Persuasive Writing

Students would benefit

from a shorter school
day.

WHY?
 Persuasive Writing
Persuasive writing is writing
that tries to convince a
reader to do something or
to believe what you believe
about a certain topic.

It takes a position for or

against something.
Let me challenge you!
Write the number of each purpose of the persuasive
writing next to the suitable example:

Example of persuasive statement

• “Please support my football team by buying
discount coupons.”
•“Vote for Sarah!”
•“The principal should let us wear hats.”
•“Cell phones don’t cause brain cancer.”
Purposes:
1)Urge people to action
2)Support a cause
3)Prove something wrong
4)Make a change
 Persuasive Writing can be used to:
Purpose Persuasive Statement
• Support a cause • “Please support my
football team by buying
discount coupons.”
• “Vote for Sarah!”
• Urge people to action
• “The principal should let
• Make a change us wear hats.”
• “Cell phones don’t cause
• Prove something wrong brain cancer.”
 Other purposes

Purpose Persuasive Statement

• Stir up sympathy • “If you don’t adopt this
dog, it could have to live in
a shelter.”
• “Better grades get you a
• Create interest
better job and more
money.”
• “I am sure you’ll agree that
• Get people to agree Milky Way is the best candy
with you bar.”
Is TV a good thing or a bad
thing?
People have different views
about TV
Now there are television programmes
on computers, phones and tablets, do
we spend too much time watching?
 Lily talks about television,

does she think it is a good or a bad

thing?
Use the text that naancy has sent on Whatsapp
add detailed questions task
Use the text that naancy has sent on Whatsapp
How many paragraphs are there?
What do you see in
This tells the
reader……………………………………..and what
your……..is.
Let’s guess how persuasive
writing is organised
A paper will be handed to you

ONLY USE A PENCIL TO ERASE

 Persuasive writing follows a certain
organization
GUESS IT!
• INTRODUCTION with a “hook” and thesis
statement
• BODY where the argument is explained
• CONCLUSION where main points are
summarized and reviewed and the reader is
left with something to think about.
 First…Know Your Audience…
• Before you start writing, you should know your
audience:
– Who will read your writing? Who do you need to
convince?

– The audience may be your friends, your teacher,

your parents, your principal, the readers of a
newspaper or the President of the United States!

– Should you be casual or professional?

 Second… Pick a side!
• The writer must clearly state his/her position and stay
with that position. Pick a side!

• Generally, the position is stated in the opening

paragraph or introduction. (This is your opinion
sentence)
Three: Do Your Research…
In order to convince the
reader you need more
than just an opinion; you
need facts or examples
to back your opinion. So,
be sure to do the
research!

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Get to the planning paper
now
The 6 Paragraph Essay:
1. Introduction/Hook/Thesis
2. Argument 1 with support
3. Argument 2 with support
4. Argument 3 with support
5. Show the counter-argument
and make an argument against it
6. Conclusion
 DOS and DON’Ts of Persuasive Writing:
• Do: • Don’t :
• Divide into 5 paragraphs (6 if • Don’t begin with “Hello my
you plan on adding a name is___ and I’m going to
paragraph with a counter write about____”
argument)
• Have a thesis statement in • Don’t be wishy-washy. Pick
your introduction a side!
• Come up with 3 main points to • Don’t forget to support your
support your argument—these opinions with facts and
will be your 3 body paragraphs example s
• Show the “counter -argument”
• Have a conclusion that has a
“clincher statement”
• Come up with a catchy title
 DOS for Persuasive Writing:
• Do: • Do:
• Use first person pronouns (I, • Use strong adjectives and
we) to express your opinion powerful verbs to persuade
• I think… We agree… the reader

• Also use second person

pronouns (you, your) to
involve the reader as well.
• You sit there staring at the
TV when you could be with
your friends having fun.
• Use modal verbs (can,
could, may, might, must,
would, should)
 The Great Introduction…
What makes a good introduction?
• It grabs or “hooks” the reader’s attention by using
one or more of the following strategies:
– An anecdote or scenario
– A quotation
– An interesting fact or statistic
– A question
• It tells how the writing will be organized.
• The author’s position is clearly stated in a thesis
statement.
Grabbing Your Audience…
Good strategies used in introductions:
• Use an Anecdote/ Scenario
– The writer provides a personal experience or made-up
situation to introduce the position.
• Questioning
– The writer asks thought-provoking questions to capture
the reader’s interest.
• Interesting fact or statistic
– The writer gives an interesting piece of information to
grab the reader’s attention.
Lets Take A Look….
 You Could Start with a Riddle:
• Get your reader’s attention with a challenging
thought.
• “What’s plain, and boring? What makes all
students in a school building look the same and lose
their individuality? If you guessed UNIFORMS,
you’re correct!”
Wait:

Can you write this for a

formal email for school?
Or it’s best for an online
friendly use?
You Could Begin with a Strong Statement:
• Example:
• Fast food consumption has risen 500 percent
since 1970 and today reaches nearly every
part of society, including some public school
cafeterias.
You Could Open with a Quotation:
• Example:
University of Delaware professor states:
“Advertising, including television ads, billboards, and other
advertising,
including toys in boxed meals, has had an effect upon children
as never before.
Children these days are growing up with low concern for their
health and
more concern for what tastes good.”
 You Could Open with a interesting
fact:
• Example:
• “Did you know that a typical child needs 2,000
calories for an entire day and Burger King’s
Whopper with triple cheese has 1,230 calories?”
 You Could Open with an
Anecdote:
• An anecdote can provide an amusing and attention-
getting opening if it is short and to the point.

