Audience

Clearly defining your audience is a key to success with your convincing essay. Remember, your audience for this essay will almost certainly be different than your audience for your persuading essay.

Who do you want to convince? It's easiest to convince an audience that is slightly antagonistic to your view or that is neutral on the topic. It's harder to convince readers who adamantly oppose your position, but you're welcome to take on that challenge. "Preaching to the choir" or writing to convince readers who already agree with you often seems pointless to writers, and these audiences don't tend to inspire particularly effective essays.