Prewriting for Advertisement Essays
Prewriting is your first step in writing an essay to advertise a product. These prewriting activities will help you select a product to write about, develop an opinion statement, and gather and organize your reasons and details before you begin a first draft.
Prewriting to Select a Topic
The topic of your advertisement essay should be a product that you want to promote. For example, imagine that a malware-fighting program helped clean up your computer, and you want others to know about it.
Brainstorm topics.
Under each category in the chart, list four or five possible products that you could advertise. A sample topic appears under each category.
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Entertainment |
Food |
Health/Safety |
Grooming |
Technology |
Game Design Round Table |
Chunky peanut butter |
Taking walks |
Hair gel |
A new smart phone |
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Entertainment |
Game Design Round Table |
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Food |
Chunky peanut butter |
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Health/Safety |
Taking walks |
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Grooming |
Hair gel |
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Technology |
A new smart phone |
Teaching Tip
For obvious copyright reasons, most examples and models in this unit avoid brand names. However, many students are ardent fans of particular brands, whether they are buying jeans or music or pizzas. Allow students to advocate for a specific brand, artist, or product. The more specific students can be in their writing, the more invested and effective they become.
Narrow the list of products.
Narrow your list to three or four items that you would recommend to others. Put stars next to those products.
Prewriting to Identify Reasons
After you've chosen three or four products that you could advertise, you can think more deeply about them by identifying reasons that people would want to buy them.
Identify reasons.
In the first column of the chart below, write the three or four products you chose in the last activity. In the second column, write at least three reasons for liking each product. In the third column, write reasons others might not enjoy the product.
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Product |
Reasons for Liking It |
Reasons for Not Liking It |
Bike Helmets |
—Protects your brain —Aerodynamic and comfortable —Sets good example |
—Afraid to be uncool —Extra hassle |
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Select a topic.
Share your chart with a partner. Talk about other reasons (for or against) the products. Choose the best topic for your essay.
Teaching Tip
These partner activities are very helpful for young writers. They help writers broaden their thinking and realize they are part of a larger writing community.
Prewriting to Gather Details
Details are facts that support your reasons. Supporting details often come from research, expert opinions, personal experiences, or observations. You can research your subject in books and magazines and on the Internet. The chart below shows the details one student collected.
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Reasons |
Supporting Details |
—Protects your brain |
—74% of fatal bike crashes involve head injury —97% of fatalities occurred without a helmet. —Only 13% of serious injuries involved riders wearing helmets. —(Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute) |
—Aerodynamic and comfortable |
—Styles for street, mountain, racing, and tricks —Light-weight, padded, with cool air vents. —Every color, many designs to express personality. (Best Bike Helmets 2017) |
—Sets good example |
—All learned to wear helmets in Safety Town —Little kids imitate us. —Wearing a helmet can save your life and little kids' lives. (KidsHealth.org) |
—Afraid to be uncool |
—Uncool to suffer brain trauma. —Making good health decisions is cool. —Pick a cool helmet, and show it off. (KidsHealth.org) |
Gather details to support your reasons.
Fill out a detail chart for your own topic. In the left column, list your reasons and one objection. In the right column, write three or more details to support each reason and respond to the objection. Research your topic as needed to find details.
Create an opinion statement.
Review the formula for creating an effective opinion statement. Then write an opinion statement for the product that you want to advertise.
Product |
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Main Reason |
= |
Opinion Statement |
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Bike helmets |
Avoid injuries and be responsible |
If you want to avoid injuries, be responsible, and set a good example—always wear a helmet when biking. |
- What is your product?
- What is your main reason for promoting it?
- Create an opinion statement that names your topic and provides your reason.