Use a statistic, tell a short story or use an interest-grabbing statement to begin your paper. For example, if you are writing to persuade the state legislature to increase funding for research on a disease, use a statistic showing how many people in your state pass away each year from that disease. End the paragraph with a sentence that is your basic argument, or your thesis, stated clearly and concisely. For example, write, "It is important to at least double the funding currently allocated in our state for skin cancer research."
Write a topic sentence for the next paragraph that will clearly support your thesis statement. Use factual, anecdotal or logical evidence to back up your supporting topic sentence. For example, "Increasing funding for skin cancer research will likely decrease state healthcare costs when effective disease prevention methods are uncovered from the research." Then back this statement up with evidence from another state that funded research for a disease that led to a breakthrough and fewer people with that disease requiring care.
Begin each new paragraph in the body of the paper with a topic sentence that summarizes a new aspect of your argument. Provide evidence for the topic sentences in the rest of each paragraph. For example, "If the state government demonstrates a financial commitment to finding causes and treatments for skin cancer, corporate and private donors may be encouraged to back the cause with their funds as well. In Nevada, for example, when the state government funded Skin Cancer Research Foundation with $1 million in grant money five years ago, several corporations in the state took notice and followed up with a total of $2 million in donations the next year."
Write a third argument for your thesis if possible. For example, write, "If skin cancer research is funded by the state, the positive effects will spread far and wide in the future. In the 1990's, a focus on AIDS research by localities around the world led to a global campaign to help prevent the disease once it was known how to best prevent it. The same can be done with skin cancer research to help prevent and treat it."
List your arguments in a logical order, beginning with the strongest argument first and working to the weakest. If you have to keep your paper to a certain number of pages or words, choose the most important supporting statements to include.
Include counterarguments and show why your thesis is still the answer to the problem. For example, write "The state's recent budget cuts are such that funding skin cancer research may seem an unwise financial move. However, the state will more than recoup the costs of funding research when it sees a drastic reduction in the amount of people in the hospital with skin cancer."
Conclude by restating your thesis and summarizing your supporting arguments. Ask your readers to take take the action you want them to take.