Writing Your Persuasive Essay

Follow your basic 5 paragraph essay structure.

1. Introduction

• The opening statement
• The thesis/the outline of the arguments of your essay

The opening statement needs to be clear and logical.

It is the beginning that will lead the reader to the thesis statement – which includes your main ideas or point of view.

2, 3, and 4. Body paragraphs

The body of any persuasive essay explains the arguments that support the thesis statement made in the introductory paragraph.

Each of the paragraphs (2, 3, and 4) should include:

• One idea of your main argument (topic sentence).
• The explanation of this argument
• Facts/evidence that support the argument
• Closing remark relating facts / evidence to topic sentence
• A transition that leads to the next argument

5. Conclusion

This paragraph summarizes the whole argument of your persuasive essay idea. It ties all the ideas together.  The conclusion restates (say it another way!) the thesis statement.  It should leave the reader feeling persuaded, the reader should believe that your argument is valid and well supported by facts.

Remember:

• Use clear, concise language
• Use transitions
• Vary sentence patterns
• Create a strong “voice” (see textbook for help)
• Use an active voice, avoid too much passive voice
• Edit well
• Show a logical argument all the way through – a good persuasive essay keeps building on the main argument, and supports it with more facts.

Now take a breather

Let your essay sit there while you go away and let your mind rest.

Then, read your persuasive essay again.

Does your essay sound logical and convincing all the way through?

Will your readers be persuaded by your argument?

In Summary:

Introduction

• Topic sentence
• Background information
• Thesis sentence/statement.

Three body paragraph

• Topic sentence of point # 1 – Evidence and support for point # 1
• Topic sentence of point # 2 – Evidence and support for point # 2
• Topic sentence of point # 3 – Evidence and support for point # 3

Conclusion

• Restate your point of view
• Restate main arguments
• Concluding sentence.

Writing Competition

Little Star Magazine – Short Story Competition

http://www.internationalschool.info/littlestar/competition/shortstory/#3

Theme: The Decision

Entry Requirements:

SHORT STORIES: 2500 words maximum (no minimum), the title is NOT included in the word count. Entries must be entirely the work of the entrant and must never have been published, self-published, published on any website or public online forum, broadcast nor winning or placed in any other competition.

Eligibility:

The competition is open to all international school students in China, competing in three age groups:

Group I: Under 12 years old;

Group II: 12-15 years old;

Group III: 16-18 years old.

Prizes:

1st = 3000 RMB (prizes), 1 winner in each group.

2nd = 1000 RMB (prizes), 2 winners in each group.

3rd = 500 RMB (prizes), 3 winners in each group.

5 supplementary prizes of 100 RMB (prizes) in each group.

LittleStar Award:

One Apple IPAD for its most favored student writer and internship at LittleStar Magazine.

Entry Format:

All entries must be submitted online: http://www.internationalschool.info/littlestar/competition/shortstory

Entries must be in English, single sided, with pages numbered and a word count noted at the top of the first page. The filename of online entries must be the title of the entry and it must be either a .doc or .docx file.No corrections can be made after receipt. Failure to comply with the entry requirements will result in disqualification.

Deadline for submission:

Closing date for receipt of online entries: February 28, 2011 Receipt of entries will be confirmed by LittleStar via email.

Judging:

This year’s lead judge will be a published author in the US or UK (to be confirmed later), who will also do a workshop on “how to get published?” with the kids on the Award Ceremony. Other judges may include LittleStar editors and international school librarians. Judging is fair and unbiased. Experienced readers assist the named judges in selecting the shortlists for the final. The judges’ decision is final.

Results:

Final results and winners list of the competition will be released on LittleSar website before March 15, 2011. Winners of the competition will also be notified through emails from LittleStar Magazine.

Anthology:

A special anthology of winning short stories will be printed out before the Award Ceremony in March 2011. Each entrant for the competition and participating schools will receive free copies.

Prize Winners/ Award Ceremony:

All winners are invited to and prizes awarded at a grand Award Ceremony in Beijing in March 2011.

The list of prizewinners will be displayed on the LittleStar website (www.internationalschool.info) after the award ceremony.

Copyright:

Worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author, but LittleStar Magazine will have the right to publish the winning poems and stories, (including runners up), in the annual anthology and any relevant promotional material.

Personal Narrative Self-Assessment and Reflection

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Six Traits Rubric for Personal Narrative

Your personal narratives are due tomorrow – Wednesday 20th October.

