The persuasive essay, as its name implies, is a powerful written argument designed by the writer to fully convince his readers that his point of view is the one and only correct one, and that entertaining any other is unreasonable –and perhaps even foolish. While it is an opinionated and sometimes even controversial piece of writing, like all good essays, a good persuasive essay is a combination of good writing skills and well-undertaken, detailed research. Still, even these are not sufficient, if students have not taken care in their choice of persuasive essay topics.
Good persuasive essay topics tend to revolve around moral and political issues, such as abortion, pre-marital sex, domestic abuse, immigration laws or universal healthcare. These persuasive essay topics are excellent fodder for debate, as every person has an opinion on them, and each one is passionate about their stand. The best persuasive essay topics, however, are additionally relevant to current affairs, as they will provoke an immediate and powerful reaction from the reader. But the persuasive essay reaches perfection when the writer is able to identify and clearly write about a topic he is particularly passionate about. In the following list of subject matters, it should be easy to identify the perfect persuasive essay topics for you.
Moral Issues: In this subject may be found the juiciest persuasive essay topics, not only because it arouses a passionate response from all and sundry, but also because the nature of that passion is unfailingly personal. And passionate, personal response is exactly what the persuasive essay is designed to ignite. Once it has been ignited, however, the writer must be able to keep outrage at bay on either side of any point he makes, by at least beginning with a clear, concise and balanced statement of various views on the chosen topic. A personal, discursive and progressive argument may be the best way in which to convince his audience, with regard to this subject matter, as, whatever his views, the reader cannot fail to empathize with the telling of a personal story. Perhaps because of the buffer provided by this potential empathy, it may be a good idea to taunt the reader from the outset, by choosing deliberately provocative essay titles. Examples include ‘You can’t handle the Truth: Dishonesty is Human’, ‘It’s never really ‘Cheating’’, and ‘Gay Marriage is immoral.’
Political Issues: There are no limits to the number and range of debatable political issues, whether local, national, or international. Even the simple process of voting is controversial! Wherever they live, most people carry strong, passionate political views, and this factor makes this field a veritable treasure trove for persuasive essay topics. Persuasive essays on this type of topic are best tackled by the writer giving a clear two-sided argument. If he merely passionately sets out his own views, the reader will certainly have three thousand rebuttals for each point, which would defeat the intended persuasive nature of the essay. So a good political persuasive essay may be titled ‘The Pros and Cons of Legalizing Recreational Drugs’, ‘The two sides of Gay Marriage’ or ‘Why the US may fare better through non-interference’. The idea would be to fairly set out the generally perceived ‘for’s and ‘against’s in society, then hammer your own opinion through until the reader is convinced.
Technology is an extremely topical subject, in these times, and there are any numbers of persuasive essays topics that can be sourced from popular debates on the subject. Is it advancing too fast? Is this advance truly beneficial? Might this advance be jeopardizing societal health internationally? Might this be regarded as a process of human evolution? Are we eventually heading for a robot revolution? Possible titles for persuasive essays in this genre are ‘The Internet: A Positive or a Negative?’, ‘Living online: Escapism dangerously maximized’, ‘Cyber-bullying: As destructive as the real thing.’
But Persuasive essay topics do not necessarily have to broach serious issues. In fact, writing an entirely personal opinion on the worst day of the week, the best movie ever made or the most boring author ever to have been studied may actually earn the writer points for creativity!
