Persuasive Essay Examples and Guides

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PERSUASIVE ESSAY EXAMPLES AND GUIDES

**Writing an Introduction**

What goes in an Introduction? - Tell us what you’re going to tell us!

• Attention Getter: A sentence or more intended to get the reader’s attention and get them interested in your topic
• Summary Statement: A sentence or two giving general, common knowledge about your topic and transitioning to your thesis
• Thesis: a sentence that states the topic, your opinion, and the arguments you will focus on

For Example:

Have you ever wondered what will happen to your current job in the future? Many people wonder this question but the biggest question is of all is, will robots take over our jobs? Robots now work on assembly lines and human guided robots work on Mars and in wars. Some people are really worried that this means they will take over most jobs done by humans. I think that robots will not take over a lot of jobs in the U.S.A. They are non-paying, but humans are better at our jobs and robots will make lots of mistakes.

Adapted from a student essay

Attention Getters:

An Attention Getter is a sentence or more intended to get the reader’s attention and get them interested in your topic. This is almost always the first sentence of the essay. Many students get stuck on this, so skip it if you need to and come back around to it when you type.

Common Types of Attention Getters:

• Anecdote: An anecdote is a short story that engages your reader in your topic by sharing something they can relate to. These are often short paragraphs and writers usually separate them from the rest of the introduction with a paragraph break. Use it to begin an investigation style essay or get readers on your side in a persuasive essay. Difficulty: Medium
• Question: If you use a question, you are trying to get your reader thinking on the topic. Ask a question that is complicated or controversial enough to get your reader interested. Use it to ask a “why” question that is answered in your essay. Difficulty: Easy
• Quotation: Start with a thought provoking quotation to make your essay sound more credible. Make sure you cite it, and explain it if necessary right after. Don’t just use any quote: find a really well-phrased one if you do this option. Difficulty: Medium
• Humor: A joke can help get your reader on your side and engage them in the topic of your essay. Make sure it is good, clean humor that relates to the topic, or that you tie in to the topic. Difficulty: Hard
• Shocking Statistic: A statistic can be in quote form and must be cited. These can shock readers into thinking about something in a new way or help make them more interested in your essay because they want to learn more about the topic. Make sure you take some time to discuss the statistic in your introduction or the first body paragraph. Difficulty: Easy

Summary Statement:

A Summary Statement gives general, common knowledge or required background knowledge about your topic and transitions to your thesis. In an essay on a book, this is usually where the writer tells the title, author, and a brief plot summary. In most essays it is found in the introduction.

In persuasive papers, the summary statement usually explains the two (or more) sides of the topic and transitions to your opinion.

Some topics require a much longer summary statement, like a persuasive paper on no-kill animal shelters or an expository paper on the causes and effects of George Bush’s invasion of Iraq. For these, an author sometimes puts the summary of the topic as a separate paragraph after the introduction and before the body paragraphs.

Developing a Thesis (Persuasive Edition)

What is a Thesis?

A thesis is a sentence that states the topic and subtopics you will focus on in your paper. This is the most important sentence in your essay because it sets up the rest of your essay.

Typically a thesis includes:

Your topic + Your Claim or position + Your Main Points/Arguments

For example:

This becomes a sentence, like:

• Thesis 1: Students should be able to chew gum in class because it may improve achievement, help students focus, and teach responsibility.
• Thesis 2: Chewing gum in class may improve achievement and help students focus, so students should be allowed to do it. Some might be concerned about messes, but having the opportunity to do the right thing will teach students responsibility.
• Thesis 3: Improving achievement, focus, and responsibility are just some of the reasons to allow gum chewing in middle and high school.

You try it: Use the formula below to write your own version of this student’s thesis.

Your practice thesis:

______

WRITE YOUR THESIS:

Key things to remember:

• Introduce your points/subtopics/categories in the order you plan to discuss them in your essay
• Write as one sentence or two sentences, but keep the parts of your thesis together in your essay
• Don’t mention yourself in your thesis—you don’t need to say “I think” or “I found” because we know that this is your paper and you think this or found this in your research

Your Thesis: Use your outline to help you construct your thesis!

