A persuasive essay example may be all you need…

A good persuasive essay example should show you that your thesis statement needs to accomplish three things.

As stated on the previous page, any persuasive essay example will call your reader to a point of action.

The three things your persuasive essay introduction needs to accomplish are the following.

1.) State the specific topic of your essay.

2.) Impose the limits to be explored in your paper.

3.) Suggest the organization of your paper.

Your thesis should convey the following to your reader – right from the opening paragraph.

“I’ve given this topic some thought, I know what I think about it, and I know how to lay it out so that you can believe or act accordingly.”

Before we look at the persuasive essay example below, you might want to learn about our e-book dedicated to helping students like you pass their writing exams. It’s full of information and covers any type of essay you may find on your exams.

A Persuasive Essay Introduction Example:

Irrefutable statement or statistic

More people die on Greek roads in a single year than all the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the fighting began.

THESIS

In this paper I will describe the road conditions and the mentality that leads to this unnecessary and avoidable killing.

INTRODUCTION

More people die on Greek roads in a single year than all the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the fighting began. In this paper I will describe the road conditions and the mentality that leads to this unnecessary, and certainly avoidable, killing.

The preceding introduction in our persuasive essay example is a good one. It makes use of an irrefutable statement or statistic while outlining the parameters that the essay will cover in the thesis portion of the introduction. Moreover, it suggests the organization of the paper in that it will first describe road conditions and then the mentality that leads to such a tragic waste of human life.

We now need to provide evidence to support the opinion shared in the thesis statement of our introduction. The body should consist of perhaps three paragraphs with each paragraph giving another viable reason to support your thesis statement.

It’s important to remember to try and anticipate opposing viewpoints and provide counter-arguments. One of the paragraphs should discuss opposing viewpoints. The same paragraph should then be used to present your counter-argument. In that way, you weaken the opposition that others hold to the opinion you stated in the introduction.

There are any number of techniques that can be used. The following are effective when used in any combination, or even on their own for writing the body of your essay.

Elaborate: Use statistics or research including life examples.

Hypothetical instances: What if…

Clarification: What needs explaining and what doesn’t?

Comparisons: Similarities or differences?

Analysis: Look at the parts to understand the whole.

Analogy: Draw a mind picture of the familiar

Any combination of the above will greatly enhance your essay. Remember, we are issuing a call to action in our persuasive essay and it is here, in the body, that we will provide the basis for that call.

The body example

ELABORATE

The numbers are truly astounding. In a country with the land size of Massachusetts and the population of the State of Mississippi, Greece has 4 times as many road related deaths per year, as the two aforementioned States combined.

We could then go on to anticipate the opposition view of speed limit differences and show how, by comparison, the statistics above actually bear out the exact opposite of what those opposed to our thesis believe.

Additionally, as is the case in this persuasive essay example, we could use a hypothetical instance to cause our reader to begin to see things our way.

Finally, we would come to the conclusion of our essay after supporting our thesis, anticipating and diminishing opposition, and setting the stage for our call to action.

Normally, we would end by summarizing the most important details of the argument and stating what it is the reader is to believe or to do.

Restate your thesis. In other words…

Summarize the main points. To reiterate – first, second, then, finally.

Call to action: You can do this…

Make a Prediction: By this time next year…

Make Recommendations: You should do this

Use of Questions: Let the readers think for themselves

Famous Quotations: Let us not forget what Lincoln said…

In using the above, we will have given our best effort and used those techniques that assure a solid performance in our persuasive writing efforts.

For additional writing help plus various types of essays, click on persuasive essay example.