1. Persuasive Unit Vocabulary Definitions
English 2

2. Week 1
Argument: a series or reasons, statements, facts, and/or explanations intended to establish/support a point of view
Claim: a statement
Evidence: facts or information which prove that something is true (or likely to be true)
Anecdotal evidence: using a single real-life example or personal story to prove a point.
Empirical evidence: things that have been proven true, or observed to be true, using the scientific method. Includes statistics, data, research findings, and observations that can be recreated under the same laboratory conditions.
Logic: using reasoning to prove a point. (If x is true, then y is true.) Sometimes called deductive reasoning.
Valid: fair, reasonable, correct, or acceptable
Invalid: not fair, reasonable, correct, or acceptable

3. Week 2
Counterargument: when you guess what someone who disagrees with you might say
Rebuttal: when you explain why someone else’s argument is wrong; refutation
Reasoning: the process of thinking about something in a logical way in order to form a conclusion or judgment
Audience: the intended reader, listener, or viewer
Author’s purpose: the reason why an author wrote something; the effect the author wants their writing to have on the audience
Persuasive writing: writing that attempts to get the reader to agree with you
Informational writing: writing that gives factual information, rather than trying to sway the reader’s opinion
Main idea: the most important thought in a text. Found by reading the entire text and combining all of the ideas into one short statement. Should be a complete sentence, and should be specific. (sometimes called central idea)

4. Week 3 Flaw: (n) a fault or weakness
Refute: (v) to prove that something is not true; to rebut
Concrete: (adj) describes something that can be perceived with one of the five senses
Abstract: (adj) describes something that exists, but which cannot be perceived with one of the five senses
Moderate: (adj) medium; neither too much nor too little. In politics, this describes ideas that are in the middle between liberal and conservative beliefs.
Extreme: (adj) very great in degree; very serious or severe. In politics, this describes ideas that are very far to the left or right and not held by very many people.
Tone: the emotions and/or attitude of a writer/speaker
Mood: the emotions created in the audience by a text

5. Week 4
Evaluate: (v) to judge how useful and/or legitimate something is
Agenda: (n) a political or ideological goal that guides someone’s behavior and is sometimes kept secret
Bias: (n) a prejudice for or against something. (adjective form = biased)
Credible: (adj) qualified to give information on a certain topic due to education or experience
Reliable: (adj) describes a person/source that you can trust to give correct information without letting their personal agenda/bias get in the way of the truth
Fallacy: a flaw in logic; a weakness in someone’s argument that makes it invalid
MLA format: a system of rules for formatting and citations used for English essays around the world. (Stands for “Modern Language Association”)
Database: a large collection of written information that has been organized so users can search it to find what they need. Databases often require a paid subscription to use, unlike free search engines.

6. Week 5
Citation: giving credit to the person/group whose words and/or ideas you are using in your writing
Works cited page entry: a single citation listed on your works cited page, referring to one single source where you found information
Parenthetical documentation: (P-DOC) a citation inside parentheses that goes at the end of a sentence. In MLA format, includes author’s last name and page number
precise: (adj) specific, exact, and accurate
keyword: the words you input into a search engine in order to find results. (also called search terms)
Abstract: (n)
Article: a brief summary of an article that you can skim to decide whether to read the full text.
Scholarly journal: a magazine that only publishes articles written by professors who are experts in their fields. These journals only publish articles after they have been peer-reviewed, which means other professors have read the articles and decided that they are truthful and scientifically valid.

7. Week 6
Bibliography: a works cited page; a list of the sources you have cited in your essay
header: Text that is included at the top of a document before any other text and usually includes important information. In MLA format, this includes your name, the teacher’s name, the class, the date, and the essay title.
margin: the edges/borders of a page, where the white space is. In MLA format, they are one inch.
URL: a web address; the string of characters you type into a web browser to visit a particular page, usually starting with (Uniform Resource Locator)
DOI: a unique string of characters that identifies a single article in a journal. (Digital Object Identifier)
Publisher: a company/organization that prints and distributes texts, such as books, journals, newspapers, etc.
Perspective: point of view; a way of looking at something, which is influenced by your personal experiences and opinions
Transition: a word or phrase that connects one idea to another.

