In Essay Writing 102: Persuasive Essay, we acknowledge that in academia, persuasive writing is not as simple as sharing an opinion. This class equips students to posit an argument, defend a position, and convince an audience. Students will read a range of sources, evaluate arguments, and then take a position that they defend intelligently, with nuance.
This class helps students become comfortable with the demands of academic writing using the persuasive essay format as they acquire the skills needed to build a persuasive essay including using scholarly, peer-reviewed sources; crafting a clear thesis statement; organizing support into a convincing structure; considering logical flow; and avoiding accidental plagiarism.
Syllabus
Week One
Noticing Perspective. This week we'll explore the spark that leads to all good persuasive essays—taking an informed stance.
Week Two
Thesis Statement → Points and Particulars. Students sift through their ideas and create thesis statements with tension and plan writing that will tie together their claims, reasoning, and the evidence they found.
Week Three
Paraphrasing and Drafting. With a plan in place, it’s time to draft the essay. Part of this writing includes a need to paraphrase expert source text.
Week Four
The Persuasive Essay. Here's where we put it all together! Students work through the process of drafting, revising, and editing while incorporating citations following MLA style guidelines.
Common Core and Academic Standards Support
What follows is a word bank and set of skills associated with this class. Use them to craft your own learning narrative for use in year-end evaluations, charter school reports, or any other accountability source.
Word Bank
- Analysis
- Argument
- Citations
- Editing
- Credible sources
- Fact-checking
- Keen observation
- Idea generation
- Multiple viewpoints
- Note-taking
- Outlining
- Paraphrasing
- Research
- Revision
- Thesis statement
Core Skills
- Analyze source texts and apply critical thinking
- Argue with support for multiple points of view
- Cite textual evidence to support conclusions
- Craft a thesis statement and support it with evidence
- Edit writing for standard English usage
- Employ vivid detail to engage readers
- Evaluate credibility of a source
- Evaluate persuasive writing techniques
- Generate topics for nonfiction writing
- Maintain distinct writer’s voice
- Read multiple points of view on controversial topics
- Research and absorb material for writing
- Revise writing for clarity, flow, order, interest, and economy of language
- Write detailed, organized, structured original narratives
