What is persuasive writing
May be purpose, organization, or impact

Persuasive writing is a term whose definition must be determined from the context.

The term may refer to one of the following aspects of a piece of writing:

• Purpose: It sets out to induce someone to believe/do something.

• Organization: It is structured in a pattern of thesis and support.

• Impact: It convinces or sways readers.

A piece of expository writing can legitimately be called persuasive if it fits any one of those three criteria. However, the way English teachers use the term may not be the way you'd expect.

On the other hand, what do I know? Many of my students seem to expect English teachers to behave in totally irrational ways. Maybe they're right.

Persuasive organization

When ELA teachers assign "a persuasive paper," what they expect is a specific type of organization.

Surprised?

You shouldn't be.

A thesis statement is an opinion, right? So when writers present reasons for their opinions, their purpose is always to get readers to see the issue from their perspective.

The way essayists present the reasons for their opinions may be referred to as:

• Essay format

• Thesis + support

• Persuasive pattern

Each of those terms refers to the same way of organizing information, the essay format English teachers call persuasive writing.

Tone and results are not distinctive

Even though the persuasive essay writer is partisan, persuasion need not be argumentative or belligerent in tone. In fact, writing that follows the persuasive pattern may be so unemotional as to not be effective with some readers.

Some of the world's most influential documents have eschewed the "persuasive pattern" in favor of other formats.

For example, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin had more impact on the abolitionist movement than all the logical arguments against slavery. Its pattern was narrative, not thesis-and-support.

What about the impact of the writing? Why isn't that what English teachers expect?

Seriously, do you expect writers to change readers' opinions about abortion or campaign financing in the time it takes to read a five-paragraph essay?

Of course not.

All we really expect is for writers to get readers to pay attention to what they have to say. (Moreover, since usually the only person who reads a student's persuasive essay is the teacher, the issue is moot.)

No teacher with any common sense evaluates a piece of writing on the number of converts the writer makes. If the subject is truly important, anyone with any smarts is going to want more information than a writer can pack into a five-paragraph essay.

And any adult whose views on abortion or campaign finance reform are derived from some ninth grader's essay shouldn't be allowed out alone.

Rather, the evaluation criterion for persuasive writing is whether the writers communicated clearly.