How to Write a Persuasive Speech; The Ultimate Scholar’s Guide

Are you staring through the window wondering how to begin writing your persuasive speech? Don’t worry. It happens to the best of us. The good news is that once you’re up to speed on the requisites of writing a persuasive speech, you’ll be good to go.

As such, we’ve compiled an all-inclusive guide with useful information on how to write a persuasive speech. It’s an ideal resource, not only for students. But even a public speaker. By the time you’re through, you’ll know the best practices for writing a persuasive speech. Are you up for it?

Before we dive in, here’s a reminder to check out our website during your free time. You’ll find lots of writing tips and resources for writing such an essay. You shall also find persuasive speech examples for nurturing your experience. From our site, you can also access the simplified steps for generating topics for persuasive speech.

What Is a Persuasive Speech?

A persuasive speech is a type of speech where you intend to convince the audience to accept your views. The mean of convincing is more of a passionate approach than the presentation of compelling evidence. This speech is written using the first-person point of view. Your trio of persona, charisma, and eloquence serves to shift the audience’s mindset to your opinion. 

The Objectives of a Persuasive Speech

Here’s our reasoning. If you want to write a great persuasive speech, you must know the nitty-gritty of composing one. And this includes learning why people write a persuasive speech in the first place. 

The following are some of the reasons why you’d be asked to write a persuasive speech.

1. Convincing Someone to Adopt your Point of View

A persuasive speech makes the audience believe in an idea. The audience may not have regarded the idea previously. The readers thus change their mindset toward something new they never considered.

2. Stimulating an Audience 

Stimulation is increasing how fervently one believes in an idea. The audience could be having a blurred liking for a view. The persuasive speech hence strengthens the taste for the perspective. Initially, the audience held the same view but not with enthusiasm as after the persuasion speech. 

3. Actuating your Audience to Do Something

Sometimes the audience has the idea but has never done something about it. A persuasive speech can spark the zeal to take action. The audience, in other words, lacks the momentum to do something, but persuasion speech gives the energy and approval.

The Guidelines for Writing a Persuasion Speech

It is hard to get a complete guideline for writing a persuasive speech. The situation is partially so because seasoned speakers have never taken time to share the tips for writing persuasively. The following are the simplified guidelines on how to write a persuasive essay.

1. Conduct an Audience Analysis

Envisioning the audience directs the course of writing and the choice of words. These words should relevantly deliver your point of view successfully. For this reason, study the audience objectively, their level of level conception about the topic, and their perceptions. 

An audience with little understanding needs a substantial background and a straightforward approach to the topic. In contrast, a knowledgeable audience finds this approach monotonous. You are therefore bound to concentrate on what the audience care to know most. Once you address those concerns, they will have no difficulty subscribing to your viewpoint.

Moreover, if an audience has a liking for your idea, then a little effort is needed to convince them. The audience will just pick your concept as the right view. The speech only confirms to the audience that you both are correct and only need to execute the thought. 

Conversely, an audience that does not agree with you need baited pieces of evidence to shift their mindset to your view. All in all, understand the audience pretty well.

2. Choose a Topic 

Weave your topic choice around the intention of the action you want to sell to the audience. Narrow down to the specifics of what you want the audience to do. Thus you will be able to spell that action precisely using your persuasive speech.

Sometimes it may be challenging to get an ideal topic your idea. Try researching the relevant themes of your persuasive speech to evaluate the results. You may end up getting many results, making choosing difficult. The best option is choosing several topics for a persuasive speech that seem to have fragments of your idea. In that case, coin your subject from those fragments. 

Alternatively, you can check out for internet sources offering persuasive speech topics for college. These are more academic-customized and would help you.

After the choice of the topic, do a complete persuasive speech outline on your notebook. You need to brainstorm as many points as possible for your persuasive speech. Then evaluate these points based on:

• Your ability to expound them before the audience 
• Your capability to overturn the ill-conceived bias of your view and permeate their resisting reasoning
• Your ability to counter the ideas against your view

After such a keen evaluation, retain only three or four key points to discuss during the speech. The recommended length of your written speech may suggest an increment of these points. Finally, gather evidence on the points that you have settled. Explore those points optimally to ensure no issue about them is left unattended. 

