Persuasive Writing

Persuasive writing  Goal: Writer aims to get the reader to agree with his perspective.  Technique : Opinions are blended with facts.  Point of view : Communicates directly to a person or group, so it’s common it use both first and second-person point of view.  Attitude: Writers “go after” their readers more aggressively. Personal, passionate, emotional.  Perspectives presented : Single-minded goal---get what the writer wants. Personal conviction.  Starting point: Pick a topic, choose a side to “fight for”, start writing.  Support: rely mostly on feelings and the writer’s passion. The writer plays on the audience’s emotions to get what he wants. The audience will agree with the writer because of his effective use of rhetorical devices and emotional appeals.

Rhetorical Devices  Structures within language that help communicate ideas.  Rhetorical question  Purpose: gets the audience thinking about an important idea/topic.  Allusion  Purpose: to make connections between the reader’s life and what the author is writing or speaking about.  What are the 3 genres or specific texts do authors alluded to the most?  Bible  Greek mythology  Shakespeare

Rhetorical Devices  Antithesis  Sentence with phrases/clauses that present contrasting ideas.  Purpose: to express ideas emphatically by making contrasts in order to examine a subject and bring forth discussion/judgment.  To err is human; to forgive is divine.  It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.  Easy on the eyes, hard on the heart.  Speech is silver, but silence is golden.  Parallelism  Kind of repetition, symmetry in grammatical form AND ideas.  Purpose: emphasize idea  Like father, like son.  Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.  My face is washed, my teeth are brushed, and my hair is combed.

Persuasive Appeals  Logical appeal-appeals to the audience’s sense of logic and reason.  Emotional appeal-appeals to the audience’s emotions.  Ethical appeal- Can be something that adds to the author’s credibility or appeals to the audience’s sense of right and wrong.

Prompt  Situation: Imagine that your school district has proposed saving money by eliminating extracurricular sports (football, basketball and baseball) from the high school program.  Directions: Think about the possible effects of cutting sports from the school program. Decide whether you are for or against this proposal.  Prompt: Now write an essay in which you persuade the reader why this is or is not a good idea. Defend your position with specific reasons supported by several detailed examples.