How the words you use in your essay effect your
persuasiveness.
Vocabulary of Issue
 The discourse of your topic
 Use discourse of issue but remember to define key terms if needed:
subprime mortgage, underwater, CFO’s vs. factory farms
 Spell out abbreviations first time and include abbreviation
immediately after, and thereafter use just the abbreviation
 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP)
 National Public Radio (NPR)
 What are some key terms in the discourse of your topic?
 Write them down so you will remember

Tone
Tone : should be educated , formal, and reasonable—beyond that it’s
up to you (serious, urgent, thoughtful, welcoming, angry, etc.)
 Formality means: avoiding contractions and most abbreviations (don’t
write TV, write television); longer, more complex sentences; favoring
the objective third person (Americans, consumers, etc.) over second
person (you)
 Avoid insulting your audience
Of course, . . .
 It’s obvious that. . . .
 Everybody knows/agrees that…
 Use qualified language
 Avoid overgeneralizing and using words like all, everyone,
Americans, always
 Instead use words like some, many Americans, and often

Tone and Organization
1. Avoid questioning the reader,
because…
 It creates an informal
relationship
 You should be the authority
persuading the reader what
to think, not just provoking
the reader to think


Example: Haven’t you seen a lot
of large people around town?
Don’t you think obesity is a
problem?
Instead state it: One can simply
look around to see that many
people in our lives are obese.
2. Also, avoid using questions to
transition.
 Questioning the reader does not
create a smooth sentence to
sentence transition as student
writers often seem to think it does
 Obesity is a severe problem in
the United States. Looking
around, you might ask yourself,
why is this such a big issue?
Obesity is an issue because…
Tone and Organization
 Often, student writers
think they are asking a
question with one obvious
answer, but they are
wrong.

Example:

Research question: Should
national education
standards be applied to K-12
education?
 Excerpt from student argumentative
essay:
 “National standards are not raising
the bars for student education but
instead in order to stay competitive
with other nations. The United
States is trying to have their
students’ educational level rise and
be above all others. If this is the
way of thinking when trying to
place standards, then how can
these standards possibly benefit
students?”
 This author assumes that what
benefits the U.S. cannot also benefit
students. This is an illogical
assumption.
Denotation/Connotation
 The words you use reflect
your stance, and that’s a
good thing, but be careful
about using words without
paying attention to their
connotations
 Denotation: dictionary
definition; literal meaning
 Connotation: all the
emotions and associations
that come with a word
 The Economic Bailout
Package compared to The
Rescue Package compared to
The Consumer Protection Act
 Obama Healthcare Reform
versus Obamacare
 Explore the differences
 Hard vs. challenging
 Plain vs. natural
 Frugal vs. cheap
 Cultured vs. snobby
 Cop vs. police officer
The discourse of argument
 Key words and phrases that are often useful in writing arguments
 The issue started to take shape when _______________
 Words for those in support of something: Proponents, advocates, supporters,
stakeholders, backers, sponsors, allies, defenders, champions
 Words for those against something: Critics, naysayers, protestors, dissenters
 Avoid the basic and awkward Those who are pro X….Those who are con X
 When introducing reasons and evidence
 One supporting point of ________ is ___________.
 Proponents of ______________ argue that _______________.
 Evidence that supports this idea is______________.
 _______________ suggests that _______________.
 Key verbs
 See pg. 420 in Little, Brown Handbook for useful verbs, such as notes, argues,
implies, reasons, acknowledges, grants
 Avoid basic verbs, such as says
Figurative Language
 In contrast to literal language, in which what is written is EXACTLY what one
means, figurative language is whenever the writer uses language
metaphorically, or NOT exactly
 Some quick examples of literal language:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally
 Some kinds of figurative language are analogies, metaphors, similes, and
personification
 Student writers use figurative language (in relevant places) to enhance their
persuasiveness--and get better diction scores!
 Practice: Should you use literally or figuratively?
 (a) Some students are getting swept out of the library, _____ speaking.
(b) The word photography _____ means "drawing with light."
Figurative Language: Analogies are. . .
 An elongated comparison for the purposes of
illustration or drawing parallels
 This comparison may even extend through a whole essay or
speech

Example: "I look at this as being in the form of a house...and the
students are the foundation, and the teachers are the walls, and
the roof itself is the school. And we know that if you have a weak
foundation, the walls and the roof can't be supported. Therefore,
it crumbles."

Northwestern State University student Jason Madison,
Student's should 'come first' address
More analogy examples. . .
 "Wishing for the end to AIDS and extreme poverty
in Africa is like wishing that gravity didn't make
things so damn heavy. We can wish it, but what
the hell can we do about it?"
 Bono, 2004 Commencement Address at The University of
Pennsylvania
Metaphors are. . .
 A comparison between two things, based on
resemblance or similarity, without using “like” or “as.”
 A device for seeing something in terms of something
else
 The act of giving a thing a name that belongs to
something else.
Some examples of metaphors:
 The teacher descended upon the exams, sank his
talons into their pages, ripped the answers to
shreds, and then, perching in his chair, began to
digest.
 What two things are being compared here?
 Teacher grading to a bird eating its prey
 That school is a jungle and the students the wild
animals within.
 What two things are being compared here?
 The school to a jungle
 The young women were cool and confident
lionesses, checking out their prey at the club.
 The young women to lions on the prowl
Similes
 Similes are comparisons that use “like” or “as”:
 Her face was pale as the moon.