• “My hands felt sticky after pulling open the doors to

“Big Bobby’s Boisterous Burger Hut”. The odor
smelled of fried everything. I ordered a Big Bobby
Combo #2. There was enough food to serve a small
third world country on my tray. I nibbled at the ¾
pound burger and my chin was covered in a
mayonnaise and ketchup concoction. I asked the
server if I could have a few fries with my salt. I left
the place feeling like my stomach was mad at me.”
You Could Open with a Fact or Statistic:
• Example:

• Thirty percent of the children in the survey ate fast food

on any given day during the survey, and they ate an
average of 187 calories a day more than those who did
not eat fast food. These additional calories could account
for an extra six pounds of weight gain per year, according
to Ludwig.
You Could Open with a Question:
• How many times have you eaten fast food this
month?
Open with an Outrageous Statement:
• Example:
• “Fast food is killing America!”
• one sentence at the end of your introduction
• states your opinion
• needs to be strong
• First, choose 3 main focus points to discuss in your essay. These
points will become the focus of three paragraphs in the body of
your paper.
Let’s use fast food as an example again.
Fast food…(3 Discussion Points)
• rapidly increases weight
• causes high blood pressure
• leads to sluggishness
• Now take your three main focus points and
summarize them. Put your completed thesis
statement at the end of your first paragraph.

THREE MAIN FOCUS POINTS

• I believe fast food is harmful because it rapidly
increases weight, causes high blood pressure, and
leads to lethargy.

COMPLETED THESIS STATEMENT

• I believe fast food has negative health effects.
CATCHY TITLE

Fast Food Is Killing

HOOK THE READER
America!
Did you know that a typical child needs 2,000
calories for an entire day and Burger King’s Whopper
with triple cheese has 1,230 calories? That is far more
calories than anyone needs in one day! Fast food
consumption has risen 500 percent since 1970 and
today reaches nearly every part of society, including
some public school cafeterias. Fast food is harmful
because it rapidly increases weight,YOUR
causes high blood
THREE ARGUMENTS
pressure, and leads
THESIS to sluggishness. Fast
STATEMENT food is bad
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for your health!
• Use each of the main arguments you used in
your introductory paragraph
• expand on each argument giving facts and
reasons.
• In our example, you would write one
paragraph on how fast food increases
weight, one paragraph on how it causes high
blood pressure and one on how it leads to
sluggishness.

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You’ll Need to Show “The Other
Side…”
• This is where you should explain why your opposition
believes what they believe.
• For example:
• “A fast food company wouldn’t agree with the points
in this essay. They would have lots of reasons why
fast food is good. They may say…”it’s convenient” or
“It’s fine if eaten in moderation.” These arguments
just don’t hold up when you take all the facts into
consideration!

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 Conclude or End Your Essay…
What makes a good conclusion?
 Last paragraph summarizes your main point.
 End using one or more of the following strategies:
– Call the reader to action
– Anecdote or scenario
– Make a Prediction
 The last paragraph wraps up the writing and gives the
reader something to think about.

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 Strategies for Conclusions
• Call to Action
– Ask the reader to do something or to make something
happen “I challenge you to watch what you eat and to
avoid fast food.”
• Provide a solution
– Provide an answer to the problem “Fast food doesn’t have
to be “bad food.” Make better choices like salads, fruit
and low fat treats.”
• Make a Prediction
– Explain what might be the consequences of action or
inaction “If people continue to eat lots of fast food, they
put their health at risk. If kids don’t make better choices
today, they won’t grow into healthy adults.”
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Restate your thesis.

In closing, it’s important to remember that too much

fast food can have negative effects on your health. If not
eaten in moderation, you can gain weight, suffer from high
blood
End with… pressure and become slow and sluggish. Is it worth
– A comment (Don’t make your body suffer!)
the risk to your body? Eat Healthy and Make good choices!
– A question (Are you willing to risk your health?)
– A call to action (I highly recommend you consider your options the next time your faced with a
decision about what to eat.)

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• A Catchy Title
• Introductory paragraph with a “hook”, three
main arguments and a thesis statement.
• One paragraph for each of your three
arguments.
• Address the “counter-argument”
• Closing paragraph that re-states your thesis
and challenges the reader to think about it.

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• Make sure to read over your
work and edit for mechanics
and spelling.
• Write neatly!
• Include detail and great
vocabulary.
• Follow proper format:
Proper heading and skip
lines!
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