迎接挑战Unlike expository writing that explains something in great detail, persuasive writing postulates at length on a specific subject. It claims to be the last word on the subject, or the first defensible one. The goal of the writer and the purpose of his paper is not to inform another person’s mind; it is to change a person’s mind. However, a writer’s assertion of final authority can run up against a reader’s assertion to the contrary. Therefore, persuasive writers should expect push-back.论说文不像说明文,说明文解释详细,论说文则以充份的篇幅讨论特定主题、发表有力的总结,或率先提出质疑。论说文的目的并非说明资讯,而是改变他人的想法。然而,由于作者的最终主张可能与读者牴触,因此读者可能反弹。If you are a shrinking violet, persuasive writing is not your garden. Persuasive writers do not mince words. They write using confident, charismatic phraseology that speaks with unqualified authority. Some readers are likely to respond in kind (even professors, who nonetheless should grade a paper on its merits rather than its conclusion) and a writer should not be intimidated by it. Rather, he should inoculate himself in advance by expecting scholarly disagreement.如果你生性害羞,论说文就不是你表现的舞台。写论说文时不能吞吞吐吐,遣词用字应该充满自信与魅力,语调威严。若遇到读者以牙还牙(教授也可能如此,不过教授应该根据文章内容评分,不应只看结论),你不能就此退缩,应该事先调整心态,准备面对不同的学术意见。The same high level of professionalism is demanded of every writer, whatever the purpose of his paper. Yet a paper that argues it represents prototypical thinking carries the extra burden of being potentially controversial. Its argumentation could ignite additional scholarly argumentation. Therefore, a persuasive writer should prepare his paper with meticulous care and also prepare himself against strong responses that seldom come to writers of straight-forward exposition.无论写作何种学术文章,都应该展现同样的学术专业,然而一篇文章如果宣称自己的论证具有代表性,就额外多了争议性,其论证可能引发更多的学术论证。因此,写作论说文时,应特别仔细谨慎,并自我锻炼,以备面临直截了当的说明文不会引起的强烈反弹。
二,Believe 宣示信念
More so than some writing projects, persuasive papers must be grounded in conviction. That is, having academic interest in a subject is not sufficient commitment to a written argument, if convincing a reader is the goal. A persuasive writer must believe a thesis to be true, because some readers surely will not. Merely striking a supportive stance—posturing, in a word—is not persuasive, because insincerity inevitably leaks through to undermine any points being made.
So the required mindset is belief. You must openly believe what you are espousing in a persuasive paper. This is difficult for some writers, who have been taught the virtue of objectivity and academic distance in their expository writing. While emotional appeals are not appropriate, fervent factual espousal of a doctrine, policy, or finding is absolutely OK. Stridency can be a turnoff, but resolute testimony is not. Do not be of two minds about your subject.
Having and expressing convictions in a paper should not be a stretch for a serious academic writer. After all, you are immersing yourself in academics precisely because you appreciate the power of the mind. Papers written to persuade bring all of that power to bear including the considerable energy unleashed by imagination and fresh thinking. Combined with courage, these intellectual assets are the tools for changing the world, one mind at a time. Believe you can.
Persuasive writing is neither art nor science, but it is a step beyond simple argument. Arguments typically are loud affairs with more heat than light generated on both sides. Persuasive writing eschews all that in favor of reason, logic, and concentrated communication. Nowhere in the formula is there resort to emotion. Fervor is acceptable, even passion, but the strong feelings are dispassionately structured in a way that culminates in, it is hoped, an indisputable conclusion.
The persuasive writer is first of all a thinker. All academic writers draw upon intellect, of course, but to really persuade, a writer calls both upon raw knowledge and informed opinion. This comes together in something called reason. To be rational—that is , to ground an argument in reason—is to assert truths while defending against untruths. A persuasive academic paper introduces a premise with sound reasoning at the same time it anticipates and rebuts counterarguments.