Qualities of a Good Persuasion Topic 

Are you still stuck in deciding what a topic to pick among the persuasive speech topics fleeting in your mind? A dilemma can set in on what to choose. Narrow down your choice by brainstorming on good persuasive speech topics. 

These factors will help you eliminate all the persuasive topics until you remain with one.

Not Over Researched

Have you ever heard a moving story several times? You don’t pay attention in the subsequent times because you know all the details. Such is what happens when the audience reads a persuasive speech with a cliché topic. A cliché topic keeps the audience’s interest low for presuming they read it before.

A common theme is preferable if you have new exciting facts to share. These facts need different loads of evidence to back them up. Using the latest details and evidence makes the topic sound different. Thus you need to indicate the existence of the new information from the beginning.

Relatable 

Before you wander away from the focus, think about the audience and their immediate environment. People like hearing about the issues surrounding them in the community and country. The topic is more sensible and exciting if it is relatable to the issues surrounding their immediate lifestyle. Visualize the problems affecting the audience and convince them to a specific action. 

Interest and Familiarity with the Topic

Having a familiar topic makes its researching easy and enjoyable. Most times, you will find yourself acquainting yourself with its details and selling your point of view informally. There are many easy persuasive speech topics you can get by figuring out your interests. Choose one from such interests and build upon those fragments of knowledge.

The audience will see your persuasion coming out naturally. The audience will quickly enlist to your viewpoint since it feels you will be part of that action.

The Interest of the Audience 

Some topics are now in their deathbed after many years of discussion. The audience is not even may not stirred to hear them again. Choose a new subject, and the audience would listen keenly to get the fresh bits of ideas for your view.

Avoid the old and tired ideas that have flooded the media. The audience may want to hear the plans to solve those problems or something new that will divert their attention for a while. Know and get a topic around what the audience wants to hear.

The Outcome You Want

Come up with the list of desires that you may want to achieve. From these outcomes, coin a topic to concentrate on in your speech. The theme of choice should be the one you can competitively stir and convince the audience into action.

3. Familiarize Yourself with the Topic 

Nothing is as crucial as being versed in the topic. Do in-depth research on your choice or assigned topic. Objective inquiry about the subject helps in generating persuasive speech ideas before writing. As a result, you will write with an informed mind, and the audience would gauge you as well-versed.

Persuasion is effective if, in a controversial topic, you address both sides of the issue. You technically persuade them to what you favor to direct their action while countering the opposing views.

The study on the topic using the relevant issues in articles and books. If the library does not have such topics, the internet has nearly everything. News and reports from reputable organizations that deal with your topic are reliable sources. Reliable and trustworthy also are academic books since they give expert-based opinions and facts.

You can also use opinion-oriented sources like interest group editorials and radio talks. Nevertheless, compare their viewpoint with other sources to authenticate their assertions. Most of these sources have biases as they also seek to get a mass mind shifts of the public.

4. Outline your Persuasion Speech

The persuasive speech must have:

• An introduction which gives the preliminaries of your speech
• A body which contains a great deal of expounding the brief but weighty ideas presented in the introduction
• A conclusion which summarizes all concepts in the body and calls for action from the formed favor for your viewpoint

Below is a more elaborate structure of the above points.

The Persuasion Speech Intro

So how do you start a persuasive speech? The introduction gives an opportunity of grabbing the audience’s attention and immediately arrest it. A startling sentence or a dramatic statement about the topic critical for this purpose. An antithesis that expresses the present situation before they act and after they act can also work. All in all, employ all the means to hook the audience.

You already know your audience, right? State clearly what you have in common with the audience. Paint how you both sail in the issue of your persuasion speech with them. Establishing an emotional connection paves the way to win the audience. You will, therefore, move together in unison, unveiling the reasons why you ought to act together.

A statement of credentials is always crucial in the introduction. You demonstrate your authority to discuss such a matter that involves them. Begin by highlighting your knowledge about the topic through facts and statistics to evoke a sense of belief. Ultimately show your breadth of research for the authenticity of the points.

