Writing Skill cont. (to be used together with DVD on Powerful ways to Persuade People.)

1. Writing Skill cont.(to be used together with DVD on Powerful ways to Persuade People.)

2. Objectives • Discuss the difference between writing to inform and writing to persuade • Explain why you need to know about the self interests of your readers • Identify four ways to write with passion • Identify active and passive sentences.

3. Write with your head Write to convey information Write clearly and logically Examples: exam papers, papers for journals, dissertations. Write with your heart Write to persuade your reader to do something Write with urgency and passion Examples: advertisements, project proposals Writing to inform- Writing to persuade

4. The most important thing about writing to persuade is that you must appeal to the self-interest of your readers!This means you need to know as much as possible about them –identify the self interest of your target audience.

5. Self-interest is at the center of what makes all of us tick. It is what, at the deepest level, motivates us to most of our actions. If you are to persuade your audience, you need to know enough, to learn enough about them to discover their self interests, their needs, their fears, their motivation.

6. Unless your message is addressed to a specific audience and is tailored to engage the self interest of that audience, it is merely a shot fired in the air with no particular target (George Allan)

7. The second most important thing about writing to persuade is that you must write with passion!Let your love of the subject come through in your writing

8. Tips on writing with passion • Use strong words like: urgent, essential, new • Avoid vague words like: possibly, under certain circumstances, • Use short and sharp sentences to push your message along • Use arresting words and phrases • Use the active voice as much as possible • Put statements in the positive form • Use definite, specific and concrete language

9. Short sharp sentences Get your message across in as few words as possible. A short punchy paragraph will have more power to move your audience than a longer piece, no matter how well written.

10. Active sentences • It is one in which a subject takes direct action – for example: • The technician planted the experimental plots • The dog walked on the road. • The animals gained 0.25kg daily

11. Passive sentences • This is one in which the subject is acted upon – for example; • The experimental plots were planted by the technician • The road was walked on by the dog • Counts on the plants were taken 50 days after planting Active sentences convey more meaning and are easier to understand. Passive sentences do not show who has been doing the action and are generally longer.

12. End