office and a gay person in office. Gay people have been slandered nationwide.
113 Perfect Persuasive Essay Topics for Any Assignment
All persuasive essays have the following: Introduction: Introduces the topic, explains why it's important, and ends with the thesis. Thesis: A sentence that sums up what the essay be discussing and what your stance on the issue is. Reasons you believe your side of the argument: Why do you support the side you do?
How to Write a Persuasive Essay
Welcome to my persuasive writing tutorial! In this video, I'll show you how to write a great persuasive essay. By using persuasive language techniques, you c...
What Is a Persuasive Essay?
A persuasive essay explains a specific topic and attempts to persuade the audience that your point of view is the most informed, logical and valid perspective on the topic. This genre is also known as the argumentative essay. While an expository essay written for an exam or a standardized test may have a persuasive element, most persuasive or ...
Persuasive Essay in Literature: Definition & Examples
Persuasive Essay Definition. A persuasive essay (purr-SWEY-siv ESS-ey) is a composition in which the essayist's goal is to persuade the reader to agree with their personal views on a debatable topic. A persuasive essay generally follows a five-paragraph model with a thesis, body paragraphs, and conclusion, and it offers evidential support using research and other persuasive techniques.
50 Free Persuasive Essay Examples (+BEST Topics)
Persuasive writing examples make use of reasons and logic to make them more persuasive. When you write your own persuasive essay examples, you must convince your readers to adopt your point of view or to take a specific action. To do this, you must present solid arguments using facts, examples, and quotes from experts.
100 Persuasive Essay Topics
Introduction: This is the opening paragraph of your essay.It contains the hook, which is used to grab the reader's attention, and the thesis, or argument, which you'll explain in the next section.; Body: This is the heart of your essay, usually three to five paragraphs in length.Each paragraph examines one theme or issue used to support your thesis. ...
Types of Persuasive Writing You Should Know
Types of persuasive essays include papers for school, opinion articles in newspapers, and some kinds of news stories. These writings present a clear idea and use proof to support it. Opinion Pieces. Opinion articles in newspapers, blogs, and online often use persuasive techniques to change what people think about different issues.
PDF Tom Orange Vanderbilt University Writing Studio
•Essays (compare/contrast, persuasive) ... -- L. Rust Hills, Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular (Houghton Mifflin, 2000) The devil is in the details (cont'd) "Martin spent a restless night and was at Miranda's door early the next morning." ...
Opinion
Budget airlines, short-term rentals and social media changed everything. These days Bologna is on its way to becoming a full-blown, must-avoid-the-main-roads kind of tourist city.
The Brazen Evasions of Hunter Biden
Hunter's alleged foreign lobbying misdeeds have appeared to fall just short of crossing the line into criminality. That has now changed.
Opinion
Nate Silver came to fame in American politics for election forecasting. But before Silver was in politics, he was a poker player. And after getting into politics, he went back to being a poker player.

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What is a Persuasive Essay? Full Persuasive Essay Guide

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How to Write a Persuasive Essay in 7 Steps

Step 1: Topic Selection and Research

Step 2: Develop a Strong Thesis Statement

Step 3: Create an Outline

Step 4: Write the Introduction

Step 5: Delve into Body Paragraphs

Step 6: Address Counterarguments

Step 7: Conclude with a Call to Action or a Memorable Closing Statement

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Step Two: Pose a Research Question

Step Three: Draft a Thesis

Step Four: Research

Step Five: Plan Your Argument; Make an Outline

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What is a Persuasive Essay?

Elements of a Persuasive Essay

Ethos - the Credibility Element

Pathos -the Emotional Element

Logos - the Logical Element

How To Write a Persuasive Essay

How To Start a Persuasive Essay

Brainstorm All Possible Angles

Select Your Topic

Choose Your Side

Appeal to Human Emotions

Anticipate Possible Objections.

Organize Your Evidence