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Category Archives: Uncategorized

How to Start a Persuasive Essay

July 4, 2019

Here’s your strategy, step by step:

  1. Brainstorm your topic.
  2. Choose a hook.
  3. Provide the context.
  4. Narrow it to the main point.
  5. Write a thesis statement.
  6. Be brief.
  7. Avoid clichés.
  8. Stay persuasive.
  9. Feel free to write an introduction after the essay body is ready.

Just imagine:

You write a persuasive essay, submit it for a review, but a teacher says he didn’t even read it because its first paragraph was lame.

What a shame, huh?

Indeed, an introduction matters. And when you don’t know how to start a persuasive essay, you’ll never write an A-worthy one, even if the rest of your paper is top-notch.

Fortunately, there’s a simple solution:

Read this detailed guide on essay introductions, learn how to begin a persuasive essay right, and… voila – you’ll never experience the throes of creation or have a red face for poor writing skills.

how to start a persuasive essay by Bid4Papers

image source: Picdeer

So, How to Start a Persuasive Essay?

An introduction is a part of every writing piece, and an argumentative essay is no different here.

Essay introduction is the very first paragraph of your paper, aimed at representing its topic and argument to the audience and triggering their interest in reading the rest of your essay.

 

This paragraph has a clear purpose and structure. When done right, essay introductions can influence your final grade for a writing assignment. So, it looks like a must for every student to know how to start an essay, right?

Let’s dive into details.

The Purpose of Persuasive Essay Introduction

Why know how to begin an essay?

  • First, it’s your only chance to hook the audience and motivate them to keep on reading. As they say, you’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression.
  • Second, it introduces your argument (thesis statement) and gives readers an idea of what they’ll see in your essay.
  • Third, it reflects your writing style. The audience will understand the overall quality of your essay and decide if they want to read it and learn more.

An introduction of your persuasive essay should provide background information on the problem you cover and outline your position on it. And though you need a hook to get readers interested, don’t keep them in suspense: a persuasive essay is not a narrative or a novel; make it short, clear, and concise.

Key Elements of Essay Introductions

The format of your essay introduction reminds an inverted pyramid:

Here you go from general to specific information:

persuasive essay introduction pyramid

  • First, you write about the broad problem you’ll be addressing for readers to understand the context; so, begin with a general point about the central issue.
  • Then, you narrow down to introduce your position on this problem (your thesis statement); so, give an overview of the key issues you’ll cover.
  • And finally, you give an overview of your argument to indicate the direction it will take and make a transition to the body paragraphs of your persuasive essay.

Example:

example of persuasive essay introduction Bid4Papers

Long story short, an essay introduction consists of three parts: a hook (a strong opening sentence to capture readers’ attention), a topic (the focus of your essay), and a thesis (your opinion on the topic).

Writing a Persuasive Essay Introduction: Step by Step

For most students, introductions are the trickiest part of an essay to write.

Why?

An essay introduction is the first thing readers see, and you understand it should be persuasive enough so they would like to continue reading it. You need to hook a reader, introduce your topic, and state a strong thesis for the audience to follow you and want to learn more. The below tips will help you master the art of introduction writing once and for all.

1) Think about your topic.

Don’t hurry up to start writing. First, think carefully about your topic to understand what you know about it and decide what position you’ll state, what arguments you’ll use, and what question you’ll answer in your essay.

Write down the facts that you already know about the topic. Thus you’ll understand if you need more research to find extra information and arguments for your essay introduction to get the reader’s attention.

2) Choose a relevant hook.

An essay hook is the first one or two sentences of essay introductions that serve to grab the reader’s attention. Hook types are many, and it can be difficult to choose the most relevant one, especially if you haven’t clarified a thesis yet.

For persuasive essays, the best hooks are a thought-provoking question, a surprising fact/definition, a relevant quote, or statistics.

Once your hook is ready, make sure you have a transition to the topic itself. For that, use transitional words and phrases so your writing could sound natural and logical for readers to follow.

3) Provide a background.

Try making your essay hook a part of a broad background to give readers the context of your writing.

But:

Don’t share your main arguments with evidence and proof here. Leave it for body paragraphs. In essay introductions, you just introduce a problem and explain why it can be controversial and debatable.

4) Narrow the background to introduce a topic.

After you’ve come up with a hook and a background statement, it’s time to introduce your topic to readers: state an issue and narrow that background so they would understand your point (what you are going to explain and prove them in your essay).

5) Write a thesis statement.

And finally, state a thesis. It’s a central claim (your opinion on the topic) you’ll discuss and prove in each of the following paragraphs, and it’s a sentence or two that close your essay introduction.