Before the writing, then, comes the thinking. There can be no holes in it. Writers who lightly survey an issue or perform slipshod research are guilty of hubris. Compelling words will not persuade unless grounded in rational evidence. Without such evidence, a paper lacks intellectual standing. It is a mere popular pamphlet, rather than a treatise. Persuasive writers challenge convention. If they want others to support them, they must rationally support themselves.
Persuasion is not a function of volume. That is, he who speaks the loudest is not necessarily the most persuasive. While a loud would-be persuader commands attention, he does not usually command respect. Nor does his noise penetrate much beyond the ears to the heart and mind of those listening. In persuasive writing, the same principles apply: Success comes not in what you say, or how “loudly” or strenuously you say it; it comes in effectively supporting what you say.
A fundamental principle to follow in writing a persuasive paper is to support essential points in proximity to the points. What too often happens is that a writer makes a point and then pivots away to declare another truth, eager to reveal his full argument without interruption. Yet writers don’t have to worry about being interrupted. They need only hold a reader’s attention. When they spin away too fast, even to a parallel thought, they forfeit the chance to make a point indelible.
It makes great sense sometimes to summarize the various points of an argument right up front, and then to summarize them again near the end. Yet in the body of the paper, the significant points stand along and each should be buttressed with evidence of its correctness . Often the weakest point needs the most supporting evidence to offset its intrinsic weakness. By supporting each point immediately after making it, readers will more likely be persuaded, one point at a time.
Knowing your argument and solidly making and supporting it are absolutely essential to successful persuasive writing. A writer cannot persuade another of something if the writer doesn’t believe it himself or doesn’t provide good reasons for his belief. Yet it is almost as important to understand an opposing position and to be able to express it in the course of disputing it. This is known as “straw man” rhetoric and if handled deftly can serve to buttress the writer’s position.
了解并扎扎实实地支持你的论点,对于撰写成功的论说文而言是不可或缺的。如果作者本人都不相信自己的说法,或者是无法提供好的理由来使人信服,这样的写作可无法说服他人。另一方面,对于写作同样重要的是能了解反方意见,并成功地在论证过程中提出反对意见。这就是「稻草人修辞」(straw man rhetoric),如果处理得当,能替作者的论点加分不少。
For example, if a writer’s position is that the sun rises in the east, he must acknowledge that some believe it rises in the west. He should state the opposing view without sarcasm or other pejorative language. To do otherwise is disrespectful and diminishes the writer’s own standing in the eyes of a reader. However, having given the alternate view, the writer then can pick it apart using whatever tools he has at his disposal—contrary evidence, witness testimony, scientific reports.
If the stature of an opposing argument is reduced this way, two goals are reached. First, the weakness of the opposing argument is exposed at the same time the strength of the writer’s position is highlighted. Two birds… one stone. Second, by anticipating and addressing objections, blowback is minimized. Opponents cannot effectively respond using rationale the writer has already addressed. They must come up with new arguments. That’s effective persuasive writing.
Argumentative writing is, almost by definition, energetic. More so than some academic papers, it is not in tone or substance a laid-back exercise in writing. While presentation of the subject must be logical and methodical and be constrained by the rules of academic discourse, the writing nevertheless must have an underlying intensity to it. After all, the object is to persuade someone to embrace a conclusion advanced by the writer and this cannot be done without expending effort.
So it is important to stay resolutely on point with an argument and to not exhaust support for the argument before the paper’s end. A race horse can run a magnificent race and be far ahead in the final turn and still lose the race because of poor pacing . Similarly, an argumentative paper must still be strong in substance and surprising in presentation right up through its conclusive paragraphs. Having the last word in an “argument” requires planning and intellectual stamina.
“Energy” is an elusive quality in a persuasive paper. It has nothing to do with the number of words used in the paper, nor to the brashness of a viewpoint. Rather, an energetic argumentative paper is a focused one. It is unremitting in making the case for a point of view. It is not marred by tangential, distracting passages. It is lean and purposeful. While it is courteous in its language, it is makes no attempt to disguise its rejection of opposing views. And it is that way clear to the end.