Writing Workshop Writing a Persuasive Essay

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Writing WorkshopWriting a Persuasive Essay
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Assignment Prewriting Choose an Issue Write an
Opinion Statement Consider Your Purpose and
Audience Gather Support for Your Position Plan
Your Draft Practice and Apply
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Writing a Persuasive Essay
Assignment Write a persuasive essay on a topic
about which you have a strong opinion.
Do you ever hear yourself saying, I dont think
thats right or I agree or Id like to see
that change? You probably express your opinion
on one issue or another almost every day. Which
issues do you care about the most? To share your
views and convince others to agree with you, try
writing a persuasive essay.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Choose an
Issue
What situations make you and other people angry,
sad, or enthusiastic? What issues do you feel
strongly about?

• Talk with friends and family members.

• Look in the editorial section of your local
  newspaper.

• Think about whats going on in your community and
  in your school.

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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Choose an
Issue
Youve probably come up with a number of good
ideas. Now, choose one issue for your essay
topic. Make sure it meets the following criteria

1. You have strong views about the issue.

1. You can gather enough evidence about it to defend
   your position.

1. Other people find the issue interesting or have
   strong feelings about it.

Essay Length
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Write an
Opinion Statement
Where do you stand on your issue? Share your
perspective, or point of view, by drafting an
opinion statement. Clearly state both the issue
and your position, or opinion, on it.
Clear Opinion Statements
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Consider
Your Purpose and Audience
Purpose In a persuasive essay your purpose is to
convince readers to share your opinion or to take
the action you suggest.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Consider
Your Purpose and Audience
Audience To persuade your audience, you must
first understand them. Ask yourself
What will make my audience care about this issue?
Put yourself in your readers shoes. Think about
ways in which this issue affects their lives.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Consider
Your Purpose and Audience
What concerns might my audience have?
Consider how the issue looks from their point of
view, or bias. Some readers may already have
opinions about your topic. Take any objections,
or counterclaims, into account.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Consider
Your Purpose and Audience
What will my audience expect from my essay?
Readers will expect you to provide the
information they need in order to make an
informed decision. Provide background information
if necessary.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Gather
Support for Your Position
Give at least three strong reasons to support
your opinion statement (thesis). Your reasons
should also include rhetorical devices
(persuasive appeals)

• logical appeals (logos)speak to readers common
  sense and logic

• emotional appeals (pathos)speak to emotions such
  as fear, love, and pride

• ethical appeals (ethos)establish yourself as a
  credible source address readers sense of right
  and wrong

Making Appeals
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Gather
Support for Your Position
Make a chart with your opinion statement and at
least three reasons to support it.
Opinion Statement Spay-neuter programs are the best way to reduce the number of homeless pets.
Reasons Spaying and neutering attack the problem at its source. (logical appeal) The suffering and death of thousands of animals each year could easily be prevented. (emotional appeal) Humans domesticated cats and dogs, and it is our responsibility to care for them properly. (ethical appeal)
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Gather
Support for Your Position
Provide at least two pieces of evidence to
support each of your reasons. Make sure your
evidence is relevant, or clearly related to your
issue.
Evidence for Persuasive Appeals
Analogies Comparisons that show similarities between otherwise unrelated facts or ideas
Neglecting to spay and neuter our pets is as irresponsible as leaving a fire unattended.
Citing Sources
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Gather
Support for Your Position
Evidence for Persuasive Appeals
Anecdotes Personal examples or stories that illustrate a point
When my friends cat had kittens, his parents tried very hard to find homes for them all, but two of the kittens had to go to the shelter.
Case studies Examples from scientific research
Researchers studied one town that implemented a spay-neuter program. They noted a one-third reduction in the number of homeless pets over just five years.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Gather
Support for Your Position
Evidence for Persuasive Appeals
Commonly accepted beliefs Ideas that most people share
Most people would like to see the problem of pet overpopulation solved.
Examples Specific instances or illustrations of a general idea
For example, a spayed female dog will never get uterine or ovarian cancer and is also far less likely to develop breast cancer.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Gather
Support for Your Position
Evidence for Persuasive Appeals
Expert opinions Statements made by recognized authorities on a subject
According to Joshua Manning of the Prevent-a-Litter Foundation, Widespread spay-neuter programs are the only way to bring pet overpopulation under control.
Facts Statements that can be proved true facts often take the form of statistics, or numerical information
One female cat and her young can conceivably produce up to 420,000 kittens in just seven years.
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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Find Sources
Gather information from both primary and
secondary sources.
Primary sources