Lastly, state your goal for the speech. This goal, in other words, is your thesis statement, which defines the desired end that you want to achieve. Let the road map be clear to the audience on what you will discuss in the speech. Here they will move with you all through with an informed end.

The Body

You are to get into the meat of all that you promised the audience here. Provide convincing reasons for the support of your viewpoint, as stated at the end of your introduction part. Arrange those points with a criterion that emphasizes the importance of taking action as you proceed.

Discuss each highlighted point with conclusive and sufficient evidence. Do not go forth and backward to echo what you have already discussed. This order proves to the audience that you have a defined focus that you want them to do. Your clarity will convince the audience easily.

Discuss all points with credible evidence from sources the audience can refer to. The unquestionable evidence makes even an expert reader see the sense of convincing other members of the audience to your action. Lacking in-depth evidence that you allegedly demonstrated in the introduction kills attention to continue reading.

Finally, extend the string of emotional connection created in the introduction. You have to use real-life examples that have happened around their environment. This way, they relate with you and see your viewpoint as a choice they may consider. They thus believe your perspective as liberating them for their good.

Conclusion

Let your conclusion have a strong emphasis on a call to action. Remind the audience in a summary of what you have told them. This summary reiterates the points and the most striking evidence among the evidence offered. Support your call to action by stating what you hope to do and their duty in the effort.

Points to Remember When Writing a Persuasive Speech

Do you want to compose a compelling speech that will linger in the mind of your audience long after you’ve left the podium? If that’s your desire, you should consider these tips the next time you’re writing one.

Ethos

You should use words to convey the need for acting morally. The audience should feel the desire to act as a way of caring for themselves and others. For instance, you may present to them the shame for failing to act when the next generation learns about it.

Challenge the audience to do what everyone in need of a good society would do selflessly. You appeal to readers’ humanity, and hence they will consider your view. They thus recruit themselves into doing that which satisfies their good human part.

Logos 

Here you need to use words effectively to appeal to the intellect of the audience. Arouse the audience using logic to the chain of events or issues in the topic. You then challenge their inaction and the string of consequences that will come upon them for inaction.

The facts you present in the evidence should appeal to the reasoning. You ultimately show the audience that they possess the power to change everything. They will thus yield to your idea to gain their desired life.

Pathos

In pathos, you appeal to the emotions of the audience. The words of the persuasive essay are employed to elicit sadness, pity, and concern. These evoked emotions, feeling for another person or subject, makes the people act. The advocacy for concern enlists the audience to action and but not evidence.

Counter Any Opposing View

Before closing the body part of the persuasive essay, counter any ideas opposing your view. Those counter views should have surfaced when researching various expert facts and opinions. Show them that your viewpoint is the most applicable in their environment and their situation under the prevailing conditions. On the whole, strengthen your positions by drawing their attention from the opponent’s points.

Additionally, discuss opposing views reasonably. The objectivity of discussing those contra views should be evidentiary. This way, a member of the audience holding the contra views sees the essence of picking your opinion. 

Sometimes it is easy not to counter opposing views. Therefore, practice and seek information against them from an expert. Ensure you discuss your opponents with all ethics and without an insensitive language.

Observe the Ethics in Persuasion

It is advisable to be ethical in writing your persuasive essay. Ethics are profoundly in real-life persuasive essays. Persuasion can be termed as unethical when:

• You do it for a selfish interest without the knowledge of the audience
• You use the persuasion to personally gain, at the expense of those with opposite views

Some examples of unethical persuasion are brainwashing and torture. These unethical persuasions lack the following components of ethical persuasion:

• Elaborating your point of view to the audience
• Exploring the opposing views 
• Creating resolutions for actions which the audience freely does

Need Help Writing a Persuasive Speech?

Did I say you’ll thank me later? As you can see, I kept my promise. You’ve learned not only how to write a persuasive speech, but how to choose a good persuasive speech topic. Besides, you’ve also read useful tips you can use to spruce up your speech. 

Before you leave, please help yourself to some free persuasive essay examples in our custom essay archives.

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