Persuasive Essay

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Persuasive Essay
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Why?

• You need to write two essays for your folio
• Folio accounts for 20 of final Int 2 result
• Second type of writing for Unit One NAB you have
  already done Reflective.
• You must pass one of these in order to complete
  Unit One.

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Persuasive Essay.

• The persuasive essay is an essay about a topic
  regarding which the writer feels very strongly.
• The writer does not try to be fair, or balanced
  he or she will try to convince their reader that
  they should agree with the writers point of
  view.
• Many of the passages you will read for Close
  Reading will be examples of persuasive writing.

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Choosing a Topic.

• The best essays will come from writing about
  something you genuinely care about if you arent
  really interested in your subject, it will show
  in your essay and weaken the strength of your
  arguments.
• Also, you should choose something topical if you
  can

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• You must be specific in your choice of topic. For
  example, consider the following as possible
  topics
• M.Ps Expenses
• Homelessness
• War
• Climate Change.
• Have a minutes thinking time and then be
  prepared to comment on how suitable or otherwise
  these are as topics for an essay.

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• Take the same topics, think about what you have
  read or heard recently in the news, and try to
  come up with a specific topic linked to each of
  the headings.
• M.Ps expenses
• Homelessness.
• War
• Climate Change

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Watch the clip on I player

• By reading newspapers and watching or listening
  to news programmes, you can discover the
  controversial issues in the news. By choosing
  something current, you can make your research a
  bit easier (IF you are reading newspapers!!!!)
• However,
• You may also wish to write about something that
  is local to your area or personal to you or to
  your familys circumstances.

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Task - How to Plan.

• Once you have decided on your topic, use your
  planning sheets to plan and structure your essay.

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Selecting

• Look carefully at all your ideas and choose three
  or four of the arguments that most strongly
  support your view.
• Having decided on your main points Write each of
  them down as headings on a piece of paper. Leave
  space between each heading.
• Now under each one, write down anything you
  already know that gives evidence for that point.
• Then write down anything that you dont know but
  you would like to find out because it might
  strengthen your argument.
• This will help you direct your research later on.

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Opposing Arguments

• In a persuasive essay, you will spend most of
  your time giving your own view.
• However, it is important to acknowledge that
  there are views which oppose your own. You must
  do this to meet the criteria for a pass.
• You dont have to spend a long time on these
  opinions but you should write about them so as
  you can go onto explain why you disagree and
  undermine these arguments.
• Write down the most common arguments against your
  point of view.
• Well talk about this later in structure.

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Research

• Having thought about what you already know and
  what you need to find out to develop your
  argument, you can be more focused in your
  research and can save time.
• You might find out something you hadnt thought
  of in your reading. Thats fine, you can choose
  to include it.

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Sources of Information

• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Internet
• Pressure Group Publications
• Essential Articles.

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Taking Notes

• Dont copy whole sections down you may end up
  regurgitating the whole thing in your essay,
  perhaps without even understanding it.
• Put everything into your own words, in note form,
  to make sure you understand the point being made.
  There is no point writing something down that you
  dont understand.
• Do not print from the Internet. Put ideas into
  your own words, in note form.
• Write down the name of the paper, website,
  leaflet you are using, as you must include a
  bibliography at the end of your essay.

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Rules for Using Sources

• Dont quote
• Dont mention individuals if you can generalise
  from them.
• Dont go into detailed figures for no reason.
• Acknowledge sources in a bibliography.

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Structure of Essay
Intro - Clear introduction explaining the topic and stating your view clearly.
A paragraph acknowledging the opposing arguments then undermining them.
Argument One supporting your view
Argument Two supporting your view
Argument Three supporting your view
Conclusion, summing up ideas and restating your opinion.
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Structure of your main points

• Same as always!

Topic Sentence, stating what rest of paragraph is going to be about.
Evidence backing up the point made in the topic sentence. (This should be a blend of research that you have carried out and your own words including persuasive language techniques) You may use linking words here to connect pieces of evidence.
A sentence which sums up the idea that you have been discussing.
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Style and Tone

• As this is a persuasive piece, you should use
  many of the
• techniques you have been studying in your close
  reading work.

• Rhetorical questions
• Anecdote
• Humour
• Sarcasm
• Hyperbole
• Sentence structure
• Emotive language.
• Linking Sentences ( not optional!)
• Use of statistics.

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However

• Do not be overly abusive or sarcastic it may
  make you sound foolish and can certainly put
  people off agreeing with you.
• There are those, of whom I am not one, who
  believe that genetics is the great hope of
  mankind. All disease will be cured, all people
  will be fed in the Utopia of Science
• A few deluded idiots and thoughtless slaves of
  the multinational gene companies hold the
  ridiculous opinion that genetic engineering is
  a wonderful idea