The Art of Persuasion Writing an Effective Persuasive Business Letter GRADE 6: COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Introduce claim(s) and organize the reasons and evidence clearly. Support claim(s) with clear reasons and relevant evidence, using credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text. Use words, phrases, and clauses to clarify the relationships among claim(s) and reasons. Establish and maintain a formal style. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from the argument presented. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing How can you influence how people think and act? Writing an Effective Persuasive Business Letter

TASK Specification Goal: You should produce writing that uses an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure. You need to select a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view based on purpose, audience, length, and meet format requirements. Situation: You are a student who recently found out about a problem in the community and you want to do something about it, but you can’t do it all alone so you need to get your community to support you. How will you do that? Students might say advertisements, awareness campaigns, speeches, raising money etc. Teacher may interject and ask the question: That’s great but how do you get permission to do something formally? etc.

Prewriting Stage One way is writing a business letter. You will complete a graphic organizer during the prewriting stage in order to draft a business letter. But, FIRST! Classroom Task: Discussion Identify audience and purpose for writing the business letter: Author’s Purpose: Is your business letter going to written to make a suggestion? Is your business letter going to written to give an opinion? Is your business letter going to written to make a complaint? Is your business letter going to written to request permission or information? Is your business letter going to written to order a product? Audience: Who is the person you need to write the letter to in order to achieve your goal? This depends on your purpose. Conclusion: Convince the school principal to allow you to host an Entrepreneurship Day to raise money for a charity of your choice. The only way to convince anyone is to use the right tools. What are the right tools?

Prewriting Stage Classroom Task: Brainstorming What is the purpose of writing a draft? What kind of language and information do you need to use in order to convince your audience to give you permission? Ideas: You should include a clear opinion/stance statement and logical reasons support your opinion. What charity do you want to support? Why? (Operation Smile or Red Crescent) Why do you think an Entrepreneurship Day is a good way of promoting community awareness and involving the whole community? Being an entrepreneur means creating unique opportunities, services, and/or products. What will you do? How will you do it? Where and when will it happen? How will doing this affect the community? How will it help you develop as an individual? Why should Ms. Dehombreux agree to your request? (See School Vision and Mission Statements) Organization: The way you organize your ideas are logical and move smoothly from beginning to end. The opening contains the opinion/stance statement. The middle provide clear support. The transitions build strong connections. Word Choice: No slang (Yo Wassup!!), No contractions (don’t) and No conversation: Be straight to the point. Strong, engaging, positive words contribute to the main message. Conventions: Language mistakes are rarely forgiven in the business setting. Voice: You need to be confident, positive, and completely convincing. Aim: Convince the school principal to allow you to host an Entrepreneurship Day to raise money for a charity of your choice. The only way to convince anyone is to use the right tools. What are the right tools?

Drafting Stage Classroom Task: Brainstorming What is the purpose of writing a draft? How do you present text and ideas effectively through organization and formatting? Aim: Convince the school principal to allow you to host an Entrepreneurship Day to raise money for a charity of your choice. Second stage of the writing process Use information from the graphic organizer to write the business letter Remember not to spend a lot of time on spelling and punctuation

SIX Parts of a Business Letter Heading: Includes your address and date Inside Address: Includes the name, title and address of the person/organization you are writing to Salutation: Formal greeting of person addressed – punctuate with a colon (Dear Ms. Valerie Dehombreux:) Body: Main part of the letter. Do not indent paragraphs; skip a line between paragraphs. Closing: End with “Yours truly,” or “Sincerely,” Signature: Leave four spaces after the closing and type your full name. Write you signature between your typed name and the closing.

Spaces needed between each part of the business letter: Heading > Four Spaces > Inside Address> Double Space > Salutation> Double Space> Body: Paragraph 1 > Double Space > Body: Paragraph 2> Double Space> Body: Paragraph 3> Double Space > Closing > Four Spaces

Getting Organized Header: What is your address? What is the date you will send the letter to your Principal? Inside Address: What is the complete address of your Principal? What is their full name? Salutation: How will you address your Principal? Body: Paragraph 1: Introduce yourself and your purpose for writing this letter. Body: Paragraph 2: What are three reasons for hosting the Entrepreneurship Day? Give one example and one fact for each reason. Body: Paragraph 3: What are three reasons why your Principal should accept your request? Thank the Principal for reading the letter and considering the idea. Closing: How will you end? Signature: How will you sign off?

