Introduction
The first paragraph of a persuasive essay is your chance to hook the reader. Use this opening to immediately grab his attention, and give background information on your topic. The highlight of your introductory paragraph is your thesis sentence, sometimes called a thesis statement. This sentence is the core argument of your paper, and will sum up your beliefs.
Once you're clear on 'what' your mission is, and 'how' you're planning to convince the reader to agree with your viewpoint, you're ready to put this information into an introduction. Make sure to get to the point and keep your interesting and supportive details for later.
Let's say you want to convince readers that the minimum wage should be increased to $15.00/hour. That's your 'what'. You plan to support your stance with evidence of how a low minimum wage impacts workers, their families and society as a whole. Your statement would sound like this:
'The minimum wage needs to be raised to $15.00/hour, because paying workers a low salary has negative consequences for employees, their families and society as a whole.'
Do you see how you wrapped up your argument, the 'what' of your idea, with the things you'll use to support it, the 'how', to create a framework for the rest of your paper? Let's take a look at how this plays out.
Supporting Paragraphs
Now that you have a good beginning to your essay, you need to write a few paragraphs to support your stance. The number of paragraphs you have will depend on the amount of evidence and facts you have to argue for or against the topic. Most essays have two to three supporting paragraphs; more can be overwhelming and less is often not enough.
Take the 'how' of your thesis statement and use it to build your paragraphs. In our example, the first reason we gave is a negative impact on the employee. Structure the first supportive paragraph on this statement, adding facts and details to grow a solid piece of support. Bring in evidence in the form of interviews, research or anecdotal notes, or your own observations. Make sure they are true and not an extension of your opinion.
'A low salary has a negative impact on employees. Earning a low wage means workers may not be invested in their jobs. This can make the company run less efficiently and cause high turnover, which costs the company money. Another negative impact on employees is that low wages can cause stress. When workers are stressed…..'
Continue on in this way, writing your thoughts and expanding on them with evidence. Do this for your next two or three paragraphs, dividing each 'how' statements into its own paragraph.
Summary
Your summary is the final push to convince the reader that you are right. Think of it as your final argument; you want to pull out all the stops and leave a good impression.
Closing paragraphs have a predicable format: restate your thesis, the what and how. But now you've built up enough to include the important facts of why.
'Raising the minimum wage benefits more than just the employee. By paying people more, companies can make more money, because they won't pay as much on turnover rates. They'll have more motivated workers who care about their jobs and take pride in their work.'
Your closing paragraph gives readers a brief recap and pulls everything together.