The Campus Conservative

("Keyboard" by ericnvntr via Flickr)  In my previous entry, I discussed the importance of a student senator’s ability to communicate and how, without this ability, he cannot represent his constituency. I commended senators to master the persuasive essay to be effective representatives.  Yet now, a daunting challenge awaits him: actually doing the writing! Writing is difficult. People often do not know where to start and the foreign process can demoralize people to the point that they quit altogether. Given its difficulty, here are three tips to help beginner writers succeed in persuasive writing.  First, remember that writing takes a process. It is easy to think that when we read other people’s essays that they probably wrote their essay in one try. That is, they sat down, typed some things on the computer and voila! A finished product. They must have finished in less than 15 minutes. Yet, this is not how good writing often occurs.  Writing is more like baking a cake...

(Feature Image: Via Flickr.) In a student senator’s journey to represent his constituency, he must learn to become persuasive. That is, he must understand rhetoric and reason, and he must know how to make a good argument so that his audience will favor his constituency’s interests. I have learned that there is no better tool for this than the five-paragraph persuasive essay. Through it, one becomes aware of what makes for compelling speech: a thesis, claim, argument, supporting argument, illustration and call to action. These and many other elements a practitioner learns by practicing the persuasive essay. Moreover, for a student senator to give voice to his constituency's concerns, he must be able to speak for them in persuasive ways to sway decision-makers and to win others to their cause. The persuasive essay allows him to do this through its rational structure.  Therefore, for a student senator to effectively represent his constituency, he must endeavor to master the pers...