1. * * * * * How to write persuasive essays
The Art of Persuasion
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How to write persuasive essays

2. Prewriting Choose an issue State Your Position
Consider your Purpose and Audience
Support Your Opinion

3. Rhetorical Devices
Rhetorical devices are the vehicle that will allow one to communicate one’s perspective on an issue and demonstrate why one’s opinion is the correct one

4. Types of Appeals Logical Appeals (Logos) Emotional Appeals (Pathos)
Ethical Appeals (Ethos)

5. Types of Appeals
Logical Appeals: Speak to readers’ minds. They rely on reason and good common sense.

6. Types of Appeals
Emotional Appeals: Speak to readers’ emotions, such as sympathy, fear, and hope

7. Types of Appeals
Ethical Appeals: Speaks to the readers’ ethics or moral values; They call upon widely held beliefs such as honesty and fairness.

8. Other Rhetorical Devices
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Repetition
Parallelism
Rhetorical questions
Argument by analogy

9. Repetition
The repeated use of a word, phrase, or clause more than once for emphasis

10. Parallelism
The repetition of the same grammatical form to express equal, or parallel, ideas. A noun is paired with a noun, a phrase with a phrase, a clause with a clause, and so on.

11. Questions that are not meant to be answered but are asked for effect.
Rhetorical questions
Questions that are not meant to be answered but are asked for effect.

12. Draws a parallel between basically dissimilar events or situations.
Argument by analogy
Draws a parallel between basically dissimilar events or situations.

13. Types of Evidence Facts: Provable information; can be statistical data
Examples: Specific instances of a situation

14. Types of Evidence
Expert Opinions: Statements by individuals who are considered experts on the issue in question
Analogies: Comparisons that show similarities between two unrelated ideas

15. Types of Evidence
Case studies: Studies based on scientific methodology
Anecdotes: brief, personal stories that make a point

16. Danger!
Danger!

17. Avoid these at all cost…
Logical Fallacies
Avoid these at all cost…

18. Based on too little evidence or evidence that ignores exceptions.
Overgeneralization
Based on too little evidence or evidence that ignores exceptions.
Ex. Adults just want to deny teenagers their rights. Otherwise, the curfew law would not have been approved.

19. False causality
Assumes one event caused another because one happened before the other.
Ex. Councilman Jay Jones proposed the curfew
after his store was robbed. The robbery is the reason
he proposed it.

20. False Analogy
Draws an invalid conclusion from a comparison that is weak or unreasonable.
Ex. The city council understands modern teenagers about as well as most people understand the theory of relativity.

21. Red herring
Something that takes a listener’s attention away from the real issue or point.
Ex. The curfew law is the city council’s attempt to usurp parents’ authority.

22. Attack ad hominem
Attacking the person associated with the issue instead of the issue itself.
Ex. Councilman Lee, who supports the curfew, is well known for his dislike of children in general and teenagers in particular.

23. Bandwagon Effect
Encourages listeners to act or think a certain way because everyone else is.
Ex. The student council, the cheerleaders and the football team are against the curfew. You should be also.

24. Here’s what you do… In your introduction- Grab your readers attention
Give background information by presenting both sides of the argument
Provide a thesis statement that clearly states your position

25. Here’s what you do… In your body…
Support your position with 3 reasons and 2 pieces of evidence for each reason
Use rhetorical devices to shape your support
Organize reasons and evidence on the basis of relative strength

26. Here’s what you do… In your conclusion- Restate your thesis
Consider providing a summary of your reasons
Call readers to action by telling them what they can do to impact the situation or offer alternative solutions.

27. Resource
Holt Elements of Literature, Fourth Course.
Page

28. Now that you know what to do…
…I expect you to dazzle me.
Good luck.