The document outlines guidelines for constructing persuasive arguments in a professional context, emphasizing the importance of understanding and respecting the audience's viewpoint while gathering evidence and forming judgments. It provides an assignment requiring a 2- to 3-paragraph essay on a controversial topic, integrating at least two of the eleven guidelines for effective persuasion. The guidelines stress approaches such as beginning from a point of commonality, taking a positive approach, and allowing time for the audience to accept one's perspective.

1. Assignment 3: Persuasion Versus Judgment
Consider various guidelines for approaching controversial
topics, gathering evidence, forming judgments, and constructing
arguments to persuade others to agree with our judgments.
For this short assignment:
Think about the processes of forming a judgment and
persuading others in your professional environment. Construct a
2- to 3-paragraph essay intended to persuade someone to agree
with your position on a particular topic. Be sure to identify the
topic and cite and explain the evidence you consider supportive
of your position.
Make reference to the 11 guidelines for constructing persuasive
arguments, and apply two to three of them in your response.
GUIDELINE 1: RESPECT YOUR AUDIENCE
This guideline may sound idealistic, but it is eminently
practical. If you believe the people you are trying to persuade
are doltish or intellectually dishonest, you are bound to betray
that belief, if not directly then indirectly in your tone or choice
of words. Moreover, they will generally sense your disparaging
view of them and feel hurt or resentful, hardly the kind of
reaction that will make them open to persuasion.
GUIDELINE 2: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE’S
VIEWPOINT
Many people make the mistake of thinking that knowing their
own viewpoint is all that is necessary to be persuasive. “What
my readers think about the issue is really irrelevant,” they
reason. “All that matters is what I’m going to get them to
think.” In addition to being pompous, this attitude ignores two
crucial points. First, people’s views matter very much to them,
and when others refuse to acknowledge this fact they feel
offended. Second, we must know where people stand before we
can hope to reach them.
Situation 1: You are writing for a single reader who has

2. presented his or her ideas in an article, book, speech, or
conversation. Review what your reader said, noting not only the
person’s position but also the reasoning that supports it.
Determine both the strengths and the weaknesses of the person’s
position.
Situation 2: You are writing for a single reader who has not, to
your knowledge, expressed a view on the issue in
question. Suppose, for example, you are writing a letter to the
president of a company objecting to
GUIDELINE 3: BEGIN FROM A POSITION YOU HAVE IN
COMMON WITH YOUR READERS
Beginning from a position of agreement with your reader is not
an arbitrary requirement or a matter of courtesy or good form. It
is a simple matter of psychology. If you begin by saying—in
effect, if not directly—”Look here, you are wrong, and I’m
going to show you,” you push your readers to defensive if not
outright hostile reactions. They are likely to read the rest of
your paper thinking not of what you are saying but of ways to
refute it, concerned with measuring only the weaknesses of your
argument. And if they are unreasonable and unbalanced in their
reading, the fault will be more yours than theirs.
GUIDELINE 4: TAKE A POSITIVE APPROACH
Whenever possible, build your case rather than tearing down the
opposing case. To say you should never expose the weaknesses
of the opposing side of the issue would be an
oversimplification, and a foolish one at that. There are times
when examining such weaknesses is the only responsible course
of action. Keep in mind, however, that direct criticism of the
opposing view will always seem harsher than it is to people who
share that view, a brief criticism will seem protracted, and the
mere perception that you are being negative will make your
readers defensive. The solution is not to be so timid that you
don’t say anything meaningful but to be sensitive to your
readers’ reactions.

3. GUIDELINE 5: UNDERSTATE YOUR ARGUMENT
WHENEVER POSSIBLE
The sharpest points of disagreement between you and your
readers should always be approached most carefully. These
points represent the greatest obstacle to persuasion. If you
overstate your position, you are bound to reinforce your
readers’ conviction about their position rather than dispose
them to question their conviction. The student who wrote the
following passage made this blunder:
GUIDELINE 6: CONCEDE WHERE THE OPPOSING SIDE
HAS A POINT
The natural tendency of all of us to value our own position too
highly makes it difficult for us to admit that opposing views
may also have merit. Overcoming this tendency can be
accomplished only by remembering that in most controversial
issues no one side possesses the total truth. If you can approach
controversial issues with this thought, you are likely to grasp
more of the total truth and to attract reasonable readers to your
position.
GUIDELINE 7: DON’T IGNORE ANY RELEVANT FACTS
In studying an issue, we sometimes uncover facts that support
the opposing position rather than our own. The temptation is
strong to ignore them, especially if the other person has
apparently not discovered them. Using them, it would seem,
could only weaken our position.
However, the purpose of argument is not to defeat others but,
through the exchange of views, to discover the truth in all its
complexity. When that happens, everyone wins. When any part
of the truth is hidden, no one wins, even though it may appear
that someone does. By presenting all the facts, even those that
force you to modify your position, you impress your readers
with your objectivity and honesty and invite them to show
theirs.

