Transcript Sentences Should Use The Passive Voice

Choose an issue
A good topic for a persuasive essay
is an issue that brings up strong
feelings in you and in others.
Think about situations or events
that make feel angry, sad or
enthusiastic etc. Once you have
come up with a few possible issues
for your persuasive, ask yourself
the following questions:
 Is the issue important to me? If the
issue is one that matters deeply to you,
it will be easier to persuade your
readers to care about it.
 Do I have an opinion on the issue?
Just being able to say you do or do not
like a situation is not enough. You
have to describe in detail how things
would be different or better if you had
the power to something about the
issue.
 Do people have different opinions
on the issue? If everyone agrees with
your views on the issue there is no one
to persuade. Pick an issue about
which people disagree.
 Is my opinion supportable? Will
you be able to gather enough facts and
examples to make a case that your
audience will consider seriously? Will
you be able to respond effectively to
any opposing arguments (objections
to your opinions).
Write an Opinion Statement
When you write a persuasive
essay, your first job is to create a
preliminary opinion statement
(also called a thesis statement).
This statement should clearly
your issue and your opinion on
it.
Issue
Opinion
The proposed oneway street
would cause
problems for many
students.
is something good
that people can do
for the earth.
is a very important
benefit of recycling.
Recycling
The preservation of
natural resources
Consider your Purpose, Audience,
and Tone - As the writer of a
persuasive essay, your purpose is
to persuade your readers. Most
specifically, you want to convince
them to think differently or to
follow the course o action you
suggest. To persuade your readers
effectively, you must understand
them well. To get a better
understanding of your audience,
ask yourself the following
questions:
What will my readers already
know about the issue? Consider
how much background
information you will have to
provide in order for your readers to
understand your position on the
issue.
What will make my readers care
about the issue? Think about how
the topic affects the lives of your
readers.
What will they want to know
more about? Consider aspects of
the issue about which readers
might want to know more
information.
ISSUE: RECYCLING
Audience
Responses to
Questions
Readers of my
local
newspaper
What they know: They
probably know about the need
to recycle – about the amount
of garbage that we all produce.
What will make them care:
help them recognize just how
serious the garbage problem is
and how recycling can help.
ISSUE: RECYCLING
Audience
Responses to
Questions
Readers of my
local
newspaper
What objections they might
raise: They might think that
recycling costs too much – but I
could counter with details about
how it saves money in the long run.
What they will want to know
more about: They will probably
expect specific facts and statistics
about how much garbage we
produce and the problem it creates.
Your choice and arrangement of
words determines your tone – your
attitude and feelings about your
issue. Choose your words to suit
your audience and your purpose
for writing (in this case,
persuasion). If your readers are
put off by your tone, they may not
take your opinion seriously. In
persuasive essay, your tone should
be serious and as carefully
considered as your opinion.
Gather Support for your Opinion
 Getting your facts together – You
must support your opinion in a
persuasive essay, or you won’t
convince readers. To be convincing
you must use logical appeals, which
include reasons and evidence.
Opinion (THESIS)
Statement
Reason
Evidence
Evidence
Reason
Evidence
Evidence
Reason
Evidence
Reasons - These are logical statements that answer the
question Why?
Evidence
Opinion
People should
recycle
Reasons that answer
the question Why?
1. Recycling reduces the
mountains of garbage we
produce.
2. Recycling saves water and
energy.
3. Much of the garbage we
throw away could be
recycled with very little
effort.
FINDING YOUR REASONS
Use the following strategies to help
you think of supporting reasons for
your opinion.
Step 1 –What are the advantages of
agreeing with my opinion? Think
of ways that agreeing with your
opinion will help the people in your
audience – for example, by making
them healthier or happier.
Advantage of recycling: It helps to
make people healthier by reducing
the waste that ends up in ground
water.
 Step 2 – What are the disadvantages of
agreeing with my opinion? Think of
ways that agreeing with your opinion
might make things more difficult for
the people in your audience – for
example, by requiring them to
sacrifice time or money. Disadvantage
of recycling: It takes too much time for
the people to separate recyclable
materials from the rest of the garbage
they throw out.
