Students need to learn how to write persuasive essays. This skill is critical because it is often tested. Writing a research paper may be more difficult, but students can’t be expected write one in an hour. Therefore, since writing a persuasive essay doesn’t require any research, students will continue to be tested on their ability to write them for some time.
The good news is that learning to write a decent persuasive essay is pretty easy. Much of it is just structuring your ideas and arguments in a sensible way. Beyond that, there are a few more tricks that one can use to enhance one’s skills quickly. These persuasive essay worksheets and activities will help students master these tricks.
Creating Persuasive Attention Catchers Activity – Students practice creating persuasive leads that immediately push the reader toward their side of the argument.
Creating Persuasive Attention Catchers | RTF
Creating Persuasive Attention Catchers | PDF
Creating Persuasive Attention Catchers | Preview
Persuasive Introductory Paragraphs Review Worksheet – Students read five introductory paragraphs and determine what the body paragraphs of each essay will be about by identifying the preview points. This activity should give students a better understanding of the relation of introductory paragraphs to the body.
Persuasive Introductory Paragraphs Review Worksheet | RTF
Persuasive Introductory Paragraphs Review Worksheet | PDF
Persuasive Introductory Paragraphs Review Worksheet | Preview
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet – Students get emotional about essays sometimes. This can lead them into picking positions that are harder to support. In this activity students learn that you can argue BOTH sides of a topic, not just the one side with which you personally agree. Students practice arguing both sides of a four different topics.
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet | RTF
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet | PDF
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet | Preview
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet 2 – Here’s another persuasive essay worksheet to help students practice approaching writing prompts logically. In this double-sided worksheet students practice arguing both sides of a selection of topics. This helps students learn to be strategic when approaching a topic, instead of responding emotionally.
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet 2 | RTF
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet 2 | PDF
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet 2 | Preview
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet 3 – Here is yet another double-sided worksheet where students practice brainstorming arguments on both sides of controversial persuasive essay topics. These activities help them learn to brainstorm points quickly and to choose the side of an argument that is easier for them to support when writing a persuasive essay.
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet 3 | RTF
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet 3 | PDF
Arguing Both Sides Worksheet 3 | Preview
Boxes and Bullets Persuasive Essay Outline – A lot of students really hate the term outline. These same students generally like to hear the phrase boxes and bullets. So I made this boxes and bullets worksheet. Sure, it’s just an outline for a persuasive essay, but boxes and bullets sounds way cooler. This activity is great to do before actually writing the essay. It allows others to see that the structure of an essay before it is fully developed. This activity sheet also includes a comment area for peer review.
Boxes and Bullets Persuasive Essay Outline | RTF
Boxes and Bullets Persuasive Essay Outline | PDF
Boxes and Bullets Persuasive Essay Outline | Preview
Persuasive Essay Examples – Sometimes it’s easier to spot other’s mistakes than one’s own mistakes. This persuasive essay worksheet tests that idea. Students read two persuasive essay examples and identify problems with each. Then, they answer a serious of questions to help them evaluate and improve each essay.
Persuasive Essay Examples | RTF
Persuasive Essay Examples | PDF
Persuasive Essay Examples | Preview
Persuasive Essay Rubric– Here’s a rubric that I’ve used to grade my students’ five-paragraph persuasive essays. This also includes a handout on the structural order of a cookie-cutter persuasive essay.
Persuasive Essay Rubric | RTF
Persuasive Essay Rubric | PDF
Persuasive Essay Rubric | Preview
Typed Persuasive Essay Rubric – Here’s yet another rubric I’ve used to grade my students’ five-paragraph persuasive essays. This one is set up for a typed assignment and includes formatting fields designed to prepare students for MLA format.
Typed Persuasive Essay Rubric | RTF
Typed Persuasive Essay Rubric | PDF
Typed Persuasive Essay Rubric | Preview
Looking For Something Else?
Persuasive Essay Topics
How to Write Persuasive Essays
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Research Paper Topics
Michele
/ May 15, 2016Excellent resources for both teachers and students; thank you for all your hard work!
I. Barrett
/ March 26, 2016I find the worksheets here extremely helpful and easy to follow. Great to use with my students!
Teri
/ January 2, 2016Thank you so much for sharing. I teach a college success course for first-time-in-college students and will use your worksheets.
Kim
/ November 9, 2015Love it!
Irving Echevarria
/ September 24, 2015I’m a middle school teacher and this site is a life saver. I use other sites, but always come back to this one. It’s so helpful, the vocabulary level is great, and has all the skills I have to give.
J.C.
/ July 23, 2014Mr. Morton could be so good as to explain why there are no grade levels noted for Persuasive Essay Worksheets? I notice this on quite a few other pages as well and would very much like to understand why the grade levels aren’t posted on everything.
Thank you for your time.
Mr. Morton
/ July 23, 2014Hello:
I try to put reading levels on the worksheets when there is a sufficient amount of text to scan for it.
I use this website to do so: https://readability-score.com/.
I like this tool because it uses a variety of measures and is open source. If I have not added reading level scores to the assignments in question, it is either because I haven’t found time or there is not enough readable text on the page to accurately scan.
Best wishes!
Alison
/ May 21, 2014This is a very useful website! notes are precise and clear. Worksheets are practical and they come with variety.
Thank you so much!
Mr. Morton
/ May 21, 2014Thank you so much for saying so.
