30 Great Persuasive Essay Examples | Guide & Tips

A Persuasive Essay or an Argumentative Essay is an essay in which you use logic and arguments to convince or persuade your readers to agree with a specific opinion or idea.

Great persuasive essay examples employ excellent research and choice of words to strongly present the writer’s opinion and convince the readers to agree with it.

To write persuasive essays, you must research thoroughly, write convincingly, and arrange your points succinctly. This article will gain more insight into the prewriting stage to the writing stage, down to the editing stage. You will also learn winning tips that will help you write outstanding persuasive essay examples.

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To write a great persuasive essay, you need to follow the outlined writing process.

Below are persuasive essay tips for each stage of the writing process:

Prewriting stage

This stage is critical to the success of your writing. At this point, you plan the different parts of the essay.

These are the steps to take:

Choose a position you’re passionate about

Choose a topic, select the position you would love to advocate. It would help if you chose a side you believe in, as that will make the research, writing, and argument more personalized. Opting for a topic you believe in strongly will make the defense easy. Also, because you are knowledgeable on the subject, you will not have issues with the research.

Understand the audience

To write a unique persuasive essay, you need to consider your audience. Remember that your writing should be suited to your audience. Check whether they are knowledgeable and inclined to believe your arguments. If you’re writing for a semi-literate audience, using high-sounding words will be ineffective as they won’t understand you. Instead, make it easy, simple, and easy to understand.

Research both sides thoroughly

You must thoroughly research the different sides of the argument to put up a convincing persuasive essay example. By researching both sides, you will discover points for and against the opinion and the loopholes in the different opinions. Utilize your school’s resources such as a library, reference materials, and academic journals.

Identify convincing evidence

After conducting your research, select the most convincing evidence as it will form the basis of your essay. Also, discover the significant points for the opposite team.

Create a working outline or structure

In this stage, you must create a working structure that will guide your essay. To do this, you must think critically about the pros and cons of your argument and note the places to put forward your most robust evidence.

Your outline will also keep you organized from the beginning, with supporting facts, figures, and pieces of evidence. So, for each point, you must outline the significant facts and research to support it. A working outline also helps you define your argument concisely and logically to make your writing process more manageable.

Here is a good sample outline to use:

Introductory paragraph

• Get your readers’ attention with a hook: A hook is that one big idea that hooks your audience. It can be a significant promise, quotation, unusual statistic, question, premise, or argument that will keep your readers engaged with your essay.
• Provide an overview of the argument: After writing the hook, the next step is to overview the argument.
• Close with statement: Close with providing a thesis statement that reveals the position of the argument.

Body paragraphs

• Each paragraph should tackle one part of the evidence.
• Back up each paragraph with adequate supporting facts, figures, and pieces of evidence.

Opposing view paragraph

• In the opposing view paragraph, explain and counter the significant points of the opposite view.

Concluding paragraph

• In the concluding paragraph of your persuasive essay, reaffirm and re-emphasize the thesis and supporting points.

Draft your persuasive essay

After creating your outline, the next stage is to create an initial draft of the persuasive essay.

Here are the steps to follow:

• Open the Introductory Paragraph with a hook; your hook can be a quote, a story, a question, or a strong statement. For example, for an essay on education, you can use this hook. Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”
• State the thesis statement clearly, concisely, and succinctly.
• For each body paragraph, address one reason that emphasizes your point and provide strong evidence using research results, facts and figures, real-life examples, and quotable quotes from experts.
• Make arguments using different means like analogies, comparisons, and logic.
• Define terms and give background information. Your readers may not be deeply knowledgeable in the subject. To carry everyone along, you must define terms and provide some background information.
• Remember that the concluding paragraph must summarize the points and provide more credence to your argument. It can be a question, a plea, a recommendation, or a prediction that convinces your readers to believe your point and act in the direction you want.

After scribbling your persuasive essay, the next step is to revise and review your essay. Remember, “The first draft reveals the art; revision reveals the artist.” ― Michael Lee. So, to refine your essay and take it to the next level, you must revise the essay you have written.