A good thesis is brief and informative, it provides readers with a clear argument about your opinion on the issue, and it has a logical basis. In other words, there should be facts and evidence supporting your claim. (Feel free to use a thesis statement generator to ease the process.)

Here’s the example of how to start a persuasive essay:

example of how to start a persuasive essay

Extra tips to follow:

6) Avoid clichés.

Some types of essay introductions become so successful that most students start using them over and over again, turning their works into boring and clichéd templates.

Don’t do like that.

Yes, it’s easier to start an essay with a simple definition or something like “In this essay, I’ll tell why students don’t need uniforms at schools.”

But don’t you hear a teacher’s whisper behind your back, saying, “It’s bo-o-o-oring…”

Though your persuasive essay needs to inform readers about the topic, it doesn’t mean you should say it literally. So, be informative but avoid vague and poor announcements.

Examples:

No! (poor and clichéd)Yes! (informative)
In this paper, I am going to explain how the North won the Civil War.The North won the Civil War because it had greater manpower, developed industry, and access to the railroad system.
My report will explain some possible reasons why the dinosaurs went extinct.While nobody knows for sure why dinosaurs went extinct, possible reasons include disease, global catastrophe, or natural selection.
This essay will illustrate how William Shakespeare used comedy to create social commentary in The Taming of the Shrew.In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare hides social commentary on the gender roles of his time behind the mask of comedy.

image source: University of Maryland

7) Make your introduction as brief as possible.

Avoid vague and empty phrases in your essay introduction. Use only facts, bold opinions, and quotes that relate to your thesis statement. Stay as clear and concise as possible.

In introductions, you inform readers about what they’ll find in the following paragraphs. So, list the points but don’t elaborate on every argument.

Also, make sure your essay introduction is brief. You can’t make it longer than 100 words if the overall length of your essay is about 500. Otherwise, it will look like a bunch of unrelated empty words. What’s the use of it?

8) Stay persuasive.

Make your introduction engaging. While reading it, the audience should believe the essay’s going to be worth checking. That’s why the #1 rule for choosing a persuasive essay topic is that it should be polemical rather than expository.

Stay persuasive. Don’t write about common knowledge but state your position concerning the issue, so readers could get interested in why you hold this position and what arguments you have to convince them.

9) Remember that you don’t have to write an introduction first.

An essay introduction is the first paragraph of your paper, but who said you should write it first? It often happens that you know what to write in the essay body, but you haven’t yet found the words to start it.

And that’s how a writer’s block appears. You stumble. It frustrates, disappoints, and makes you think you can’t write. You procrastinate, miss deadlines, and you believe you hate everyone assigning those tasks.

But why not write second or third paragraphs first and come back to the introduction afterward? After all, it’s not a mandatory rule to start a writing process with introductions only.

All you need to start an essay is a clear thesis statement. Hooks, backgrounds, transitions – you can write them later.

It’s a Wrap!

When wondering how to start a persuasive essay, remember that it’s about a brief overview of your topic and thesis. Make it short, engaging, and up to a point.

Here’s your strategy, step by step:

  1. Brainstorm your topic.
  2. Choose a hook.
  3. Provide the context.
  4. Narrow it to the main point.
  5. Write a thesis statement.
  6. Be brief.
  7. Avoid clichés.
  8. Stay persuasive.
  9. Feel free to write an introduction after the essay body is ready.

Not that difficult, right?

If still in doubt, check our ultimate guide on writing persuasive essays or ask our professional writers to help you win the battle for A+.

UncategorizedMike Hanski View all 3 comments

What is a Persuasive Argument?

July 4, 2019
A persuasive argument is a list of connected statements, aimed at establishing a definite proposition for giving one conclusion on the issue.

image source: Unsplash

Whatever a topic, your essay should have a persuasive argument to be worth a high grade. More than that, this argument should have a definite structure for your essay to sound logical and credible enough.

Here you’ll learn the structure of a persuasive argument, find persuasive argument examples to understand this concept, and see how to use it for your persuasive essay to sound better.

Persuasive Argument Structure

A persuasive argument is the one making readers agree with your opinion. You can’t just make a claim; you should offer a series of statements with evidence to support it. Only the claims with evidence are worth using in your argumentative essay.

What can serve as the evidence for your persuasive argument?

  • Proven facts and statistics
  • Definitions and research
  • Quotes from experts in the topic
  • Your personal experience, if you can provide the examples illustrating your point of view

If you can support your claim with further statements (evidence), your argument will be persuasive and successful. If you don’t support the claim, your argument fails. In other words, offer readers the reasons to believe you.

It’s the purpose of an argument: to prove that your claim is true or that others’ claim is false. If your series of statements can’t do that, then it’s not an argument.

