Revising to Appeal to Readers

You can't convince people to buy your product by showing how it will help you. You must convince them by showing how your product helps them. To do so effectively, you need to think about the needs of your audience.

The American psychologist Abraham Maslow created a pyramid that showed different levels of human need. At the bottom, you'll find basic needs: air, water, food, and so on. On the next level, you'll find needs that build on those, and so on, going up to morality, creativity, and problem solving at the top. You can use this pyramid to connect your product to the needs of your readers.

1. How does your product connect with readers' basic needs (bottom-level)?
2. How does your product connect with readers' intermediate needs (middle three levels)?
3. How does your product connect with readers' upper-level needs (top triangle)?
4. Choose three needs from the list above. For each one, write a sentence that appeals to your reader, showing how the person benefits from the product.

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

The first sentence is the lead. It should capture your reader’s interest, getting people interested in your product.

1. Ask the reader a question.

   What weighs less than a pound and could save your life?

2. Start with a story.

   After school, you walk out the door and throw on your backpack. You unlock your bike from the bike rack. Then you hop on and ride off. What’s missing from this picture?

3. Begin with an important quotation.

   "Wear a helmet now. Finish living later." That's just one slogan of many submitted to the recent Bicycle Helmet Safety Slogan Contest.

4. Make a surprising statement.

   When bike fatalaties occur, 97 percent of the time, the rider had no helmet.

Lead Sentence

Detail Sentences

Opinion Statement

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.

Warm-Up for Advertising a Product

The world around you is filled with advertisements, from click-bait on Web sites to com

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

The beginning paragraph of your essay is very important. It should get the reader interested in your topic, and it should state your opinion. To gain your reader’s interest, share some important background information, ask a question, begin with a quotation, or start with a surprising statement.

Beginning Paragraph

Prewriting to Select a Topic

For your own persuasive essay, you need to select a debatable school issue that you feel strongly about. A debatable issue has differing opinions. For example, few people would debate the need for education, but many would debate the idea of extending the school year.

One thing I'd like to change about our school is . . .

One problem I see often at our school is . . .

One way we could make school better for all students is . . .

One cause, sport, or activity I wish our school would take part in is . . .

Prewriting to Develop an Opinion

To write a convincing persuasive essay, you need to feel strongly about your topic. These activities will help you develop your opinion of the topic.

Warm-Up for Persuasive Essays

Persuasive essays share an opinion and attempt to convince readers to agree with it. This unit will show you how to build a strong argument that influences your readers.

© Thoughtful Learning 2016

What Is a Persuasive Essay?

A persuasive essay allows you to express and support an opinion about an important topic—often a topic that pulls people in different directions.

Does homework really help you? Are school uniforms a good idea? Is more security needed in your school? You have opinions about these topics, right? In fact, you have opinions about a lot of things. Everyone does.

The purpose of persuasive writing is to convince readers to agree with an opinion. To be convincing, you must learn a great deal about your topic. Then you must write about it clearly and thoughtfully. In this unit, you will write a persuasive essay about an important school-related topic.

Thinking About Opinions

An opinion is a personally held belief that cannot be proven to be true. The central idea or argument of a persuasive essay is expressed in an opinion statement. An opinion statement shares a specific opinion about an interesting topic.

Sample Opinion Statement

A special bike lane is needed on all busy streets.

Revising to Answer Objections

Believe it or not, one of the most powerful ways to support your opinion is to consider the ideas of people who disagree. When you mention an opposing viewpoint, you show your reader that you have already thought about objections against your opinion. You also get the opportunity to handle the objection in one of three ways:

• Refuting the objection means showing how the opposing idea is incorrect.

  Some people say that students who have to share instruments learn patience and cooperation. Unfortunately in the past, students who share instruments have only learned that band is not for them and have dropped out.

• Addressing the objection means recognizing it is valid but has some limitations.

  Many people have suggested a fund-raiser to make money for new instruments. Though fund-raisers can be helpful, the cost of new instruments means a lot of effort to buy only a few instruments.

• Conceding the objection means saying it is a good point while at the same time stressing the importance of your position.

  Yes, every student would prefer to play a new instrument. That's true. But a used instrument is better than nothing, which is what many students currently have.

Objection 1:

Answer 1 (Refute, Address, or Concede):

Objection 2:

Answer 2 (Refute, Address, or Concede):

Objection 3:

Answer 3 (Refute, Address, or Concede):

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

The first sentence is called the lead. It should capture your reader’s attention, introducing the cause in an interesting way.

1. Ask a provocative question about the topic.

   What does a trumpet player sound like without a trumpet?

2. Start with a surprising fact or detail about the topic.

   The trumpet section of our band has ten players but only six trumpets.

3. Tell a little story about the topic.

   The first time I played my trumpet in concert, I realized I had made a friend for life.