4. GUIDELINE 8: DON’T OVERWHELM YOUR READERS
WITH ARGUMENTS
In controversial matters, no paper under, say, 3,000 words is
likely to be definitive. Moreover, no serious writer would
attempt to convey the impression that it is. Of necessity it
contains selected evidence. On the surface it would seem that
this would give more reason to fill the paper to overflowing
with evidence for one’s position, to make it as nearly definitive
as possible. But on reflection it is clear that the readers’
impression must also be considered. What is the impression of
those who read a composition that they know cannot possibly be
definitive but is devoted to arguing one side of an issue, piling
detail on detail, example on example, without even implying
that there is another side to the issue? There is no question that
they will regard such a composition as one-
sided and unbalanced! The way to avoid such an unfavorable
reader reaction is to present only those arguments and that
evidence that you feel are most relevant and most persuasive.
GUIDELINE 9: FOCUS ON THE ARGUMENT BEST
CALCULATED TO PERSUADE YOUR AUDIENCE
Different arguments appeal to different readers. Just as it is
important to understand your readers’ viewpoints on the issue,
it is important to use arguments that will appeal to them. To
ignore their frames of reference and choose arguments that you
yourself find persuasive is a mistake.
GUIDELINE 10: NEVER USE AN ARGUMENT YOU DO NOT
BELIEVE IS SOUND OR RELEVANT
This guideline should be understood as a qualification of the
previous one. Sincerity and regard for the truth are among the
most important characteristics of a writer. Without them there is
no real persuasion, only clever presentation. Therefore, if you
truly believe that only one argument is worthy of consideration,
then by all means use only that argument. This dilemma,

5. however, is not likely to arise very often. In most cases, you
will be able to choose among a variety of arguments without
compromising your integrity.
GUIDELINE 11: ALLOW TIME FOR YOUR VIEW TO GAIN
ACCEPTANCE
It may be tempting to believe that when you present your view,
your readers will immediately abandon their own and embrace
yours. That expectation is unrealistic. Except in rare cases, the
best you should hope for is that they will be moved to
reconsider the issue in light of what you said and that your
insights eventually will cause them to modify their view. The
fact that “eventually” may turn out to be next week or next year
rather than five minutes from now is not necessarily a comment
on your skill in persuading others. It may merely reflect the
reality that the bonds people form with their opinions are not
easily broken.
Use the following summary of the guidelines for persuasion as a
checklist whenever you wish to present your ideas persuasively:
1. Respect your audience.
2. Understand your audience’s viewpoint.
3. Begin from a position you have in common with your
readers.
4. Take a positive approach.
5. Understate your argument whenever possible.
6. Concede where the opposing side has a point.
7. Don’t ignore any relevant facts.
8. Don’t overwhelm your readers with arguments.
9. Focus on the argument best calculated to persuade your
audience.
10. Never use an argument you do not believe is sound or
relevant.
11. Allow time for your view to gain acceptance.
Next we’ll compare a persuasive composition with an
unpersuasive one to see how these guidelines apply.

6. Ruggiero, V. (02/2011). Beyond Feelings: A Guide to Critical
Thinking, 9th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf Online].
Retrieved from
https://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu/#/books/1260050939/
Assignment 3: Persuasion Versus Judgment
Consider various guidelines for approaching controversial
topics, gathering evidence, forming judgments, and constructing
arguments to persuade others to agree with our judgments.
For this short assignment:
Think about the processes of forming a judgment and
persuading others in your professional environment. Construct a
2- to 3-paragraph essay intended to persuade someone to agree
with your position on a particular topic. Be sure to identify the
topic and cite and explain the evidence you consider supportive
of your position.
Make reference to the 11 guidelines for constructing persuasive
arguments, and apply two to three of them in your response.
You must cite the source of information you use. Apply current
APA standards for editorial style, expression of ideas, and
format of text, citations, and references.
Assignment 3 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points
Clearly and concisely identified a topic and explained a
position.
12
Accurately applied at least two guidelines for constructing
arguments in your response.
48
Offered and explained supporting evidence.
20
Applied current APA standards for editorial style, expression of
ideas, and format of text, citations, and references.
Professionally presented the position by using good grammar,
spelling, and punctuation.

7. 20
Total:
100