If you’re a gullible fool and believe everything you read in books, persuasion is apparently ‘an art form’….sounds tricky.

Fear not though minions, the King is on hand to give you the necessary tools to craft your very own persuasive masterpiece.

It’s worth noting that for the purpose of this we’ll be using essays as the sustained example, but the theory applies to any form of persuasive writing. So whether you’re crafting your dissertation or begging to be taken back by the partner who threw you out for being such a useless bum, read on my friend….and sit up straight.

Allow me to start by breaking things down into easily digestible nuggets of wisdom. Persuasive writing works on a four stage structure:

The Introduction

The Body

The Elaboration

The Conclusion

Considering these four basic principles individually will allow you to form the skeleton for your work. With that in place the flesh of your essay will slide into place much easier. Applause perhaps for the graphic analogy?

The Introduction

Oh, where to begin?

Well, when you’re writing academically it’s important to start by outlining exactly what it is you propose to talk about and your stance on the matter. The person reading can then quickly determine these two things and then concentrate on the strength of your evidence. This sounds simple, but it’s easy to go wrong and start jabbering on with various facts and figures without explaining why exactly you’re presenting them.

Don’t believe that by following this theory you have to be boring about what you write. Remain creative and think about how you can incorporate this theory into an attention grabbing first paragraph that holds the readers attention.

For example, you could open with a bold, over the top statement or a striking quote and then go on to apply our initial theory.

Below is a plagiarised example:

Of all the problems facing the environment today, the one that bothers me the most is global warming. Some scientists say that the earth is getting warmer because of the greenhouse effect. In this paper I will describe the greenhouse effect and whether the earth’s atmosphere is actually getting warmer.

Moving swiftly on…

The Body

Consider this; nobody likes to see a malnourished body. By the same token, a gluttonous obese body is equally uneasy on the eye. These same rules apply to writing the body of any text.

Too much irrelevant information and the reader gets lost and wanders away from your point. Too little, and no matter how good you think your argument is, you’ll never succeed in bringing the reader round to your way of thinking. Come on people, it’s not rocket science…its art remember and art’s easy.

You ideally want to come up with three strong paragraphs in which you put forward a point, substantiate it with evidence (i.e. a quote or citation) and then hammer home your view once more. Following this simple structure will allow you to really place emphasis on what you’re saying. Allow me to repeat it so it remains in the old noggin.

Make your point

Present your evidence

Re-iterate your point and state how it relates to the evidence

The Elaboration

Fear not, tis not complicated. Elaboration is my own special word for ‘Other things to include’. Nevertheless, you must take note. These things could be the difference between a glorious Picasso and a pathetic Monet.

Acknowledge other views - Think about what people arguing the opposite to you might say and acknowledge this in your writing, before shredding it to pieces with a glorious retort - On Guard!!

Draw analogies - You can add another dimension to your masterpiece by noting comparisons and making analogies to make your writing more accessible to the reader. Be warned though, an irrelevant analogy will deter and distract so if you can’t find something razor sharp, leave well alone.

The Conclusion

Hurrah, the finish line is in sight…don’t make a mess of it you bum.

Do the following, no arguments please:

Summarise the most important parts of your argument and stress once more what the reader must believe.

Make sure to mention the most hard hitting pieces of evidence so the reader (and more specifically the person marking your work) remember the clout of your argument.

Instead of just tailing off why not go out with a academic bang. Try one of these spicy meatballs on for size. (I don’t even know what that means).

A prediction - What might happen if global warming isn’t taken into consideration.

A question - Can we really continue to ignore global warming based on this evidence?

A recommendation - I recommend we all start thinking seriously about global warming (Ok, that’s poor - I admit).

A Quotation - “Global warming is not very good at all really” (OK, you got me, I’m just tired. I’m sure you can find something hard hitting though).

Until next time kids.

Date: Aug 13th, 2008 · Comments RSS · Tags: Persuasive Writing