Persuasive Writing
English 2 February 2009
Persuade?
• Much of what we do or say is an attempt to persuade. • Persuasion names a purpose for writing. • To persuade your readers is to convince them to think, act, or feel a certain way.
What does persuade mean?
To prevail on a person to do something To induce to believe; convince To urge, entice, impel To influence someone’s thoughts or actions To win over a person to a certain course or action • To appeal to reason and understanding • To induce, to move, to motivate, to sway • • • • •
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The success or failure of this type of communication is easily determined: determined: If the people being addressed change their actions or attitudes in favor of the writer or speaker, the attempt at persuasion has been successful. successful.
Assignment
• Write an essay stating your opinion about a problem, a situation, or an issue. Support your opinion with a personal narrative and other methods of support. • If you have trouble, use pages 85-89 in Elements of Literature, Fourth Course, as a resource.
Use the Writing Process to Complete this Assignment.
• We will complete several activities that will help you accomplish this assignment. • Remember that you will first need to
– Choose a topic – Brainstorm ideas – Organize your points – Elaborate your points with support
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The Writing Process will also include…
• Drafting your ideas into sentences and paragraphs. • Setting it aside to give your brain to think about what you have said and how you have said it. • Revising what doesn’t work. • Editing the convention mistakes. • Producing a final copy that you can be proud of.
What are some topics for this assignment?
• • • • • • • • • • • Curfews for teens Cell phones at school Two hours of homework each night Increasing the working age to eighteen Requiring school uniforms Moving from the city to a farm Lengthening the school day for help with homework Censoring of unsuitable television programs Suspending students late to class Increasing Florida’s driving age to eighteen Random drug testing for students
You must remember…
• The topics listed on the previous slide are just that… • TOPICS! • It is up to you to shape your chosen topic into a clear focus. • That clear focus is stated in a thesis statement that gives shape for your reasons and details.
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What do you need to remember about writing a persuasive essay?
• The process of persuasion involves appealing to one or more of the following …
• Reason/rational thinking
– Evidences (details) used might include
• Facts (statistics or other hard data) • Opinions of recognized experts on the subject • Examples illustrating the evidence
• Emotion
– Emotional appeals attempt to arouse the readers’ feelings, instincts, and biases. It aims for the hearts. This type of appeal is best used when your readers agree with you. Focus on poignant visual details. Select particular words that will bring out certain responses.
• A Sense of Ethics
– An appeal to ethics involves cultivating a sincere, honest tone that will establish your reputation as reliable, well-informed, and knowledgeable. This appeal to ethics is established throughout the essay built upon use of quality evidence and sincere tone.
When writing a persuasive essay, it is important to remember that quality reasons for a chosen position are essential to the effectiveness of the writing. These quality reasons must be supported with details; otherwise, you will not details; convince.
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What are the types of support that you can use to convince? • The main kinds of support that writers use are facts, statistics, authorities, anecdotes, cases, and textual evidence. • Asserting a position and backing it with reasons and support are essential to a successful persuasive essay.
Thoughtful writers go further, however, by counterarguing—anticipating counterarguing— and responding to their readers’ objections, challenges, and questions.
Strategies for Counterarguing
• Acknowledge your awareness of readers’ objections and questions • Accommodate by accepting some of the readers’ concerns • Refute the readers’ objections by showing that they are wrong (but do so without making any personal attacks)
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Persuasive Writing Criteria
• Commitment to the topic • Knowing how to use sound thinking and convincing arguments • A clear, strong idea backed up by ample, believable evidence • The ability to look at things from a variety of perspectives
Brainstorming
• Choose one of the topics to write the persuasive essay. • Use a Circle Map to brainstorm.
Planning Your Essay
• Use a Tree Map to make plans for writing your persuasive essay.
TOPIC stated in a THESIS STATEMENT
Major Point Elaboration / Support
Major Point Elaboration / Support
Major Point Elaboration / Support
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Tips on Writing the First Draft
• Open the paper with an interesting lead-in • Write a thesis statement that takes a clear position • Write clear topic sentences for paragraphs that refer to the main idea of the thesis • Support your topic with facts, statistics, examples, personal narrative, and expert testimony • Elaborate by piling on the details; make your readers “see” • Respond to major objections in a reasonable manner and explain why the reader will consider your overall argument more persuasive • Conclude the essay in an effective way—by summarizing major points, calling for readers to understand the importance of this issue for the future
Resources for Helping You to Complete Your Persuasive Essay
• See pages 85-87 in Elements of Literature, Fourth Course for the writing process. • See pages 88-89 in Elements of Literature, Fourth Course for the Student Model. • See pages 204-205 in Writers INC for a Sample Persuasive Essay. • See your copy of a 2006 FCAT Persuasive Writing Prompt that scored a 6. • On the Internet, check out: http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr4.htm
We will begin one step at a time!
Let’s begin together.
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