Young Writers Society

I am not quite sure if this goes here, but here goes.

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for persuasive or expository essay topics. I have a school literary fair that I need to write for.

Nikki

Ooh, persuade people to give up meat for health reasons. Even if you eat meat, it's a very good persuasive topic. There's a lot of evidence and statistics to support it.

Persuasive topic, eh? Just choose something you feel strongly about, whether it be the death penalty, abortion, or why cats suck. Then come up with a list of reasons of why you feel the way you do, come up with a list of counter-arguments, then go from there. The best thing to do is always praise the audience. Call them intelligent or well-dressed. Also, never say "I think" or "I feel"; those are soft words and have no place in a persuasive argument.

Actually, my advice is going to directly conflict with the advice given before me.

Sorry.

If you pick a persuasive essay (instead of expository), **don't** pick something you feel *too* strongly about, or there's a chance you'll let your emotions get in the way of reason in your persuasion. You should instead select an issue that is slightly less emotional and isn't as obvious as many might seem.

As an addition to that, do NOT pick personal topics like abortion, religion, or even possibly the death penalty. Not only are they way too overdone, people listening to these arguments usually have already made up their minds pretty solidly about the topics and can possibly get offended at even a well-meaning approach at persuasion. From experience I suggest you don't do it.

As for what you SHOULD pick, just think about some things that you do have opinions about, and ask around - family, friends - for ideas that might pertain to you or that you might care about.

Then again, you could always write a satire a la Jonathan Swift. (<3 Jonathan Swift...)