Persuasive essay topics for college papers.

The biggest mistakes that I notice among young writers working on persuasive essays are

• Choosing an essay topic that they are “passionate” about
• Denigrating readers who disagree

Being passionate about something is good, but what it is good about having a passion for something is that it should drive you through the work of doing research, reading dry but informative articles, and keep you working when you are tired or not getting recognition.

Passion is not a substitute for work and effort; it is fuel for work and effort. If you find that choosing something that you have a passion for causes you to derail into rants, consider choosing a persuasive essay topic that you do not yet have an opinion about. This can help you write a balanced persuasive essay.

The point of a persuasive essay is to persuade people who do not have an opinion and perhaps change the mind of someone who disagrees. If you include derogatory comments about people who disagree with, you interfere with your own goal.

Treat your opposition as sincere. Insisting that people support marriage equality because they “buy into the gay agenda” sets you up for bad writing. Instead, consider why people might genuinely believe differently than you do. If you can’t imagine that anyone could sincerely disagree, then you might want to choose another topic.

Not every disagreement deserves fair treatment, but if there is no legitimate disagreement, choose another topic! For example, if you decide to write a paper saying that the Holocaust really happened, what is the point? There is no credible disagreement and no reasonable people to persuade. It has the same persuasive value as arguing on behalf of gravity.

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