Persuasive Writing
Essential Question
Why do I need to know how to write
a persuasive paper?
Graphic Organizer
Types of Persuasive
Writing
What Persuasive
Writing Is
Purpose of Persuasive
Writing
Any other information
I think is important
about persuasive
writing
Have you ever asked your parents to
buy you something special?
Have you tried to convince your
parents to let you spend the night
with someone or go to take a special
trip?
* Discuss with a partner a time you
tried to persuade your parents to do
something or to allow you do to
something.
Sometimes you have to write to try
to persuade someone to do something
or try to persuade someone to
change their mind about something.
When you do this with writing, you
have to form an opinion and try to
convince someone else of your opinion
by supporting it with relevant facts,
ideas, and examples.
Ways to Persuade
Magazine Ads
TV Commercials
Newspaper Ads
Types of Persuasive Writing
Advertisements for clothing, toys, or
food
Travel brochures
Political speeches
Requests for donations to charities
Movie reviews
Book reviews
Letters to the editor
Defining Persuasive Writing
Persuasive Writing: Writing for the purpose
of convincing others to accept the writers
position as valid, adopt a certain point of view,
or take some action.
Method:
Provides logical appeals, emotional appeals,
facts, statistics, narrative anecdotes, humor,
and/or the writers personal experiences and
knowledge to support a position.
What Persuasive Writing Is and Is Not
An effective persuasive composition . . .
An effective persuasive composition is NOT
Clearly establishes a position
A list of facts, a story, and/or personal
anecdotes that do not establish a clear
position
Includes appeals to logic and/or emotion
A chance for the writer to simply vent about a
topic
Contains an appropriate organizational
strategy for the purpose of persuasion
Writing in which ideas are presented in
illogical or confusing order
Is multi-paragraph writing that supports a
specific side of an issue
A single paragraph
Fully develops the writers position with
specific details and examples
A formulaic response with repetitive ideas and
language
Uses specific facts, personal experience and
knowledge, and/or statistics to support the
writers position
A presentation of irrelevant ideas
Uses a lively writing voice to engage the
reader
Flat, uninteresting writing
What Persuasive Writing Is and Is Not
An effective persuasive composition . . .
An effective persuasive composition is NOT
Uses engaging, precise language and varied
sentences
An essay that contains imprecise language and
little sentence variety
Introduces the reader to the issue, fully
develops a position, and provides a sense of
closure
Writing that presents ideas without
introducing, developing, and/or providing
closure
May contain a short narrative in the
introduction or a skillful extended narrative
that supports the writers position
A story that does not address the persuasive
purpose of the topic
Demonstrates that the writer can anticipate
and counter the audiences positions on the
issue
Writing that does not consider the audience
when developing a position on an issue
Contains correct sentences, usage, grammar,
and spelling that make the writer's ideas
understandable
Incorrect sentences, usage, grammar, and
spelling that prevent the reader from
understanding the writer's ideas
Overview of Persuasive Writing
Purpose: What is the writer convincing me to
think or do?
-Introduction
-Supporting reasons
-Conclusion
-Argument
-Address Counter argument
-Conclusion
-Introduction
-One side of the issue
-Another side of the issue
-Conclusion
-Introduction
-Anecdote illustrating position
-Conclusion
Organizational Patterns for
Persuasive Writing
Introduction Supporting ideas
Conclusion
Argument
Introduction Both sides of the issue
Introduction Anecdote illustrating position
Introduction Proposed plan and support
Address counter-argument Conclusion
Conclusion
Conclusion
Conclusion
The Writers Position/Point of View
There are three main types of positions a writer may
adopt in a persuasive piece:
Support
Oppose
Present and defend a plan or an alternative
The writers position may be stated directly or
implied by the evidence the writer presents.
In persuasive writing, the writers point of view is
often the same as the writers position on the issue.
Purpose
Persuasive writing can have several
purposes:
convincing others to adopt a certain
point of view on an issue
Convincing others to take some action
Convincing others to accept the writers
position as valid.
Demonstrating Audience Awareness in
Persuasive Writing
Effective writers use the following techniques to engage the
reader
Descriptive Details
Figurative Language: Imagery, similes, metaphors
Authoritative voice
Emotional appeals
Addressing the reader
Humor
Personal anecdotes
Rhetorical questions
Style Strategies for Persuasive Writing
Strategies to Engage the Reader:
Rhetorical Questions; How would you feel if..
Addressing the reader: You should or We all
should
Emotional Appeals: Animals are sad in zoos.
Use of the inclusive We
Anticipating reader concerns about the issue
Using personal experiences to support the writers
position
Figurative Language
Connotative Meanings
Evocative Voice
Summary of Persuasive
Writing
Task:
I am going to read the following
paper to you.
You and a partner are going to
discuss if this student has a paper
that tries to persuade or convince
you of something.
Persuasive
Paper 10
Persuasive
Paper 10
(page two)
Persuasive
Paper 10
(page three)
Persuasive
Paper 10
(page four)
Persuasive
Paper 1
Persuasive
Paper 2
Persuasive
Paper 3
Persuasive
Paper 6
Persuasive
Paper 6
(page two)
Persuasive
Paper 7
Persuasive
Paper 8
Persuasive
Paper 8
(page 2)
Persuasive
Paper 9
Persuasive
Paper 9
(page two)
Your Persuasive Writing
Topic/Example
Your school has raised $10,000. How
should it spend the money? Should
they buy better PE equipment?
Should they buy more technology for
the classrooms so that every teacher
has computers in the classroom?
Should they donate it to a childrens
charity? Write a letter to your
principal persuading him or her to
your point of view.
Remember the Steps of
the Writing Process
Prewriting (Brainstorming)
Drafting
Revising/Editing
Publishing/Sharing
Prewriting
Decide which idea you support.
Write it down on this sticky note.
Share it aloud.
Choose a partner that shares your
opinion.
Prewriting
Complete a brainstorming activity together
coming up with as many reasons as possible
to support your opinion.
Each person in the pair will need to narrow
this list down to the two, three, or four
reasons that you can support the best with
your own personal reasons, examples, etc.
so that you will be able to develop your
paper from these.
Drafting
Write your paper as your ideas come
to you.
If you have difficulty starting with
the introduction, you may want to
skip the introduction and come back
to it.
Revising/Editing
Use your checklist and rubrics to
make sure that you have your paper
worded the way you want it.
Proofread for errors.
Make sure you used a variety of
words and sentences.
Publishing/Sharing
Share your paper with a person that
did not have the same opinion as you.
Were you able to convince them to
change their mind? If not, you may
want to think about why your reasons
why not effective.
Answering the essential
question- Write a persuasive paper that
shows that you know how to
persuade a reader to accept
your opinion or view point.
Persuasive Writing Rubric
