How to Write a Persuasive Text: Techniques and Examples

Persuasive writing is a powerful way to convince your audience to embrace a particular viewpoint or take a specific action. To excel in high school English, it’s important to learn how to write a persuasive text using a clear stance, strong evidence, and strategic techniques.

Keep your audience in mind – what do they value and believe, and what arguments might change their minds? A good persuasive writing text is structured, logical, and appeals to both reason and emotion, amplifying its effect.

In this article, we discuss:

• What’s persuasive writing?
• Persuasive writing structure
  • Key terms you need to know
• Methods of persuasion: Showing authority
• Persuasive writing techniques
  • The Three Rhetorical Appeals 
• Using rhetorical language in persuasive writing

What is persuasive writing?

Persuasive writing clearly states your opinion or stance on an issue. In high school English our goal is to convince your audience by using strong reasons and evidence. Think about how your audience will respond and how to persuade them best.

Here’s our guide on how to write a persuasive text.

Persuasive writing structure

A clear persuasive writing structure helps your ideas flow and makes your argument easier to understand. Most persuasive texts follow this structure:

Introduction

• Clearly state your opinion or thesis (what you’re arguing for).

Body Paragraphs

• Each paragraph should focus on one main point.
• Include evidence or examples to support your point.
• Add a counterargument (the other side) and explain why your argument is stronger.

Conclusion

• Restate your thesis clearly.
• End with a strong final message that leaves an impact.

Learn more about persuasive writing structure with our free Persuasive Writing Toolkit!

Persuasive writing made simple!

A free toolkit to help you plan and write effective persuasive essays, with 10 practice prompts

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Key terms you need to know

Methods of persuasion: Showing authority

Authority in persuasive writing comes from the writer’s credibility and expertise. 

Authority: A composer or a trustworthy, reliable, and accurate text.

A writer (or composer) shows authority by:

• Controlling how they create meaning in the text
• Thinking carefully about how their audience will respond
• Using the right tone, register, and diction on the topic

Sometimes, a writer’s reputation helps them sound authoritative. Other times, they build authority by showing a deep understanding of the subject.

A text also has authority if:

• It’s published by a trusted source
• It uses evidence from reliable experts or organisations
• It’s well-researched and draws on trustworthy references.

You can build authority by:

• Showing a solid understanding of the subject.
• Using a formal and suitable tone.

Persuasive writing techniques

The Three Rhetorical Appeals 

Ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle defined three ‘appeals’ of rhetoric that you should understand when writing persuasively. 

When writing a persuasive text, you should use at least one or a combination of rhetorical appeals to convince your audience.

Let’s look at how we would use each of these in the example below. 

Ethos

Ethos is when you try to earn your audience’s trust by showing that you’re knowledgeable or experienced. For example, a scientist giving a speech about the dangers of microplastics might mention her research or qualifications to show she’s an expert.

NOTE:  Having credibility is not the same as having authority—and it can depend on the context.

Logos

Logos is when you persuade your audience using facts, data or logical reasoning. This works well for topics that need scientific proof or hard evidence. For instance, if you need to prove that something exists (like climate change or the health risks associated with smoking cigarettes), it would help to point to scientific evidence, data and statistics to prove this definitively. 

Example thesis: The government should ban cigarettes.
Logos appeal: Research shows that smoking increases the risk of serious diseases and lowers overall health.

Pathos 

Pathos tries to influence the audience’s emotions. While this method doesn’t rely on evidence, it can be very powerful, especially in moral or ethical debates. Emotional appeals usually evoke strong feelings like empathy, fear or anger, and play on these emotions to effectively persuade an audience to do something. 

For example, describing a family’s suffering after a relative dies from smoking-related illness can make the reader feel emotional—and more likely to support a cigarette ban.

Using rhetorical language in persuasive writing

When writing persuasively, don’t forget to use other literary techniques you see in English, like similes and metaphors. Used wisely, they can illustrate your arguments in powerful ways. 

Let’s take a look at an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech as an example: 

“I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.”

Throughout his speech, the speaker aims to persuade his audience to believe in the vision of a fairer, more equitable society transformed by racial justice. He uses a metaphor to compare social injustice to something physical and uncomfortable—heat.  For example, he describes Mississippi as “sweltering” with the “heat of injustice” and the “heat of oppression”, helping the audience feel the suffocating experience of racial discrimination. The speaker then contrasts that with an image of “an oasis of freedom and justice”, powerfully expressing hope for an equitable future for Black Americans. 

We study examples of effective persuasive texts like this so that we understand how to use rhetorical appeals. Try incorporating similar devices in your persuasive writing to express your opinion more deeply. 

Need persuasive writing topics to practice with?

Get persuasive writing prompts, templates, annotated examples and a self-assessment checklist to start writing like a pro.

Persuasive writing made simple!

A free toolkit to help you plan and write effective persuasive essays, with 10 practice prompts

Download now

Persuasive writing made simple!

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