Writing a Persuasive Essay

1. Writing a Persuasive Essay (What you need to know so you can properly write a persuasive essay) - Credit to Jesse Seldess

2. Where to start? • To start, you must decide which appeal you want to use: • Ethos: are you going to appeal to the ethical(right vs. wrong) part of your reader’s brain? • Logos: are you going to appeal to the logical(what makes sense) part of your reader’s brain? • Pathos: are you going to try to appeal to the emotional(boo-hoo!) part of your reader’s brain?

3. Remember that we’re dealing with the Puritans. Which appeal do you think would work best? (Turn to your neighbor and discuss, then write down your answer.)

4. Then, you have to… • Identify your main idea or point of view • Your purpose is to persuade your reader to accept your point of view. • Identify your audience • To persuade effectively, know your audience. In this case, you need to write as if your audience was unconvinced about the topic • Identify the strongest supporting points • Base your strongest supporting points on what your audience thinks • Identify the most significant opposing viewpoint • Proving the opposition wrong is good for your paper.

5. Does this sound familiar? • In what other assignment for me have you had to acknowledge more than one point of view? • Did it help you develop your argument? Why or why not?

6. Organization • Introduction • Your introduction should hook your reader’s attention and provide background information on the topic • The introductory paragraph should always include the thesis statement!

7. A good introduction… • To write an impressive introduction, try the following: • Start with an unusual detail • Include a strong statement • Quote a famous person (such as, say, Thomas Paine)

8. Any ideas? • Turn to your neighbor and discuss what you could persuade people about when it comes to the Puritans. Then, write down at least two ways in which you could write an impressive introduction.

9. Body Paragraphs • Your body paragraphs should present the points in support of your main idea. • Each body paragraph should focus on one main point • Each body paragraph should contain evidence or examples for each point!

10. The opposing viewpoint • After using the paragraphs to develop your point, make sure to develop one paragraph to explain and then prove why the opposing viewpoint is wrong.

11. How many? • How many body paragraphs, total, do you think you should have?

12. Conclusion • In your conclusion, you need to: • Restate your main idea and supporting points. • Try to leave your audience (me) very connected to how you feel about the topic • Most importantly, try to make sure you have persuaded your audience (me) to believe your main idea or perspective.

13. Questions? • Any questions about how to write an effective persuasive essay? • (Not questions about the assignment, but questions about how to write the paper) • Turn to your neighbor and discuss questions – see if they have the answer!

14. Ideas… • Here are some things you could write your persuasive paper about: • The Crucible is (or is not) a fair depiction of the Puritan people. Persuade me! • The Puritans were a better step in “human progress” than the Native Americans. Persuade me! • The Puritans should have been more accepting of other people, rather than trying to keep everyone that didn’t agree with them out of their society.

15. And some more ideas… • Here are some MORE ideas for your persuasive paper: • Arthur Miller should have chosen a different way to express his unhappiness with Joseph McCarthy – or, the way he expressed himself was perfect. • The Crucible is (or is not) a fair way to show the effects of McCarthyism. • There are more heroes than villains in The Crucible – or, there are more villains than heroes in the play.