THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PERSUASIVE WRITING

Persuasive writing is writing that sets out to influence or change an audience's thoughts or actions.

You are subjected to persuasion everyday from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed.
When you turn on your radio, are you listening to the CBC or some local station? Which paper do you
read while drinking your morning coffee? The National Post, The Globe and Mail? The Vancouver Sun?

Whenever you buy a product or use a service, your choice has likely been influenced by a persuasive
marketing ad. There are, of course, many occupations where persuasion is a skill used on an everyday
basis. Lawyers, teachers, clergy members, and journalists are just a few.

The point is that understanding persuasive strategies can help you in two very important ways:

1) Knowing the strategies helps you analyse the strategies other people are using to persuade you.
This way you can protect yourself when, for example, unethical marketers are trying to take
advantage of you.

2) Knowing the strategies helps you to choose which is the most effective way to persuade an
audience.

HOW DO WE GET OTHERS TO ACCEPT OUR POINT OF VIEW?

 by appealing to their reason

 by appealing to their emotions
 by the appeal of our good character

1) APPEALING TO REASON:

Remember that an argument is an appeal to a person's sense of reason; it is not a violent fight,
dispute, or disagreement. It is a measured, logical way of trying to persuade others to agree with
you.

One critical thing to remember that there are at least two sides to every issue. If you take the attitude
that there is only one side--your side--you will quite likely alienate your reader.

You need, then, to choose one side of an issue clearly in an effort to persuade others. If you're unsure
of your own stance, how can you expect other people to assess, understand, and be convinced by
your position?

Example:

Issue: Should my father stop smoking?

Position: Yes

Questions you may ask (Your reasoning skills often depend on what we call "common sense"):

Ask yourself the following questions:

 Do I have enough evidence? (Is it sufficient?)

 Will my audience believe my evidence? (Is it trustworthy?)
 What are the assumptions built into my argument, and are those assumptions fair? (Is it
verifiable?)
 Does my conclusion follow logically from the claims I make?

There are two basic types of reasoning processes: Deduction and Induction

DEDUCTION: begins with a general principle or premise and draws a specific conclusion from it.

ex. All people who smoke endanger their health. (major premise)

My father smokes. (minor premise)

Therefore, my father is endangering his health. (conclusion)

Is this a strong argument?

 you need to offer evidence in support of your claims

 it may be impossible to prove a cause-effect link between my father's smoking and his declining
health

Other issues you may bring in to support your argument:

 2nd hand smoke / impact on family and friends

 the staggering number of people over 60 years old who die from lung cancer

INDUCTION: supports a general conclusion by examining specific facts or cases.

Ex. If I was to argue that my father was endangering his health, I might cite specific symptoms:

 His teeth are yellowish and he's lost a considerable amount of weight.
 He's no longer able to cycle his 25km every morning.
 Whenever he exerts himself physically, he ends up coughing extremely hard.

Other Logical Appeals?

You could cite smoking/cancer statistics, authority in the form of the Surgeon General, financial costs
etc...

2) APPEALING TO EMOTION:

The logical appeal is certainly an extremely persuasive tool. However, our human nature also lets us
be influenced by our emotions.

One way of evoking emotion in your reader is to use vivid images.

Ex. (to my father who smokes): "I remember when Grandma died of lung cancer. It was the first time
I had ever seen you cry Dad. I remember that you also made me promise not to start smoking."

You could also offer vivid examples in support of your argument. Use language and/or images that
are emotionally charged:

 You might detail the pain of going through chemo therapy.

 You could use Xrays of diseased lungs, or photos of cancerous gums.
Be careful, however, that when you use emotional appeal, you use it "legitimately." You should not
use it as a substitute for logical and/or ethical appeals. Don't use emotional appeals to draw on
stereotypes or manipulate our emotional fears. Don't use emotional appeal to get an automatic,
knee-jerk reaction from someone. If you use emotionally charged language or examples simply to
upset or anger an audience, you are using emotion illegitimately. Your use of emotional appeal
shouldn't oversimplify a complicated issue.

3) APPEALING TO OUR GOOD CHARACTER:

The appeal of your ethics can occur on one or more of the following levels in any given argument:

 Are you a reasonable person? (That is, are you willing to listen, compromise, concede points?)
 Are you authoritative? (Are you experienced and/or knowledgeable in the field you are arguing
in?)
 Are you an ethical/moral person (Is what you're arguing for ethically sound/morally right)
 Are you concerned for the well-being of your audience? (To what extent will you benefit as a
result of arguing from your particular position?)

The ethical appeal is based on the audience's perception of the speaker. Therefore, the audience must
trust the speaker in order to accept the arguments. Don't overlook ethical appeal, as it can be the
most effective of the three.