Cheyenne
/ March 20, 2014This is a very useful to know as a teacher and I appreciate the knowledge you are sharing with us on your website. I would like you to continue posting lessons so I can exceed my goals as a teacher and help my students grow and reach their standards . Thank you very much. You have given me hope as a teacher again.
Mr. Morton
/ April 21, 2014Thank you for taking the time to comment.
I am committed to continuing to improve
this site in the years that follow
so long as I am able.
Aj
/ March 20, 2014This is great to know as a teacher.
dheer bhanushali
/ March 3, 2014Thank you for putting this great resource together
Laura Rued
/ February 9, 2014This website is amazing, thanks for sharing!!
Victoria Allen
/ January 17, 2014Thank you so very much for sharing your materials and making them so accessible. It’s just what I needed. What a time saver to be able to have these available!
merna
/ October 10, 2013Exactly what I’ve been looking for. Very helpful indeed.
Lucy
/ September 15, 2013I was looking for a new way to approach this topic as, after 20 years, I am a bit over it. This was very helpful. Thanks very much.
Ense
/ June 18, 2013thank you for sharing ! will definitely continue to use
Briana
/ May 22, 2013Thank you for the great resources that you have made available! I look forward to using them with my English class!
Mithali
/ May 21, 2013Thanks for the great work…and sharing it!!
Nicole
/ April 29, 2013Thank you for putting this great resource together. It has been an enormous help to my class.
mr liew
/ April 10, 2013Thank you very much Mr Morton, blessed be for sharing your materials 🙂
It is very useful 🙂
Mr. Morton
/ April 10, 2013Thank you so much.
Please visit again,
and best wishes!
kietha
/ April 6, 2013This was spectacular! I’m a science teacher and this was so helpful for us as we wrote persuasive arguments.
Mr. Morton
/ May 1, 2013I’m pleased to hear that the site is cross-curricular now. 😀 Best wishes!
Nicole
/ March 10, 2013Very helpful information….thanks!!
Karen
/ February 20, 2013Thank you for this material, really useful and well planned out.
Kashmala Khan
/ February 17, 2013These websites are very informative.And as a student I considered these pages very helpful.
Elsie Gonzalez
/ January 8, 2013This website is awesome!!! Thanks
Ruth Vanderlinde
/ November 20, 2012FANTASTIC…..thank you.
Drechelle
/ November 15, 2012Great information!
Kristie
/ November 14, 2012All of your material is so helpful in preparing lessons for my special needs students. Thanks for the work you have put into these lessons and for sharing them.
Mr. Morton
/ December 2, 2012Thank you for visiting.
Joey
/ May 9, 2021Sir，where i can get answer for check？
Kristen
/ October 14, 2012Thanks once again!! Although we aren’t being tested on the ISAT for writing, our district uses Metritech to asses our kids twice a year so we still have a big emphasis on writing.
Pauline
/ July 26, 2012These are great! I’m tutoring writing for the first time and this will really help.
Mary
/ July 10, 2012Thank you so very much for making these available! My students will greatly benefit from these resources next year!
Amber
/ May 24, 2012Thank you! This was a great help to me in the teaching of students! This was one of the hardest topics for me to teach in Communication Arts.
Alice
/ May 20, 2012These are very useful, thank you.
kholoud alchammat
/ May 15, 2012thanx alot its realy useful
Jenifer
/ May 9, 2012I love what you have done with this project. It is very helpful! Thank you so much for making it available to me. This is the first time I will have taught the persuasive writing style. I am thankful to you for making your worksheets available to me as teaching aids.
wanda
/ April 23, 2012This was great….very helpful.
MARRY
/ April 14, 2012it is very help full to me
Donyale
/ March 26, 2012Thank you so much!!!! I have been using these resources for my college level developmental reading students! AWESOME website! 🙂
Karen
/ March 9, 2012THANK YOU!!!! I used every bit of this. Wonderful job!
Joanne
/ February 27, 2012Thanks they are wonderful resources.
Ms. J
/ February 26, 2012Your website is the BEST! I love the format of being able to use online or via WORD/PDF files! You did not miss a beat when it comes to reading, writing, grammar, persuasive topics++++! This site is the BEST kept online secret. I have searched and looked for educational support, but I always run into sites where I have to “PAY” to educate my students. I thought I had paid when I went to college to become an educator and received my tuition bills…lol. Thank you soooooo much for this blessing!
Mr. Morton
/ March 3, 2012Thank you for saying so. I appreciate your visits.
James
/ January 9, 2012This was verrrrry beneficial. And thank you for letting me use it.
Cathie
/ December 12, 2011Extremely useful. Thank you very much.
C. Santacruz
/ December 9, 2011thank you so much! it’s my first year teaching 8th grade comp. The information you provide is awesome. great help!
Mr. Morton
/ December 14, 2011I’d love to add some more materials, but I haven’t done much in terms of writing with my students since they stopped testing in Illinois (*gulp*).
Jeannette
/ November 27, 2011These pages were great! Thank you!
Heather
/ November 13, 2011These are very helpful- thank you
Pam
/ November 1, 2011Thank you for all the hard work that you have put into this material. Also thank you for allow others to borrow some of your material.
MS. GARCIA
/ October 11, 2011EXCELLENT LESSON MATERIAL
Kim
/ October 10, 2011Great ideas.
mariam
/ June 2, 2018no its not
Stacey
/ February 28, 2011THIS WAS VERY BENEFICIAL