Writing Arena

Persuasive writing for key stage 3 or ks3 can be tricky if you’re unsure about the essential things that need to be included.

Make sure to start with a statement of what you’re going to try and persuade your reader about. This a very clean way to start any persuasive essay but many students get it wrong which sets a poor tone from the beginning. Outline the issue and the point of view you’re trying to persuade your reader towards in the first paragraph.

Key stage 3 persuasive writing still requires a logical essay structure. Points need to lead on to one another so make sure you take a few minutes to plan out the order in which you’re going to present everything.

Accurate evidence and examples are also required to get higher grades at ks3 level. In your initial plan, consider a few examples you can use to supplement your strongest points. For instance, if you make the point ‘Fruit is good for you’, then the evidence you might present with it is ‘Fruit contain Vitamin C which helps maintain a strong and healthy body.’

Three words that are often used at ks2 level are attract, engage and inform. You need to attract your reader to your writing by making it entertaining. You can use rhymes, alliteration or even a small jokes to attract your readers attention. Engaging the reader is all about the style of your writing. Write concise sentences that make strong points and don’t babble on when you don’t need to. If you’ve followed the previous points about structure and evidence then informing shouldn’t be a problem.

For ks3 persuasive writing you must consider your reader. Think about everything you write and ensure it contributes to your overall point. When you think you’ve written enough good points to persuade your reader then you can begin to write your conclusion.

Your conclusion for a key stage 3 persuasive essay should reinforce your point and sum up all of your evidence. Try to keep it to 2 or 3 sentences and finish with a strong statement to leave your reader with a positive impression of your essay.

Persuasive writing at GCSE level needs to be approached properly with all of the techniques from the previous key stage levels incorporated with other added elements. With this in mind, make sure you read through the persuasive writing ks2 and persuasive writing ks3 tips to get a sound understanding of the basic principles of persuasive writing. This page will go through more advanced techniques to give students the edge at GCSE level.

Right, lets get down to it. So you understanding the basic principles of persuasive writing but want to ensure you get higher grades in your GCSE work. Well here are some bonus tips that even some teachers might not tell you about.

Make sure you repeat yourself to be successful with persuasive writing. This doesn’t mean writing the same sentence over and over again but using different pieces of evidence to emphasise your main point. Every time you deliver a valid point to support your point of view, make sure you hammer home how it proves you’re right and that the reader should agree with you.

An important word in GCSE persuasive writing is ‘consistency’. This is a similar point to what I was talking about with regards repetition. The consistency theory is a tried and trusted method for persuasive writing. How it works is, your first and strongest point is something that your reader can’t fail to agree with so you get them on your side right from the beginning. So for example, if you were writing a persuasive essay about carbon emissions you’d start with something like, ‘carbon emissions have an incredbly negative impact on the environment…’ and go from there. From that point on, you should keep reminding the reader about your strongest point and make sure you remain consistent and don’t stray too far from this original statement.

Make sure you address the opposite points in any persuasive essay. Remember there are always people with a different point of view and part of your job with a persuasive essay is to shoot down the opposite argument. By spending a few paragraphs shooting down the opposite point of view, you can significantly reinforce your own opinion. If you don’t address obvious points that go against your point of view, then you’re likely to miss out on the higher grades. By the same token though, don’t dwell on the ‘other view’ as your essay should mainly be about why you’re right and not why the other person is wrong. A 70/30 split is probably about right.

Deliver as many hard facts as you possibly can. If you can build up your own credibility and demonstrate to the reader that you know what you’re talking about then half the battle is already won. It’s an old saying, but people buy the person first and the product second (the product being your work). If you’ve got a long list of facts, make sure you own deliver the ones that are relevant to your point. Facts that have nothing to do with what you’re talking about will more than likely be discounted.

If you’ve got a really strong point that you want to place emphasis on then make sure you build it up properly. People are always looking for ‘reasons’ to support your point of view so with strong evidence its worth building up to it with a statement like ‘and the reason is this, …’ the comma and the slight pause gives the reader a second to take a breathe before digesting your brilliant fact and that alone can make a world of difference.

Start strong and finish strong. The skeleton structure of a persuasive essay at GCSE level is:

1. Here’s my point and why you should agree with me…

2. Here’s my evidence…

3. Here’s my original point again just to remind you and finally a strong statement to finish with to leave you with a good impression of my work.

By understanding the fundamentals of persuasive writing and following this basic structure, you can’t go too far wrong with a GCSE level essay.

Learning about persuasive letter writing is important for both academic reasons (it will often crop up in English tests at ks2 and ks3 level) but also for life in general. At some point or another we all have to write a persuasive letter or e-mail and here’s how to write a great one.

The first thing to consider is the type of persuasive letter you’re writing (or being asked to write). How serious is the issue you’re trying to persuade the reader about? What is their stance on the situation? Are they in favour of the opposite to you and you must convince them otherwise or are they neutral and have no strong opinions on the situation whatsoever. If they’re neutral then it means you can start with a clean slate and don’t have to explain why their existing opinion is wrong. This means a far more straightforward persuasive letter.

In persuasive essays where students are asked to write a letter, it’s worth them taking a few minutes to logically think about what they’re being asked to persuade someone about in order to put together a solid structure.

Persuasive letters usually require the reader to act on something so it’s important that they’re powerfully written to evoke action. Strong points and valid evidence to support your claims are the pillars of success in any persuasive writing tasks. It’s also important to remember that when you’re writing a letter to someone, whether you know them or not, it’s imperative that you build a relationship with them through your writing. This counts double in persuasive letter writing, because if the person reading the letter actually likes you and appreciates the way you’ve approached the subject, then you’re already on the road to success.

Letter writing is nearly always a personal matter, meaning that the reader should always get a good impression of who the writer is and why they feel so strongly about a specific point. This is important information to include in any persuasive letter.

A solid persuasive letter will rely on four key snippets of information which all require at least a few minutes of serious thought before any actual writing. These are:

1. What you’re trying to persuade the reader about.

2. Who your reader is and their stance on the issue.

3. What exactly you want the reader to do (if they’re suitably persuaded by you).

4. The objections the reader might have and how you can counter them.

A good way to think about a persuasive letter is by imagining a triangle. The base of the triangle is the starting point of your letter. You begin by making the broad points i.e. what you’re writing about and your stance on the situation. Then you begin to focus in greater detail by presenting your persuasive evidence. Finally, at the top point of the triangle where it’s at its sharpest point, you finish with the action you want your reader to take.

By building this triangle using the four points of thought noted above, you give yourself every chance of crafting an excellent persuasive letter.