Writing Persuasively

Background: OK, so I’m Trying to Learn How to Write Nonfiction for Youth based on encouragement I received from a teacher friend.

More Background: I want to write something that will help youth/teens who want to learn more about writing persuasively. I guess this could be an article someday. Who knows?

Note: One of my friends has already called me brave for writing this blog.  I’m sharing because writing takes practice and it hurts when the writing stinks, but you have to keep trying if you want to get better.

What Your Teacher Wants You to Know (I changed the title to Getting the Power of Persuasion)



Photographer from wikicommons.



When you’re watching TV and the announcer on a commercial says, “The stuffed crust pizza only from Pizza Hut. A piping hot layer of mouthwatering cheese baked right into its soft golden crust. The stuffed crust $9.99 deal. Any way you slice it, it’s terrific!,” and you find yourself texting your mom to ask if you can order a pizza.

What happened?

Photographer from wikicommons.

Or you’re skimming the MSN Foxsports page to see if it’s really true that twenty-seven-year-old Brandon Roy is retiring, but before you can get to the second sentence of the story, you notice a royal blue Shelby GT500 off to the right. Underneath it is a button that says, “Expand to customize.”  You haven’t found out everything you wanted to know about Roy yet, but you can’t help yourself; you click the button and spend the next fifteen minutes examining the car, selecting different colors and styles. The next thing you know, it’s time to go to practice and you still don’t know Roy‘s story.

You’ve been captured by the power of persuasion.  We all have.

Ads make writing persuasively seem as easy as nodding off while read Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, but we both know it isn’t as easy as it seems. Sometimes it takes a little more than images and alluring phrases to persuade your audience, especially your English teachers. So, I recently asked several teachers I know: What activities would you recommend to students who want to write persuasively?

Photographer from wikicommons.

Getting started with any writing task can be challenging. There is so much to discover, including what you already know and believe about your topic. One teacher I spoke with recommends that before you begin to write persuasively, you need to make sure you know the difference between fact and opinion.

“Start with someone else’s writing, an editorial maybe, and highlight the statements you believe are facts with one color and the ones you believe are opinions with another.” This will help you begin to distinguish between the two so that when you write persuasively, you support your opinions with facts, not additional opinions.

Arguing is another way to get started. Talking is an important part of the writing process. A middle school teacher said, “A friendly debate will help students write persuasively. They would have to use literature to support their point of view. To make it tougher, they should take the opposing point of view.”

Playing devil’s advocate with your friends would make this suggestion easy. Even if you agree with your friend’s opinion, make statements and ask questions as if you believe differently. Watch how your friend responds. Don’t forget to do this in a light-mannered tone and admit to your friend that you actually agree with him or her, but also wondered about the opposing side.

Just like with sports, practice is essential to becoming a better writer. One teacher suggested, “Look for ways to practice writing persuasively.” Take a look at your school, your hobbies, your neighborhood. There might be opportunities to practice writing persuasively for a real audience.

Photographer from wikicommons.

What if your principal decides he wants you and your classmates to not only wear uniforms, but to get the school logo engraved on them as well. You think this is ridiculous because you often wear your polo shirts to Sunday school and functions that require you to dress up, but having a logo on them would make you think twice about doing so.

You decide to write the principal an e-mail explaining why he should reconsider making logos on school uniforms mandatory. This will give you practice writing persuasively and it will also give you an opportunity to express your views about a topic you care about.

The heart of writing persuasively is being able to express yourself in a convincing manner. This skill will prove useful to you whether you’re communicating verbally or in writing.

Books for youth that give information about writing persuasively:

OK, how’d I do? What parts bored you? Wait, don’t answer thatJ