Persuasive essays are outstandingly unique because there are a lot of controversial topics online and in real life. Issues that people must pick one side. A good example will be the issue of vaccination against the coronavirus.
Several people, including celebrities, have opinions about whether the vaccines are authentic. Some people are even of the opinion that people should not get vaccinated. Other controversial issues include topics like the existence of aliens, underwater creatures, or Unidentified Flying Objects.
Essays that discuss controversial issues are called persuasive essays. This article teaches how to write a persuasive essay outline and provides unique examples of persuasive essays.
What is a Persuasive Essay?
If you still do not understand what a persuasive essay is, a similar example is a debate – you must have seen or participated in one before. Debates are fun; they involve interesting ideas flying around and meeting counter ideas. A persuasive essay structure allows a person to take a stance on an issue. The person (in this case, you) argues the stance with solid facts. These facts will make it possible to convince the reader why the stance is the right one.
A persuasive essay is used in the academic setting to coax readers to see things from a specific point of view. Writing a persuasive essay requires in-depth research. The research has to cover and counter all the possible points that can invalidate the argument. Here, the essayist must use the right words and well-backed proof to make the reader well-convinced.
The main aim of a persuasive essay is to make sure that the reader is convinced beyond doubt at the end of the essay. A persuasive essay structure will allow students to research, think, and come to a logical conclusion on an issue.
A persuasive essay is quite different from an argumentative essay. Both kinds of essays use facts to present an argument. However, a persuasive essay engages the reader’s emotions to convince them further.
A persuasive essay format varies from one institution or lecturer to another. But your persuasive essay format should contain readable fonts and well-aligned texts with clear spacing in the absence of none.
How to write a Persuasive Essay
A persuasive essay is not a project that should be rushed; you need to be careful when writing such kinds of essays. Here is a guide that you can follow to write a persuasive essay.
- Pick a side: Persuasive essays allow students to choose a stance and support it. You need to be clear on which side you are taking. You have two options, weigh them against each other and see which you are more inclined towards. You can also do soft research to make your decision.
- Do research: After picking a side, the next thing to do is research the side you have chosen. You want to build a strong argument, so you need valid information and backing. When conducting your research, you need to be careful m where you are getting your information from. Only pick resources from sources that are well-known and trustworthy. Then, gather every information required – statistics, facts, references, and so on – from these sources.
- Verify your information: You must verify the information you have chosen to use in your essay. If you use wrong information and you are caught, it nullifies everything else in the essay. Hence, confirm that your evidence is correct.
- Create an outline: An outline allows you to plan your essay. When you create an outline, you have a guide to follow when writing, and it becomes easier to express your opinions.
- Create a draft: A draft is your first shot at the essay. You can check persuasive essay samples to help you write your draft. Also, stick to your persuasive essay outline throughout the draft.
- Proofread: Proofreading is the best way to ensure that you have done a good job and avoided all kinds of errors. You get to spot any inaccuracy – grammatical or factual, in your text by proofreading your draft. Feel free to proofread it multiple times; you will surely find something to edit. Proofreading allows you to improve the quality of the essay.
Persuasive Essay Outline
Like any other kind of essay, a persuasive essay can be divided into three parts. These divisions include the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Here is a persuasive essay outline template to help you write a perfect essay.
- The Introduction: Your essay should begin with a short and concise opening that grabs your reader’s attention. This part informs the readers about the topic and informs them of your stance.
- The Body: The body will contain several paragraphs, each addressing a separate piece of evidence. Ensure that you don’t bore your readers with too many statistics and facts. Try to make sure that your argument is an interesting read. Stick to at least three paragraphs for the body of your essay. In the last paragraph of your body, you can counter any of the possible arguments of your opponent.
- Conclusion: This is where you wrap up the points stated in your essay. Summarize all the evidence you have discussed and convince the reader why your stance is correct.
