Name: ____________________________
Beach Park
Essays 6
Objective:
In this lesson, you will write a persuasive essay by completing the prewriting, writing, and
publishing stages of the writing process.
Before You Begin
How do you convince a friend to join a school club with you or your parents to let you go to a
Saturday afternoon movie? If you're smart, you will develop an argument that will persuade
those involved to do what you are asking. Sometimes that's not easy; however, the stronger
your powers of persuasion, the better your chances of succeeding.
Persuasive Writing
The purpose of persuasive writing is to influence the reader in some way. Because you are the
only one speaking in a persuasive paper, you must attempt to get the reader to agree with your
point of view or take a certain action. In a persuasive essay, the thesis sentence must clearly
state your opinion or position and support your argument.
If you want to influence the reader to agree with or support your position, it is important that
you feel strongly about the topic and provide sufficient evidence or proof to support your
opinion. If you don't have strong feelings about the issue, it will be very difficult for you to
convince anyone else to agree with you or perform an action you are suggesting.
You encounter many types of persuasive writing on a daily basis, including newspaper editorials,
letters to the editor, advertisements in newspapers, commercials on radio and television,
campaign speeches, and movie and book reviews.
Think about some advertisements or commercials you can recall. What made them memorable?
They may use striking visual techniques. They may use strong words and phrases that appeal to
you. They may include strong evidence. In writing a persuasive essay, you will focus on using
strong words and phrases and strong evidence to support your position. This evidence may
include facts and statistics, testimonials, and examples.
Although you have used the essay structure in several lessons now, you are always free to
return to earlier lessons for a quick review. As in previous essays, you will use the introduction,
body, and conclusion format. In your persuasive essay, be sure to do the following:
INTRODUCTION: Gain attention. State the topic and your opinion.
BODY: Present information. Include evidence to support your opinion with the strongest
evidence often presented last.
CONCLUSION: Ask for results. Summarize arguments and suggest action.
Name: ____________________________
Beach Park
Essays 6
Most students have ideas about what they would do to improve their school. For the topic of
your persuasive essay, select an improvement you think your school needs.
1. Brainstorm a list of possible improvements.
2. Identify the improvement from the list that you will focus on in your persuasive essay.
3. Identify the audience. Give this careful thought. Will you write for fellow students, teachers,
administrators, the board of education, or for parents and the community? Your audience is an
important determining factor in what you will write.
4. Brainstorm the improvement you have selected. Include as much evidence as you can think of
at this point.
5. Using the list as a basis, prepare a working outline that includes an introduction, at least one
body paragraph, and a conclusion.
Name: ____________________________
Beach Park
Essays 6
6. Using the information generated in your prewriting activities; write a first draft of the essay.
Be sure to use the appropriate essay structure. Make your position clear in the topic sentence.
This is not a report. You are trying to convince your audience that this improvement needs to be
made at your school. Include enough strong evidence to convince the reader to agree with your
position or take the action you are requesting. Use strong words and phrases to persuade the
reader.
Name: ____________________________
Beach Park
Essays 6
7. Copy your first draft here and revise as necessary.
If possible, print a copy of your revised draft. Let someone read it and make suggestions. (To
copy your draft, simply copy and paste your work to any word processing program and print the
document.)
8. Proofread your essay carefully.
Name: ____________________________
Beach Park
Essays 6
An Assignment for Your Student Writing Portfolio:
After revising and proofreading, prepare the final copy of your persuasive essay following the
directions given by your teacher. Print a copy of your final draft and go over it one more time
before submitting it to your audience.