What two things are being compared here?
The paleness of her face to the whiteness of the moon
 My feet felt like concrete blocks after a hard day of
waitressing.


What two things are being compared here?
The difficulty of lifting her feet to lifting concrete blocks
Other kinds of figurative language
 Personification: giving human qualities to animals or
objects; giving lifelike qualities to nonliving things.
 The thunder growled to be let in.

What lifelike quality is being given and to what nonhuman thing?

Growling is being attributed to thunder
 The house’s windows were glowing eyes in the stormy night.

What lifelike quality is being given and to what nonhuman thing?

Glowing eyes are being attributed to lighted windows
 The book begged to be read.

What lifelike quality is being given and to what nonhuman thing?

Begging is being attributed to a book.
Why use metaphors?
 They enliven ordinary language.
 They are generous to readers and listeners; they encourage
interpretation.
 They are more efficient and economical than ordinary language; they
give maximum meaning with a minimum of words.
 They create new meanings; they allow you to write about feelings,
thoughts, experiences, etc. for which there are no easy words; they are
necessary.
 They are a sign of genius.
Metaphors convey experience in a way
ordinary words cannot
 Life is a. . .
 rollercoaster, garden, prison, winding journey, full-time
job, rat race, jungle, circus
 Now you try:
 Love is like. . .
 An animal
 Love is like a wild tiger. It may be beautiful, but it’s also
uncontrollable.
 A place
 Love is like Disney World. It makes you feel like a child again.
 An appliance
 Love is like a washing machine. It spins you round and round.
 A meal
 Love is like an ice cream cone on a hot summer’s day. It’s sweet,
messy, and worth every penny.
Things to avoid when creating metaphors:
 Dead metaphors/clichés
 Clichés are expressions that were once clever or




original but, through constant use, have become worn
and boring.
Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what
you’re going to get.
Life is a journey, not a destination.
He is being a real bear today.
I was sick as a dog.
More. . .
 Last but not least
 Sick and tired
 Dead on my feet
 In a rut
 Time flies
 You took the words out of my mouth
 Can you think of any?
Creating new metaphors:
 For some people metaphors come easily, for others it
takes time and a lot of thinking
 In both cases, multiple revisions of the metaphors are
probably necessary
 I try to think of characteristics of the thing I want to
describe and then try to match it with something very
different that shares those characteristics. For
example…
A way to approach composing metaphors:
 Try to think of the characteristics of the thing or
idea you are trying to explain:
 Redemption
 Characteristics: makes you feel born anew, gives hope,




wipes the slate clean, takes away sin and corruption,
inviting
What concrete things have these effects?
Water, rebirth, striking a record, clean places. . .
Rough attempt: Redemption is having your sins struck
from the record as if they never existed.
Redemption is like a freshly mowed field right after it rains.
How to integrate into your
persuasive essay and speech:
 Try to compare a person, group, action, subject, etc. to
something in your issue
 What is [fill in issue here] like?
 The current nursing situation
 The current climate crisis
 The current state of high gas prices
 The people arguing that video games are harmful
Figurative language examples taken from a student essay on how
the housing bubble bursting contributed to our recession
 On the housing crisis:
 “The current housing crisis,
coupled with our present bad
economy, has hit our country
with a steel fist, and has
affected everyone and
everything.”
 “While there are many
culprits who shoulder the
responsibility of our current
economic situation, a huge
contributor has been the rise
in subprime mortgages.”
 “Until the economy gets back on
its feet, there will be no way of
knowing which jobs will be safe
and which ones will not.”
 “The one bright light out of all
this darkness cast by the
housing crisis is the lesson that
the future generation can learn.”
Figurative Language Examples in the News
“President-elect Barack Obama wants to make something very
clear: The economy is not going to immediately recover when he
takes his oath of office, but he has a plan to get the country
moving.
Obama introduced a recovery plan ‘equal to the task’ that would be
the largest public works spending program since the interstate
highway system was build a half-century ago.
‘We've got to provide a blood infusion to the patient right now
to make sure that the patient is stabilized. And that means
that we can't worry short term about the deficit. We've got to
make sure that the economic stimulus plan is large enough to get
the economy moving,’ Obama said during an interview that aired
Sunday on NBC's ‘Meet the Press.’”
---From
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081208/D94UGLMO0.html
Figurative Language Examples in the News
"’I think several individuals are very frustrated to think that
President-elect Obama may just cut and paste from some
of the Democratic operatives from the Clinton
administration and put them into his White House,’ said
Leslie Sanchez, a Republican strategist and CNN
contributor.
Republicans aren't the only ones who want Obama to branch
out. Robert Kuttner, a liberal and author of ‘Obama's
Challenge,’ says the president-elect should broaden his
recruiting efforts.”
---From
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/19/transition.wra
p/index.html?eref=ib_topstories