Any essay can be difficult, but writing a persuasive essay might be the most difficult of all. Rather than simply presenting facts that lead to a conclusion or presenting both sides of an argument, the persuasive essay must take a stance and convince the reader it’s right.
But persuasive writing is also powerful and, throughout history, has shaped the world through speeches, letters, and manifestos. Can you imagine a world in which the Communist Manifesto hasn’t shaped 150 years of politics? Or where the inspirational words of Martin Luther King Jr weren’t echoing sixty years later? Or even where we weren’t persuaded by advertisers that Coke is the real thing?
How persuasive writing works
Persuasive writing’s importance has long been recognized. Aristotle addressed it, suggesting in his treatise Rhetoric that there were three components to persuasion: ethos, the character or identity; logos, the logical or rational part; and pathos, the experience or emotional part.
Aristotle is as right today as when he was persuading students in the Lyceum. And today, those components can help guide your choice of language and tone to make an essay as persuasive as possible. Your essay will need a factual basis (the logos), but the language and tone will shape how they are received and accepted.
Imagine, for example, cracking a bad egg. You’ll instantly notice the bad smell. But how would you describe it? Just an unpleasant smell, or is it pungent, nauseating, or sulfurous? Each is accurate, but each prompts different thoughts and reactions. Using language and tone skillfully will help you guide the reader to the conclusion you want.
The importance of language
The role of language is critical. You are not only transmitting information but also meaning and feelings with the words you use. The most important thing is to ensure your language is correct and appropriate to convey credibility. Although a persuasive essay has some informality, like referring to the reader in the second person, it still needs to appear authoritative.
You can also load language to reinforce your arguments. An obvious way to do this is to think about the ‘strength’ of your words. Words are rarely neutral, and while they can have similar meanings, they evoke different feelings. If your persuasive argument was about the merits of two politicians, for example, is one experienced or old, wealthy or self-serving, or even intelligent or intellectual? They may mean similar things, but they carry very different emotional weight and meaning.
And, finally, think about the phrasing and structure. You should always back up arguments with facts, for example. But think about how you do that. You might want to use phrases like ‘which has been shown by research’, while introducing the opposing viewpoint as merely something that ‘some believe’. Studies have shown that citing experts makes your arguments much more persuasive[1].
And when it comes to your structure, don’t be afraid of repetition. The most common persuasive medium of our age, advertising, works in exactly this way. Just think of the brands you know, and you’ll think of a slogan, or even a jingle, that you have read or heard repeatedly. As well as appealing to the ethos, logos, or pathos, the more often you can make your reader connect with your argument, the stronger that connection will be.
The targeting of tone
Tone can be difficult to get right, especially when it comes to writing essays, which most people are trained to write formally. The most important thing to bear in mind is the audience. An essay directed at an expert audience would not have any informalities. But if the essay were for peers, you wouldn’t mind contractions or even dropping a colloquialism in there.
The reason tone is so critical is that the messenger can be as important as the message. Aristotle recognized this when referring to the ethos. By communicating in a style to which the audience relates, we can encourage them to relate to you and, by extension, your message. When you write formally to a professor, using an academic style, you are using a tone they are familiar and comfortable with, but when you add informalities or slang, it creates a disconnect, and they will instinctively devalue an argument.
Returning to Aristotle’s model, when we have established the intellectual and personal connection — the logos and ethos — we can then use that to build the emotional connection, the pathos. The logic is simple, by using a language and tone that your audience recognize as like theirs, it’s more likely your emotions and conclusions will be the same too.
A simple way to think about it is that you need to nudge their opinions, rather than bludgeon them into the same opinion. An effective way to do this is to invite them to interact with your writing. Use prompts to make them think about your arguments positively, for example, an anecdote that supports your view, or an invitation to imagine being in a specific position.
It can even be quite subtle. When reading about the potential words to describe that rotten egg smell, most people will have unconsciously engaged the same part of the brain that deals with smell (and smell is powerfully linked with memory). By prompting people to imagine, remember, or feel things that support your argument, you are also making it easier for people to reach the conclusion you want.
Persuading your audience can be easy
Aristotle’s ethos, logos, and pathos might seem simplistic, but help you use language and tone to write a powerful persuasive essay.
Make sure you use language and tone that matches your audience, so they relate and identify with you as a person (ethos). Use clear, consistent, and authoritative language to convey facts that reinforce your argument, and weaken the opposing arguments, so they can support your stance intellectually (logos). Finally, use a tone that creates emotional appeal, inviting your reader to feel in their heart that your stance is correct (pathos).
When your words can align those three, you will have an incredibly powerful persuasive essay.
[1] Wilson, E.J., Sherrell, D.L. Source effects in communication and persuasion research: A meta-analysis of effect size. JAMS 21, 101–112 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02894421