ARGUE/PERSUADE NON-FICTION WRITING
How to write openings and closings for argue/persuade non-fiction - part 2
This is part 2 of a 2-part guide on writing the openings and closings for non-fiction texts with an argue/persuade purpose. In the first part of the guide, we ran through the essential information on why openings and closing are so important, as well as outlining how the type of text will affect the way you write the opening. In this guide we’ll look at the three types of opening/closing in more detail, with examples of each. This guide has been split into two parts because this is second part is the one you are most likely to want to re-read multiple times as you prepare to write these kinds of texts in exams.
This guide is part of the Argue/persuade non-fiction writing series:
How to write openings and closings for argue/persuade non-fiction - part 1
How to write openings and closings for argue/persuade non-fiction - part 2
How to write an opinion paragraph for argue/persuade non-fiction
The three example questions that this guide will use
Here are the three example questions which we will use for the remainder of this guide. They were first introduced in part 1 of the guide.
Example question 1 – a speech about over-protective parents
“Parents today are over-protective. They should let their children take part in adventurous, even risky, activities to prepare them for later life.”
Write a speech to an audience of teenagers in which you argue for or against this statement.
Example question 2 – a letter to a head teacher about the school toilets
“The toilets in schools are one of the most over-used and under-maintained parts of the building. They should be much better looked after.”
Write a letter to a head teacher in which argue you for better toilet facilities in your school.
Example question 3 – an article about the superficiality of dating
“Dating today is more superficial than ever thanks to dating apps. Unless we change this, it will always be extremely hard for disabled people to find love.”
Write an article for a broadsheet newspaper in which you argue your point of view in response to this statement.
Exploring our three types of opening/closing, with examples of each type
Before we go any further, it’s worth saying that these are not the only ways you can start this kind of piece. If you read argue/persuade non-fiction regularly, as you should, then you will certainly encounter openings like these – very often, in fact – but you will also encounter argue/persuade pieces which start in other ways. However, we recommend these three opening types as a straightforward way for less confident writers to get started. If you feel confident and want to start your piece in a different way, that’s perfectly fine, though you should still aim to link back to your opening near the end of your piece.
With this caveat in place, let’s look at our three types of opening in more detail, with three examples of each. It is through looking at examples like these that you will best get a sense of how these openings work and how they should sound, including for different text types. Take some time to read through them, and feel free to use them to help you create your own openings for the questions you have to answer. That’s why we’ve written them.
Opening type 1: The pop-culture reference
For this type of opening, you choose something from popular culture (TV, films, adverts, the news, social media, YouTube, etc) that relates to your topic, and then use that as a way to introduce the topic and say why it is relevant to people at the moment (that’s where the ‘pop’ part of ‘pop-culture’ comes in). This is very often how newspaper opinion articles begin, so it’s particularly effective for that kind of piece, but it works for other text types too. In an ideal world, you’ll use something that is very current - the more current the better - but you can also use something with more enduring public appeal, like older films that people still watch and remember. In this type of opening, you should not reach any kind of conclusion in relation to the question – that’s what the rest of the article is for. You should simply hint at what you are going to go on to say.
‘The pop-culture reference’ example for the speech about over-protective parents (Example question 1)
The opening
We all have our favourite Christmas films, right? Those ones we watch every year without fail. My own personal favourite is Home Alone. Young Kevin McAllister is accidentally left at home over Christmas while the rest of his gigantic family go on holiday, and there he has to defend himself (and his home) against two nefarious but hapless criminals. Why do I like Home Alone so much? I think it’s because, like so many great films for children, Home Alone is empowering. It says: kids, you can do this. You don’t need adults there to protect you all the time.
The closing
Now, I’m not saying the world would be better if, like the McAllisters in Home Alone, parents failed in their duty of care for children. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something all parents can learn from that film. It is the necessity for self-reliance that really changes Kevin because it’s through necessity that most growth happens. And though I don’t wish that any of you get accidentally left behind on your next family holiday, I do hope that, like Kevin, you get the chance to discover, through self-reliance, that you are capable of more than you know. Thank you for listening.
This first example uses a fairly well-known film, Home Alone, which is about children being self-reliant to introduce an argument that children need to be given more independence. Notice the use of direct address in both the opening and closing - this is because it’s a speech to an audience of teenagers. That’s also why it finishes with “Thank you for listening” - that’s good for a speech closing.
