Whether you are appealing to a cause or stating out facts, sometimes your original essay needs to persuade the reader and evoke certain emotions. Even if it concerns persuading your teacher that your essay deserves a stellar grade and evoking the emotion of pride to have such a great student like yourself. More often than not, your essay should not be dry, but filled with passion. There are a few tricks you can resort to, if you would like your reader to get angry at an issue, to get emotional over a story or to get excited about a fact. In this article we will show you some practical tips on how to achieve this.
Use Facts
Whenever you watch a horror movie, that extra rush of goosebumps you get when you see the disclaimer “based on a real story” cannot be substituted with anything. Facts appeal to the heart and to our overly active imagination. We sympathize with the characters because we believe them to be real people who have suffered such as they did. And since we are all people, we can feel the empathy and emotions deeper if the situation is about other humans. That is why you should use only real stories if you want to write an effective expository essay based on facts.
Use Quotes
Who does not like a spot on quote? Not only it will show your wit and knowledge, a quote is able to spark a feeling of appreciation in a reader. Based on the nature of the quote, you will be able to evoke different emotions. However, putting a quote at the beginning of your paper will most likely give it a solemn and serious tone. Make sure to choose quotes of appropriate content, length and format. State the source.
Use Parallelisms
Have you ever listened to a speech of a politician? Most likely, you have not noticed it, but often such speeches are full of parallelisms. They repeat a main idea time after time to make sure to persuade the nation that they are right. It gives the text a rhythmic effect that is hard to simulate, and appeals to the reader. In fact, seeing the same idea over and over again will subconsciously convince you that it is the truth. So, make sure to use parallelisms in your essay, especially if you are writing a persuasive one, for example, about the importance of vaccinations, the need to protect nature or one advocating for human rights.
Use Metaphors
If used right, metaphors will make your paper shine. Because of its bright imagery, an original and creative metaphor will remain in the conscience and memory of the reader. Most likely, you will not remember a boring article about climate change, but if someone compares deforestation with forceful shaving of a helpless person’s hair, it will likely be ingrained in your memory for longer. However, avoid using a metaphor in every other sentence, it will lose the memory effect and instead create a comical one. Also, avoid using trite metaphors, because they are no longer considered bright enough to be remembered after the reading. Here is some extra information on metaphors.
Rhetoric Questions
Asking a rhetoric question is a great method to keep the reader’s attention and provoke a stream of thoughts. Maybe you remember a time when you were falling asleep during the first lecture of a day, and your professor suddenly asked a question. In that moment, you unconsciously try to answer it and find yourself drawn to the topic, whether you like it or not. The same happens in your work. Whenever we are asked a question, however ridiculous, we always try to find an answer. Use a rhetoric question to provoke a feeling of satisfaction in your reader, from the fact that they know the answer to your question. Otherwise, you could also use to emphasize on a particularly important statement that will make the reader realize the importance of the problem.
Appeal to the Specific Reader
Always consider the audience while writing. This is a great trick to estimate which elements will most likely strike close to home in your reader. To raise an example, an essay on gender equality will be received positively by a female audience, if you include female pronouns in hypothetical situations. If you want to write on the topic of cutting funds from art programs, make sure you mention the cuts from the teacher’s salary, and your professor will subconsciously appreciate your effort. There are a lot of details that you can pay extra attention to with maximum reward.
Use Sense Based Details
If you want to make a bigger impact on your reader, do not only write some visual facts. Human beings feel the world with all their senses. Writing about the poor animals in the shelters, you can add some information about the awful smell in their cages, about the low quality food they receive, their sorrowful howling. It will break your readers heart and make them run to the shelter to adopt a pet immediately!