 Step 3 – Turn your responses about advantages
and disadvantages into reasons that support
your opinion. An advantage becomes a reason
when you simply state the advantage. A
disadvantage becomes a reason when you
refute (prove wrong through argument) the
disadvantage as you would an opposing
argument. Advantage as a reason: Recycling
helps to make people healthier by reducing the
waste that ends up in ground water.
Disadvantage as a reason: The small amount of
personal time each of us takes to recycle can
save all of us time by reducing the amount of
garbage that we, as a society, must take time to
process.
EVIDENCE
Evidence includes the facts, statistics, expert
opinions, anecdotes and examples that
support your reasons.
Types of Evidence
Examples
Facts
Statements that can be
checked by testing,
observation or research.
In older landfills, toxins
leached into the soil and
eventually into the ground
water.
Types of Evidence
Examples
Statistics
Facts that are numerical
and are tabulated to
present information about
a subject
Expert opinion
Statements made by a
recognized authority on
the subject.
People in the United States
throw away 40 percent of
all the garbage in the
world.
The Environment
Protection Agency
estimates that in the next
decade 10 percent of our
cities will run out of landfill
space.
Types of Evidence
Examples
Anecdotes
Extended examples or
stories used to support a
main idea.
While driving to a relative’s
house yesterday I noticed
that mountaintops once
covered by beautiful pine
trees were now completely
bare.
Recycling paper instead of
making paper from trees
reduces water use and
energy use.
Examples
Specific instances or
illustrations of a general
idea
The chart below shows the reasons and the evidence to support each reason:
OPINION: People really need to throw away less by recycling more
Reasons (Why?)
Much of the garbage that is
now tossed out could be
recycled.
Supporting facts, statistics,
expert opinions, anecdotes and
examples
Statistic: Government officials
estimate that 60 percent of all
this trash could be recycled.
Statistic: Environmentalists
suggest a much higher figure –
as much as 70 to 90 percent.
Reasons (Why?)
Supporting facts, statistics,
expert opinions, anecdotes and
examples
•Recycling more of our garbage can also
save precious resources.
•Example: Every week, for example,
50,000 trees are sacrificed to produce
Sunday Newspapers in the United states.
•Fact: By recycling news papers we can
reduce trees from destruction.
•Recycling more can reduce the mountains •Fact: Garbage, unfortunately, does not
of garbage produced – and reduce the
just disappear like magic after it is hauled
costs associated with all the landfills
away.
where the garbage is dumped.
•Fact: Garbage usually goes into landfills –
many of which have created toxic
pollution problems and monumental
cleanup costs.
•Expert opinion: The Environmental
Protection Agency estimates that in the
next decade 10 percent of our cities will
run out of landfill space.
 Emotional Impact: An emotional
appeal is support that targets readers’
feelings and emotions. Persuasive
writers appeal to their readers’ feelings
and emotions by using examples,
anecdotes, and, most commonly,
words with strong connotations.
 Examples pack emotional power
because they show impact of your issue
on a specific place, situation, or person.
Look at the general statement and the
specific example below.
General Statement
 Runoff from land fills pollutes
creeks.
Specific Example
 Dog Run Creek, once a favorite
community swimming and fishing
spot, is now a lifeless, weed-choked
gully marked with large signs
warning the unwary not to swim in
or eat fish from the cloudy water.
 The specific example might have a
strong impact on a reader who calls to
his mind his or her own favorite creek
and who might, therefore, be alarmed
at the idea of landfill runoff polluting
this creek.
 Anecdotes are brief stories that
illustrate a point. They can affect
readers’ emotions by showing how
your issue affects people like them.
Look at the following anecdote about
the use of trees for paper products.
 Anecdote: Ed Chafee recently visited
his old hometown. He looked forward
to seeing some familiar faces, but most
of all he wanted once again to wander
through the forests he had loved as a
boy. When he got there, the forests
were gone, replaced by evenly spaced
saplings. The entire forest had been
turned into paper towels.
