The persuasive essay is the cornerstone of most academic writing. A persuasive essay asks you to form an opinion on an issue an attempt to convince the reader to agree with you, using great examples and supporting evidence. Writing a persuasive essay on the subject of going to college is no different. But we understand this can seem a little confusing, so here’s a brief tutorial on how to compose a great persuasive essay on this subject:

Develop a Thesis and Outline

Choose a topic and conduct some background research online. Look for facts, statistics, quotations, and other bits of information to support your argument. Gather your brainstorming and research notes and arrange them into related topics. You should have a pretty good idea about what it is you are going to argue for, so go ahead and draft a thesis statement to give your writing some direction. Create an outline of your discussion points and use this when you write the first essay draft.

Start Writing the First Draft

Now that you have a draft thesis and an outline of your main discussion points, you’re ready to start writing the first essay draft. The most effective way of doing this is to write quickly and efficiently. This means you shouldn’t stop to make corrections – no matter how big or small – to your writing. Just get your ideas down as come up in your mind. Save the corrections for later on in the process.

Revise the Content of the Essay

Even the best writers will find plenty of ways to improve on their first drafts through effective revision. It’s a good idea to set your paper aside for a few days before starting this process. This will allow you to approach your writing with a fresh perspective, making you more aware of the various ways you can improve the essay by adding content, removing content or rearranging content.

Edit and Proofread the Essay

Finally, before submitting your work, be sure you completely edit and proofread the essay to ensure it is well-written and free of errors. You should write clearly and concisely, so when you’re editing look for different ways to improve your word choice and sentence constructions. Proofread carefully at three levels: the essay level, the paragraph level and the sentence level. Look for any mistakes in grammar, spelling and punctuation. Mistakes in any of these areas can cost you a letter grade, so be sure to remove all of them.