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Persuasive essay writing is all about expressing an opinion on a particular topic. The topic can be anything that the author desires with the only rule being that it must be about a specific topic. An easy format for essay writing is the five paragraph essay. If you can get the grasp of the five paragraph essay, you will be prepared to write an essay of any size.

The five paragraph essay explores a subject by providing three persuasive points that support the main opinion of the essay. The order of the outline is as follows: introduction, persuasive point one, persuasive point two, persuasive point three and closing. This outline follows a logical order for presenting an opinion, backing it up with supporting ideas and forming the final overall opinion.

When choosing the subject of your essay, choose a topic with which you are familiar. When you do this, it will be easier for you to identify a strong opinion that you already have about the subject. Your chosen opinion about the topic will be called the topic sentence.

For an example of a topic sentence, using "apples" as the subject, a suitable topic sentence states that "apples make an excellent ingredient in dessert recipes". Once the topic sentence is determined, develop three general reasons why the topic sentence is true. For the "apples" topic sentence, examples of three supporting sentences are "apples have a naturally sweet taste", "apples can be used in a variety of dessert types" and "apples are healthy".

Once you have developed your topic sentence and supporting sentences, you will have important elements for developing the essay outline. You can proceed to write the introduction paragraph followed by a paragraph for each supporting sentence. Your closing paragraph will repeat the ideas of the introduction paragraph with a logical expansion of the idea that would naturally result when the topic sentence and supporting sentences are considered as a whole concept.

You want to use precise and punchy language when writing your essay. Use the most powerful statement as the first sentence in each paragraph, especially the introduction paragraph. Doing so will allow you to instantly grab and retain the reader's attention.

Your introductory paragraph will make a blanket statement that covers your basic opinion about the subject. The next sentence will briefly mention the three supporting ideas. The third sentence will lead into the subjects. The closing paragraph will follow the same order as the introduction paragraph.

As for the supporting idea paragraphs, you will start each paragraph with a supporting sentence. The supporting sentence is followed by an explanation. You can use between three to five sentences in each paragraph to explain the supporting sentence.

The last sentence of each paragraph should relate to the first sentence of the next paragraph. Leading the reader through your essay this way will give the reader a seamless reading experience in which topics do not jump out at the reader.

Using the five paragraph format for persuasive essay writing is a simple structure to follow when expressing an opinion. It provides a natural logical order for presenting an opinion in an effective way. Learning to use the five paragraph format will allow the writer to write a persuasive essay on any subject.