• contain original, firsthand information that is
  unfiltered and unedited

• include legal documents, letters, diaries,
  eyewitness accounts, literature and surveys

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Find Sources
Gather information from both primary and
secondary sources.
Secondary sources

• provide indirect or secondhand information

• include encyclopedia entries, newspaper articles,
  documentaries, and biographies

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Find Sources
To find sources, use area libraries and other
community resources, such as

• local, state, and national government agencies

• local newspapers

• museums, historical societies, and service groups

• video stores and audiotape rental stores
• credible websites

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Evaluate
Sources

• Determine how credible, or believable, your
  sources of information are. Ask yourself,

Is your source up-to-date?

• If information on your topic is constantly
  changing, make sure your sources are current.

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Evaluate
Sources

• Determine how credible, or believable, your
  sources of information are. Ask yourself,

Does the source seem factual?

• Check its information against your own knowledge
  and against other sources.

• If you find a discrepancy, or difference, between
  sources, check additional resources to determine
  which information is most accurate or most
  useful.

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Evaluate
Sources

• Determine how credible, or believable, your
  sources of information are. Ask yourself,

Does the source provide explanations?

• Look for explanations that might help you and
  your readers understand the complexities of the
  topic.

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Evaluate
Sources

• Determine how credible, or believable, your
  sources of information are. Ask yourself,

Do the sources cover different perspectives?

• Some sources may be biased, or slanted, toward
  one point of view.

• You may find that different sources present
  varying perspectives on the same subject.

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Prepare
Source Cards

• Keep track of all the sources you use in your
  paper.

• Write source information on a 3- x 5-inch index
  card, and number each card.

• WE WILL USE Noodletools TO DO THIS!!!

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Take Notes

• Take accurate and coherent notes of facts and
  details that support your thesis.

Note-Taking Methods
Quote the information directly, writing the authors exact words.
Paraphrase the information by restating all of the authors ideas in your own words.
Summarize the information by briefly restating only the authors main idea and most important details.
Other types of evidence
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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Take Notes

• Direction quotation note card

Places

The days Robert Frost passed in solitude
on the Gully farm in South Shaftsbury,
Vermont, following the death of his wife on
March 20, 1938, were as grim as any of his
entire life.
page xv
Heading and source number
Direct quotation
Page number
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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Take Notes

• Paraphrase note card

Places

The days Robert Frost spent by himself on
his farm in South Shaftsbury, Vermont,
after his wife died were the most dismal
of his life.

page xv
Heading and source number
Paraphrase
Page number
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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Take Notes

• Summary note card

Places

Robert Frost spent his most dismal days
alone on his farm after his wife died.



page xv
Heading and source number
Summary
Page number
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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Write a
Thesis Statement

• Write your thesis statementthe main idea of your
  report and the answer to your research question.

Thesis Robert Frost got many of the ideas for
his poems from the places where he lived and the
natural areas nearby.
Be sure your thesis statement has a formal tone.
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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Organize
Information and Develop an Outline

• Organize your note cards using one of these
  methods

• Chronological order presents events in the order
  that they happened.

• Logical order groups related ideas
  togetherexplaining the parts of a whole or
  comparing two subjects, for example.

• Order of importance places the most important
  ideas first and moves to the least important (or
  vice versa).

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Organize
Information and Develop an Outline

• Create an outline of your key points and support.

