Opinion Essay

Opinions essays are the most fun essays to write! They are a chance for you to talk about whatever you want, without having to be objective. In fact, they are specifically meant to be subjective. The trick is to balance expressing what you believe with factual arguments that support your point of view. Some keys to writing a successful opinion essay include choosing a topic you know a lot about, representing an opinion that is held widely enough that you will be able to find plenty of sources to back you up, and using a persuasive tone rather than sounding like a lecture or a rant.

Taking Time to Peruse Opinion Essay Examples

Opinion essay examples are easy to find. To see perfect examples of opinion essays that have received very high marks in an academic setting, read through those available from BookwormLab.com. If you’re looking for examples of certain elements of opinion essays, like how to articulate an argument convincingly, you might want to read editorials in local or national newspapers. Though the overall format is very different from what you need, these are good sources for learning how professional opinion writers choose syntax and diction to get a point across clearly even to a potential non-receptive audience.

Opinion Essay Topics: Write what You Know

As we said before, choosing an opinion essay topic you know a lot about is very important. It will also be much easier to write about a topic you are passionate about. Choosing a topic that is relevant to the current political environment may be more interesting to your reader; writing about whether abortion or capital punishment should be legal have been exhausted as opinion essay topics and unless you have incredibly novel information to add, will not interest your reader.

Some Interesting Topics Include:

• We are becoming more dependent on computers: This is bad for society.
• Medical marijuana has great therapeutic potential: It should be legal.
• The radiation from cell phones is dangerous: Using a blue tooth should be mandatory.

Building on an Opinion Essay Outline

An important point of making a convincing argument is to follow a logical structure. If you lose your reader’s attention or do not transition logically from one point to the next, you are unlikely to convince the reader successfully. An opinion essay outline looks much like a traditional essay outline. Start with an introduction where you lay out what you are about to argue, clearly. Follow with three arguments. Each argument should be completely independent and supported with multiple, credible sources.

Unless you have been given a particular number of supporting arguments to make, three is a good number—more loses audience attention, and fewer is not convincing enough. If you are given a length requirement but not a number of arguments requirement, adjust how many sources you use for each of your three supporting points, and how in depth you go to justify each one. Summarize your argument and repeat your thesis in the conclusion. Related readings: more about how to write essay papers, five paragraph essay papers and argumentative essay writing assistance.

Sticking to Your Opinion Essay Format

Your opinion essay format should suit either your teacher’s instructions, or the style guide of the periodical in which you would like to be published.

Popular Styles Include:

• MLA
• APA
• Chicago
• AP
• and more.

BookwormLab.com can help you write according to any of these styles and more. No matter what style you need, BookwormLab.com can make sure your essay is correct, start to finish.