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Writing persuasively is not easy. At times, persuasive writing can even feel a bit manipulative. Really, isn’t writing persuasively merely an attempt to coerce a hopefully impartial audience into trusting your arguments, judgments, and proclamations? Why should any audience trust what you have to say?

But, if you think about it, all writing is inherently pursuasive. A novel requires that a writer persuade the reader into accepting the book’s picture of the universe, be it Middle Earth, Holland in the 1600s, or in a galaxy far, far away — we have to accept that the world of the book is an actual world and suspend our disbelief in things like hobbits and aliens if we are to enjoy the story. Similarly, writing that makes no bones about being blatantly persuasive, like op-ed articles, legal briefs, and persuasive essays, also has to operate in such a way that the audience trusts the word of the writer and opens up their mind to accept, or at the very least consider, the writer’s position.

Writing persuasively is difficult, but there are things you can do to make your arguments more cogent and appealing to readers.

5. Earn your reader’s trust.

The best way to earn a reader’s trust is to come across as an intelligent writer. If you make grammatical errors, give misconstrued facts, or appear as if you aren’t an expert on your topic, you automatically undermine yourself as an intelligent writer, thereby weakening the sanctity of your argument. Writing well is the simplest way to come across as an intelligent writer. People are swayed by an eloquent writer: just look at the eloquent speeches of compelling orators like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,  who were able to start entire movements on the power of their words.

4. Back your writing up with facts.

A well-stated opinion is all good and well, but the real meat of an argument comes from strong factual evidence. Lawyers don’t win cases based on arguments alone. Lawyers win cases based on who has the most compelling evidence that backs up the arguments they make. If you write a persuasive essay, make sure that each of your paragraphs has as least one powerful fact that backs up your position. If you are writing a persuasive essay on a piece of literature, for instance, facts can be theoretical ‘proof’ from a literary theorist (writing a Freudian interpretation of “Othello” would obviously require that you quote Sigmund Freud himself) or a quote from a published paper in a literary journal or a strong quote from the literature itself.

3. Explain, and then argue, a contrary point of view.

Every great debater knows in order to win a debate, you have to premeditate the opposition and then disprove it. The same goes for writing a persuasive essay. Having an idea of strong points of opposition is not only crucial in order to construct a solid argument, but it’s also simply good practice in critical thinking. If you know some oppositions that might arise in your reader’s mind while reading your essay, think of responses to that opposition and embed the responses in your writing. That way, you advance your argument and counterpoint your reader’s contention in one fell stroke.

2. Be passionate about what you are writing.

Even if you don’t believe in your own argument — as in, you were assigned a topic to argue from your teacher and you have no choice but to argue it in your paper — you have to write as if you do believe. Passionate writing comes from using strong, specific language. The more specific your language is, the more precisely you can carve your argument, the stronger and better your argument will seem. Passionate writing also requires reinforcement. Don’t repeat your ideas, but keep the central argument in your mind while writing your paper and think of every sub-argument, every piece of constructing evidence, as a way to reinforce or strengthen the central position.

1. Be interesting.

The best way to not persuade a reader is to bore them. If I can’t make it to the end of an op-ed piece, there is no way I’m going to believe or be persuaded by what the writer is saying. Good writing is inherently interesting. Use your oratorical fireworks to wow your readers so that every next line, every following word, is something the reader wants to arrive at. Don’t make them trudge through your writing. If you aren’t sure of how to make your writing interesting, ask yourself what you would be interested in if you were an impartial reader who was faced with your paper. Would it be something you would want to read? If yes, great! If no, then work your way through the problem until you arrive at a satisfactory place.