What is a persuasive speech? A persuasive speech aims to persuade the listener to agree with you or do something. This is the definition of a persuasive speech. When writing a persuasive speech, you should compose it like you are speaking to an audience. This article gives you a guide on how to write a persuasive speech.
When writing a persuasive essay, you should apply the three persuasive approaches which include pathos to connect with your audience through emotional appeals, ethos to demonstrate your subject-matter expertise and explain why they should listen to you, and logos to persuade your audience of the truth of your position through logical arguments and examples supported by evidence. Using these persuasive approaches in your persuasive speech will make your audience agree with your persuasion.
A guide to writing a persuasive speech
Below is how to write a persuasive speech:
a) Conduct an in-depth research on the topic
You should conduct in-depth research on the topic to clearly understand everything about it. Use books, journals, blogs, and theories to conduct the research. Additionally, you should look up people’s viewpoints on the topic in editorials or podcasts. By carrying out all of this research, you will be able to address every counterargument in your persuasive speech and comprehend all the information about the topic.
b) Have a specific goal
The persuasive speech should have a specific goal that you aim to accomplish. Setting a purpose for your speech will help you concentrate on persuading your audience of a particular point. For example, if your persuasive speech is about the stigmatization of mental health diseases your goal in the speech could be creating awareness of mental health diseases thus reducing the stigmatization.
c) Know your audience
You should ascertain and comprehend the audience’s background information and points of view regarding the topic of your persuasive speech. If the audience does not know anything about the topic, you should first enlighten them before trying to convince them. An audience that is familiar with the topic does not require background knowledge, instead, you should convince them of the significance of the action you are urging them to take.
Additionally, it is simpler to persuade an audience to do what you are asking them to do if they already agree with your viewpoint. For an audience who does not agree with your viewpoint, you will need to provide them with further evidence, such as facts or examples to persuade them to take the action you are persuading them to.
d) Select a persuasive approach for your speech
You should select a persuasive approach for your speech, this could be pathos, ethos, or logos. Pathos concentrates on feelings, logos on logic, and ethos mostly on morality and ethics. You should find out which persuasive strategy appeals to your audience by doing some study on them. You can apply a single persuasive strategy or several. All three persuasion strategies are present in a strong persuasive speech.
e) Write an outline
Just like writing a college essay outline before writing a college essay, you should write a persuasive speech outline to organize your ideas for the speech. You should note down all the key points of your speech in the outline. The length of time allotted for the speech should determine how many points you wish to make to support your viewpoint.
You may use three to five arguments to support your viewpoint on the topic. You can also look at different persuasive speech outline templates or persuasive speech outline examples to understand how you should outline your speech before writing it.
f) Write the introduction
The introduction of your persuasive speech should be interesting to grab the audience’s attention. You should begin with an interesting statement or a funny fact. You should show them that you and they have similar interests to establish rapport with the audience. You should also list your qualifications to prove to them that you are an expert on the topic.
You should complete the introduction with a strong persuasive thesis statement that shows the purpose of your speech. This is how to start a persuasive speech. After the introduction, list the key ideas of the persuasive speech to the audience.
g) Give persuasive information and recognize the counterarguments
After listing the key idea of your speech, provide evidence-based information and real-life examples to back up each point. You should explain one key idea at a time and provide supporting points. Real-life examples help the readers relate to the issue, while fact-based information demonstrates your competence in the topic and makes it easier to persuade them. Using both is essential for a persuasive essay.
You should also recognize the counterarguments of your topic and address them. For example, if your topic is about eating organic foods and the counterargument is organic foods are expensive. You address the counterargument by persuading your audience to plant their plant organic food for their consumption. You should present the opposing viewpoints objectively.
h) Conclude the speech with a call to action
Conclude the persuasive speech with a call to action. You should restate your primary ideas and outline your expectations for the audience’s actions. This could include making a purchase, endorsing a petition, or casting a ballot for a particular politician.
i) Practice your speech
After you are done writing your persuasive speech, you should rehearse it severally to check if it needs corrections or improvements. You can rehearse it in front of a mirror or film yourself with a smartphone. You can also show your friends your speech to see whether it may convince them to do the required action and also get feedback on areas you need to improve in your speech.
Using the guide above, you will compose a good persuasive essay. You can write your persuasive speech essay using the 5-paragraph essay format. You can also check out various persuasive speech examples to get a better understanding of how to write a persuasive essay. In addition, you can research various persuasive essay rubrics to check the requirements of a good-grade persuasive speech.
Persuasive speech topics
You should choose a good topic for your persuasive speech. You should choose a topic that you are passionate about and can give a good speech about it. Choosing a topic that you are interested in makes the work easier since you are passionate about giving your point of view on the topic. Below are various persuasive speech ideas:
Persuasive policy speech topics
- Global warming regulations
- Significance of healthcare policy
- Job discrimination based on race
- Ways to prevent police brutality
- Rules of recycling
- Impacts of changes in the prison system
- What is the right age to become a voter?
- Hygiene standards in healthcare facilities
- Uniform wearing policy in schools
- The government should stop child abuse
- Proper working hours schedules
- Free meals in schools
- The government should ban cigarette smoking
- Administer bullying policies
- Eating only nutritionally balanced foods
- Customer complaints standard procedure
- Crime prevention strategies
- Financial loans to students
- Drug testing of employees
- Stop gender discrimination
Persuasive speech topics
- Should education be free to all?
- Benefits of teamwork to an organization
- Ways to boost brain health
- What is the best age to retire?
- Causes of suicide among teenagers
- Is a mandatory internship for college students necessary?
- Difference between phobias for children and adults
- How does social media marketing cause impulsive buying?
- Mental benefits of a nutritional food
- How to start a business with no money
- Ways to avoid procrastination
- Strategies to keep your immune strong
- Do video games promote violence among children?
- Ways to build your confidence
- Strategies to overcome stress
- Should the government ban car racing in cities?
- Should healthcare professionals be paid more?
- Benefits of using renewable energy
- Should fast foods be taxed at a higher rate?
- Impacts of artificial intelligence
- Effects of long screen time
- Ways to keep a clean environment
- Should insurance companies cover mental health disorders?
- Processed foods have long-term effects on the body
- Birth control methods are good for population control
- Should all children participate in sports?
- Strategies to reduce poverty in Africa
- Ways to create awareness of mental health diseases
- Does taking a gap year help?
- How to run a successful family business
To wrap up
Writing a persuasive speech requires you to choose a good topic, conduct research on the topic, write a speech with evidence-based information on the topic, and address the topic’s counterarguments. You can use this article as a guide when writing a persuasive speech. You can also get help with speech writing from us. Use our assignment writing help today and get a well-composed persuasive speech.
