Persuasive Week Day Two: Outline, Grabbers, a nd Thesis

1. Persuasive Week Day Two: Outline, Grabbers, and Thesis

2. Identifying our Audience • Knowing your audience will help you figure out how to appeal to them. This is our first message to the audience- Grab them from the beginning! • What useful knowledge do you know about your parents that will help you appeal to them? • Example: My mom was an animal-lover, but my dad wasn’t. So, I spoke to my mom about how loving a dog would be when I wanted one.

3. Types of Grabbers 1.) An unusual detail • Pet companionship will increase your life expectancy. • Make sure that your facts are accurate! 2.) Open with a quote. • Michael Jordan once said, “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. ” • You can go on to argue how whatever you want will give you new confidence. • You can find many quotes online. Make sure that you fully support your point and are from a useful source!

4. Types of Grabbers 3.) Open with an anecdote or descriptive scene • Appeal to your parents through a shared story. • When I was four, you took me to Philadelphia for a visit to the Art Museum… Now I’m grown up enough to travel on my own. • A descriptive scene can tap into your narrative writing skills! • Sand burrows between my toes as I gaze across the beach. The tide rushes in. Cool, salty water gushes over my feet as I fill my lungs with the briny ocean scents and seagulls cry above my head.

5. Types of Grabbers 4.) A statistic or fact • A statistic or fact will add emphasis or interest to your topic. • Make sure that your facts are accurate!

6. Types of Grabbers 5.) Open with a question • This will help your audience consider possibilities and think about how they feel on the topic. • Have you ever considered….? • What if….? • How many times have you….? • Could you imagine if….? • What might happen if….?

7. Your Turn! • Create two possible grabbers! • Soon, we will share them and work on your thesis statement. • Writing a introduction can be like a puzzle… start with the ends first! 

8. What’s the point?! Writing your thesis statement

9. What is a thesis statement? • The thesis statement identifies the focus of your writing. • Basically, what’s the point? • A thesis statement can be used in any type of writing.

10. How do we make one? Use this formula! Subject and Stance + Support= Thesis Statement Subject- what are you writing about? Stance- how do you feel about it? Support- reasons for why your audience should agree with your stance.

11. What does a thesis statement look like? • Example: • A dog would be a beneficial addition to our family because dogs protect the home, pets teach responsibility, and dogs can be loving companions. Subject and Stance Support 1, 2, and 3

12. Thesis Frame • Here is a sample frame that you can plug into like Madlibs: • __subject and stance___ because __support 1__,___support 2____, and _____support 3____. Feel free to add to this frame! This is a starting point!

13. How do I order my support? • Least important to most important • Although all of your reasons are important, you want to leave the most convincing one to the end. • This is also the order that you will introduce your support. • Ordering your thesis statement in this way gives your reader a roadmap to your argument.

14. Where does my thesis go? Your thesis statement will be the last sentence in your introduction. 1.) Grabber (Bread) 2.) Expand on your grabber with details (meat/ condiments). You have lots of options! 3.) Thesis statement (end of the bread) Introduction Burger

15. Now your turn… Create your own thesis statement! When you finish your first draft of your thesis: 1.) Share with a partner in your row and get suggestions. 2.) Draft/ Outline the whole introduction. 3.) Begin working on your outline. You already have the order of your support! I will be traveling around conferencing with students