Guidelines for effective Persuasion

Tips to make your persuasive writing more effective

Your thesis and reasons should be opinions. Your evidence MUST be factual. Failure to provide factual evidence to support your claims will lead to your thesis falling apart.

Thesis / Reasons / Evidence

1. Thesis Statement example:• The ISM canteen needs to improve its food

choices. (opinion)

2. Reason example:• There are not enough choices for

vegetarians in the ISM canteen. (opinion)

3. Evidence example:• According to a survey of canteen food, only

6% of the set meals offered by canteen vendors are specifically vegetarian. (fact – verified by a survey or study)

Tips to make your persuasive writing more effective

1. Your thesis and reasons should be opinions. Your evidence MUST be factual. Failure to provide factual evidence to support your claims will lead to your thesis falling apart.

2. NEVER use the first person pronoun “I” in persuasive writing. The phrases, “I think,” and “I believe,” weaken your argument. Why?

Good writing for a persuasive essay

School days should be shortened by one hour.

The canteen does not provide enough healthy food choices.

Gymnastics is the most difficult sport in PE.

McDonald’s is vastly superior to Burger King.

Tips to make your persuasive writing more effective

1. Your thesis and reasons should be opinions. Your evidence MUST be factual.

2. NEVER use the first person pronoun “I” in persuasive writing. The phrases, “I think,” and “I believe,” weaken your argument. Why?

3. The introductory paragraph should give a preview of your reasons and end with the thesis statement.

Sample introductory paragraph.

It’s a place visited by ISM students everyday. Most students look forward to their time there, but many don’t consider the problems associated with canteen food. To begin with, there are not enough food choices for vegetarians in the ISM canteen (REASON). Also, too many of the food choices are high in fat. (REASON) Finally, the canteen does not offer enough diversity in regards to ethnic foods (REASON). For these reasons, the ISM canteen needs to improve its food choices (THESIS).