Persuasive Writing

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Persuasive Writing
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What is persuasive writing?
Persuasive writing is used to convince others to
agree with your point of view.
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What are the applications of persuasive writing?

• Advertising and selling products
• Writing a newspaper column
• Writing a speech or debate
• Convincing people to take action

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• Read through the two example texts.
• Both are trying to persuade people that
• invasive non-native species are an important
• issue.
• Which do you think is more persuasive?

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Text 1

• Not inclusive
• quite a problem for scientists and people
  interested in the environment.
• - What about everyone else?
• Weak wording
• They can cause some problems for rare species,
  and might alter and damage the ecosystems in
  which they are found.
• - Doesnt sound very certain.
• Too vague
• been known to impact boats and other things.
• - What other things? Should give examples.

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Text 2

• Inclusive and personal
• Whether you are interested in the environment or
  not, the problems caused by invasive non-native
  species affect us all.
• Impressive facts
• may cost as much as 2 billion every single
  year
• Relevant to the audience
• It's not just our wildlife that suffers,
  invasive non-native species can also have an
  impact on the way we live.

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Text 2

• Plenty of examples
• they can clog our waterways, exacerbate
  flooding, disrupt the navigation of boats,
  interfere with recreational activities such as
  fishing, and remove oxygen from the water
• Strong wording
• Their impact is now so significant that they are
  considered to be one of the greatest threats to
  biodiversity worldwide.

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Tips and tricks

• Who is your audience?
• Think about who you are writing for or speaking
  to - what is important to them and how can you
  get them on side?
• Many families enjoy visiting the beach, and by
  volunteering to help clean up litter here you can
  help to ensure it is a safe place for your
  children to play, as well as protecting the
  environment.

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Tips and tricks

• Think about why people might disagree with you
• By thinking about what the opposite point of view
  might be, you can prepare counter-arguments and
  answers to questions.
• Some people support poaching because they think
  rhino horn can be used as a medicine, but
  scientists have shown it has no medicinal
  properties.

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Tips and tricks

• Be personal - use words such as we and us
• Make the reader or audience feel like you are one
  of them, and that they ought to be on your side.
• Climate change is an issue which affects all of
  us - surely it is time that we took action.

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Tips and tricks

• The rule of threes
• Try and use three adjectives when describing
  something to help drive home your message.
• Shopping online is fast, safe and convenient.

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Tips and tricks

• Emphasise the issue!
• Dont be afraid to emphasise your point - use
  strong words to
• highlight the importance of the issue and get
  your point across.
• Habitat loss is a serious problem for endangered
  species. Thousands of species are already on the
  brink of extinction, and without protection many
  will disappear completely within our lifetime.

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Tips and tricks

• Ask questions
• Pose questions to which there is only one
  possible answer, or ask a question and then
  answer it yourself.
• Are you really too busy to spend five minutes
  each day sorting your recycling?
• But does recycling really make a difference? Yes
  it does - recycling a single tonne of paper can
  save 17 trees.

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Tips and tricks

• Use facts and figures
• If you have impressive facts, figures or
  statistics, you can use them to help make your
  case.
• Energy saving light bulbs use 80 percent less
  energy than a standard bulb and will last around
  10 times longer.

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Your task

• You will be given some general information about
  invasive non-
• native species and a card outlining a real
  campaign relating to
• this issue and what people can do to help.
• Using the information from these cards, your task
  is to write an
• article for the school paper or newsletter.
• In the article you need to persuade people that
• Invasive species are a serious problem.
• There are simple ways we can stop invasive
  species spreading.
• Everyone should get involved and help stop the
  spread.

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Things to remember

• The rule of threes
• Emphasise the issue
• Ask questions
• Use facts and figures where possible

• Who is your audience?
• Why might people disagree with you?
• Be personal