One of the most important things that children learn when they are in their late elementary and junior high school years, perfecting it during high school, is how to write a good persuasive essay. It can also be one of the most challenging. How does one write an essay that not only does its job— effectively expressing the views that it was meant to — but also captures the reader’s attention and makes him or her want to come back for more? That is the purpose of this article, which will outline five aspects of an intriguing essay.
1. The depth of the topic
In a well-written essay the topic should be carefully chosen—it should not be too general to allow for elaboration nor too restricted that there is not much that can be said about it. For example, if the topic is firefighting, you should not choose a general statement like “Firefighting is an interesting job,” but rather a more limited one like “Firefighting requires tremendous strength and endurance.”
2. Good grammar and vocabulary
In everyday speech we often make grammatical errors of various sorts, such as don’t for doesn’t, double negatives, inappropriate forms of pronouns and so forth. All of these errors are to be shunned like the plague when you write an essay; they are marks of poor, effortless thinking. The tone of your essay should always be such that you sound as though you have put a great deal of thought into deciding not only what to say but how to say it.
The vocabulary that you use is every bit as important as your grammar. Do not attempt to show off by using too many difficult words.
3. Structure and format
Every good essay needs to have structure to it. There should be:
- an introduction in which you state clearly what you are going to try and prove in your work. Your thesis statement should be given here.
- a main body in which you set out to explain in detail why you think the way you do. If necessary you should also refute any arguments that seem to contradict your views.
- a conclusion in which you sum up what you have been discussing and attempt to go beyond it. In this section you can also include quotes and proverbs, which really have a way of giving the conclusion a kind of "style."
The structure of your paragraphs should be as formal as that of the paper itself. No paragraph should appear to “begin nowhere and end nowhere.” Instead, each paragraph should either begin with a topic sentence that states its purpose or end with a clincher sentence that does the same. Optionally you may include both.
4. Flow
When we talk about the "flow" of an essay, what we mean is how well each of the paragraphs seems to follow naturally from the one that comes immediately before it and to lead into the one that comes immediately after it. There should not be any suggestion of abruptness anywhere. For that reason you should have your points organized before you begin to do the actual writing itself. First jot them all down, one by one, on a piece of paper. Next, arrange them in an order that makes sense according to what you are writing about. All the while keep the title of your essay in mind - everything else that you do with regard to the assignment should revolve around it.
5. The effectiveness of your argumentation
The final aspect of an intriguing essay is how well you argue your points. It is never enough simply to say, "This way of thinking of or doing things is bad or inferior" - you have to give concrete, specific examples in support of your point and make sure that they can be verified.
An intriguing essay will not only bring you good grades. It can also serve as your ticket to success in higher education and maybe even at finding a job- for the best essay writers are well paid, sometimes $100 or more for one project.
Joe Johnson is a writing habit researcher and avid blogger who shares his knowledge on a number of publications on a range of topics from: writing formats, researching, study habits, and student behavior. Click here to learn more about available MBA programs and new essay formatting techniques.