Depending on the length of your persuasive essay, the argument can take the form of a sentence, a paragraph, or several paragraphs. But regardless of the length, each persuasive argument consists of three elements: premise, inference, and conclusion.

persuasive argument formula

1. Premise

A premise is the statement or a fact, supposed to give reasons or evidence why your claim is true. It’s the basement of your argument, and it’s what you’ll use to support your conclusion.

The term “premise” itself comes from Latin and means “things mentioned before,” leading to a logical resolution in the argument. Joshua May, a professor at the University of Alabama, defines it that way:

Joshua May, PH.D.
Associate Professor
U. of Alabama at Bimminghan

“A premise is a proposition one offers in support of a conclusion.

That is, one offers a premise as evidence for the truth of the conclusion, as justification for or a reason to believe the conclusion.”

And according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a persuasive argument is valid only if it follows logically from premises, both major and minor ones.

Example:

  1. All mammals are warmblooded. [major premise]
  2. Whales are mammals. [minor premise]
  3. Therefore, whales are warmblooded. [conclusion]

However, you need to be careful when choosing major premises for your persuasive argument. If wrong, they can lead you to wrong conclusions, which is not good when you write about persuasive essay topics.

Example:

  1. All women are Republican. [major premise: false]
  2. Hilary Clinton is a woman. [minor premise: true]
  3. Therefore, Hilary Clinton is a Republican. [conclusion: false]

2. Inference

In persuasive argument examples, inferences are the reasoning parts. They link a premise with a final conclusion.

From Latin, the term “inference” means “bring in,” and it’s valid only if based on the evidence that makes a logical conclusion from the premise.

The author of Language in Thought and Action, Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa defined it as follows:

S. I. Hayakawa
Academic and politican

“An inference is a statement about the unknown made on the basis of the known. It can be made on the basis of a broad background of previous experience with the subject matter or with no experience at all.

But the common characteristic of inferences is that they are statements about matters which are not directly known, statements made on the basis of what has been observed.”

Inferences come from factual premises, therefore linking them to the argument conclusion. You can’t come to a logical conclusion without an inferential claim, because it’s the only way to prove a premise and connect it to the evidence.

Example:

  1. Doctors have a lot of money. [major premise]
  2. With that money, a person can travel a lot. [minor premise]
  3. Doctors can travel a lot. [inference, from premises 1 and 2]
  4. I want to travel a lot. [a new premise, based on inference 3]
  5. I should become a doctor. [inference, from 3 and 4]

For you to understand the concept of inference better, let’s appeal to the talk of Sheldon and Raj (The Big Bang Theory):

image source: Unsplash

Sheldon: I took another look at the board, and I realized you were right.
Raj: So you were wrong.
Sheldon: I’m not saying that.
Raj: That’s the only logical inference.
Sheldon: I’m still not saying it.

3. Argument Conclusion

An argument conclusion is a claim you justify by a number of premises with inferences. It follows logically from your premises, and your argument can be called persuasive if those premises are true to support your conclusion.

Here goes the example from Michael Andolina’s Practical Guide to Critical Thinking.

An argument:

“This job description is inadequate because it is too vague. It doesn’t even list the specific tasks that should be performed, and it doesn’t say how my performance will be evaluated.”

The argument’s structure to see if it’s persuasive enough:

  1. This job description is inadequate. [conclusion]
  2. It is too vague. [inference]
  3. It doesn’t list specific tasks. [premise]
  4. It doesn’t state how performance will be evaluated. [premise]

How to Know Your Argument is Persuasive

If you’ve already checked our ultimate guide on how to write a persuasive essay, you know five elements of persuasion that make your argumentative writing sound legit.

If not, here they go:

  • Your clear position.
  • Your effective communication (know what hooks to use, what words to choose, etc.)
  • Your solid argument (that’s what we discuss here now).
  • A clear structure of your essay.
  • Its solid conclusion.

The argument with evidence is what turns your writing into persuasive essays. Remember about the structure (premise, inference, conclusion) and use a straightforward language to communicate it.

And now you may ask:

What’s the heck is a straightforward language?

It refers to brief and concise writing: short sentences, power words, active voice, and transitional phrases you use for an essay’s better readability. In other words, follow the rules of academic writing and avoid empty phrases all teachers hate so much.

Okay, What’s Next?

Persuasive essay topics and the ability to state a persuasive argument in your academic writings help you grow critical thinking and creativity. So don’t hurry up to curse your professors if they assign such tasks to you. Learn to make a claim, prove your position with evidence, train your brain to think critically and question every claim you read in a book or online – and you’ll know how to make points for others to listen to you.

Those able to clarify their thoughts and bring their point home, they rule the world.

Essays, Uncategorized, Writingpersuasive essayMike Hanski Leave a comment
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