Prewriting – Your Thesis and Outline

All persuasive works share common qualities; they must hold to specific opinions and somehow present arguments that support those opinions. By incorporating a format and plan when writing your persuasive essay, you can better ensure that you will hold strong to a single opinion and give reasoning as to why your audience should think or act a certain way.

You have already learned about the importance of outlining in persuasive writing. A research paper is simply a larger, more developed persuasive essay. Pictured here is an outline that you can use to help you format your persuasive research paper. Take a moment to look at the outline, which is a generalized method of building a strong persuasive argument. As before, it can help you organize your thoughts and hit all your main points of your argument. Certainly, this outline may be easily converted into a rough draft of your essay, using each Roman numeral point as the basis of each paragraph and filling in the information for each alphabetical point located below the Roman numerals.

Notice how the introduction opens with a hook to connect your audience with the opinion presented in the thesis. The first body paragraph addresses the opposing viewpoint, while each of the remaining body paragraphs explains an argument or point of support for your opinion. Further, each argument paragraph uses facts and ideas from other sources to give credence to that argument. Finally, the conclusions reminds the reader of your opinion and your arguments and offers a recommendation as to what the audience should do next.

Following this outline gives you a strong foundation for your persuasive essay; however, once you have completed this outline, you may be more creative in your actual essay by adding details or re-arranging orders. Makes sure, though, to include all of the information (in some form) from this outline into your final paper and to properly cite all of your source information with parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page in Modern Language Association style.

Susan B. Anthony: "Is It a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote?"

Before appearing in court on charges of illegal voting, Susan B. Anthony delivered her famous speech numerous times to the citizens of her local district in an effort to persuade potential jurors that voting was her civil right and that she did not commit a crime by doing so. View this presentation for a brief analysis of Anthony's speech and to understand how it follows a general format for a persuasive essay or speech. Click on the player button to begin.

View a printable version of the interactivity.

As you can see, Anthony's persuasive address follows a format similar to the outline provided to you in order to formatt your persuasive research paper. Your persuasive essay should begin with an opening that "hooks" the audience into wanting to pay attention to what is about to be said. The following words or sentences should lead, or bridge, to a well-developed thesis that allows the audience to understand your opinion and the arguments you will make to support your opinion.

The body paragraphs offer an explanation of each argument with an assertion that gives evidence to support the argument and commentary that explains why the evidence is, indeed, supportive of your point. This outline also emphasizes the importance of closing the argument in each paragraph and transitioning smoothly to the next argument that should logically follow.

The closing statement of a speech or essay, especially one intended to persuade or move an audience, may arguably be the most important and effective part; it is the part of your essay that the audience will remember the most. The conclusion should restate the essence of the thesis. Do not just merely rewrite the thesis word for word. Furthermore, a reflection provides an opportunity for the audience to briefly look back at the opinion and the supporting claims made throughout the essay. This should not be a lengthy reflection but rather a sentence or two that reminds the reader of the arguments presented. Finally, no persuasive essay or speech is complete without some sort of recommendation on what should be done next. In other words, the audience should walk away with a message or a call to action.

Formatting and Planning Review

Now that you have explored learned how placing an emphasis on formatting and planning your persuasive essay can help to ensure its effectiveness, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Choose the part of the persuasive outline that corresponds to the description provided. Click on the player button to get started.