ELEMENTS OF A GOOD ARGUMENT:

Remember to identify any unfamiliar or uniquely used terms in your argument.

If you forget to define your terms (or choose not to define them) you run the risk of alienating your
audience, confusing them, or causing them to come to inappropriate conclusions.

For example, before making the argument that teachers should "monitor" their students, the word
monitor should be defined. Does "monitor" include eavesdropping on their group discussions? Does it
include accessing their registrar's files to see how well (or how poorly) the students are doing in their
other classes? Does it mean reading their e-mail in an online course without their knowledge? You
would want to be clear about such a term so that someone wouldn't misinterpret its usage in a
particular context.

YOU MUST ENSURE THAT YOUR EVIDENCE IS CONVINCING:

Convincing evidence will satisfy the following questions:

 Is the evidence sufficient in volume? That is, is there is enough evidence to present a strong,
indisputable case.
 Is the evidence trustworthy? Does it come from reliable, informed sources.
 Is the evidence verifiable? That is, can you corroborate it through other sources. Is the evidence
factual, or does it rest solely on opinion?

APPEAL TO AUTHORITY:

If you are drawing on an authoritative, expert figure to back up what you say, is the authority actually
reliable? When trying to determine whether someone is an authority, consider the following elements:

 Is your expert a current authority on the specific subject in question?

 Is your expert up-to-date on the most current procedures, statistics, testing programmes etc.
 Is your expert viewed favourably by their peers? Is he/she respected in the field?
 Is your expert associated with reputable organizations?
 Is your expert as free of bias as possible?

Remember that when quoting a source you must be careful that you don't accidentally (or
intentionally) take the quote out of context, changing the original meaning.

Keep in mind, as well, that your authority should be knowledgeable about the subject; he/she should
not simply be someone famous. A celebrity endorsement is not quite the same as expert opinion
(unless the celebrity is endorsing a product that she/he uses.)

Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ross Rebagliati may be an expert when it comes to endorsing
snowboard wax, but he's not necessarily an expert when asked about the national unity debate.
Bryan Adams' celebrity status does not make his an expert authority on the national economy, but he
would be a reliable, trustworthy source if you asked him about building recording studios.

In addition, you want to ensure that the authority you are using is still current in the field. For
example, you might not want to use a long-retired politician like Pierre Trudeau as your focus expert
on the state of the unity issue in Canada today.

Remember that the most successful arguments often combine the three appeals. With that in mind,
be very careful about relying solely on logic in an argument. Use a combination of appeals to allow for
a more balanced argument. An audience may readily become resistant to your argument if you rest
solely on a particular line of reasoning that they fundamentally disagree with.

IMPROPER EVALUATION OF STATISTICS:

Using statistics, studies and surveys can be very persuasive if they are used ethically and accurately.

Ask yourself the following questions before using this kind of evidence:

 Were the survey questions as objective as possible?

 Was the sample pool representative or biased?
 Are the statistics accurately tabulated?
 Have the statistics been taken out of context?
 Is there enough context provided so that the reader gets a clear view of any pre-existing bias?

OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS FOR ARGUMENT:

Concession: When you concede a point in an argument, you are saying that you actually agree with
your opponent on a particular issue. Remember that this is not a sign of weakness. In fact, you are
strengthening your ethical appeal because you are coming across as a reasonable person who is
willing to see more than one side of the argument.

Refutation: When you deliberately, directly attack an opponent's argument, point by point, you are
said to be "refuting" the argument.

Anticipating and Addressing Counter-Arguments: When you are making your argument, you
must remain aware of what points your opponents will likely take exception to. If you can anticipate
what the likely objections will be, and then address them in your argument, you'll likely strengthen
your position.

LESSON PLAN

CAN YOU CONVINCE ME? DEVELOPING PERSUASIVE WRITING

 MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY

Computers with Internet access

PowerPoint

LCD projector (optional)

Chart paper or chalkboard

Sticky notes

Persuasive Strategy PowerPoint Presentation

STUDENT INTERACTIVES

Grades 3 – 12 | Student Interactive | Writing & Publishing Prose

Persuasion Map

The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a
persuasive essay or debate.

PRINTOUTS

 Persuasion Is All Around You

 Persuasive Strategy Definitions

 Check the Strategies

 Check the Strategy

 Observations and Notes

 Persuasive Writing Assessment

PREPARATION

1. Prepare for the game students play during Session 1. Divide the class into teams of four or five.
Choose a prize for the winning team (e.g., extra time at recess, a chance to be first in the lunch
line, a special snack, a certificate you create, or the chance to bring a special book home). If
possible, arrange for another teacher or an administrator to come into your class at the end of the
game to act as a judge.

For Session 3, assign partners and pick a second prize for the group that wins the game.

