Transcript How to write a Persuasive Essay

Review Topic Sentences
Write 2-3 topic sentences for each of the
following topics.
Example Topic: Television’s effects on
children
Topic sentences:
1. Television is harmful to children because it
teaches them violence as a way to solve problems.
2. Television can improve a child’s general
knowledge.
Topics for Topic Sentences
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Smoking Cigarettes
Foreign Travel
Space exploration
Music
Studying a foreign language
How to write a Persuasive Essay
Writing Assignment #3
•
You are going to write a persuasive essay,
trying to persuade someone to support your
position on a topic of your choice.
• Examples of topics:
1. Why Seoul is a better city to live in than
Daejeon.
2. Why we shouldn’t have “English-only”
curriculum in South Korea.
3. Why gay marriage shouldn’t be legal.
Minimum: 4 paragraphs
Maximum: 5 paragraphs
What is a Persuasive Essay?
• A writer takes a stance on an issue, either
FOR or AGAINST.
• Tries to convince the reader to accept his
or her point of view.
• In order to convince the reader, the writer
not only states his or her stance with an
opinion, but with facts and research.
Example of a Persuasive
Speech- “Harms of Pop”
• Listen to someone give a speech about
soda/pop (Coke or Pepsi).
• Listen to how she organized her speech in
order to support her position.
• What are the three points that she argues in
her speech?
How to choose a topic
• Find a position that you are not only
passionate about, but you can find solid
evidence that supports your position.
• Don’t choose a topic where it is only based
on belief or opinion. You need to develop
your opinion with facts, statistics, and data.
Find out more about the other
side
• Start your essay by defending your thesis
statement.
• Think about a thesis statement that directly
opposes your viewpoint.
• Examine the other side and determine if you have
enough evidence to disprove the other person’s
viewpoint.
• Are there any contrasting evidence,
inconsistencies, and logic that doesn’t make
sense?
Define your topic
•
Make sure your topic is clearly defined
and objective (no “I” statements).
Which topic is the best?
1. Cable modem vs. dial-up
2. Why I chose cable modem over dial-up
3. Reasons why cable modem rules over
dial-up
Example- “Stem Cell Research”
• Listen to someone give a speech, trying to
convince you that we shouldn’t do
embryonic stem cell research.
• How did he argue against the opposite
position?
• Can you think of other responses in favor
or against his argument?
How to organize the essayIntroduction
• Thesis statement
• Clear definition of the points that support
your thesis.
• Present them in the same order that you’ll
use in the body of your essay.
Introduction- “Hook and
Grabber”
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Unusual detail
Strong statement
Quotation
Anecdote
Statistic or fact
Question
Example of Introduction
More people die on Korean roads in a single
year than all the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq
since the fighting began. In this paper I
will describe the road conditions and the
mentality that leads to this unnecessary,
and certainly avoidable, killing.
Body of Persuasive Essay
• Begin each paragraph with a point from
your introduction.
• Support your statements with evidence.
• As you finish each paragraph, read it from
the other person’s perspective (the person
opposing your view) in order to check for
faulty logic, inconsistencies in logic.
• Make sure your evidence is specific.
Supporting Details
• When you state something, you need to
provide support and your claims have to be
explained.
Example: “Smoking is bad for you.” Why?
Examples of evidence
• Hypothetical instance (“Suppose that…”
“What if…”)
• Drawing comparisons
• Analysis
• Analogy
• Graphs and statistics
Conclusion
• Summarizing the main points of your
argument.
• State again what the reader must believe
and/or do.
• Incite the reader to do something about the
issue (prediction, question,
recommendations, quotation).