Persuasive essay

1. Persuasive essay Pre-AP I

2. persuasive ESSAY • The primary purpose of a persuasive essay is to convince readers to think the way that you do about a subject. • To accomplish this goal, you will have to establish a reasonable and thoughtful argument supporting a subject or a position you have strong feelings about.

3. Expository vs. Persuasive writing • The following chart shows the difference between expository and persuasive subjects. Creatine—typically bought in flavored powders and mixed with liquid—increases the body's ability to produce energy rapidly. With more energy, you can train harder and more often, producing faster results.

4. Gathering details • #1 Collect Information • #2 Forming an Opinion Statement… • (This statement will be the thesis of your essay.) • #3 Planning and Organizing your thoughts • list the main points that support your opinion. • Example • Opinion statement: High school athletes should not use creatine. • Main Supporting Points: 1: “Loading up” on creatine is unnatural. • 2. Harmful side effects are possible. • 3. It isn’t used wisely.

5. Start off strong • In a persuasive essay, you may want to lead off with your most significant argument to get your reader’s attention. Or you may want to save your best argument for last to solidify your opinion.

6. Thinking through an argument • Stating an Opinion: A reasonable and logical opinion statement is at the core of an effective persuasive essay. • Opinion statements fall into three main categories: statements of fact, statements of value, and statements of policy.

7. Using qualifiers • Qualifiers are terms that make an opinion easier to support. Note the difference between the two opinions below: • Creatine makes athletes stronger, but it won’t make them better. • Creatinemaymake athletes stronger, but it won’t necessarilymake them better. • “May” and “necessarily” qualify the above opinion statement, changing it from an all-or-nothing claim to one the can more effectively be defended. Here are some other useful qualifiers: • Almost usually maybe probably often some most in most cases if….then… likely many frequently

8. Adding Support • Support your opinion with effective evidence. The more types of convincing evidence you offer, the stronger your argument will be. Here are different types of evidence you might use:

9. Making concessions • When you make a concession, you identify other valid opinions about your subject. Making a concession often makes your overall argument more convincing. Note the following concession made by a student writer: I realize that you are worried about our safety, but there are dangers in nearly all things, including driving cars and playing sports. • The phrase, “I realize that” introduces this concession in a way that shows respect for the other side of the argument. Here are some other useful expressions for making concessions: Even though I agree that I cannot argue with While it is true that admittedly granted I will admit you’re right I accept the fact

11. Creatine Crazy Walk into almost any fitness club today, and you will find someone who is taking creatine, a training supplement that has become popular with athletes from high school on up. For the last decade, athletes around the world have been taking it to gain muscle mass. If athletes work out regularly, follow a good diet, and take creatine, they’ll get results. But are bigger muscles worth it? For high school athletes, the answer is no because creatine presents too many risks. One of the many concerns with high school athletes is the overload creatine use creates. To help build muscles, the body actually produces creatine naturally- at the rate of 2 to 3 grams a day. The problem is that athletes who take supplemental creatine start with a loading-up phrase, taking 20 to 25 grams a day for a week. They then follow with an eight-week cycle of 5 grams a day. In other words, athletes on the supplement start by taking more than seven times the natural daily amount before dropping down to twice the daily amount. In the short term, creatine use may be more harmful than people believe. The side effects may include diarrhea, dehydration, nausea, cramping, bloating, muscle strains, and increased blood pressure. While these effects are rare, at least one local high school football player was taken to the hospital for dehydration from using creatine, or “power powder” as it is often called.

12. Doctors are even more concerned about possible long term problems. As Dr. Michael Colgan, a clinical nutritionist, states in Today’s Health magazine, “Taken in doses of more than 25 grams per day, creatine can crucify [torture] your kidneys, and there’s also evidence that it can contribute to muscle cramping and the tearing of connective tissues” (67). Experts worry about the kidneys having to filter all that extra creatine, and some believe that the body might actually stop producing creatine naturally. Even with these possible harmful effects, more and more high school athletes are using creatine. Why? They feel pressure to become bigger, stronger, and faster. George Hurley, a football coach from Newbury Park High in California, said in recent interview in Sportz magazine, “Kids come to the conclusion that if the guy next to me in the weight room is doing creatine and I’m not doing it, he is ahead of me” (117). The result is that teen athletes believe they must take creatine to compete in high school sports, and to have any chance of competing at the next level. Given the pressure, few young athletes (or parents) take time to weight the pros and cons of their decision about creatine. They fail to consider that very few high school athletes go on to play in college and only a tiny minority of those will play professionally. They don’t understand that they are risking a lifetime of health problems for a short term gamble at the big leagues. They don’t listen to the cautions that come their way. For example, the National Federation of High School Sports Medicine has stated in its NFSM Journal that “school personnel and coaches should not dispense any drug, medication, or food supplement except with extreme caution” (42).

13. Adults responsible for young athletes should not promote the use of creatine in their schools. Today, teenage athletes are under a lot of stress. There is way too much emphasis placed on performing well in a society that seems to eat, sleep, and breathe sports. Coaches, administrators, and parents should de-emphasize winning at all costs and keep teens away from supplements like creatine, at least until more is known about them. Young athletes should be encouraged to rely on their natural talents and strength so that sports are fair and safe for everybody. Creatine may make athletes stronger, but it won’t necessarily make them better, and in the long run, it really isn’t worth the risk.

14. Assessment rubric

15. MLA FORMATTING • One Author: With Author in Text According to Winchester, no English dictionary existed at the time Shakespeare wrote his plays (80). • Without author in Text No English dictionary existed at the time Shakespeare wrote his plays (Winchester 80)/ • Anonymous Work When there is no author listed, give the title or a shortened version of the title as it appears in the works cited section. No page numbers are needed for single page articles or nonprint sources. The information Place Almanac states that drinking water can make up 20 percent or more of a person’s total exposure to lead (572).

16. MLA FORMATTING CONT. • Indirect Source If you cite an indirect source – someone’s remarks published second hand – give the abbreviation qtd. in (quoted in) before the indirect source in your reference. Desmond Tutu, speaking of the struggle against South African apartheid, said, “Our cause is just and noble. That is why it will prevail and bring victory to us” (qtd. In duBoulay 223).

17. Works-cITED LIST: OVERVIEW • The works-cited section lists all of the sources you have cited in your paper. It does not include sources you may have read but did not cite in your paper. The work cited list follows the format below. • The work-cited should be the page after your essay. The title should be centered and the title should be Works Cited • Entries begin each entry flush with the left margin. If the entry runs more than one line, indent additional lines five spaces. • Double-space between all lines on the page of works cited • Single-space between words and after punctuation marks in a works-cited entry. • List each entry alphabetically by the author’s last name. If there is no author, use the first word of the title. (Disregard A, An, The)

18. Works cited outline • Format for a periodical entry Author’s last name, First name. “Article.” Periodical Title date: page nos. Frank, Large. “A Stranger Among Us.” New York Post 11 May 2014: 14-16. • Format for an On-Line Entry Author’s late name, First name. “Title.” Information on print version (if any). Site title. Date posted or last updated. Sponsor. Date accessed <Electronic address>. Note: In web entries, if certain items are not available, go on to the next item.

19. WorkS-CITED CONT. • Web Site (Professional) Title. Date. <Url>. • Article within a website Last Name, First Name. “Article.” Website title. Date. <url>. • On-Line Government Document Government Title. Document Title: Date <url>.