2. Make one copy of the Observations and Notes sheet for each group and pair of students. (You will
use this sheet to record your observations while students are working during Session 1 and
presenting during Session 4.) Make one copy of the Persuasive Strategy Definitions, Persuasion Is
All Around You, Check the Strategies and the Persuasive Writing Assessment for each student.
Make enough copies of the Check the Strategy sheet so that every student has a checklist for each
set of partners that presents (see Session 4).

3. Make a two-column chart for Session 1. Write Winter is the best season at the top of the chart.
Write agree at the top of one column and disagree at the top of the other.

4. If you do not have classroom computers with Internet access, arrange to spend one session in your
school’s computer lab (see Session 3). Bookmark the Persuasion Map on your classroom or lab
computers, and make sure that it is working properly. (If you experience technical difficulties, you
may need to download the newest version of the Flash plug-in, which is available for free on the
Technical Help page).

5. Preview the Persuasive Strategy PowerPoint Presentation and bookmark it on your classroom
computer. You will be sharing this with students during Session 2 and may want to arrange to use
an LCD projector or a computer with a large screen.

STUDENT OBJECTIVES

Students will

 Work in cooperative groups to brainstorm ideas and organize them into a cohesive argument to be
presented to the class
 Gain knowledge of the different strategies that are used in effective persuasive writing

 Use a graphic organizer to help them begin organizing their ideas into written form

 Apply what they have learned to write a persuasive piece that expresses their stance and reasoning in
a clear, logical sequence

 Develop oral presentation skills by presenting their persuasive writing pieces to the class

 Analyze the work of others to see if it contains effective persuasive techniques

SESSION 1: THE GAME OF PERSUASION

1. Post the chart you created where students can see it (see Preparation, Step 3). Distribute sticky
notes, and ask students to write their names on the notes. Call students up to the chart to place
their notes in the column that expresses their opinion.

2. After everyone has had a chance to put their name on the chart, look at the results and discuss
how people have different views about various topics and are entitled to their opinions. Give
students a chance to share the reasons behind their choices.

3. Once students have shared, explain that sometimes when you believe in something, you want
others to believe in it also and you might try to get them to change their minds. Ask students the
following question: “Does anyone know the word for trying to convince someone to change his or
her mind about something?” Elicit from students the word persuade.

4. Explain to students that they are going to play a game that will help them understand how
persuasive arguments work.

5. Follow these rules of the game:

Have students get into their groups.

Explain that sometimes when you play games the winner gets a reward and that at the end of this
game the winning team will get the reward you have chosen (see Preparation, Step 1).

Have each team choose a recorder, or designate a recorder for each team yourself. The recorder's
job is to write down the team's arguments.

Tell students that they must work together as a team for 15 to 20 minutes to come up with the
best reason why the class should award their group the prize. Their reasons can be serious or
playful.

Use a signal to let them know when to begin and when time is up.

Have students present their arguments. Students can either present as a group or choose one
 person to be their speaker.

Have the judge decide on a winning group or ask students to vote for a group other than
themselves that had a convincing argument.

Note: While students are working, there should be little interference from you. This is a time for
students to discover what they already know about persuasive arguments. Use the Observations
and Notes handout as you listen in to groups and make notes about their arguments. This will help
you see what students know and also provide examples to point out during Session 2 (see Step 4).

Home/School Connection: Distribute Persuasion Is All Around You. Students are to find an example of a persuasive
piece from the newspaper, television, radio, magazine, or billboards around town and be ready to report back to
class during Session 2. Provide a selection of magazines or newspapers with advertisements for students who may
not have materials at home. For English-language learners (ELLs), it may be helpful to show examples of
advertisements and articles in newspapers and magazines.

SESSION 2: ANALYSIS OF AN ARGUMENT

1. Begin by asking students to share their homework. You can have them share as a class, in their
groups from the previous session, or in partners.

2. After students have shared, explain that they are going to get a chance to examine the arguments
that they made during Session 1 to find out what strategies they already know how to use.

3. Pass out the Persuasive Strategy Definitions to each student. Tell students that you are going to
explain each definition through a PowerPoint presentation.

4. Read through each slide in the Persuasive Strategy PowerPoint Presentation. Discuss the meaning
and how students used those strategies in their arguments during Session 1. Use your observations
and notes to help students make connections between their arguments and the persuasive
strategies. It is likely your students used many of the strategies, and did not know it. For example,
imagine the reward for the winning team was 10 extra minutes of recess. Here is one possible
argument:

“Our classmate Sarah finally got her cast taken off. She hasn’t been able to play outside for two
months. For 60 days she’s had to go sit in the nurse’s office while we all played outside. Don’t you
think it would be the greatest feeling for Sarah to have 10 extra minutes of recess the first week
of getting her cast off?”