Here are some things to do when revising a persuasive essay:

Crosscheck your position on the issue

Here, you should check whether your position is coherent and well captured. Check if your points are well explained with illustrations, analogies, and arguments. Also, check if the essay states a firm position on the topic and is backed up with adequate statistics, quotes, facts, and examples.

Review the essay’s opening

Check if the hook captures the topic and aligns with the points you want to make. Ensure the hook is captivating, persuasive, and intriguing.

Ensure coherence of paragraphs

Your paragraphs should be coherent and cohesive. They should have logical evidence, supporting analogies, and illustrations. In addition, your paragraphs should be legible, brief, and concise.

Confirm validity of refutation

Verify whether you refuted the opposing views convincingly with enough evidence to support your ideas while revising your persuasive essay.

Review the formal structure

Check for the formal essay structure. Are the paragraphs well outlined? Do the paragraphs address only one issue? What’s the word choice like? Are the paragraphs coherent and readable? Are the sentences well-written and clear?

Food-for-thought in concluding paragraph

Verify if the article persuades the reader to think and act in the manner that it is concluded.

To further help you in your persuasive essay writing, we will provide you with different and appropriate persuasive essay topic examples.

Here are some persuasive essay topics you can write on:

• Should people be forced to take the Covid-19 vaccine?
• Is the American dream a reality or a myth?
• Are eBooks better than physical books?
• Should under 18 children have any abortion rights?
• Should abortion be abolished?
• Should same-sex couples be allowed to adopt children?
• Should there be limits to free speech?
• Is religion the opium of the masses?
• Should classes on emotional intelligence be part of the curriculum for high school students?
• Should wealthier people pay more taxes?
• Is the keto diet a safe way to lose weight?
• Is feminism equal to misandry?
• Should paternal leave be made compulsory?
• Should human cloning be encouraged?
• Does artificial intelligence portend great harm in the future?
• Is social media a curse or a blessing?
• Is the quality of marriages eroding?
• Is society losing its long-upheld values?
• Is marriage a curse or a blessing?
• Should euthanasia be abolished?
• Should financial education be part of the curriculum?
• Do violent TV shows and games encourage violence in real life?
• Should social media be banned for under-aged children?
• Does nature or nurture play more role in shaping an individual?
• Can we change our behaviors?
• Can science be a tool of destruction in the world?
• Should student loans be forgiven?

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Although writing a persuasive essay is an interesting and easy task, there are a few considerations; which are if kept in mind while writing, the end result can be perfect.

Following are some effective considerations for writing a persuasive essay:

Write with integrity and empathy

To write an award-winning persuasive essay, you must employ ethos (integrity or ethics), pathos (empathy), and logos (logic). First, your writing must appeal to ethics. Second, you must convince your readers that you are writing from an ethical standpoint. That means your position must be correct. Third, disagree with ethically wrong opinions.  More so, it would help if you appealed to emotions. You ought to awaken your reader’s anger, sadness, or sympathy through your essay. Your points should also be logical with supporting facts and researches.

Proofread and correct errors

After putting down a well-written essay, you should ensure it is grammatically correct by proofreading and correcting errors. You can use online tools as well to correct your write-up.

• A persuasive essay is a type of essay that entails convincing your readers of a particular opinion.
• It is a significant part of life today and appears in ads, marketing campaigns, political manifestos, newspapers, and magazines.
• However, to write a convincing, persuasive essay, you must be thoroughly versed and passionate about the topic.
• You must also state your point convincingly with supporting research and facts to back up your points.
• This write-up has provided you with well-written points on persuasive writing. Working with them will help create convincing, persuasive essays.

About This Article

Authored by:

Jake Adams

Academic tutoring, learning resources, SAT & ACT prep, college admissions applications

Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, an online tutoring business based in Santa Monica, California. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients with the best online tutoring experience. He offers a wide range of academic subjects from K-College, specializing in SAT & ACT prep and college admissions applications. Jake has built a network of exceptional undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges across the nation. Holding a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University, Jake combines his educational background with his expertise to deliver effective and comprehensive tutoring services.