WHAT IS PERSUASIVE WRITING?

It is any type of writing that attempts to persuade us to adopt a point of view, agree with an opinion, take an action, form a belief, etc. It is any type of writing that involves an ARGUMENT.

IN THIS UNIT, YOU WILL BE CREATING A PERSUASIVE WRITING PORTFOLIO CONSISTING OF 3 PIECES OF ORIGINAL WRITING.

Business letter/sales letter about a product

Personal letter to your parents Editorial

Portfolios will be due on Tuesday, Nov. 22, but individual grades will be taken often.

ELEMENTS OF PERSUASIVE WRITING

Argument: a statement, reason, or fact for or against a point

Propaganda: carefully using words in a certain way to influence opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior

Declaration: any opinion based statement about a certain topic – see example

Click icon to add picture

TOPIC: PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICHESDeclaration: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the perfect food.

Click icon to add picture

TOPIC: WATER QUALITYDeclaration: Every American has the right to a clean, uncontaminated glass of water.

ACTIVITY TIME!

Get out a sheet of paper and do the following: Mrs. Jones will give you a topic. Write it on

your paper. You will have about I minute to brainstorm

as many declarations on that topic as you can. Label them with letters such as –

1. Cell PhonesA. Cell phone use should be permitted in school.B. Cell phone etiquette should taught in schools.

1. CELL PHONES

(DO NOT USE THE SAME DECLARATIONS USED IN PREVIOUS EXAMPLE)

2. VIDEO GAMES

3. PETS

4. THE MOVIE RATING SYSTEM

5. OMMS

NOW HEAD YOUR PAPER CORRECTLY AND TURN IT IN TO MRS. JONES.

DEFENDING YOUR DECLARATION/ARGUMENT Now that you have made a declaration,

you must DEFEND it This is done by creating evidence or

reasons why the item should happen. Think of 3 logical reasons to support

your declaration. Example:

CELL PHONE USE SHOULD BE PERMITTED IN SCHOOL.

1.

2.

3.

HOMEWORK TONIGHT:

Use your list of declarations for the 5 topics we examined today.

Choose ONE (1) declaration for each topic.

Write THREE (3) supporting reasons or details why that declaration should be true.

You will end up with a list of 15 items. This is just like the example that

we just did on cell phones.

EDITORIALS

An editorial is a persuasive piece written by the editor of a newspaper or magazine. The content deals with issues, ideas, and topics that are important to the audience.

Must have certain requirements A clever beginning to “hook” the reader A stance/declaration on an important issue Support for the stance/declaration A strong conclusion (call to action)

SEE EXAMPLES OF EDITORIALS(COMMUNITY ISSUE AND

SCHOOL ISSUE)

WORD CHOICE IN PERSUASIVE WRITING Persuasive language is calm and

reasonable. It includes reasons and specific

examples. It avoids exaggeration, words that show

strong emotion, anger, and insults.

See the following examples:

Our professional baseball team is stupid! They make the worst plays in the whole world! The outfielders couldn’t catch a fly ball if their lives depended on it. The batters couldn’t hit a ball if it was the size of a beach ball and the wind was blowing strongly in the direction of the home run fence. They should be fired tomorrow. The commissioner of baseball could hire our little league team, and we could do a better job.

Our professional baseball team certainly is struggling. Their record of 5 wins and 10 losses shows that they need to make some changes. The outfielders need more practice catching fly balls, and the batters need to spend an afternoon at batting practice. Most of the batters are struggling to maintain a .200 batting average. It may even be time to consider trading some players. It’s easy to give advice when you’re not our there sweating and trying to win some games, so I would recommend that fans be patient. Our team will come around.