Getting Organized Use the guide on slide 8 and your brainstorming notes you made in the prewriting stage and start organizing your information here so that you can write the first draft. Once you get this approved by the teacher type up your business letter in the business letter template provided in the Unit Resources section.

Peer Review Having fresh eyes on your work is really important. Quite often someone else will notice errors you missed. Looking at someone else's work will also make you look closer at yours. Format: Yes/No  Are all paragraphs justified with NO indentations? _______  Is there a return address & a business address? _______  Is there a greeting/salutation that is punctuated correctly & with a courtesy title and the person’s name. _______  Are there at least three paragraphs With FIVE sentences each? _______ Do you have the correct number of spaces between each part of the letter? _______ Audience/Tone/Content:  Does the author use formal language?(No contractions, slang, conversation) _______  Do you know why he/she is writing to this person from the first paragraph? Highlight the reason. _______ Do you see three reasons to support their request in the second paragraph? Number them. _______  Do they tell you why the Principal should agree to the request connecting to the mission and vision of the school? _______ Grammar/Spelling:  Are there any words misspelled or misused? Mark them in the letter. _______  Are there any grammatical mistakes? Mark them in the letter. _______ Are there any punctuation mistakes? Mark them in the letter. _______ Are there any capitalization mistakes? Mark them in the letter. _______

Checklist: Self Evaluation I followed the directions for writing a business letter and met the criteria given by the teacher, I included a heading, which is my address. I wrote the date below my address. I included the address of the person to whom I am writing. I have a greeting/salutation. I used a colon after my greeting/salutation. All the names and addresses are spelled correctly. In my first paragraph, or introduction, I describe who I am and explain the purpose of my letter. In the second paragraph, I give three reasons with supporting details to support my purpose. In the third paragraph, I express my viewpoint on this topic or explain my request connected to the school’s mission and vision statement. I use facts, details or my experiences to support my viewpoint or request. I thanked the person or organization for reading my letter. I used a closing to end my letter. I signed my name at the end of my letter. The information in my letter is correct. My letter is polite and uses formal language. I checked my writing/typing for misspelled words. I checked my writing/typing for errors in punctuation, capitalization and grammar. My letter follows the typed format of a business letter. Remember that in a business letter it’s very important to be professional and language accuracy is vital. If the person reading the letter sees that you are careless then they are less likely to trust you and agree to your request.

Last Minute Check Remember that in a business letter it’s very important to be professional and language accuracy is vital. If the person reading the letter sees that you are careless then they are less likely to trust you and agree to your request.

Task Requirements Directions for writing a business letter are followed. The six parts of the business letter are present and correctly formatted First paragraph includes a description of the student and an explanation of the purpose of the letter. Second paragraph includes three reasons with supporting details to support the purpose. Third paragraph includes the expression of your viewpoint on this topic and/or an explanation of your request connected to the school’s mission and vision statement. You used transition words to make your ideas flow smoothly. You thanked the person or organization for reading your letter. You used a closing to end your letter. You signed your name at the end of your letter. The information in your letter is correct. Word Count: 400 - 450 Your letter is polite and uses formal language. Work is free of language errors Graded on Criteria B: Organization and Criteria C: Language Due: Monday, May 06, 2013 To get a 9-10 achievement level in Criteria B you need to have all the red points. To get a 9 – 10 achievement level in Criteria C you need to have all the blue points.

Works Cited "Time For Kids." Time For Kids. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://www.timeforkids.com/tfk/media/hh/pdfs/checklists /businessletter_checklist.pdf>. "Time For Kids." Time For Kids. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/media/hh/pdfs/samplep apers/businessletter_sample.pdf>. "Time For Kids." Time For Kids. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/media/hh/pdfs/ideaorg anizers/>. The only way to convince anyone is to use the right tools. What are the right tools?