High School Persuasive Essay Topics: How To Come Up With A Good One


The power of persuasion is often displayed by speakers in during public presentations. The body language is a large part of their ability to persuade but when it comes to writing a persuasive essay, there’s no body language involved so the student has to find ways to make their argument even more persuasive through words.

To add it’s also somewhat challenging to come up with a topic to work from. Here the student will see how to put both of them together by showing how they can come up with a good topic.

Sticking To The Basics

It’s said that it’s better to start researching before writing the paper. But there are so many drafts to complete sometimes that research is on going. And there’s not right or wrong way to conduct this research. It all depends on the student’s style. Here are some of the basics to getting a good topic.

  • Topic Of Interest
  • Interview People
  • Brainstorm Session
Topic Of Interest

One could think of this as a play on words of the phrase ‘person of interest’ where those investigating a crime might not be able to ‘shake’ a person of interest from their minds. This is also what the student who’s having problems coming up with a topic should consider too. From the beginning they should be looking at a topic that interests them that they can start with.

For the time being it doesn’t have to be so specific, however the point is to eventually narrow down that topic to something specific. But quite often the student spends more time looking away from their interest and what might impress the teacher or other students. It’s better to follow through with something the student has invested more time in.

Interview People

This is another way to begin looking for a topic in the early process of putting the paper together. The student can set aside some time and scribble down some questions or make some notes of what they want to know as part of their investigation. Then, they can turn it into a fun activity where they go around and ask their friends and others those questions and record the answers.

It’s a lot like being a reporter and being prepared to get answers of different types from everyone. This will eventually form the topic or inspire a new one depending on the responses.

Brainstorm session

If the student prefers to work by themselves, then there is nothing better than making notes of different thoughts that come to the student when they sit down and begin writing down questions for themselves.

This could also be mixed in with drawing up an outline that would serve as the beginning of the essay. The topics would be written out and after a period of evaluation, the student will find themselves with some topics they can sort through and select the right one.

Turning In the Paper

The fact is that up until the paper is turned in, the student will be refining and tightening up the topic. Which is why it’s a good idea to get started early. That way the changes will be few towards the end. By the time it’s already turned in, the student would have felt that they spent enough time with the topic to know that it’s a good one.