INTRODUCTIONS

Sample Prompt A local high school is dealing with a littering problem on campus. In order to help clean up the campus, the school board is considering a ban on all after school activities until students show the proper respect and cleanliness necessary to keep the school clean. Please address a persuasive essay to the local school board either for or against their decision to cancel after school activities in an effort to clean up campus.

First Sentence For the first sentence of the paragraph, find the subject of your thesis. Write a very general statement about the subject. Do not insert your opinion yet! For example, if the topic is littering, you need to make a general statement about littering: Americans generate large amounts of garbage, and with garbage comes the inevitable problem of littering.

Second Sentence Make another statement about your subject that is even more specific. Once again, do not yet mention your opinion about the subject. Littering has become such a problem that it is now punishable by law.

Third Sentence Explain the general conflicts that can occur over this subject. Police enforcement and citizens have run into conflict over littering and personal liberties.

Fourth Sentence Explain the conflict or problem that you are specifically addressing in your persuasive essay or letter. Now the conflict has crept into the schools. Local schools are attempting to put a stop to littering on school grounds by banning extra-curricular activities until the campus is cleaned up.

Last Sentence Now it is time to state your opinion! The last sentence of your paragraph should be your thesis statement. Although administration believes banning extra-curricular activities will be the motivation students need to stop littering, the ban has too many negative consequences to be an effective solution. Namely, the school will lose precious money gained from after school activities, this punishment will not affect all the offenders, and delinquent behavior after school will dramatically increase.

Put it all together! Americans generate large amounts of garbage, and with garbage comes the inevitable problem of littering. Littering has become such a problem that it is now punishable by law. Police enforcement and citizens have run into conflict over littering and personal liberties. Now the conflict has crept into the schools. Local schools are attempting to put a stop to littering on school grounds by banning extra-curricular activities until the campus is cleaned up. Although administration believes banning extra-curricular activities will be the motivation students need to stop littering, the ban has too many negative consequences to be an effective solution. Namely, the school will lose precious money gained from after school activities, this punishment will not affect all the offenders, and delinquent behavior after school will dramatically increase.

Things to Watch DO NOT STATE YOUR OPINION UNTIL THE LAST SENTENCE. YOUR OPINION IS TO BE IN YOUR THESIS. DO NOT MAKE GENERAL STATEMENTS DULL OR TOO BORING. EXAMPLE: LITTERING IS BAD.

Prompt Studies have shown that teenagers today are more susceptible to disease and illness than any other time period in our history. The cause of this susceptibility is being pointed to poor eating habits and lack of exercise. Critics state that this problem is being exacerbated by the fact that students have no healthy snack options in their school lunch rooms. Passaic Valley is contemplating replacing all junk food in their vending machines with healthy alternatives such as fruit and vegetable snacks. Your job is to write a persuasive essay to the school board either convincing them replace the junk food or encouraging them to leave the current unhealthy options in the vending machines. You must provide three solid reasons to support your opinion.