The persuasive research essay (1100 words) reflects your stance on a topic. In this essay, you are asked to not only write to provide your reader with information but to affect your reader’s thinking on an issue (i.e., persuade your reader). In a persuasive essay, you should anticipate and address the arguments of the other side using facts and logic, without attempting to argue both sides of the issue. A good persuasive essay relies very little on the expression of one’s own opinion; it is through the presentation of facts and logic and the writer’s skilled use of a persuasive rhetorical style that persuasiveness is achieved.