• First, make an informal outline that includes the
  major headings and broad categories of support.

• Then, use your informal outline as a guide to
  create a more formal outline that shows the
  hierarchy of ideas.

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Document
Sources

• Give credit to your sources of information.

• Cite sources in the body of your paper.

• List sources at the end of your paper.

Warning If you fail to cite your sources, you
are committing the serious academic offense of
plagiarismclaiming someone elses words or ideas
as your own.
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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Document
Sources

• Citing Sources in the Body
• What to credit

• If the same information is found in several
  easy-to-find sources, it is considered common
  knowledge. You do not have to document it.

• However, any information that you obtain from
  outside sources that is not common knowledge must
  be documented.

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Document
Sources

• Citing Sources in the Body
• What to credit

• If the same information is found in several
  easy-to-find sources, it is considered common
  knowledge. You do not have to document it.

• However, any information that you obtain from
  outside sources that is not common knowledge must
  be documented.

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Document
Sources

• Citing Sources in the Body
• How to credit

• You will cite sources in the body of your
  research paper using the parenthetical citation
  format recommended by the Modern Language
  Association (MLA).

• Please see Purdue OWL at http//owl.english.purdue
  .edu/owl/ for instructions on using
  parenthetical citations and preparing a Works
  Cited list.

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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Integrate
Quotations

• Integrate direct quotations to make your paper
  more credible.

• Synthesize the ideas in each quotation. Connect
  the quoted words with your own thoughts, or
  provide your own interpretation of the quotation.

• Be careful when inserting quotations that you
  dont interrupt the papers flow of ideas.

Avoiding overuse of quotations
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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Integrate
Quotations
Type of Quotation Example
phrase or clause Frosts images of New England were considered part of a great American tradition (Robert Frost Dies 5).
short quotation (four lines or less) One newspaper account of Robert Frosts death says, he exemplified a great American tradition with his superb, almost angular verses written out of the New England scene (Robert Frost Dies 5).
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Writing a Research PaperPrewriting Practice and
Apply

• Use the preceding prewriting
  information to plan your research paper.
• First, choose a topic and develop research
  questions.
• As you research, create source cards and note
  cards.
• Then, develop a thesis and form an outline.

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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Plan Your
Draft
Organize your essay so that it moves smoothly
and logically from one idea to the next.
Body Paragraph 1second-strongestreason
Body Paragraph 2another good reason
Readers tend to remember ideas presented at the
beginning and end of an essay. Try putting your
two strongest reasons in the first and final
body paragraphs of your paper.
Body Paragraph 3strongest reason
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Practice
and Apply
Choose an issue for your persuasive essay,
write an opinion statement, and gather and
organize reasons and evidence to support your
opinion.
End of Section
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The End
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Choose an
Issue
Essay Length Keep in mind that your essay should
be about two to three pages (double-spaced!).
Choose an issue that is interesting enough to
hold your readers attention in a paper of that
length.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Write an
Opinion Statement
Clear Opinion Statements Beware of writing vague
or general opinion statements. Make sure your
position is clear and well-defined.
vague and general
It would be a good thing to have more bike paths
in the city.
clear and specific
Adding bike paths in the city would make
bicycling safer and would help reduce motor
vehicle traffic and emissions.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Consider
Your Purpose and Audience
Counterclaims There are at least two sides to
every issue. Try to anticipate any counterclaims,
or counterarguments, your audience might have.
Counterclaim Support for My Position
Spay-neuter programs are too expensive. Spay-neuter programs save money by reducing the number of animals that end up in shelters.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Gather
Support for Your Position
Making Appeals Keep in mind that your teacher may
want you to present more logical appeals than
emotional and ethical appeals.
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Writing a Persuasive EssayPrewriting Gather
Support for Your Position
Citing Sources When you use information or
quotations from outside sources, give credit by
citing sources in the body of your essay. Include
a list of your sources at the end of your paper.