Let’s take a minute to review what we know about persuasive essays before you begin thinking about revising your essay.

A persuasive essay is an argumentative essay, and to effectively persuade your audience to your point of view, you have to give them compelling reasons backed up by evidence. However, every argument has a counterargument, which is the argument adopted by the opposing side. When each side’s position is stated clearly and with ample evidence, the reader can fully understand what is at stake in the argument. Let’s look at a typical argument between a parent and teen.

How effective was the teen’s counterargument, “But, Mom!”? It wasn’t effective at all, right? That wasn’t a counterargument so much as a plea, which did the teen no good. What if the conversation had gone like this instead?

This time, the teen responded to her mother’s objection by making a counterargument and providing evidence to back it up. Now practice identifying counterarguments. Use the pull-down menu to decide which counterargument best addresses each argument.

Thesis: Spaying and neutering my pet is not necessary.

The goal of a persuasive essay is to convince your readers to agree with you. Thus, if you can address their objections or reasons for not agreeing with you, your argument will be all the more convincing. To address your readers’ objections, provide counterarguments backed up by evidence.