How to Write a Persuasive Essay Outline

AI tools like Jasper may also be of great help in writing a persuasive essay outline and the essay itself.

8 min readAug 9, 2021

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Why do we have to learn how to write a persuasive essay outline?

It’s not enough for us just to know all the facts about something. We also need to know how and when those facts should be presented so that people will listen, understand, and agree with our point of view.

In other words, we need an argument backed up by evidence. And the best way I know of making such an argument is through the use of a persuasive essay outline.

The outline is important because it tells the writer how to present all the evidence that will back up his or her argument in a clear, logical, and convincing way.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay outline

What persuasive essay outline should look like?

Because the reader already has some idea of what he or she thinks about a topic, the first thing your essay should do is to help your reader understand why you agree or disagree with this idea.

To do that, you’ll have to introduce your own position on the topic and then present all the evidence supporting it.

This will make up your argument, which will include the main point (your thesis), several reasons for believing in it (your body paragraphs), and a final explanation of why your reader should accept it (your conclusion).

What’s the difference between an argument and a persuasive essay outline? An argument explains a point of view by means of reasoning. A persuasive essay outline presents evidence in support of that point of view.

In other words, an argument is all about what you think, and a persuasive essay outline is all about what you know.

So how do you make the transition from thinking to knowing? That’s what your persuasive essay outline is here for.

As we go through the steps of planning a persuasive essay, pay careful attention to how I infer my main point and draw together all the evidence I’ve gathered as part of my argument.

1. List All the Aspects of Your Topic That You Want To discuss

Your list will probably include a number of subtopics, which may be related in some way to your main idea. For example, if one of those subtopics is “Students’ Perceptions on Getting an Education After High School,” then the rest of your outline will discuss other aspects, such as “the student’s role,” “student responsibilities,” and so on.

In each case, you want to make sure that all these subtopics are related to your main idea in some way. If they aren’t, then you’ll probably need to think of some subtopics that are related.

There may be a number of ways in which your main idea can be related to the various subtopics. Here are just a few examples: The main idea can be supported by a subtopic (related), or the main idea can challenge a subtopic (opposed), or the two ideas could be related in some way.

At this point, don’t worry too much about how you arrange your outline. Just try to cover all the possible points of view on that topic that you can think of, and then sort them out later.

2. Assign a Number or Letter Code to Each subtopic

Now that you’ve brainstormed a list of subtopics — or main ideas if your topic doesn’t have any subtopics — you should assign each one a number or letter code. This will be very useful as we go through the process of writing your outline.

3. Break down Each Subtopic into Two or Three Possible Main points

You should also break down each subtopic into two or three possible main points that you could discuss in relation to that topic.

This may take some brainstorming but do it anyway.

Then, when you have finished this step, number these points according to which ones you think would be the most effective in supporting your main idea.

More precisely, put the points that could be used to support a crucial point of view and lead up to your argument at the top of your outline, because these will form the basis for writing an introduction that will convince readers about what they should think about something — in this case, your topic.

For example, in the case of my “Student Perceptions on Getting an Education After High School” subtopic, I might come up with three main points:

“Students’ Perceptions on Education After High School: An Examination of Student and Parental Roles, Responsibilities, and Expectations in the Post-High School Era.”

During this process, you might want to remind yourself that the main point is a kind of evidence supporting your thesis statement (your overall argument) or a kind of evidence that could be used to support a crucial point of view.

Each main point should also lead up to its supporting details, which you will then list at the bottom of your outline.

4. Organize the Outline points

Now that you have your possible outline points, organize them into an order that will work for the introduction of your essay.

A good strategy is to put the most important point first and then go on from there. After all, it’s hard to convince the reader about something when they don’t even know about it yet.

Also, try to think of the best way to present each point.

For example, if you’re arguing that some new program is a good idea (your main idea), then your first subtopic would be the advantages of that program (your first possible outline point), and your second one would be its disadvantages. That way you’re appealing to your readers fairly.

That kind of organization is more convincing because it presents both sides of the argument and gives you a better chance of winning over even the most hesitant reader.

In any event, come up with an order that makes sense for each point so that the first subtopic will be about what would probably be your best point, and so on.

TIP: Remember that the outline itself won’t be in the final essay as is. You will have to include support for each of these points, but they do help you organize your thoughts and make sure you don’t forget anything important.

Once you have your outline in the form of points, it’s time to do a little planning for each one.

First, make sure that each point is clear and convincing.

You always want to help the reader understand what you mean by showing them through details (which you will decide on later) how things are. That’s why you have to check for phrases that might not make sense or sentences that aren’t complete enough.

Also, try to focus on the most important pieces of information — at least one sentence but no more than two if they are really significant details.

This will help you avoid unnecessary repetition and stay focused on what needs to be said.

Another thing you should do is make sure that your main points are separate from each other so that they don’t mix with each other too much.

You can do this in two ways: First, you could outline the points of each subtopic separately and then connect them all together in an introduction and conclusion later.

Second, you could write the best points first, leaving some room between them for key phrases that will help you connect them later.

You should also be sure not to overdo it with details when writing an outline — don’t put in too many or your essay might have more information than it needs.

Additionally, make sure that what you do include is relevant to the essay and that it has been proofread and made coherent.

You also want to organize your outline in a way that makes sense for someone trying to read it — one good way of doing this is by beginning with an opening sentence that introduces what you’re talking about, then using subheadings (like “A main point”) to organize the rest of your outline points.

Another good idea is to include an introduction sentence as well that contains a summary of all the basic information in your outline — something like “This article will show you how ______, and it will also tell you _________, on top of which __________.”

This helps the reader know exactly what to expect from your essay and will also help you figure out if there’s anything missing from your outline. (You can even use that sentence as a placeholder for now.)

Finally, make sure you include transitions between each of the main points so that it will be easier to connect them. These don’t have to belong or be extensive, but just a phrase should do — something like “Following that…” or something like that should work well.

You can also use the transition sentences to connect your outline with the introduction and conclusion paragraphs later on so that they flow smoothly together instead of being awkwardly shaped around each other.

In any event, you should always end your outline with a clear and conclusive overview of how everything fits together so that the reader understands how all of this is connected (or how it might be connected) to what they already know about the topic.

This final sentence can also be proofread for mistakes and then turned into an introductory paragraph for your essay.

Now that you have your outline ready to go, it’s time for the rhetorical analysis!

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Conclusion

Hopefully, this outline will help you feel a little more prepared for how to write a persuasive essay!

It’s hard to know how much time an outline will take or how much it can really improve your essay, but one thing is certain: If you have a plan in place before you start writing, then the chances of having a coherent, well-thought persuasive essay on your hands are a lot better.

It also helps to know how to write an outline for a persuasive essay if you are writing one because it will give you the chance to organize what you’re going to put in your content so that it makes sense from the beginning and doesn’t feel like a mash-up of random ideas.

Finally, it definitely helps to have an outline in front of you because it reduces how much time you’re going to spend second-guessing yourself and trying to figure out how everything fits together — all you need is a good outline to take care of all that work for you!

Hope this helped, see you next time!