It’s Hard to Write Interesting Persuasive Essays

Many people believe that persuasive essays are some of the easiest to write, but those that do are not approaching the challenge from the correct perspective. When people claim that persuasive essays are easy assignments, it’s because they’re focusing only on the goal of having the reader agree with their thesis. If that’s the only goal, then indeed, persuasive assignments are some of the simplest. But that’s not, in fact, the sole goal of writing a persuasive essay.

The real goal of a persuasive essay is to change or alter the reader’s perception of the issue. When someone is already in agreement or inclined to agree with you, you aren’t “persuading” them in any meaningful sense of the word.

Instead, the ideal outcome of a persuasive essay is for it to have the ability to persuade an undecided audience, or an audience that disagrees initially, of the idea it contains.

Choosing a Topic

Your topic is a very important aspect of your persuasive essay. You’ll want to choose a topic on which there are a variety of common opinions. If you choose a topic that the vast majority of people already agree on, your essay will be boring if you write in favor of it. If you choose to oppose a common opinion, your essay will be more interesting but it will be very difficult to accomplish your goal of persuading the audience.

Instead, choosing a topic where many different people have different opinions is best. Generally topics on which few people agree are complex and interesting in their own right, and a large part of your audience might not be familiar with all of the issues involved. That means you can educate them on new facts, as well, which both makes your essay more interesting and more persuasive. Why does it make it more persuasive? Because you’ll be able to present yourself as an authority on the matter: when you’re educating people about things they were unaware of, they’ll see you as being more informed on the topic, and trust your opinions more.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Hard to Write an Interesting Persuasive Essay - Just a Challenge

If you’re willing to choose a complex topic, and do some research, it doesn’t necessarily have to be hard to write the essay. It does require a bit of work and dedication to the project, however.

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