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Guidelines for Writing a Persuasive Essay

Deepa Kartha
Have you been asked to write a persuasive or argumentative essay as a class assignment for next week? Here are some guidelines that would be helpful in writing one.
An essay is a literary composition where the ideas of the writer are presented in a proper and systematic form. Students in schools as well as colleges are asked to write different types of essays, including descriptive, narrative, persuasive, etc.
Every form of essay has to have some kind of preparation to put in the ideas of the writer clearly before the reader. It becomes more important when you have to write a persuasive essay.
Such an essay is said to be a written debate, where the writer has to write about his viewpoints on a particular topic. Let us look at some of the guidelines for writing the same.
The main aim of writing this essay is to make your reader agree with your viewpoint. For this, it is necessary that your essay should have nothing but correct facts. You cannot write this piece using your imagination. One must choose a topic that has two points of view, and decide which side he would take.
Then comes the most important part - research work. You should read well on the topic you have selected, and jot down the important points. You can refer to books or magazines, or research on the Internet. One should also read about the opposite point of view, as this would help in preparing for counter arguments.
Once you have made sure of the facts, you can start writing. Like in other essays, one has to follow the standard method of introduction, main body, and conclusion.
In favor of what you are going to write, you can begin the essay with a quote by a famous personality. Plan well before writing the introduction. It should state your point of view in a way such that it triggers the interest of your writer to read the rest of the essay.
In the main body of the essay, you have to explain your viewpoint in detail. This is where your research will come into good use. You can take one paragraph for explaining one point, and use some examples to elaborate it. This would help in explaining the viewpoint more clearly to the readers.
One should also mention the sources, from where one has taken the information, so as to show the reader that the information is absolutely reliable and correct.
The essay should have a powerful conclusion. This section should be used to emphasize on your main statement. It should sum up your whole essay, and be strong enough to influence your reader.
Once you have written the essay, re-read it again. If possible, ask one of your family members, or a friend to read it and give their opinions. Make changes if necessary, and proofread it, to avoid spelling and grammar mistakes. Mistakes in an essay will automatically weaken the impact of your views on the reader.
This essay is generally bound to have a counter argument by some person, and one must learn to accept it. Preparing and researching well before writing will surely boost up your confidence to face any debate against your point of view.