Persuasive Essays are not a typical style of writing in the Literature world, particularly because of how opinionated they tend to be.
According to those who have been through the duration of writing such an essay, the opinions on composing persuasive essays vary dramatically.
“I think they are the best to write,”first-year Kasey Schroeder said. “This is the kind of writing style I preferred to use all throughout high school and I hope I can keep doing them in my classes at Hamline.”
For students like Schroeder, a persuasive essay is more easy-going in material and context since the writer can express their feelings in an indirect way.
They become even more appealing by allowing writers to state their own opinions while using facts to back up their opinions.
Senior Cass Bittle said, “It’s honestly a great way to write. What other writing style lets you be opinionated and prove the other side wrong with intellectual facts and data?”
Students like Bittle gravitate more towards a persuasive style of writing because they can express their opinions in a way that proves their point even more than just throwing out their thoughts and beliefs.
However, the one negative with writing a persuasive essay is writing about the opinion of the other side.
“Personally, I don’t like writing Persuasive Essays,” sophomore Jordan Sifferle said. “I just don’t see the fun in finding the opinions of people who disagree with me and have to incorporate why they are right and I am wrong for a brief point in the essay.”
What writers like Sifferle find aggravating in a Persuasive Essay style is the fact that they have to do unnecessary research that completely goes against their opinions on certain subjects.
For them, the worry of using information that makes the other side seem more valid seems to take precedent when writing a Persuasive Essay.
However, writers like Bittle and Schroeder say that they have enough confidence that their facts will overrule the opinions of the counterargument.
The confidence that comes from writing a persuasive essay revolves from knowing exactly what to talk about and expressing it in a way that only the writer can reveal to the audience.
Even though supporting evidence is needed in this style of writing, finding where to get the evidence from is not as difficult as expected, due to the fact the writer is more eager to back their claims.
Persuasive styled writings give students the chance to be intellectual in literature without coming off as overly-aggressive or overly-passionate about their beliefs.
Students enjoy this writing style because they can control the way they write and express themselves all at the same time.
Overall, for people who enjoy having opinions and being right about them, a persuasive essay is the way to go.