Here is a properly-written persuasive essay that can be used as an example for your writing:
Chocolate for Students
- Introduction
Researchers, parents, teachers, etc. have always been concerned with finding ways to give students a better educational experience. That is, a lot of time and resources have been allocated to studying how children learn, what causes poor test scores, why some have trouble focusing, why a few have behavioral issues. While this includes many different areas of research, some studies have indicated that consuming chocolate, specifically dark chocolate with high concentrations flavanols, may be a general solution. This is because chocolate provides several mental benefits that are likely to benefit students of all types in the classroom.
- Flavanols
Naturally occurring, flavanols are compounds found in plants that provide protective qualities for them. That is, they help the plants protect themselves in a variety of ways, many of which are still unknown. These can be found in a variety of foods, including some types of tea, apples, grapes, red wine, and cocoa, each one of which contains their own unique blend. In particular, cocoa contains the flavanols called catechins and tannins, which are also responsible for the bitter taste often found in cocoa products. Research has found that these flavanols provide many benefits when consumed, such as being a great source of antioxidants, helping to regulate blood sugar, lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, maintaining a healthy heart, and many others (Lamport). For all these reasons, cocoa and other foods that contain flavanols have become extremely popular as people are buying them for their many health benefits.
- The Brain
More specifically, foods like dark chocolate, which is made from cocoa, contain extremely high percentages of flavanols, and researchers have found that it has many health benefits for the brain. First of all, researchers have found that it can increase blood flow to the brain, thus increasing the amount of oxygen and other nutrients that it gets. Second, some research has shown that it helps make the brain more sensitive to insulin, which has been found to be correlated with dementia. Fourth, many studies have shown that these flavanols result in higher levels of concentration, higher test scores, and increased memory retention for both the long and short term (Mastroiacovo). Therefore, as can be seen above, eating dark chocolate has many benefits for the brain.
- Students
Many students have problems concentrating in class, perform poorly on tests, have behavioral issues that distract themselves and others around them, etc. Therefore, students should be given chocolate before class to fix these problems. In particular, one study gave students dark chocolate before a test and gave another similar group a placebo to determine if the dark chocolate had any effect. They found that the group that had been given the dark chocolate performed much better than the other group (Neshatdoust). This is because they were able to focus better and they were better able to recall information from their memories, thus demonstrating the effect it can have on students. That is, the researchers found a clear distinction between those that had flavanols and those that did not have them. Therefore, students need to be given chocolate before class, which will improve their performance.
- Conclusion
Overall, the chocolate, specifically dark chocolate, has been found to improve the performance of students. This is because dark chocolate contains a collection of flavanols that provided a variety of benefits for the brain. Specifically, it increases blood flow to all areas of the brain, which has been shown to increase the student’s long term and short term memory, increase their ability to focus, and reduces the likelihood of disrupting behavior. Another way is to encourage parents to send it to school with their children so that the children can take it periodically throughout the day. For older students, such as those in college, this information needs to be given to them during orientation, and reminders should be placed around campus. This way, students of all ages can begin taking it regularly and boosting their overall performance. Furthermore, when educating the students, parents, teachers, etc. about the benefits of giving chocolate to students it should be emphasized that the benefits only come from dark chocolate. That is, other types of chocolate, such as milk chocolate or white chocolate, do not contain flavanols, and, therefore, will not give the desired effects.
Works Cited
Lamport D. “The effect of flavanol-rich cocoa on cerebral perfusion in healthy older adults during conscious resting state: a placebo controlled, crossover, acute trial.” Psychopharmacology (Berl). 232.17 (2015): 3227-34.
Mastroiacovo D. “Cocoa flavanol consumption improves cognitive function, blood pressure control, and metabolic profile in elderly subjects: the Cocoa, Cognition, and Aging (CoCoA) Study–a randomized controlled trial.” Am J Clin Nutr. 101.3 (2015): 538-48.
Neshatdoust S. “High-flavonoid intake induces cognitive improvements linked to changes in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor: Two randomised, controlled trials.” Nutr Healthy Aging. 4.1 (2016): 81-93.
With a good persuasive essay structure, you can be certain that your essay will be readable, convincing, and good enough to earn great grades.