As a formula:

As a Sentence:

______

**Writing Body Paragraphs**

What goes in a Body Paragraph? – Tell us what you said you would tell us, in detail!

• Topic Sentence: A sentence introducing the main point or claim of the paragraph; it may include a transition from another paragraph. Use an argument here!
• Chunk 1: Sections of the paragraph that provide and explain evidence
• Evidence: Often in quote form, these cited elements should all be from your research and should support or add detail to your topic sentence. Remember to cite. Introduce it!
• Explanation: An explanation can go before, after, or in the same sentence as the evidence and puts the evidence in context, so someone who hasn’t researched like you can follow your essay.
• Commentary: Adds your own comment on the evidence, sometimes by backing it up with common knowledge, relating it back to the thesis, or just pointing out something you want to make sure your readers take note of. Remember your readers aren’t in your head, so comment on your evidence! This is a great place for appeals!
• Transition: Connect the ideas from this chunk with the next sentence, either as a sentence on its own or as part of the next sentence.
• Chunk 2-?: This has the same parts as chunk one. Try using evidence from a different source, as it can make your work more persuasive and authoritative. Think about the science of persuasion as you introduce your evidence!
• Closing sentence: This sentence summarizes your evidence and restates your main point. Sometimes it transitions to the next paragraph, poses a question, or includes a final thought.

For Example:

Women face the same dangers in the workplace as men, if not more. Women face many challenges because of sexist work environments like anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and nausea ("Women's Safety..."). Even though women may work the same jobs as men, women are more likely to get mental illness (“Woman’s Safety…”). If you were sending someone into an environment that could make them mentally ill, you wouldn’t pay them less than someone in a safer job, would you? No, you’d try to make that job safe! Statistically, women appear to get fewer job related injuries than men, but women more often don't report it as a work injury ("Women's safety..."). In addition to covering up physical injuries, women also have a lot of stress trying to balance family and work, which can often end in increasing blood pressure and fatigue ("Women's safety..."). Society expects women to keep working when they get home, and this takes its toll. Even though women don't appear to get as injured, they more often don't report it and get more mental illnesses so they should be paid as much as men for doing the same job.

This is a modified student example from an essay on equal wages for women. Here is the thesis:

It's unfair that women don't get paid as much because they face the same danger, can have similar home situations, and work as hard as men.

Transitions:

• furthermore
• this, too
• also
• in the second place
• again

• in addition
• even more
• next
• further
• last, lastly

• finally
• besides
• and, or, nor
• first
• second, secondly, etc.

• while
• immediately
• never
• after
• later, earlier
• always
• when
• soon

• whenever
• meanwhile
• sometimes
• in the meantime
• during
• afterwards
• now, until now

• following
• once
• then
• at length
• simultaneously
• so far
• this time
• subsequently

• to illustrate
• to demonstrate
• specifically
• for instance
• as an illustration

• e.g., (for example)
• for example

• that is to say
• in other words
• to explain

• i.e., (that is)
• to clarify
• to rephrase it

• in the same way
• by the same token
• similarly
• in like manner
• likewise
• in similar fashion

• yet
• and yet
• nevertheless
• nonetheless
• after all
• but
• however

• though
• otherwise
• on the contrary
• in contrast
• notwithstanding
• on the other hand

• because
• since
• on account of
• for that reason

• in order that
• so that
• to that end, to this end
• for this purpose

There are many, many more. The goal of a transition is to help your reader understand your train of thought and to show them why you are sharing the evidence that you include in your essay. Look at yesterday’s example to see if you can find the transitions.

More transitions can be found by searching for transition examples and the rest of this collection are here: https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Transitions.html

**Writing a Conclusion**

What goes in a Conclusion? – Tell us what you told us, with insight!

• Transition: This may be a part of your last body paragraph or your conclusion, but make sure to show your reader that you’re wrapping up your paper. Try use a concluding transition (finally, in conclusion, or any one of many, many more).
• Restate Thesis & Summarize your Main points: Now that we understand more what you told us in the introduction, explain once again what you have been writing about and review the most interesting or important points. Often, this is as simple as paraphrasing your thesis and your topic sentences. This part may be several sentences long. You can be more sophisticated and draw additional conclusions that are backed up by your paper as a whole in this section. Don’t introduce new evidence, but DO take this last chance to use appeals and logic and persuade us.
• Final Thought or Call to Action: Leave your reader thinking with a last question for follow up research, a request that they do something about your topic, etc.

