Persuasion
Bringing your audience to your side
In your notes, write the following with plenty of
space between words:
Persuasion
Appeal to Logic/Reason
Appeal to Emotion
Rhetorical Question
Parallelism or Parallel Structure
Repetition
Restatement
Analogy
These will be our literary terms for the week and will be on our
quiz.
Persuasion
Persuasion attempts to convince readers to
accept a specific viewpoint and to take a
particular action.
A good persuasive writer uses a combination of
logical and emotional appeals, involving the
audience both intellectually and emotionally in
order to persuade them
Persuasive Text
In persuasive text, a writer
takes a position FOR or
AGAINST an issue and writes
to convince the reader to
believe or do something.
Discussion:
Where do we see persuasive
writing?
Persuasion is Powerful!
Use it to…
Purpose
• Support a cause
Persuasive Statement
Please support my soccer team
by buying discount coupons.
•
Urge people to action
Vote for Pedro.
•
Make a change
•
Prove something wrong
The principal should let us
wear hats.
Cars do not cause global
warming.
Persuasion is Powerful!
Use it to…
Purpose
• Stir up sympathy
•
Create interest
•
Get people to agree with
you
Persuasive Statement
 If you don’t adopt this dog, it could
be put to death.
 Better grades get you a better job
and more money.

I am sure you’ll agree Snickers are
the best candy bars.
Persuasion
(2 types)
Logical
Emotional
Persuasion – Logic/Reason
Uses a chain of reasoning to establish the
validity of a proposed argument
Particular examples to a general conclusion,
general to the specific
Evidence includes research, statistics, expert
witnesses, etc.
Persuasion - Emotional
Stir the reader’s feelings.
It relies not so much on reasoned arguments as
on charged words and symbols that evoke
sympathy or distaste.
Examples that appeal to fear: slavery, bondage, in
chains, oppression, tyranny
Anecdotes show emotion (examples that
dramatize a situation)
The most popular form of persuasion
Rhetorical Devices
Tools of Persuasion!
Rhetorical Question
Parallelism or Parallel Structure
Repetition
Restatement
Analogy
Rhetorical Question
question that requires no answer
draw attention to a point
generally stronger than a direct statement
Yet this need not be. The means are at hand to fulfill
the age-old dream: poverty can be abolished. How
long shall we ignore this under-developed nation in
our midst? How long shall we look the other way
while our fellow human beings suffer? How long?
Parallelism
two or more words, phrases, or clauses have the
same grammatical form and an identical grammatical
relationship to the same thing
In its energy, its lyrics, its advocacy of frustrated joys, rock
is one long symphony of protest.
I came; I saw; I conquered.
Parallelism
Great for public speaking
Impressive and pleasing to hear—elaborate yet
rhythmic and ordered
Economical – gives weight and dignity to what the
sentence says
Helps emphasize ideas and make them memorable
More Examples!
"We have petitioned and our petitions have been
scorned. We have entreated and our entreaties have
been disregarded. We have begged and they have
mocked when our calamity came. We beg no longer.
We entreat no more. We petition no more. We defy
them.
William Jennings Bryan
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill,
that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet
any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to
assure the survival and the success of liberty."
JFK
Repetition
A device where words, sounds, and ideas
are used more than once to enhance
rhythm and to create emphasis.
I didn’t like the swimming pool, I didn’t like swimming,
and I didn’t like the swimming instructor, and after all
these years I still don’t.
When that son leaves home, he throws himself with an
intensity which his children will not know into the
American way of life; he eats American, talks American,
he will be American or nothing.
To philosophize is to understand; to understand is to
explain oneself, to explain is to relate.
Problem gives rise to problem.
Restatement
Saying the same thing again using different
words
Example
Mom: Clean up your bedroom or you will not get to
go to the party!
Child’s restatement: I have to straighten up my room
or I can’t hang out with friends.
Restatement Examples
"The war is inevitable” … “let it come! I repeat it,
sir, let it come!"
We should chase the truth of our life; We should
look for the meaning of our experience; We
should capture our sense of the life.
I say, I am not guilty of all charges! I am innocent
of murder!
Same idea, different words
Analogy
A comparison between two dissimilar things
that points out similarities between them
“Students are more like oysters than sausages. The
job of teaching is not to stuff them and then seal
them up, but to help them open and reveal the riches
within. There are pearls in each of us, if only we
knew how to cultivate them with ardor and
persistence.”
Some basic facts about memory are clear. Your short-term
memory is like the RAM on a computer: it records the
information in front of you right now. Some of what you
experience seems to evaporate--like words that go missing
when you turn off your computer without hitting SAVE
Analogy
"Cameron's house is like a museum. It's very cold, and
very beautiful, and you're not allowed to touch
anything."
(Matthew Broderick as Ferris in Ferris Bueller's Day Off,
1986)
“Knowledge always desires increase: it is like fire, which
must first be kindled by some external agent, but which
will afterwards support itself.” –Samuel Johnson
When writing persuasively,
we need to keep in mind five key parts:
Audience Awareness,
Clear Position,
Persuasive Language,
Persuasive Appeals, and
PROOF PROOF PROOF
Write these down with plenty of room between each
in your notes. You will be expected to know and use
these terms.
Audience Awareness
Providing information an audience may
need and/or anticipating an audience’s
point of view
Audience Awareness
Know your audience before you start writing.
The audience is who will read your writing.
The audience may be your teacher, your parents,
your friends, or the President of the United States.
Audience Awareness
Knowing who your audience is helps you to
decide:
How to connect with the ideas, knowledge, or
beliefs of the person or group.
What information to include.
What arguments will persuade him/her.
How informal or formal the language should be.
Audience Awareness – example
Dear Mr. Sabolcik,
Imagine you were a student, sitting in English
when your teacher says, “Okay, get out your
reading log.” You rustle around in your
backpack for a while until you realize -- oh no!
You left your homework at home, perfectly done.
Clear Position
A position or argument; the audience
knows exactly what the writer wants
Clear Position
The writer must clearly state or imply his/her
position and stay with that position.
Generally, the position is stated in the opening
paragraph or introduction.
Clear Position – example
I am writing this letter to persuade you to make a rule
against turning in late homework assignments. At first that
sounds unbearable for us kids, but when you really look at it
you see it does more good than bad. Just simply turning in our
homework on time prepares us for the hurdles life throws at
us. Have you ever thought to look at it from the teacher’s point
of view? They shouldn’t have to grade a late assignment from
last quarter. Having no late homework will also be very
pleasing to those of us who get our work done on time. It
means kids who don’t turn in their work on time don’t get to
work the system, which isn’t fair.
Find the Position Statement
Imagine you were a student sitting in your math class when your
teacher says, “Okay, get out your homework!” You rustle around in
your backpack for a while until you realize – oh no! You left our
homework at home perfectly done. The teacher comes by your desk
and you say, “I am sorry. I left my homework at home. My mom just
had a baby, so I was taking care of her, and I just ran out the door
without it.” Your teacher smiles at you. “It’s okay. I understand. Just
bring it in tomorrow.” Isn’t that a better situation than “Oh too bad!
You don’t get any credit for it.”? Late homework should be accepted,
and I will tell you why.
Find the Position Statement
My feeling about the rule that teachers do not
accept late homework is definitely a mixed one. I
know that the rule has its pros and cons, but I really
do think that the cons heavily outweigh the pros. I
would like to show you, the principal, my position on
this rule in a little bit more depth.
Persuasive Language
Words and phrases that urge or compel
the reader to support the position of the
author
Persuasive Language
Persuasive language is choosing just the right words or
phrases to use at just the right time with just the right
audience.
Precise words trigger strong feelings.



