It’s easy to assume that an argumentative essay is synonymous to persuasive essay writing because they both convince your audience to agree with your point of view.
But the two are different not only in terms of purpose but also in terms of the tone used in writing and the expected results.
In this comparison post, we’ll tell you the difference between persuasive and argumentative essay, our goal being to help you approach both assignments the right way.
What is an Argumentative Essay?
An argumentative essay writing is an assignment that requires students to pick a topic, investigate it, collect and evaluate evidence, choose a position, and then defend their stand.
For an essay to be considered argumentative, it must be clear and concise and feature a logical transition between the introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion.
Argumentative essays require evidential support, which can be either factual, statistical, historical, or logical.
What is a Persuasive Essay?
A persuasive essay is an assignment written to persuade.
An author uses first and second person point of view to express their conviction in a way that shows their thinking is the best.
Persuasive writing tends to be somewhat aggressive in approach, but in most cases, it tends to be emotional, passionate, and personal.
Argumentative vs Persuasive Essay
Let’s take a closer look on argumentative vs persuasive essay below.
Keep in mind that this guide focuses mostly on the differences between the two types of essays.
Differences in Starting Point
You’re going to put very little work to persuasive essay writing and therefore you’ll find it easier to write. That’s because it has quite a simpler starting point.
When it comes to writing this essay, all you have to do is to identify the topic you’d like to cover and choose your side.
An argumentative essay is completely different in terms of its starting point. You have to choose a topic, research it in-depth, and then decide which side you’d like to support using reasonable and sufficient evidence.
Differences in Writing Technique
|
Argumentative Essay |
Persuasive Essay |
|---|---|
| Author use reasons, concrete facts, and sufficient evidence to demonstrate that they have a valid point to make | Will combine facts with subjective emotions to communicate. The goal is convince a reader that that the author is right |
| An author uses logic to write the essay so that it’s easily debatable | Based on emotions |
| In argumentative essay writing, the author recognizes the possibility of opposing claims | In persuasive writing, an author completely ignores the possibility of counter claims |
| A writer will evaluate and compare several ideas and use the relevant ones to establish their position | Mostly present only the ideas that the author can use to establish their position |
| While the writer presents two sides of the argument, they make it clear which side they’re on | It’s the kind of an assignment where an author presents their side alone and want readers to agree with hi m or her |
| In addition to providing claims, the author combines each arguable claim with evidence to make their statements clear | While an author makes claims, they don’t provide any evidence to support their statement |
Difference in Tone
Argumentative essay writing requires an authoritative tone in order to make your ideas clear.
To demonstrate your authoritativeness on the topic, and to prove to the reader that you can argue your points, you need to use a formal tone as well as the right language to complete the essay.
More often than not, your arguments have to reflect a consistent use of a somewhat complex language, as it’s necessary to fill the assignment with the technical terms related to the subject.
It’s a completely different case in persuasive writing.
Here’s where you write as if you’re talking a friend, and therefore you can use a more relaxed tone that identifies with your readers’ emotions, sense of humor, intelligence, and sometimes ego.
Difference in Purpose
The purpose of persuasive writing is to express your thoughts and beliefs in hope to convince your audience to share your point of view.
You may have a claim in persuasive writing, but there are often no solid and undeniable facts to present so as to defend your position.
For what it’s worth, especially since the primary goal is to sway the reader in hope that they either agree with you or take an action, often a persuasive essay tends to use a non-formal kind of debate and emotional appeal.
The purpose of an argument is completely different. Authors need to invest in research and come up with compelling arguments to defend their positions.
Instead of swaying your audience, you present the evidence for or against an argument and let your audience decides whether to take your stand or to write off your argument completely.
Difference in Conclusion
In argumentative essay writing, your conclusion should demonstrate two things.
First, demonstrate the position you take in the argument, and second, let the reader know that they can recognize other point of view.
By doing so, you not only demonstrate that you put effort in researching your topic but also establish that your stand is the best among all in relation to the topic in question.
The conclusion of a persuasive essay isn’t as robust and may not even be as convincing.
First, the end of the essay tries to put a reader in the position to accept that an author’s thoughts are the only source of information on the subject in question.
In a way, the assumption is that the author expects the reader will recognize and agree with their stand.
Argumentative vs Persuasive Essay: Get Writing Help
Let’s face it:
Writing an argumentative or persuasive essay isn’t always as easy, especially if you have so many other assignments to complete.
If we’re being honest, sometimes the best way to beat your deadline is to seek academic writing help.
At Help for Assessment, we invest a lot of time and resources to help students understand, complete, and submit their essays on time.
So if you don’t have the time to complete the papers yourself, and you need help from an academic writing service that has written thousands of essays already, you can count on us to help you complete the work.