1. Persuasive Techniques

2. Emotional Appeal
Writers may appeal to fear, anger or joy to sway their readers. They may also add climax or excitement. This technique is strongly connected to the essay's mood.
Ex. You must allow people to own guns otherwise the lives of their families will be in danger.

3. Downplayers/Intensifiers
Weaslers -- vague words or expressions. “As much as,” “somewhat,” “virtually”
Vague Labels--”Pure,” “Natural”
Innuendo
Red Herring
Litotes--”not unattractive” the double negative

4. . Word Choice (Diction):
Euphemism(positive) or Dysphemism(negative)
Is a person "slim" or "skinny"? Is an oil spill an "incident" or an "accident"? Is a government expenditure an "investment" or a "waste"? Writers tend to reinforce their arguments by using charged words.
Ex: Locked up vs. Incarcerated, Husky vs. Fat

5. Rhetorical Question:
Sometimes a writer will ask a question to which no answer is required. The writer implies that the answer is obvious; the reader has no choice but to agree with the writer's point.
Ex. Does anyone want to be poor?
Who doesn’t like chocolate ice cream?

6. Logical appeal: Appeal to logic and facts
Ex: If I like card games, I will like poker.
Ex: If 90% of smokers get cancer, smoking must be bad for you.

7. Parallelism:
: When an author creates a "balanced" sentence by re-using the same word structure, this is called parallelism. Always strive for parallelism when using compound or complex sentences.
Ex. Give me liberty or give me death.
I want to eat a sandwich, drink a coke, and order some ice cream.

8. Repetition and Restatement
Authors use this to reinforce the importance of certain points in a work.
Restatement: I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past
Repetition: …and let it come! I repeat sir, let it come!

9. Appeal to Authority (association):.
A writer may mention an important event or person in an essay to lend importance or credibility to his/her argument. Ex. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in equality for everyone.

10. Bandwagon:
This technique tries to convince by suggesting that “everyone is doing it.”
Ex. Everyone who is anyone owns a Mercedes Benz