Persuasive Essays - Creating a Title

1. Persuasive Essays -Creating a Title The title of your persuasive essay will be the first words the marker reads. Your title sends a strong signal to the marker about the quality of your essay. A title can: • create immediate impact • show your intelligence • give information • make the reader think • provoke emotion - anger, shock, disgust • be humorous • convey your opinion • make your issue clear or provide a combination of these. Common language techniques which gain the reader's attention:  alliteration • questions • puns • rhyme • odd spelling • repetition • emotive language • command • creative punctuation • unusual use of words Many modern autobiographies have titles using these techniques.

2. Examples of language techniques creating effective titles in persuasive essays:

3. Writing your Introduction • After the title, the words you write in your introduction will be the first that the marker reads. • You should, therefore, consider carefully how you are going to start your essay. • This Section gives you constructive suggestions.  • Your Introduction should: •  capture the reader's attention •  show you can write with style •  make your issue clear •  make clear what you are arguing for →   an effective introduction will impress the marker

4. Types of Introduction • Examples of different types of introduction are explained below. You can choose the type that you think works best for your essay. • To help you understand the effectiveness of each type of introduction, all the examples given here are introductions to a student's persuasive essay with the title: "Increase the tax on tobacco - NOW!". • The types of introduction explained in this Section are: >  Banner Headline >  Person-in-the-street Quote (Vox Pops) >  Statistical >  Emotive >  Personal Experience • Whichever type of introduction you choose it is essential that you link it to your point of view.

5. Banner Headlines • You create your own newspaper banner headlines. Three will be sufficient. Again, you must link them to a statement of your point of view on the issue. • This introduction immediately: catches the reader's attention places the reader in a dramatic situation gives the reader information about the issue makes the reader think • The appropriate conventions for headlines are: block capital letters inverted commas (".... ") or italics exclamation marks (!) list form

6. Banner Headlines - Example "Lung cancer rates a major concern!" "Teenage smoking - worrying statistics!" "Smoking related illness - NHS under pressure!" These types of headlines are common in newspapers today as society battles against the tragic effects that smoking has on the UK population. There is no doubt that these headlines address a major problem about tobacco use. For too long it has damaged the health of our population and the time has now come to reduce the demand for tobacco by increasing the tax on it...

7. Vox Pops Quote Introduction • This introduction creates immediate impact by using typical expressions heard about your issue. • As always, you must link the quote to a statement of your view on the issue. • Use the appropriate conventions when setting out the quotes: inverted commas ("......... ") or italics exclamation marks (!) list form Vox Pops Quote Introduction - Example "Addicted? No way! I could give up any time!“ "I'm dying for a fag!“ "My aunt smoked 40 a day all her life and lived till she was 85!“ These statements on smoking that we hear in our daily lives reveal that some people in society have not accepted the dangers that smoking can cause. Some smokers will only respond to the immediate impact a price rise has on them. It is now time to increase taxation on tobacco.’

8. Statistical Introduction • This introduction presents a list of statistics gathered from your research. • These statistics: show you have done research show you have knowledge of your subject provoke thoughts and emotions in the reader The appropriate conventions in presenting the statistics are: all statistics must contain numbers list form

9. Statistical Introduction - Example Smoking causes 90% of deaths from lung cancer. Smoking related diseases cost the NHS 2.7 billion pounds a year. Globally, there are 600,000 deaths a year from passive smoking. 114,000 smokers in the UK die annually as a result of their habit. These statistics are a great cause for concern as they show the widespread problem that the destructive effects of smoking are having on the population. Now is the time to increase taxes on tobacco to prevent more harmful effects and pay for dealing with the harm already done.

10. Emotive Introduction The Emotive Introduction is used to: make the reader feel angry/shocked/sympathetic etc. make clear what the issue is show that your view is sincerely held provide a link to your argument Emotive Introduction - Example Think about this. You have a cough most of the time. You are always short of breath. You cough up phlegm with signs of blood in it. It is sore when you breathe or cough. You have lost your appetite. You feel permanently tired. You are losing weight. You would hate this to be you but, unfortunately, this is what sufferers of lung cancer have to face on a daily basis. Not all lung cancer is caused by smoking but there is no doubt that in many cases smoking tobacco has been the main factor. Raising revenues by increasing taxes on tobacco will reduce demand and is an act of humanity.

11. Anecdotal Introduction • In this introduction you write about your personal experience of any aspect(s) of your issue. • It is used to: show your personal experience of the issue show your knowledge of the issue show you have thought about the issue show you are an individual provide a link to your argument

12. Anecdotal Introduction - Example When my aunt Annie, who lived alone, died last year, my sister and I helped to clear out her house. I took a family picture off the wall in her living room. Where the picture had been a perfect white square was left. I had always thought that the wallpaper in her living room was a light brown colour but I then realised it was, in fact, white. Her lungs must have been a similar colour when she died because she smoked 40 cigarettes a day sitting in that room for thirty years. What makes someone risk their health in this way? If cigarettes had been more expensive would she have used them so much? It is time to increase price through a tax rise on cigarettes.