Composing great college persuasive essay topics in no time

Persuasion is useful in many scenarios, the least of which is the writing of a spectacular essay. Your work is half done for you if you pick the right topic. But what makes a topic right? When it comes to persuasive essay writing in college, try to follow these tips:

Get a little controversial...just not too much

A nice, simple, middle-of-the-road essay topic is all well and good for a process assay but persuasive topics need a little more ‘fire’. Pick something that people feel strongly about and a re divided on so that you can show off your skills.

Write for your reader

The same tactics won’t work on everyone so before you even start to brainstorm topics, get a clear sense of who you’re writing for. How old are they? What are their political views? Are they tech savvy or do they prefer an abacus to a computer? Ask yourself these and other questions until you have a clear idea of what your target reader is like. Then you can pick a topic that will wow them.

Prey on people’s feelings

Sure, it sounds bad when you phrase it like that but every good persuasive writer knows that that’s what the style is about. To make someone believe your points are true, it helps to mak them ‘feel’ something. Sometimes it’s rage, other times it may be fear or love or nostalgia or just humor. Feelings can make your points appear just a bit stronger and this makes your essay seem stronger as a whole.

If you’d like to see those tips in practice, here are 10 topics that utilize them to some extent.

1. Does religion help or harm society?
2. Can animals be more useful than people?
3. Does finding a good job matter anymore?
4. Will MOOCs replace college education in the near future?
5. Does money make people happy?
6. Should the financially unstable parents of many children be encouraged to use birth control?
7. Should companies that pollute the environment be forced to close down rather than incur fines?
8. Does the gap in academic performance between women and men hint at intellectual superiority?
9. Is the Chinese economy entering a decline?
10. Should the American embargo on Cuba be lifted completely?

The best thing about these topics is that you get to decide what side you want to argue on any given day.