This group is trying to appeal to the other students’ emotions. This is an example of pathos.

5. As you discuss the examples from the previous session, have students write them in the box next
to each definition on the Persuasive Strategy Definitions sheet to help them remember each
meaning.
Home/School Connection: Ask students to revisit their persuasive piece from Persuasion Is All Around You. This
time they will use Check the Strategies to look for the persuasive strategies that the creator of the piece
incorporated. Check for understanding with your ELLs and any special needs students. It may be helpful for them
to talk through their persuasive piece with you or a peer before taking it home for homework. Arrange a time for
any student who may not have the opportunity to complete assignments outside of school to work with you, a
volunteer, or another adult at school on the assignment.

SESSION 3: PERSUASIVE WRITING

1. Divide the class into groups of two or three students. Have each group member talk about the
persuasive strategies they found in their piece.

2. After each group has had time to share with each other, go through each persuasive strategy and
ask students to share any examples they found in their persuasive pieces with the whole class.

3. Explain to students that in this session they will be playing the game they played during Session 1
again; only this time they will be working with a partner to write their argument and there will be
a different prize awarded to the winning team.

4. Share the Persuasive Writing Assessment with students and read through each category. Explain
that you will be using this rubric to help evaluate their essays. Reassure students that if they have
questions or if part of the rubric is unclear, you will help them during their conference.

5. Have students get together with the partners you have selected (see Preparation, Step 1).

6. Get students started on their persuasive writing by introducing them to the interactive Persuasion
Map. This online graphic organizer is a prewriting exercise that enables students to map out their
arguments for a persuasive essay.

Have partners enter their names and topics on the opening screen.

The goal or thesis is the claim or stance that they are taking on the issue.

Students should then brainstorm three reasons to support their claim, and facts and examples to
support each reason.

Challenge students to use the persuasive strategies discussed during Session 2 in their writing.
Remind students to print their maps before exiting as they cannot save their work online.

7. Have students begin writing their persuasive essays, using their printed Persuasion Maps as a
guide. To maintain the spirit of the game, allow students to write their essays with their partner.
Partners can either write each paragraph together taking turns being the scribe or each can take
responsibility for different paragraphs in the essay. If partners decide to work on different parts of
the essay, monitor them closely and help them to write transition sentences from one paragraph
to the next. It may take students two sessions to complete their writing.

8. Meet with partners as they are working on their essays. During conferences you can:
 Ask students to show you the persuasive strategies they are using

Guide students to use a variety of persuasive strategies

Make sure students are using their Persuasion Map as a guide

Check their supporting facts and examples for accuracy

Help groups write an interesting beginning and ending

Encourage partners to read their paragraphs to and provide feedback for each other

Edit for grammar and mechanics

SESSION 4: PRESENTING THE PERSUASIVE WRITING

1. During this session, partners will present their written argument to the class. Before students
present, hand out the Check the Strategy sheet. This checklist is the same one they used for
homework after Session 2. Direct students to mark off the strategies they hear in each
presentation.

2. Use the Observations and Notes sheet to record your observations.

3. After each set of partners presents, ask the audience to share any persuasive strategies they heard
in the argument.

4. After all partners have presented, have students vote for the argument other than their own that
they felt was most convincing.

5. Tally the votes and award the prize to the winning team. To end this session, ask students to
discuss something new they have learned about persuasive arguments and something they want to
work on to become better at persuasive arguments.

EXTENSIONS

 Endangered Species: Persuasive Writing offers a way to integrate science with persuasive writing. Have
students pretend that they are reporters and have to convince people to think the way they do. Have
them pick issues related to endangered species, use the Persuasion Map as a prewriting exercise, and
write essays trying to convince others of their points of view. In addition, the lesson “Persuasive Essay:
Environmental Issues” can be adapted for your students as part of this exercise.
 Have students write persuasive arguments for a special class event, such as an educational field trip or
an in-class educational movie. Reward the class by arranging for the class event suggested in one of
the essays.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT/REFLECTIONS

 Compare your Observations and Notes from Session 4 and Session 1 to see if students understand the
persuasive strategies, use any new persuasive strategies, seem to be overusing a strategy, or need
more practice refining the use of a strategy. Offer them guidance and practice as needed.

 Collect both homework assignments and the Check the Strategy sheets and assess how well students
understand the different elements of persuasive writing and how they are applied.

 Collect students’ Persuasion Maps and use them and your discussions during conferences to see how
well students understand how to use the persuasive strategies and are able to plan their essays. You
want to look also at how well they are able to make changes from the map to their finished essays.

 Use the Persuasive Writing Assessment to evaluate the essays students wrote during Session 3.