Opinion Essay Writing Made Easy: The Complete Guide on How To Write an Excellent Opinion Essay

Posted on: 28th May 2020

An opinion essay is a type of formal writing that allows you to express your opinions supported by explanations, examples, documentation, or any other factual material. The main aim of this type of essay is to allow students to express their subjective thoughts about the topic they picked to write. In this article, we will guide you through the process of writing an opinion essay, the art of persuading others of your opinion, and the essay structure itself. As we guide you along, we will also provide easy short script opinion essay examples to help foster what you learn.


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What to Consider Doing Before Writing Your Opinion essay

Here is an easy guide on how you can approach an opinion essay and tackle it with no hassle whatsoever.

Brainstorm to Get Ideas

Brainstorming is essential when writing an essay, especially an opinion essay. Start by brainstorming about the topic and writing down everything you know until you run out of ideas. This will allow you to get out all your thinking at once. If you begin the essay without brainstorming, you will continuously be shifting between generating ideas and jotting down supporting arguments which waste a lot of time

Brainstorming also plays a vital part in the organization of the essay. Having your thoughts written down before you begin writing the essay gives you a vast organizational advantage. Also, it allows you to eliminate weak points or even make them stronger through research.

Research to Fully Understand Your Opinion essay Topic

To write a convincing opinion essay, you need to understand the topic entirely. Your point of view should be well informed and fully developed. To do this, you need to research your topic extensively. It is also wise to do some research on popular counterclaims. For you to completely understand what you are for or against, you must understand the conflicting side as well.

Refer to Popular Arguments

You will most probably write on a topic that has already been debated on, therefore, Look at the past reasonings and see if they relate to your own. You can gather a lot of points and improve your point of view by looking at how people have debated upon similar topics.

Back Your Opinion with Supporting Evidence.

The key to a convincing essay is facts backing up your opinion. Factual statements will have more impact than just a simple idea. When you do your research, look for sound evidence as to why your position is the way to go. Present your readers with credible material to support your claims. Then add more information to reinforce your stand.

Opinion essay Objective

The main objective of an opinion essay is to prove your main point- the thesis (one sentence that expresses the main idea of the article). You should place this in your opening paragraph. The reader should not be left to guess your position on the matter. Make a clear statement!

You develop the argument in the body of your opinion paper. In each paragraph, there should be a bright idea or fact that supports your point of view. You can compare/contrast, use cause and effect reasoning, examples and illustrations, or other forms of developments to help your stand.

Keen readers will always question statements made by writers, including any comments you make that would cause your reader to wonder if it is a genuine need for you to back up the accounts with documentation or facts from outside sources.

Have you seen how easy and straight forward the above guidelines were? You will not have any problem with majority opinion essay topics when you follow the above steps. The next part of this article will take you through the structure of an opinion paper and the opinion essay outline.

Structure and Components of an Opinion essay

An essay is only as good as its format. A well-structured opinion essay makes it easier for the writer’s opinion and arguments to be understood. An opinion essay is one of the essential articles to write, as it follows the usual 5 part essay structure. An introductory paragraph, three paragraphs supporting your argument, and the conclusion. Here is a general layout of an  opinion essay:

Opinion essay Topic

The topic of discussion is the first part of any essay. It is a summary of a few words on what the paper is about. It should be clear and brief, like the headers of your favourite newspaper. Choosing a topic that you are highly passionate about will make the essay more comfortable to write. However, no matter how much you think you know about the subject, you must still do plenty of research.

Before you start writing your opinion essay, you need to make sure that you fully understand your side of the argument. This is why we emphasize so much on research. With enough research, you are going to come up with excellent points that will sway your readers’ opinions.

The First Paragraph: Introduction

One of the fundamental parts of persuading someone using an opinion essay is to have a strong thesis statement- this is one sentence that expresses the main idea of a research paper or essay. It makes a claim directly answering the question. You need to come up with a statement that affirms your position. The introduction forms the first paragraph of the essay, and it must also introduce the three main points or supporting arguments for why your thesis statement is true.

Start the paragraph with a sentence or statement that grabs the readers’attention. This is called the hook. 

The hook may:

  1. Directly address the reader. (Are you aware of how much time you spend on social media every day?)
  2. Ask a rhetoric question. (Isn't it amazing how many children are now able to surf the internet however they want)
  3. Start with a catchy quote. (“Artificial Intelligence holds the key to the future”)
  4. Refer to a particular situation. (The complete disappearance of manual labour will be a reality sooner rather than later)

After the hook, you can then lay out your three main points and conclude your first paragraph with the thesis statement.

