Persuasive Writing Strategies
What follows is a list of techniques that you can use to both develop/build the body of a persuasive paper and persuade your reader to agree with your position, even take some form of action.
To persuade an audience, a writer relies on, uses, various appeals: to the emotions, to reason, and to credibility.
1.Methods of Emotional Appeal
- Narrative/Story
For instance, if I were trying to persuade my reader that the blood alcohol limit for drunk driving should be set at .08 nationally, I could include sad stories about people killed in drunk driving accidents in my paper.
Remember, in an effective argument emotion does not take the place of logic; it supports and reinforces it.
2.Methods of Logical Appeal/Appeals to Reason
- Factual Evidence in the form of:
StatisticsStatistics express information in numbers, the “studies have shown that” form of evidence. I could, for instance, give statistics about drunk driving deaths in states with a .10 limit versus states with a .08 limit. These statistics should show that there are fewer deaths the lower the blood alcohol limit is.
ExamplesYou can use either real life examples or hypothetical scenarios. Examples are often mini-narratives.
Experts You can and should use quotations from authorities. You can also paraphrase or summarize the opinions of experts.
Logical Make a logical argument as to why your opinion is
Reasoningthe best way to go.
When you use factual evidence in your paper (e.g. statistics, expert opinions), you must make sure that the evidence is:
Up-to-dateWere I arguing against the .08 blood alcohol limit, I wouldn’t want to use drunk driving statistics from, say, 1959. Clearly these statistics are too old to be relevant.
SufficientMake sure that you have enough information to support your ideas.
RelevantMake sure that the evidence you use actually relates to your topic. Facts about people driving while using illegal drugs while certainly interesting have no bearing on blood alcohol limits.
3.Appeals to Credibility
If you want someone to believe your argument, you must be a credible writer. To achieve this credibility as a high school student, research carefully and thoroughly, use credible sources in your paper and proofread your writing for errors carefully. People will tend not to believe writers who fill their papers with sentence fragments and slang.