A Brief Presentation English 10 Mrs. Hughes

Persuasive Writing A written work in which a writer presents a case for or against a particular position.

Persuasive Writing Persuasive Writing tries to convince you to DO something or to BELIEVE something. When you write persuasively, you are convincing readers of your opinion.

Writer’s Purpose  to inform  to entertain  to shape a view point  to argue for or against a position

Audience The audience is YOUR READERS! Knowing who they are will help determine the best language and evidence to use to achieve your purpose.

A persuasive paper…  States the writer’s opinion  Provides information FACTS to support the opinion Often appeals to the reader’s emotions—this is called an “emotional appeal”  Restates the writer’s opinion in the conclusion

How to start… 1. In the beginning, use an attention grabber. 2. Then, state your opinion.  An attention grabber is a… narrative hook the way you decide to get the reader’s attention the format you use for this paper

Examples of Formats  Narration  Description  Classification  Evaluation

Narration-tell a story Telling what happened to a homeless family to convince classmates they should volunteer at a shelter.

Description Describing your school’s gymnasium to persuade the school board to buy new bleachers.

Classification  Compare two television shows to convince your brother that yours is more entertaining.  Compare two kinds of cars to convince your parents they should buy the red sports car.

Evaluation Deciding that a new local band is great and getting your friends to go hear them at the music festival.

What’s next? Your second step is to provide information to support your opinion about the issue

Types of Support  Logical arguments: present logical arguments to earn the reader's trust Nestorian Order: Ending the argument with the strongest point...saving the best for last.  Statistics  Expert opinions  Personal observations

Emotional Appeal This may come in the form of a story or a vivid image... tugging at the heart strings or providing startling information are effective ways to accomplish this.

In Conclusion Your final step is restate your opinion and include a call to action

Effective Persuasive Techniques  Repetition and parallelism: Repetition of words to create an effect and bring a point home The use of sentences with identical forms  Charged words: These may have strong positive or negative connotations.