‘The pop-culture reference’ example for the letter to a head teacher about the state of the school toilets (Example question 2)
The opening
Dear Mrs Blunkett
I have always seen you as a rather young and hip headteacher – a child of the 90s, like my own young parents - and, as such, I would imagine you are familiar with the 1999 gross-out comedy American Pie. In it, you probably remember, poor Paul Finch is so terrified of using the school toilets that he literally goes home whenever he needs a poo. That is until Stiffler slips a laxative into his drink, and he has no choice but to use them, with an audience of other pupils to listen in. It is a humiliating experience for Finch and one that came to mind for me last week when I found myself desperate for the toilet in our own school at lunchtime.
The closing
I hope by now it is clear why something needs to be done about the toilets in our school. Nobody should fear using an amenity as essential as a public toilet, not me, not Paul Finch in American Pie, and not any other students in our otherwise lovely school. I look forward to hearing from you soon about the actions that can be taken to improve the state of the school’s toilets.
Yours sincerely
Karen Winkleman
This second example uses another film, American Pie, which has a bit in it about disgusting toilets. It also directly addresses the audience (the head teacher) because it’s a letter. It contains a mix of criticism and flattery, both for the head teacher and the school (“our otherwise lovely school”) - you don’t want to to be too rude if you want the Head teacher to actually listen to you. You need to factor this kind of thing in when you write these pieces. Try to make them sound real and believable. It end with a call to action for the recipient of the letter (“I look forward to hearing from you…etc”).
‘The pop-culture reference’ example for the article about the superficiality of dating (Example question 3)
The opening
When Rose Ayling-Ellis won Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, it felt like a watershed moment for disabled representation. The British public took Ayling-Ellis to their hearts, and her high profile led to an increased awareness of deafness and an uptick in people learning BSL, including lots of children in primary school. This is all for the good, of course, but as well as being deaf, Ayling-Ellis also happens to be both young and beautiful. Would she still have won Strictly without these extra privileges? I’m not so sure.
The closing
In the end, whether we’re prepared to admit it or not, dating is always going to be at least somewhat about beauty. And, for some of us – whether we’re disabled or not - this is always going to be a stumbling block. If we all looked like Rose Ayling-Ellis, we wouldn’t need to worry, but success in love, like success in Strictly, requires certain privileges. And that’s never going to change.
This final example uses a slightly different kind of pop-culture reference - this time a TV show. It’s an article so there is no direct address to the reader, though it does use positioning to group the reader and the writer together (“we”).
Avoid obscure references
One last thing to say before we move on. If you do use a pop-culture reference, make sure it’s not too obscure. It needs to be something that is sufficiently well-known that your marker (and the audience you are writing for in the task) is likely to understand it. The bad example below does not work because it requires too much prior understanding from the audience - it’s unlikely an audience of teenagers would know the work of Henry David Thoreau.
A bad example of ‘the pop-culture reference’ that is too obscure to work
Parents today are over-protective. Can you imagine how different things would have been for Henry David Thoreau if he’d been brought up by 21st century parents? He’d never have gone to the woods. He’d never have written those books. He’d never have discovered the importance of living life deliberately. And, perhaps more importantly, you and I wouldn’t have wept over the end of Dead Poets Society. No Captain, My Captain.
(If you do happen to understand any of the references in that paragraph, you can give yourself a pat on the back.)
Opening type 2: The anecdote
This is probably the easiest type of opening to do. You begin by telling a little story that relates to the topic in the question, either from your own life or from the life of someone you are close to. You can make it up, but it needs to be presented as something that really happened. You can use devices from narrative writing like description and even direct speech to make it more vivid. Through the telling of your little story (your anecdote), you create a springboard for explaining your views on the topic. You use it to ‘show’ your opinion before ‘telling’ it in the body of your piece. In this type of opening, you should not reach any kind of conclusion in relation to the question – that’s what the rest of the article is for. You should simply hint at what you are going to go on to say.
We saw two examples of this kind of opening in part 1 of this guide, and these are repeated below, just so you’ve got them all in one place. There’s also a new example for the question about school toilets.
‘The anecdote’ example for the speech about over-protective parents (Example question 1) - repeated from part 1 of this guide
The opening
Like many of you, I grew up in Southend, and once, when I was about nine, I saw a car driving through Friars Park. It was this rusty Vauxhall Nova, driven by some youths, and it literally drove over the hill in the park, its tyres churning up the sodden April grass, and my friends and I practically had to dive out of the way. We were appalled! A car in our park! It simply wouldn’t do. Aged nine, my friends and I had a keen sense of injustice, so we decided to investigate and bring the reprobates responsible to justice. For the remainder of the day, we walked the mean streets of Shoeburyness, searching for that rusty Vauxhall Nova. With little thought to our own personal safety, we trudged through the backstreets and estates, even climbing over the railway line at one point in our nine-year-old zeal for justice. This is how childhood ought to be – a giddy, joyous, outside time, spent adventuring around the neighbourhood, untethered and autonomous – but this doesn’t seem possible anymore, not for your generation.
