Writing Cogent and Persuasive Essays

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Chapter 9

• Writing Cogent (and Persuasive) Essays

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Writing Cogent (and Persuasive) Essays

• The writing process- experienced writers tend to
  keep their basic goals firmly in mind as they
  write and, indeed, as they prepare to write.
• Skilled writers constantly rework their ideas as
  they plan and then write. The process itself
  leads to discovery, including, alas, the
  discovery of the inadequacy of our previous
  thoughts.

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Writing Cogent (and Persuasive) Essays

• Preparing to write- first determine what your
  thesis will be. Once you have provisionally
  decided on a thesis, your research and greater
  thought on the matter may well urge a change of
  mind, perhaps even a switch from pro to con, or
  vice versa.
• Poor thinkers often decide on a thesis and hang
  on to it no matter what the evidence seems to
  indicate as though changing ones mind indicates
  failure. Good thinkers realize that changing
  ones mind for good reason is the hallmark of
  intelligent thought.
• Diligent research is essential. When doing
  research, take notes (including citations) of
  pertinent evidence- statistics, examples, and
  testimony.
• If research undermines your thesis, it obviously
  needs revision or significant change in the
  reasons you intend to offer in its support. Never
  simply ignore counterarguments or reasons.
• Finally, before starting to write an essay, make
  sure that its thesis follows logically from the
  reasons (premises) you intend to support.
  Validity deductive or inductive is an absolutely
  necessary condition of cogent argument. And
  reasons that do not genuinely support a thesis
  are useless.

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Writing the Essay

• The Introduction- a good introduction engages the
  readers attention and lays the groundwork for an
  essays thesis, which often is stated toward the
  end of the introduction but may be placed right
  at the beginning. The point of the introduction
  is to start persuading readers to accept your
  thesis, perhaps before it is even stated.
• The Body- develops the reasons and evidence
  offered in support of the essays thesis. How
  much support is needed depends on how resistant
  the intended audience is likely to be. You dont
  want to hit people over the head with what they
  already believe or know.
• The Conclusion- of an argumentative essay often
  restates the thesis perhaps with emphasis. If the
  essay is rather long or complicated, the main
  points may need to be summarized.

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Supporting Reasons Effectively

• Provide concrete evidence, such as examples, cite
  statistics, compare or contrast relevant
  material, and draw on factual information.
  Reasons are more likely to be convincing when
  they can be verified by specific information than
  when they are explained in terms of generalities.

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Specific Information- Three Sources

• Personal experience, citing personal experiences
  provides good support for your reasons, though
  usually other kinds of evidence are needed as
  well.
• The experiences of others when using this type
  of evidence, you need to make sure that their
  information is accurate.
• Authoritative sources These include such sources
  as reference books, journals, and people who have
  extensive knowledge about a subject-experts.
  Reputable encyclopedias, dictionaries, and
  handbooks on specific subjects can usually be
  relied on with respect to bare facts or matters
  that are not politically controversial.
• Authoritative sources must always be credited,
  either in a footnote or in the text itself.

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Provide Transition Locutions

• Good essays have logical structure, but you also
  want to write so that one thought flows into
  another. Transition terms and expressions
  highlight the flow of an essay, helping readers
  to know what to expect next- to know which
  expressions serve as reasons and which as
  conclusions and in general, how things hang
  together.

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Consider your Audience

• Writers who seriously intend to influence others
  have to keep their audience firmly in mind. Here
  are some questions to ask about the audience
• What is your intended audience?
• What are their worldviews and background beliefs?
• What tone is appropriate?
• Rewrite! Rewrite! Rewrite! Rewrite!