 Words with strong connotations
(loaded language) can also affect
readers’ emotions. Words such as
grimy, rotten, fresh and clear can make
your reader feel disgusted by or
attracted to what you are describing. In
the chart below, notice how the
italicized words add emotional impact
to the original sentences.
Original Sentences Revised Sentences with
Connotative Words Added
People can help
People can help rescue
save a forest
priceless forests from
destruction
People can help just People can have a farby recycling
reaching impact just by
newspapers
recycling newspapers
ORGANIZE YOUR SUPPORT
1. Get your information in order - Before
writing, you should decide how to
order the reasons for your opinion
logically. Keep in mind that the parts of
your essay that readers will remember the
most – the high-profile parts – are at the
end of the essay and at the beginning.
Therefore, one way to show a logical
progression of your reasons is to put your
strongest reason last,
 where it is most likely to be remembered by
your readers and your second strongest
reason first – in the beginning of the essay.
Place remaining reasons in the middle of the
essay.
 To determine the strength of your reasons,
think about the impact each will have on
your readers. The strongest reason the most
impact. For example;
OPINION: People really need to
throw away less by recycling
more.
 Reasons:
2
Much of the garbage that is now tossed
out should be recycled.
3
Recycling more of our garbage can save
precious resources.
1
Recycling more can reduce the
mountains of garbage produced – and
reduce the costs associated with all the
landfills where the garbage is dumped.
FRAMEWORK
 Introduction
 Open with an attention-getter.
 Give background information.
 Present your opinion/thesis
statement.
 Body
 Provide reasons and support
 Refute opposing arguments
 Conclusion
 Restate your opinion
 Include a call to action
Do something Good for the Earth
 INTRODUCTION (attention grabber /
background)
Garbage! It smells bad and looks disgusting.
Most people prefer not to think about thrash
more than once a day and that is only when
they take it out. People in the United States
should be thinking about garbage more,
however, because they throw away 40
percent of all the garbage in the world.
People really need to throw away less by
recycling more. (thesis statement)
BODY: Reason 1 (Evidence – facts and statistics)
Much of the garbage that is now tossed out
could be recycled. Of the 200 million tons of
garbage that US citizens produce yearly,
about 42 percent is paper (from trees), 8
percent is glass, 9 percent is metal (from
ore, a natural resource), 7 percent is plastic
(from petroleum, a natural resource, 8
percent is rubber (mostly from rain forests),
8 percent is food waste, and 18 percent is
yard waste. Government officials estimate
that 60 percent of all thrash could be
recycled. Environmentalists suggest a much
higher figure – as much as 70 to 90 percent.
 Reason 2 (Emotional appeal – connotative words)
Recycling more of our garbage can also save
precious resources. Every week, for example, fifty
thousand trees are sacrificed to produce Sunday
newspapers in the United States. By recycling
newspapers, we can rescue trees from destruction.
We can also save water and energy by recycling.
Recycling paper instead of making paper from
trees reduces the amount of water used to make
the paper by 60 percent and the amount of energy
by 70 percent. Aluminum cans show the biggest
savings from recycling. To produce a can from
recycled aluminum takes 95 percent less energy
than from ore.
 Reason 3 (Evidence – facts) Opposing
arguments/response to opposing arguments.
Recycling more can reduce the mountains of
garbage produced – and reduce the costs
associated with all the landfills where the garbage
is dumped. Garbage , unfortunately, does not just
disappear like magic after it is hauled away. It
usually goes into landfills – many of which have
created toxic pollution problems and monumental
cleanup costs. People often object to recycling by
saying that it costs too much. What they need to
understand is that recycling actually saves money
by reducing waste and by eliminating the costs
that go along with solid-waste disposal and landfill
cleanup.
 CONCLUSION: Restatement of opinion/ summary
of reasons / Emotional appeal / Call to action
Much of what is thrown away now can be recycled
– and recycling is the best way to preserve natural
resources and to reduce the costs of processing all
the garbage. Anyone who loves the earth can help
make it a better place by recycling. Garbage makes
our shared home, this planet, less livable for the
people of today and for the children of tomorrow.
People have caused this garbage crisis and only
people can solve it. Do you care enough to do your
part by recycling?