Chapter 19 - Persuading Readers to Act - Summary

Chapter 19: Persuading Readers to Act - Summary

This chapter is all about how to write a persuasive paper and getting the reader to change their behavior, thinking or act upon something in a certain way. In choosing a topic for this essay, this chapter recommends choosing a topic that you are passionate about. Maybe your topic will be related to a personal experience you have had that raised some questions or a personal idea, some thought or fear that you think of often. Maybe your topic will have to do with a concern of the community, national or international affairs, or something you may not have an opinion on now, but would like to have a stance on. Regardless of what your topic is, make sure that it is debatable and that you are trying to persuade your reader, not to manipulate them. You want to make sure that your voice in your paper is passionate, thoughtful and sincere. When writing a persuasive paper you need to address both sides to the argument; your side and then the opposing side. I think the biggest thing I learned in this chapter is that when writing a persuasive paper, you need to think about whether you want to write on the whole issue or just one aspect of it. I think when writing my persuasive paper, I will need to keep this in mind. I think with any issue really, you can go down so many different avenues with it. I think I will look at my issue in its entirety and then try to just choose one aspect of it to write about.