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Here are some guidelines to help you coach your students toward persuasive writing success. Objective: To teach students how to develop a solid structure for persuasive essay writing.
Create an Organized Essay Structure
Remind students that an essay, whether it is persuasive or expository, must have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Being an essaywriter, I know that if students are using the standard, five-paragraph model, then the following would apply:
- Each paragraph should have a topic sentence, a body, and a conclusion sentence
- The thesis must be identified in the introductory paragraph
- Three-body paragraphs must centralize on one key point of an argument
- Each key point should have at least one well-developed example to illustrate its relevance
- The conclusion must restate key points as well as teach the reader something
Make Your Essay Structure Obvious
Students should be reminded that what seems clear in their minds while they are writing can often seem obscure to the reader. Therefore, student writers should diligently state their case as overtly as possible. One way to do this is to incorporate meaningful transitions, such as
- On the other hand
- Conversely
- One may argue that…. however,
- To illustrate,
- For example,
- For instance,
Use Examples to Develop a Persuasive Argument
Novice writers need to be guided toward developing a convincing argument. They can do this by identifying succinct examples that illustrate the key points they are trying to make. If a student is writing a standard five-paragraph high school essay, she may want to consider limiting her illustrations to one detailed example in each body paragraph. Each example should then serve as a tool to further the writer’s argument.
Students often get carried away with listing many short examples rather than using them as a deliberate tool to make a point in their argument. Therefore, teachers can encourage them to analyze their examples in the respective body paragraphs. They can do this by responding to the following:
- Explain why the example is important
- Describe how the example relates to the main point you are trying to make in that body paragraph
- Make the connection clear between the example and your overarching argument.
- Guide Your reader toward adopting your perspective
Challenge Yourself While Writing
While your students embark on the drafting process, remind them to keep a few key questions in mind to improve their persuasive tone. The best custom essay writing service advice to instruct your students to constantly ask themselves
- So what?
- Why is the point I’m trying to make?
- How does this sentence further my argument?
- How can I retaliate to a reader harboring an opposite viewpoint?
- How can I make my purpose clear to readers?
- What do I want my readers to do or think after they read my essay?
Finally, encourage your students to observe the following tips to develop a persuasive tone:
- Anticipate and challenge the reader’s possible opposing viewpoint
- Avoid a hostile or condescending tone
- Be instructive or informative without resorting to a solely expository approach
- Make clear connections between your examples and your argument
These suggestions offer students lots of food for thought while they are drafting their essays. By answering these questions, students will be guided toward developing a persuasive tone in their essays rather than being solely informational.
Persuasive Writing Activity
Students learn persuasive writing, logic, and satire through an essay by Benjamin Franklin.
Rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, is a hallmark of American Democracy. It reflects the nation’s trust in the common man, and it encourages written and oral dialogue among citizens as they collectively determine the best course for the country. It might be argued, then, that beyond the 3 R’s, there is no more important subject for U.S. students to master.
Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, is perhaps the one American writer who can reach through the ages to make persuasive writing as accessible and meaningful for students today as it was for his 18th-century readers. In one of his most persuasive and entertaining essays, Rules for Reducing a Great Empire to a Small One Franklin reveals just how persuasive humor and humble intellect can be.
Using Frankin’s Essay as a Writing Model
Materials: One copy of Rules for Reducing a Great Empire to a Small One for each student, a large piece of butcher paper for each small group, markers
Content Areas: Persuasive Writing, English Literature, Rhetoric, American history
Activities:
- As a Class:
- say aloud with the class, pointing out vocabulary in context as you read (Vocabulary List: empire, sage, simpleton, commerce, dominion, zealous, whigs, stockjobbers, solicitor, oppressor, disaffected, proctors, insolent, requisition, benevolence, flout)
- In Student Groups:
- Distribute a question sheet with the following questions to each group of students: 1) Who is Benjamin Franklin’s audience? 2) How would you describe Franklin’s tone in this piece? 3) Explain how irony in the title would have caught the attention of the essay’s intended audience. 4) Why does Franklin compare the British Empire to a “great cake”? 5) According to Franklin, what role do economics play in the growing tension between the British Empire and the American colonies? 6) Why does Franklin suggest that the British Empire acts “like the husband who uses his wife ill from suspicion, you may in time convert your suspicions into realities”? What does this mean? 7) Is Franklin’s satire more effective than a more straightforward persuasive piece might have been? Why or why not? 8) What words does Franklin use that have emotional appeal? 9) Provide examples of Franklin’s use of logic. 10) Why does Franklin compare the British Empire to the Roman Empire?
- discuss student answers.
- As a Class: discuss group answers.
- Individual Assignment: Pretend that you are King George or a member of the British parliament. Write a persuasive response essay in the same style as Rules for Reducing a Great Empire to a Small One in which you respond to Franklin’s satiric essay.
About the author: John J. Gregg is an experienced writer on essaywriter.nyc where he provides students with an opportunity to get high grades. Besides, He is fond of reading and playing the guitar. By the way, John dreams of traveling a lot and visiting as many countries as possible.
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