Here is an example of a good thesis statement:

Nature is as equally important as nurture in determining human behaviour.

This specific topic is a tug of war for those studying our species, but the available hard science offers excellent insight, and so you could extract a ton of data for your argument.

Make sure your thesis shows that you take a clear position on the issue you are trying to debate.

The Second Paragraph: Strongest Supporting Argument

The second paragraph begins with your most persuasive supporting argument in the first sentence or the topic sentence.

Here is an example we came up with for our first supporting argument, “Nurture alone cannot explain human behaviour.”

To support your topic sentence, provide this paragraph with at least two examples that illustrate why this supporting argument is valid. Your models can include cited work from academic sources, journalistic reports, and so on.

An example of a credible cited source you could use to support your first argument could be Professor Steven Parker’s book “The Blank Slate,” which argues that it is both nature and nurture that determines human behaviour.

A good quote from the book discrediting the exclusively pro nurture position would be, “ The environment is just as important as the genes. The things children experience while they are growing up are just as important as the things they are born with.”

This quote is good because it is from a credible source and backs up our supporting argument.

Paragraph 3 and 4: Supporting Arguments 

These two paragraphs follow the same formula as paragraph two. You will have a topic sentence for your supporting argument and at least two examples for each section for evidence why your supporting case is correct.

Paragraph 5: Conclusion

Paragraph 5 is your conclusion, which begins with a restatement of the thesis. It continues with additional commentary that you might want to include. And it concludes with thoughts but does not provide any new concepts that would otherwise require you to maintain the essay.

The Supporting Sentences

When writing an opinion essay, having the main points is not enough. You need to expound on these points to persuade the reader to your side. Supporting sentences are statements that come after your main point. They help to argue, support, explain, define, or describe your main points.

Let us have a look at an example:

It is widely known that students' performances revolve around the teacher, and this has resulted in most students being dependent on the teacher. Because of this dependency, most learners are not prepared for autonomy as it requires the responsibility to be shared(Lazar 2013)”

The first sentence explains the main point, teacher dependency. It also points out that teacher dependency is a known issue. The second sentence expands the first sentence by showing the relationship between the main point and the topic sentence.


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Phrases to Use in an Opinion essay

Particular phrases are vital when it comes to expressing one’s opinion in an essay. Since opinion essays are formal types of writings, you will need to use more formal academic phrases. But before we go through the precise phrases, let's go through some informal English phrases that you could easily confuse. Note that while these phrases are suitable for English language tests such as IELTS, they are too casual (personal) to be used in opinion essays.

  • “In my opinion.”
  • “I believe that”
  • “In my mind.”

Do you see how personal these phrases sound?

Academic essays require more precise phrases. These phrases will help you express your opinions better and with a confident academic tone And they are also straightforward to put in Use, you just add a sentence after “that.” They include:

  • “It would seem that
  • “It could be argued that”
  • “This suggests that”
  • “This proves that”
  • “This supports the idea that”

Of course, these are not the only phrases you can use. There are many other ways of expressing your idea, and you just need to sound formal. For example, “although” can be used to express one’s opinion by highlighting both sides of an argument.

“Although reports suggest that marijuana could help people with cancer, there are too many serious health problems associated with smoking.”

Points to Remember:

  • This is a formal piece of writing, so you should use a formal tone.
  • You should always assume the reader does not know anything about the topic.
  • Present your ideas clearly, and explain things well.
  • Use transitional phrases to make your writing exciting and easier to understand.
  • You write an opinion essay in the present tense.

Useful Tips to Help You Express Your Opinion

  • Read often.Reading often will help you learn how to formulate your thoughts and ideas. Choose existing literature, and always analyze the material after you have read.
  • Encourage yourself to learn new vocabulary now and then. Knowing the right words will help you deliver your thoughts effectively.
  • Adopt the Use of a diary. A diary can significantly help you improve your thinking skills. Encourage yourself to write about your days and your thoughts about particular events that happened.
  • Engage with people. Join in on conversations on various topics. This will help you learn how to come up with relevant points.
  • Practice using the right arguments for your opinion. Do this by supporting your point of view with facts or expert advice.

At Last,

An opinion essay is a type of academic paper that asks the students to include their thoughts and opinions on a topic. Logical explanations and examples should back the views. The secret to a successful opinion paper is becoming more knowledgeable on the subject. That is what can turn your essay from good to excellent.

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