Please bring a printed copy to class, attach the rubric your classmates used to assess your narrative today.

Use the rubric below to assess your narrative yourself.

Ask yourself, does my narrative sound like a ‘5’ in ideas?  Does it sound like a ‘4’ ?

Note how voice expects the use of dialogue.

Look through your paper for places where you can improve word choice, this is an easier area to improve scores.

With some effort, and the help of others, you should aim for a ‘5’ in conventions.

Revising Your Personal Narrative – Continued

Revising your personal narratives for VOICE.

Ask yourself if your writing sounds like you.  We discussed this in class, the idea is that your writing should sound sincere, it should let the reader know how you were feeling.  The dialogue should show the speaker’s personality.  Your personal narrative should allow the reader to picture what you are writing about.

Check pages 119 and 556 in your Write Source book for tips on writing dialogue.

Revising your personal narratives for WORD CHOICE.

Does your choice of words express the right feeling?  See page 120 in your Write Source book for examples of how different word choices can create different feelings.

Using participles to improve your writing:

Participles are powerful adjectives that help writers strengthen their writing.  They are formed by adding ing and ed to verbs.

For example:   Leaves decay and fill the forest with a rich smell. (verb)

The rich smell of decaying leaves fills the forest (ing participle)

Look through your narrative, are there any nouns that could be modified with a participle?

For example: campfire – crackling campfire, puppies – whining puppies, children – children laughed hysterically

Revising your personal narratives for SENTENCE FLUENCY.

Longer Sentences can be formed by:

– combining two shorter sentences together

– using prepositional phrases e.g. before winter comes to Wyoming, I hike in the Snowy Mountain Range

– using word groups that start with participles e.g. Munching my trail mix, I watch soaring eagles in a patch of sky sandwiched between the canyon’s walls.

See Pages 122,  730.3 and 742.1 in your Write Source book.

Shorter sentences are effective to show rising tension, or to stress an important idea – see page 123 of your Write Source book.

Revising Your Personal Narrative

Yesterday in class you revised your personal narratives for IDEAS. You should now have a draft narrative with the following sensory details highlighted:

Sight – red / orange

Smell – yellow

Sound – green

Taste – blue

Touch – purple

If there was not much color on your narrative draft, you should have been revising to include more sensory information so that you are giving the readers sufficient details to ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ your story.

Remember to underline any passages in your narrative where you feel that you ‘Show Not Tell’ – for example, instead of saying that the weather was hot, you should include sensory details that let the reader ‘see’ how hot it was, instead of telling them that the weather was hot.

Today in class you will revise your personal narrative for ORGANIZATION.  Ask yourself these questions (pages 116-117 Write Source books):

– Did I choose the best way to begin my narrative?  What did I use to grab the reader’s attention?

– Is the middle well organized? How have I used transitions?

– Does my ending work well? Does my whole narrative lead up to the lessonI learned?

Identify transition words you have used in italics.  See page on transitions for more information at the top of this blog.

Identify type of organization structure you used (chronological, problem-solution, climactic, cause-effect, comparison-contrast, etc.)

Finding Your Voice – Personal Narratives

The culminating assessment for this unit is a personal narrative.  This is a major component of your grade, and the final published narrative will be due on October 20th.

Week Beginning Monday 27th September:

Our focus in class this week will be on generating ideas for your personal narrative.  Additionally you will be doing several pre-writing activities that can be incorporated into your first draft.

Pre-writing Activities may include the following:

– sentence starters

– sensory detail chart

– creating dialogue

– character development

– organizational pattern

Week Beginning Monday 4th October:

Continue working on your draft during the break.  You will have a packet of writing activities that you can use to assist you in writing and developing your draft –  due Monday October 11th.

Week Beginning Monday 11th October:

This week you will be working on revising your draft for each of the Six Traits of Writing.  You will also begin peer editing the draft narratives.

Published Personal Narratives Ready for Submission Wednesday October 20th.

Writing Process

By now you should be familiar with the 5 steps or stages of the writing process.  Today in class we used the writing process to help us write a type of 5 line poem called a cinquain.  Click on  Writing Process Cinquains if you need a reminder of the format for a cinquain.

HOMEWORK

Your reading and writing surveys are due Wednesday August 25th.

Don’t forget Vocabulary Lesson #16 quiz on Friday August 27th.

Hard at Work

Students writing in the classroom

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Did You Know? What Do YOU Think?

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In class, we will be listening to a song entitled “The Last 10 Years”.  This video talks about the future.

What do you think your future will be like?