The phrase "an effort to assert" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when describing an attempt to state or affirm something, often in a context of establishing a position or claim.
Example: "The organization launched an effort to assert its influence in the community through various outreach programs."
Alternatives: "a bid to establish" or "an attempt to affirm".
The Congressional plan was nobody's darling, but it was an effort to assert some authority.
Special police units have moved into about 20 slums, called favelas, in an effort to assert government control and combat crime.
Macedonians, Serbs, and Bulgarians, however, have established their own autocephalous Orthodox churches in an effort to assert the legitimacy of their national identities.
To complicate matters further Proton's management, in an effort to assert control, has signed vague letters of intent with carmakers including Peugeot and China's Chery.
In 1948, the Soviets cut off most road and rail access to the city's three western sectors, in an effort to assert their authority.
Rebecca MacKinnon: I also understand that this is an effort to assert that the U.S. still believes in Internet freedom after wikileaks.
As Richard N. Haass, a Brookings Institution scholar and former official in the Bush Administration, noted recently, any "effort to assert or expand U.S. hegemony will fail.
Mr. Sylvia, the Altria spokesman, said the company had been seeking F.D.A. regulation of tobacco since 2001, shortly after the Supreme Court rejected an F.D.A. effort to assert legal authority over nicotine as a drug.
The fear is that it may now escalate into open warfare.Meanwhile, in an apparent effort to assert state control, warplanes have bombed Shura Council bases on the outskirts of the town.
Every scrawled message on the wall outside relates to the Fab Four, apart from a game effort to assert McFly's superiority to Lennon and McCartney, a couple of mentions of Pink Floyd, and a Japanese tourist's attempt to draw attention to his own band - which seems to be called PLINCIPAL.
Mr. Zhou and some friends were planning to distribute T-shirts bearing Communist slogans such as "Labor is Sacred" in a cheeky effort to assert workers' rights.
