I am having a hard time with my persuasive essay. I am not sure how to take a stand on my topic?

Question

My teacher keeps telling me that my introduction is more informative then persuasive. My topic is the pros and cons of year round school.

Answer 1

Yeah, writing about the pros and cons really does sound just informative.  In a persuasive essay, you need to be on one side of an argument, trying to get others to agree with you.  You can give both pros and cons within this essay.  For example, say you’re FOR year round school.  Give emphasis to why it would be good, but DO NOT forget to include the cons.  The cons are things that people will probably think of, and if it were a real argument, if you only went completely with one side, the nay-sayers would pick out all the faults and shoot down your argument.  So you’d acknowledge and include the cons, but give them a softer edge than you would if you were merely informing someone about what they were.  Like, you could point out a negative effect, and right after that, come out with a “but” for the pros that will, in effect, keep the listener/reader from thinking that it is too bad of an issue.  You could use just one example of those in your intro, and include the rest in the main body of the essay.

Answer 2

well. do you support or oppose year round school? In your intro, just talk about the main pros or cons. Then in your essay, you can mention the opposite stand and provide counter-arguments.

Check out the OWL at Purdue for examples.  

Answer 3

Wait. Are you persuading that there are pro's and con's or are you persuading one or the other? If you are persuading that there are pro's and con's well that doesn't sound like it need much persuasion. I'm sure anyone could see that. Sound like you will need to change your topic a bit.

If you are for one side or the other, then say so. In the hook of your essay, make the reader see why you feel the way you do towards the subject.

Answer 4

Year around school would not be beneficial to students. Summer break provides family time for students and their families   Etc. Just state the facts in the Thesis and go into more detail in the body of the paper.