Purpose
- to persuade in either discussions, arguments or advertisements
Types of persuasive texts
Arguments: to plead a case or put forward a point of view.
Discussions: To examine issues from a range of perspectives.
Advertisements: To put forward a point of view and persuade audience to act in a certain way.
Structure of an argument.
Introduction | Opening statement of the issue or concern to be argued (thesis statement)
A statement of opinion, position or proposal Start your argument with a general statement about your topic that
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Body paragraphs
Use of TEEL structure
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Topic Sentence: Usually appears at the beginning of the paragraph, states the main argument of the paragraph, based on a big idea.
Explain and expand on your main idea. Evidence: This supporting sentence provides evidence, in the form of short quotations, character actions, facts and statistics to support the idea of the paragraph. Linking/Concluding sentence: The last sentence in the paragraph is a concluding sentence that will link to the topic sentence, thus reinforcing the big idea of the topic sentence.
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Conclusion
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A summing up of the arguments and a statement of your position
Examples of how to begin your concluding sentence:
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Language Features
- emotive words and phrases used to persuade the reader eg: “We strongly believe…
- present tense
- connectives to indicate the sequence of the points eg: firstly, secondly, finally
- conjunctions to link reasons and actions or opinions or to link cause/action and effects eg: so, because, therefore
- specialised vocabulary related to the issue
- verbs; action verbs eg: run, ruin, drive; mental verbs eg: hope, believe, think
- occasional use of passive voice
- evidence: facts, opinions, quotes
- may use first person
Persuasive graphic organisers:
ReadWriteThink Persuasion map
ReadWriteThink Interactive persuasion map
Assessment and student checklist
Teaching and learning strategies – great resources!
Persuasive writing – Laptop wraps
A unit to guide users through the craft of persuasive writing – with a focus on the following:
Use appropriate facts to develop an effective argument. | |
Use persuasive devices to convince your reader. | |
Use cohesive devices effectively to link ideas in sentences, between sentences and across the text |
My grateful thanks to Esther Weichert, an amazing educator and Lesley Jan Wing for her wonderful resource on which the writing resources on this blog are based.
Also Read Write Think for online resources.
Bibliography
Wing Jan, L 2009, Write Ways, 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, Melbourne.