Persuasive Writing Techniques For College Students

When it comes to persuasive writing, people use different styles and methods. Some of really work, but many other persuasive writing techniques are not appropriate and should be avoided.

If an experienced and professional writer works on a persuasive essay, it can inspire readers and give them a new direction. But if the essay is poorly written, it may confuse readers, and many of them will stop reading it after a few sentences.

For this reason, we’ve collected several persuasive writing techniques and tips to give students some insights on how to write high quality persuasive essays. These techniques are easy to understand so anyone can take advantage of them. Our carefully selected tips will help you avoid mistakes, improve your general writing skills and understand how useful writing homework can be. These tips can also be used when completing essays of any type. So, let’s start our journey to the country of perfect persuasive writing skills!

What you should know about persuasive writing

• No exaggeration. Don’t use hyperboles without reason. It’s not a good idea to use the word ‘huge’ or ‘giant’ if the word ‘big’ is more appropriate. You’d better use facts and examples instead of dramatic expressions. You also shouldn’t rant and tell your own opinion, if this information is not proven by facts.
• Use the second or third person voice. If you want your essay to be persuasive, it should earn credibility and the readers must consider that your work is objective. People prefer to listen to facts and analysis rather than to personal opinions. So it’s better to use only the second and the third person in writing.
• Don’t forget about opposing arguments. Even if you found a lot of arguments for some point of view, find the arguments against it. Present full information and facts to your readers and let them decide. If the arguments for your position are stronger than arguments against it, your readers will understand.
• Don’t be rude. Avoid such things as swearing, name-calling, strong language, unproven facts that may cause aggression to readers.

Persuasive Writing Techniques

Here we present several persuasive techniques in writing that can help develop your skills. And we also propose to use wikis to make your data well-organized. All students can use them to catch the attention of your audience. We’ve outlined ten techniques of persuasive writing that can help an average student become a better writer:

• Identify the problem and offer a solution – by identifying a problem you will attract the audience you need and evoke interest to the problem by offering a solution. Also, this will help show readers the level of professionalism, so they respect your opinion.
• Explain reasons – people expect receiving reasonable explanations, only, in this case, they’re ready for actions. Have this in mind when you start completing your persuasive essay.
• Check feedback – before starting to write your persuasive essay, check readers’ feedback regarding several previous similar essays. This will help better understand the future social response and control social proof. By integrating the elements of social proof, you can increase the social involvement of your readers.
• Use comparisons – the main goal of persuasive writing is clear from persuasive writing definition. Comparisons will help you become more convincing when using metaphors, analogies, and similes. It would be nice if you can relate your scenario to something your audience already accepts as true. In this case, you will sound more convincing.
• Repetition is crucial – To deliver your message, you need to repeat it several times. The human mind is psychologically predisposed to positively apprehend thoughts that were repeated several times. However, you should explain the same thought in several ways.
• Storytelling – This is a general technique that can be applied to evoke the interest of the audience. People like stories and stories help people make an independent decision regarding the issue under discussion.
• Make a prognosis – This is an interesting persuasive writing technique which allows providing a glimpse into the future. You can use extrapolation and predict outcomes of the described events.
• Consistency – This technique is associated with stability. You need to show your readers your integrity and rational approach.
• Address objections – Think about possible objections and address all of them to ensure your readers you’re a highly qualified professional. Show them you know the topic well by placing tough arguments!
• Give a sense of unity – It’s important for people to be a part of something bigger. Give them this feeling and acquire more followers.

Good persuasive writing tips

• Use a hook to get the attention of your readers. It may be an example, an interesting quote, or really good anecdote. The hook must be located in the beginning of an essay and be connected with the other parts of it. If this method is used appropriately, the reader will move further to the next paragraphs of your essay. But if the statistics or an anecdote is not much connected with other parts of an essay, the reader will be disappointed and probably stop reading.
• You should also write a strong thesis statement. If it’s not interesting for readers, it will be hard to make them move further. The thesis statement must be polemical, with arguments for and against it. You should find many arguments to defend it.
• To make your thesis statement stronger, use facts and numbers, statistics, and comparisons. It shows that you did the research and now present interesting and proven information.
• Don’t use dubious sources, such as information from personal web pages or social networks pages. Better sources are newspapers, scientific newsletters, and publications, especially when you use materials provided by scientists.
• Make your essay easier to read, as much as possible. To do that, use transitive words such as ‘moreover’ or ‘however’. Try to read your essay and consider if it should be rearranged or edited for your readers.
• Write a good conclusion. It’s not just a summary of all other parts. It may contain the additional questions about your subject or prove your own opinion about the subject.

Right persuasive writing is an important skill for any college student. We’ve described several techniques hoping that you can apply them when completing your persuasive essays. However, these skills can be useful when writing other essays as well. Don’t miss the chance and improve your skills right here, right now!