Seizes
Snarls
Dumbstruck
Repeated words or phrases for emphasis

I have a dream…(Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Different connotations



Mean or strict
Died or passed away
Used or pre-owned
Choose the more persuasive words from the red
pair to show that the Homework rule is bad.
You are/Imagine a young middle school student. Essay
in one hand, you rush/go to class. “I’m done!” You are
glad/overjoyed.
The teacher takes/snatches the essay out of your hands
and throws it away/hurls it into the garbage. She
yells/says, “It’s a day late!”
You look/stare dumbstruck at your hard work. The
teacher didn’t look/glance at it! The No Late
Homework Rule is cruel/bad.
Which is more charged?
Bad or abysmal?
Abolish or get rid of?
Conquer or take over?
Sad or melancholic?
Unfair or unjust?
Abhor or hate?
Mean or cruel?
In support of…
Advantage
Always/Never
Best
Certain
Confident
Convenient
Definitely
Effective
Emphasize
Expect
Interesting
Magnificent
Most
Most Important
Popular
Profitable
Should
Strongly Recommend
Superb
Superior
Tremendous
Truly
Trustworthy
Workable
Worthwhile
Against/NOT supporting
Aggravate
Agony
Atrocious
Confusing
Cruel
Damaging
Disadvantages
Displeased
Dreadful
Harmful
Harsh
Horrible
Inconsiderate
Inferior
Irritate
Offend
Ordeal
Outrageousness
Provoke
Repulsive
Severe
Shameful
Shocking
Terrible
Unreliable
Unstable
“Big 6” Persuasive Appeals
Bandwagon
Repetition
Testimonial
Emotional Appeal
Humor
RhetoricalQuestion
Other Persuasive Appeals
PROOF PROOF PROOF
•
Appeal to the audience’s reason
–
–
Use statistics and reputable studies
Hard evidence is always more convincing than simply stating
your opinion.
Cite experts on the topic
Do they back up what you say?
Do they refute the other side?
GIVE FACTS!
PROOF PROOF PROOF
Also, you can appeal to readers’ emotions
This involves choosing language carefully to create a
certain response. Involve the reader’s senses in
these sections
Be careful with emotional appeals. They can be
powerful, but your argument is less credible if you
overuse them.
By yourself, jot down some ideas as to how you
would ask for the new iPhone 5 in the form of a
letter.
Remember Audience Awareness, Clear Position,
Persuasive Language, and PROOF PROOF
PROOF
Students will write to their respective audiences based
on their number:
1. Bill Gates foundation (as a donation)
2. Parents or guardians (as a gift)
3. Grandparents (as a gift)
4. A friend (as a loan)
5. Local business
Magazine Activity
Groups of 3
Your turn.
Compose a 3-4 sentence plea to Sabolcik to
give you a homework pass for the next quarter.
Use strong, charged language!
If you’re successful, he’ll give it to you!
Once your audience has been identified, think
about the best information and arguments that
you can make.
Consider persuasive language that will connect
with your audience.
As always,
You’re welcome for this knowledge.