Ancient greek philosopher and polymath aristotle developed his own philosophy on the best way to beat an opponent using words. Rhetoric, aristotle said, is the ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion. The three main means of persuasion are: reason appealing to your audiences rationality and logic. giving your point of view in an informed and fair manner. emotion creating feelings in your audience that lead them to your point of view.

beliefs using the values and beliefs of your audience to build your argument. Of course, just because a tool is available to you doesnt mean you should use it. Different persuasive approaches will be more successful depending on the situation. In this blog post, i outline a step by step approach to using persuasive writing techniques.

So, whats the best way to make a rational argument? you can apply the peel technique originally designed to make academic writing more compelling persuasive, and easy to read to your blog writing, journalistic writing and nonfiction books. This technique makes your argument easy to follow and helps the reader see you are giving a fair and balanced point of view. The ultimate authority must always rest with the individuals own reason and critical analysis. This is also known as the topic sentence, as it introduces the topic youre about to discuss.

Descriptive Essay Topics for Middle School Students

In the next one or two sentences, give evidence to expand upon and support the point you made. Evidence can include statistics, research findings, and quoting an authority or a primary text, such as the bible or classic literature. Depending on the type of writing and the audience youre writing for, you can also use anecdotes and stories from history and your own experience.

Argumentative Essays In Social Studies

In the following sentences, you evaluate the merits of your point and any evidence against it. This shows youre willing to engage with other points of view, and rather than undermining your argument, it serves to strengthen it. Your evaluation can include research findings that contradict the evidence you provided, quoting authorities who disagree with you. As well as giving a good flow to your writing, this helps you create a good overall structure as paragraphs on similar themes naturally end up together. As paragraphs in blog posts are shorter, the peel technique can cover several paragraphs or even a whole blog post. Bloggers can link to the overall theme of the blog, or give a taster of what theyll be writing about next. there is no greater misfortune in the world than the loss of reason. tweet share share pin it 3 upvote upvoted downvote working when martin luther king, jr.

Started scribbling sentences in the margins of a newspaper while sitting in a birmingham jail cell, he was not only beginning to craft one of the defining texts of the 20th century, but was also exercising a powerful tool of rhetoric: the persuasive essay. As a response to alabama clergy’s criticism of the protest marches and sit ins that were calling for an end to segregation, letter from birmingham jail passionately and logically follows a set structure of rhetoric leading the reader to conclude that dr. Your task as a persuasive essayist is to convince another free thinking, set in her ways, stubborn individual to agree with your point of view. If you follow this step by step guide, though, you will see that there is a method to the persuasive essay that will help you to structure your opinions as solid, strongly supported arguments.