The closing
In case you were wondering, we never found the rusty Vauxhall Nova on that April day back in the mists of time. We never found the justice we craved. But I learnt something about failure that day. And I learnt something about what it feels like to be a man. It makes me sad that so many young people like you today won’t get to experience that feeling. Thank you for listening.
This example uses an anecdote about a childhood experience as a way to ‘show’ the audience that children used to have a lot more freedom than they do today. It is for a speech, so it uses direct address and assumes the audience are teenagers (e.g. “not for your generation”). It ends with “Thank you for listening” because that’s good for a speech.
‘The anecdote’ example for the letter to a head teacher about the state of the school toilets (Example question 2)
The opening
Dear Mrs Blunkett
Last week, at lunch, I found myself in the toilets at the end of the science corridor. It was not far from the bell, and I was, if you’ll excuse the colloquial expression, busting. This is not an ideal position for anyone to be in in a public toilet, but as luck would have it, only one of the three cubicles was in use that day, so I thought I might be alright. I rushed to the nearest one, only to find two sodden toilet rolls stuffed into its bowl. At least there was the third cubicle, I thought, but as I went to open the door, I could already see the toilet water seeping underneath it. It was blocked too, though this time by something more natural, though not more pleasant to look at. (I expect a boy was to blame.) I knocked politely on the other cubicle door, but its occupant told me, rather impolitely, to F-off.
The closing
I hope from my letter it is clear why something needs to be done about the toilets in our school. In the end last week, I had to pee in the sink. It was a pretty bleak experience, I’m sure you can imagine, and not one that anybody at our lovely school should ever have to endure. I look forward to hearing from you soon about the actions that can be taken to improve the state of the school’s toilets.
Yours sincerely
Karen Winkleman
This example uses a more straightforward anecdote. It is a more recent story which again ‘shows’ rather than ‘tells’ the writer’s issues with the school toilets. Like the previous letter example it mixes flattery and directness in its tone, and it is purposefully lighthearted. Like the last example, it ends with a call to action for the recipient of the letter.
‘The anecdote’ example for the article about the superficiality of dating (Example question 3) - repeated from part 1 of this guide
The opening
My record streak for unreciprocated swipe-rights on Tinder is thirty-seven. The app doesn’t track these things, thank God, but I do – in my heart. All thirty-seven came on one dark and stormy night, emotionally-speaking at least. With each unreciprocated swipe, each minor rejection, I thought I’d hit rock bottom, the Mariana Trench of self-loathing, only to discover that, in fact, self-loathing has no bottom. It was nearly enough for me to give up on the whole damn thing. And I don’t just mean Tinder, I mean love. I felt that hope died that night.
The closing
I didn’t give up on Tinder (or love) after my dark night of the soul, though I felt sure I would. In fact, when I woke up in the morning, I found I’d had a middle-of-the-night match, and suddenly hope lived. That’s the thing about hope – it’s hard to kill. So let’s all hold onto the hope that these problems can be solved, and that love finally can be accessible to all.
The final example is an anecdote for an article. Notice the lack of direct address - there are no assumptions made here about who the audience is or what their own experiences are. It uses the anecdote to ‘show’ the idea that dating is hard for everyone and can be very stressful. This would be a key component of the argument in the overall piece.
Opening type 3: The opinion
This opening type should be seen as your backup option if you can’t work out a way to do either of the other options. It can be very effective, but it is the one opening type that comes at the topic directly, so it’s less creative than the other two types, and as such, it requires good writing to make it successful.
In essence, for this kind of opening, you need to set out your overall opinion in as strong and impactful a way as possible, ideally with some kind of humorous or provocative angle, probably through hyperbole, or by saying something thoughtful and interesting, or by using rhetorical devices deliberately and effectively.
Below are three examples of this for our three questions.
‘The opinion’ example for the speech about over-protective parents (Example question 1)
The opening
Nowadays, young people like you are these delicate little snowflakes who bruise more easily than a ripe peach. You say words are ‘violence’ and you claim that you don’t feel ‘safe’ because you’re worried that someone might say something mean to you. No wonder you’re all going through a never-ending mental health crisis! It must be exhausting, being so fragile. It’s not your fault, though. Your generation are the victims, here, and not the perpetrators. You’re only like that because you’ve been coddled. Coddled by my generation. We are the villains of this piece.