For Example:

Teens who cyberbully should get suspended because it harms teens, safety, grades, self confidence, and their learning. Once schools treat cyberbullying seriously, then definitely it would decrease students’ suicidal impulses and self harm. Also, it would stop unhappy teens who don't smile anymore because of that one text. Cyberbullies have to learn that bullying anyone online and hiding behind a screen isn't the right path. Dealing with this will definitely save lives. Discuss cyberbullying with your principal, and ask her to take it seriously!

Modified from a student’s essay on why cyberbullies should be suspended.

**Formatting your Final Draft**

Why do we format this way?- We use MLA style formatting in our class. MLA formatting is a list of rules for formatting papers and making citation set out by the Modern Language Association. In college, professors will ask for different styles of formatting depending on the subject they teach, but in high school and middle school MLA format is the most common.

Rules for MLA format:

• Essays (including titles) should be typed in a legible, simple font in size 12. We will use the font Times New Roman.
• Titles are centered and may be in bold text (but otherwise are the same size and font as the essay).
• Essays should be double-spaced from the heading at the top to the bibliography. This is a setting. Do not try to double-space using the space bar or the return/enter key.
• Essays need a “header” with the author’s last name and the page number in the upper left hand corner of every page—word processing programs have a tool for this.
• Essays need a “heading” in the upper left hand corner of the first page with the author’s name, their teacher’s name, the class’s name and section/period, and the due date of the essay. Each of these goes on its own line.
• Margins should be 1” all around the essay. This is the default setting on most word processing programs.
• Leave one space after periods and punctuation marks (see revision checklist from the Bullying paragraph for examples, and some similar tips on punctuation).
• Cite your sources using in-text and bibliographic citations as indicated on the MLA Citations page later in this packet.

See the top of the next page for an example of the first page of an MLA formatted essay.

**Writing a Bibliography**

What is a bibliography?- A bibliography is a collection of bibliographic citations for the sources you researched for your essay.

Format: Format is everything in a bibliography. See the example packet given earlier and the MLA citation handout later in this packet.

• The title is Bibliography and is centered and bold.
• Like your essay the bibliography is double spaced, in the font called Times New Roman, at size 12.
• Each bibliographic citation is “reverse indented,” meaning that unlike a paragraph, which has the first line indented, all lines but the first one are indented. On your bibliography, just use the “bullet points” setting to help the first line stand out.
• Each bibliographic citation is formatted in MLA style according to the source you use. The MLA Citations handout later in this packet explains how to make a citation for an internet article. For other types of sources, look up MLA citations on The Owl at Purdue or use the MLA citation setting with the appropriate source type on EasyBib.com.
• Bibliographic citations are in alphabetical order by the first unique item, usually the author’s last name.

FUN FACT: Some people use the words bibliography and works cited to mean the same thing, but in fact they are different. A bibliography is a list of every source you looked at in your research while a works cited includes just those sources that you cited in your paper. Check with your teacher to see which of these they want.

MLA Style Citations Review

In-text Citations

In-text citations go in an essay or article to give credit for a particular fact or opinion. Cite whenever you use a fact, quote, or idea from an article or that you didn’t come up with yourself.

These citations direct the reader to the entry in the bibliography or works cited page, so the reader can look up the original source you used. To direct the reader to the right entry, these citations give the first unique word or words from the bibliographic citation, usually the author’s name for the sources we use. You don’t put your in-text citation in bold, but I have so that they stand out.

Example 1:

The article “School Bullying, Cyberbullying Continue to Drop” explains that, “Traditional bullying and cyberbullying also impact the behaviors of the affected students,” (Bidwell).

When there is no author given, the in-text citation uses the title because it comes next in the bibliographic citation.

Example 2:

The organization Stomp Out Bullying encourages kids to “speak up” and says change has to start with students looking after one another (“Change Your School Community”).

Bibliographic Citations