Persuasive Writing

Essential Question
Why do I need to know how to write
a persuasive paper?

Graphic Organizer
Types of Persuasive
Writing

What Persuasive
Writing Is

Purpose of Persuasive
Writing

Any other information

I think is important
about persuasive
writing

Have you ever asked your parents to

buy you something special?
Have you tried to convince your
parents to let you spend the night
with someone or go to take a special
trip?
* Discuss with a partner a time you
tried to persuade your parents to do
something or to allow you do to
something.

 Sometimes you have to write to try

to persuade someone to do something
or try to persuade someone to
change their mind about something.
When you do this with writing, you
have to form an opinion and try to
convince someone else of your opinion
by supporting it with relevant facts,
ideas, and examples.

Ways to Persuade
Magazine Ads
TV Commercials
Newspaper Ads

Types of Persuasive Writing

Advertisements for clothing, toys, or
food
Travel brochures
Political speeches
Requests for donations to charities
Movie reviews
Book reviews
Letters to the editor

Defining Persuasive Writing

Persuasive Writing: Writing for the purpose
of convincing others to accept the writers
position as valid, adopt a certain point of view,
or take some action.
Method:
Provides logical appeals, emotional appeals,
facts, statistics, narrative anecdotes, humor,
and/or the writers personal experiences and
knowledge to support a position.

What Persuasive Writing Is and Is Not

An effective persuasive composition . . .

An effective persuasive composition is NOT

Clearly establishes a position

A list of facts, a story, and/or personal

anecdotes that do not establish a clear
position

Includes appeals to logic and/or emotion

A chance for the writer to simply vent about a

topic

Contains an appropriate organizational

strategy for the purpose of persuasion

Writing in which ideas are presented in

illogical or confusing order

Is multi-paragraph writing that supports a

specific side of an issue

A single paragraph

Fully develops the writers position with

specific details and examples

A formulaic response with repetitive ideas and

language

Uses specific facts, personal experience and

knowledge, and/or statistics to support the
writers position

A presentation of irrelevant ideas

Uses a lively writing voice to engage the

reader

Flat, uninteresting writing

What Persuasive Writing Is and Is Not

An effective persuasive composition . . .

An effective persuasive composition is NOT

Uses engaging, precise language and varied

sentences

An essay that contains imprecise language and

little sentence variety

Introduces the reader to the issue, fully

develops a position, and provides a sense of
closure

Writing that presents ideas without

introducing, developing, and/or providing
closure

May contain a short narrative in the

introduction or a skillful extended narrative
that supports the writers position

A story that does not address the persuasive

purpose of the topic

Demonstrates that the writer can anticipate

and counter the audiences positions on the
issue

Writing that does not consider the audience

when developing a position on an issue

Contains correct sentences, usage, grammar,

and spelling that make the writer's ideas
understandable

Incorrect sentences, usage, grammar, and

spelling that prevent the reader from
understanding the writer's ideas

Overview of Persuasive Writing

Purpose: What is the writer convincing me to
think or do?
-Introduction
-Supporting reasons
-Conclusion
-Argument
-Address Counter argument
-Conclusion
-Introduction
-One side of the issue
-Another side of the issue
-Conclusion
-Introduction
-Anecdote illustrating position
-Conclusion

Organizational Patterns for

Persuasive Writing

Introduction Supporting ideas

Conclusion

Argument

Introduction Both sides of the issue

Introduction Anecdote illustrating position

Introduction Proposed plan and support

Address counter-argument Conclusion

Conclusion
Conclusion

Conclusion

The Writers Position/Point of View

There are three main types of positions a writer may
adopt in a persuasive piece:
Support
Oppose
Present and defend a plan or an alternative
The writers position may be stated directly or
implied by the evidence the writer presents.
In persuasive writing, the writers point of view is
often the same as the writers position on the issue.

Purpose
Persuasive writing can have several
purposes:
convincing others to adopt a certain
point of view on an issue
Convincing others to take some action
Convincing others to accept the writers
position as valid.

Demonstrating Audience Awareness in

Persuasive Writing
Effective writers use the following techniques to engage the
reader
Descriptive Details
Figurative Language: Imagery, similes, metaphors
Authoritative voice
Emotional appeals
Addressing the reader
Humor
Personal anecdotes
Rhetorical questions

Style Strategies for Persuasive Writing

Strategies to Engage the Reader:
Rhetorical Questions; How would you feel if..
Addressing the reader: You should or We all
should
Emotional Appeals: Animals are sad in zoos.
Use of the inclusive We
Anticipating reader concerns about the issue
Using personal experiences to support the writers
position
Figurative Language
Connotative Meanings
Evocative Voice

Summary of Persuasive
Writing

Task:
I am going to read the following
paper to you.
You and a partner are going to
discuss if this student has a paper
that tries to persuade or convince
you of something.

Persuasive
Paper 10

Persuasive
Paper 10
(page two)

Persuasive
Paper 10
(page three)

Persuasive
Paper 10
(page four)

Persuasive
Paper 1

Persuasive
Paper 2

Persuasive
Paper 3

Persuasive
Paper 6

Persuasive
Paper 6
(page two)

Persuasive
Paper 7

Persuasive
Paper 8

Persuasive
Paper 8
(page 2)

Persuasive
Paper 9

Persuasive
Paper 9
(page two)

Your Persuasive Writing

Topic/Example
Your school has raised $10,000. How
should it spend the money? Should
they buy better PE equipment?
Should they buy more technology for
the classrooms so that every teacher
has computers in the classroom?
Should they donate it to a childrens
charity? Write a letter to your
principal persuading him or her to
your point of view.

Remember the Steps of

the Writing Process

Prewriting (Brainstorming)
Drafting
Revising/Editing
Publishing/Sharing

Prewriting
Decide which idea you support.
Write it down on this sticky note.
Share it aloud.
Choose a partner that shares your
opinion.

Prewriting
Complete a brainstorming activity together
coming up with as many reasons as possible
to support your opinion.
Each person in the pair will need to narrow
this list down to the two, three, or four
reasons that you can support the best with
your own personal reasons, examples, etc.
so that you will be able to develop your
paper from these.

Drafting
Write your paper as your ideas come
to you.
If you have difficulty starting with
the introduction, you may want to
skip the introduction and come back
to it.

Revising/Editing
Use your checklist and rubrics to
make sure that you have your paper
worded the way you want it.
Proofread for errors.
Make sure you used a variety of
words and sentences.

Publishing/Sharing
Share your paper with a person that
did not have the same opinion as you.
Were you able to convince them to
change their mind? If not, you may
want to think about why your reasons
why not effective.

 Answering the essential

question- Write a persuasive paper that
shows that you know how to
persuade a reader to accept
your opinion or view point.

Persuasive Writing Rubric