The closing
When I was young, my generation were taught the mantra “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” We had it etched indelibly into our minds. Words were not ‘violence’; actions were. But then we grew up and decided to throw away our parents’ advice and tell the next generation - your generation - something different. So, on behalf of my generation, I apologise. Please, throw away our advice and start afresh with your own kids. They’ll be all the better for it. Thank you.
This opinion opening is deliberately provocative about its audience - teenagers - to shock them, before going on to absolve them of blame. It’s not just a vague or uncertain opinion - it’s very strong and firm, which is what you need for this kind of opening. Notice the use of positioning, with the writer being positioned as a member of the parents’ generation (“we are the villains of this piece”) and the audience being positioned as the victims of that generation’s bad parenting.
‘The opinion’ example for the letter to a head teacher about the state of the school toilets (Example question 2)
The opening
Dear Mrs Blunkett
There is no more terrifying place in school than the toilets. Perhaps you remember this from your own school days. Shut off from the watchful eye of adults, they are the place where bad things happen. The place where kids swear and vape and bully, where the cruel and unkind exercise their awful power, safe from fear of punishment. Maybe you’re okay if you’re big – if you’re one of the cool kids, the hard kids – but if you’re not (and I am not), then the toilets are a terrifying place. They are the one place in school where I feel unsafe, and something needs to be done about this.
The closing
I hope by now it is clear why something needs to be done about the toilets in our school. For kids like me, they are a terrifying place, a place where we do not feel safe. I look forward to hearing from you soon about the actions that can be taken to make them a pleasant place for everyone, including those of us, like me, who are not cool and not hard.
Yours sincerely
Karen Winkleman
The opinion expressed here is less strong than in the first example. This is because, in a letter to the head teacher, you don’t want to be too rude or provocative. However, this example uses various rhetorical techniques like polysyndeton and the rule of three (“swear and vape and bully”) to give it a bit more oomph. Notice also the short, direct opening sentence with a clear opinion stated. This is a good way to begin this kind of opening, and you’ll see another example of this in a minute.
‘The opinion’ example for the article about the superficiality of dating (Example question 3)
The opening
When it comes to love and dating, most people are hypocrites. We are. We espouse these lofty ideals about acceptance and inclusivity for different body shapes and sizes, whinging loudly on social media about toxic body shamers or fashion brands that are insufficiently body diverse. But then we load up Tinder and swipe left on every guy who’s not got big arms, and every girl who’s not showing off her flat midriff. We want the world to be inclusive, while we remain exclusive. We are hypocrites.
The closing
Ultimately, then, it does seem an impossible ask. Of course, we know what’s right, ethically speaking: we know what we should think and how we should act. But so what? That’s not how we’re wired. And no matter how loudly we whinge on social media about toxic body shamers or fashion brands that are insufficiently body diverse, we will still fancy the guy with big arms and the girl with a flat midriff, and there’s nothing we can do to change that. We are doomed to our hypocrisy by our biology.
Like the previous examples, this one begins with a short, strong opening sentence. And, like the first example, it says something deliberately provocative. Notice the positioning, too: this is an article, so the audience could be almost anyone, but it uses “we” throughout to show that the writer is not pointing the finger at anyone in particular and is instead saying that this hard truth applies to all people, including the writer and whomever the reader might be. It also uses ambitious vocabulary, like ‘espouse’, and rhetorical techniques, like antithesis (“We want the world to be inclusive, while we remain exclusive”), to elevate it above the kind of basic, this-is-what-I-think opening that you want to avoid with your argue/persuade writing.
Summing up - key things to remember when writing openings and closings
Openings and closing matter enormously because of the primacy-recency effect - they are the things, more than anything else in your piece, that will stay with the marker when they award your mark
You have to write openings for one of five types of text: an article, a speech, a letter, a leaflet and an essay, which is essentially the same as an article
The question always provides you with a statement to respond to, plus the type of text and the audience you have to write for
Your opening should, wherever possible, come at the topic indirectly, ‘showing’ some aspect of your argument, though you can come at it directly using the opinion opening type, if your say something provocative and/or amusing
Your closing should be matched to your opening (e.g. be the same type) and it should link back to it directly, creating a circular structure
Certain types of text are better suited to certain types of opening/closing - try to choose an opening that goes well with the text type
The style of your opening/closing needs to be carefully matched to the text type - the content can be roughly the same, but the style needs to change
You need to think carefully about cohesion - the opening needs to flow naturally into the body of your piece.