8. Week 7
Summarize: to give a shorter statement of the main idea of a text in your own words
Paraphrase: to restate the text in your own words
Quote: to directly copy the text as someone else wrote it
Plagiarism: stealing someone else’s words/ideas and pretending that you made them up
Citation: giving credit to the person whose words/ideas you are using in your writing
Primary source: a record of an event made by someone who participated in or witnessed it firsthand (diary, personal interview, documentary)
Secondary source: a record of an event made by someone who was not there (textbook, reenactment)
Anticipate: to guess what is going to happen in the future and take action to prepare for it

9. Week 8
Outline: a bulleted list of ideas you want to include in your essay; does not need complete sentences or appropriate grammar
Draft: the current version of a text you are writing
Thesis statement: a sentence that tells the main idea of the essay; this is the last sentence of your introduction
Body paragraph: one of the middle paragraphs of an essay, which includes concrete details and commentary to elaborate on the thesis statement
Topic sentence: the first sentence of a body paragraph, which tells its main idea
Concrete detail: (CD) a specific example. In English class, it’s usually a quote or paraphrase from a text, cited with P-DOC.
Commentary: (CM) a sentence analyzing why the concrete detail is important or relevant
Format: (n) the way something is arranged; (v) to arrange something in a certain way

10. Week 9 Compose: to create and write a text
Introduction: the first paragraph of an essay, which gets the reader’s interest and tells the main idea. (also called introductory paragraph)
Conclusion: the last paragraph of an essay, which restates the main idea and sums up the argument
Synthesize: to combine ideas from multiple sources into one coherent new product
Analyze: to examine something carefully and in great detail
Word choice: the words an author chooses to create a specific effect in their writing through tone and mood. Sometimes called diction.
Subtle: difficult to notice, perceive, or understand because it is so small or fine
Generalize: to infer a rule or principle, based on a small number of examples

11. Week 10
Standard English: The correct form of English which is spoken and written by educated Americans and does not differ across regions; often called “proper English,” “formal English,” or “good grammar”
Dialect: The version of a language used by a particular group of people, which has some rules and/or vocabulary that differ from standard English. Ex: Southern English, African-American English/”Ebonics,” Appalachian English, slang
Formal style: language that sounds professional, highly-educated, and impersonal. Used in many serious situations, such as during speeches, interviews, and presentations, and in school essays and professional documents. Uses more complex and sophisticated vocabulary, and longer sentences. Avoids contractions, abbreviations, dialect, and slang words. Often requires you to think before speaking or writing.
Informal style: language that sounds casual, relatable, and personal. Used in more relaxed situations, such as with family, friends, and other trusted people. Uses simpler and shorter words and sentences. May include contractions, abbreviations, dialect, and slang words. Often impulsive.
Objective: not influenced by personal feelings or beliefs; unbiased
Subjective: influenced by personal feelings or beliefs; biased
Deviate: to do something different from what is expected or what everyone else is doing
Signal words: specific words/phrases that tell the reader you are transitioning to a new idea. (first, second, last, next, in addition, in conclusion, therefore)

12. Week 11
provocative: creating a strong negative emotional response, such as anger or annoyance, especially on purpose
plausible: seemingly true; appearing like it might actually work
erroneous: (adj) containing errors or mistakes; wrong; incorrect
discrepancy: (n) an inconsistency; a state where two things should add up, but don’t
contradict: (v) to speak against something; to say something that proves something else is false
Clarity: (n) clearness, precision
Voice: the quality in a written text that makes it sound like it was written by an individual human, where you can recognize their specific personality behind the words.
Call to action: a phrase or sentence that urges the reader to do something immediately

13. Week 12
editorial: (n) an article in a newspaper where the author states their personal opinion on something
explicit: (adj) describes information that is clearly stated in a text. (You have terrible B.O.)
implicit: (adj) describes information that is not clearly stated in a text, but can be guessed from hints or clues. (I clipped some extra coupons for deodorant; want one?)
egregious: (adj) outstandingly bad; glaringly bad
disparity: (n) a large inequality; a great difference
myriad: (n) a countless or extremely great number.
coherent (adj) describes writing where all the ideas are logically connected and make sense together
hanging indent: when the first line of text in a paragraph is aligned to the far left, and every subsequent line of the paragraph is indented (approximately 5 spaces)