Persuasive Writing

1. Persuasive Writing

2. What Do You Notice? • Civil disobedience is a moral weapon in the fight for justice. But how can disobedience ever be moral? Well, l guess that depends on one's definition of the word. Disobedience is moral when the law doesn’t protect everyone. • There are situations in our country today where the law fails to offer protection. ln Texas, for example, they lynch Negroes. My teammates and I saw a man strung up by his neck and set on fire. We drove through a lynch mob, pressed our faces against the floorboard. l looked at my teammates. l saw the fear in their eyes...and worse...the shame. What was this Negro's crime that he should be hung, without trial, in a dark forest filled with fog? Was he a thief? Was he a killer? Or just a Negro? Was he a sharecropper? A preacher? Were his children waiting up for him? And who are we to just lie there and do nothing? No matter what he did the mob was the criminal. But the law did nothing, just left us wondering why.

3. My opponent says nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral. But there is no rule of law in the Jim Crow South, not when Negroes are denied housing, turned away from schools, hospitals, and not when we are lynched. St. Augustine said, ''An unjust law is no law at all, ''which means l have a right, even a duty, to resist...with violence or civil disobedience. You should pray l choose the latter.

4. 1 • Introduction starts with attention grabber. • 2 • Thesis gives a clear statement of your topic and position using words like “obviously” or “clearly” • 3 • and follows that statement with a clarifying statement using “because” or “when” • 4 • 5 • Topic sentence of body paragraph takes clarification statement and links it to your example. • 6 • This paragraph sets up the argument you are going to create in the next paragraph by giving a • 7 • concrete example. • 8 • 9 • Think about this paragraph as setting up the pathos for your argument. • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • Topic sentence gives brief mention of the opposition and immediately says that they are • 17 • wrong using a transition like “however.” • 18 • 19 • The second paragraph is where you bring home your argument. • 20 • Build on the example with commentary that shows how the example supports the thesis. • 21 • Manipulate syntax using parallel structure or repetition. • 22 • 23 • Conclusion brings your example back out to the broader point of your thesis. • 24 • Say something like “This example proves that” and restate what you believe. • 25 • End with a call to action or an emphatic statement of what was right. • 26 • Be sure to incorporate a sense of urgency at the end.

5. The prompt • Although large cities are exciting places to live, small towns have their own special characteristics. Think carefully about this idea. • Write an essay stating your position on whether it is better to live in a large city or in a small town. • Be sure to —• state your position clearly • • use appropriate organization • • provide specific support for your argument • • choose your words carefully • • edit your writing for grammar, mechanics, and spelling

6. Checklist for Paper Thesis: • Takes a definite stand • Uses a word like “obviously” Or “clearly” to make it persuasive • Gives your primary reason for believing this.

7. What it Looks Like: Small towns have an air about them, a special charm that draws you in. It is absolutely better to live in a small town rather than a big city.

8. Checklist for Paper Example: • Is specific enough that your reader can imagine the situation. • Illustrates your “because” statement. • Appeals to the reader’s emotions.

9. All my life my Godfather has lived in Walnut Springs; this tiny town of less than three hundred people is my summer home. I can tell you the names of every person in every house in Walnut Springs. Here in the big city I can’t tell you the names of everyone in this room. Walking through the town square in Walnut Springs, I see every shop and café lit up with music pouring out of every window. I am greeted by name by the people walking leisurely down the sidewalk. An air of calm seems to cloak everyone and everything. Just being in Walnut Springs feels like home, the smell of fresh air and the feeling of the cool, clean, and trashless pavement beneath my bare feet. The small town is home.

10. Checklist for Paper Proof: • Explains why your example proves your thesis. • Uses repetition, parallel structure or loaded language for emphasis.

11. Some people say living in a big city is exciting; this is certainly not the case for everyone. The city’s constant hustle and bustle of day to day life, the endless noise and pollution from every direction, the sea of cars and traffic that cannot be escaped, all this “excitement” is clearly too much for some people. A small town’s charm and beauty stems from its cute shops and cafes, and from the calmness that can always be found in a small town. In a small town, no one goes unnoticed, unlike in a big city where it is easy to be forced into the background. Small town life is simple and tranquil contrary to the complex and busy city life.

12. Checklist for Paper Conclusion: • Links example to thesis. • Provides a call to action.

13. It is obvious how small town charms lure people in. Everyone should appreciate small towns and their special characteristics for their simplicity and timelessness.

14. Small towns have an air about them, a special charm that draws you in. It is absolutely better to live in a small town rather than a big city. All my life my Godfather has lived in Walnut Springs; this tiny town of less than three hundred people is my summer home. I can tell you the names of every person in every house in Walnut Springs. Here in the big city I can’t tell you the names of everyone in this room. Walking through the town square in Walnut Springs, I see every shop and café lit up with music pouring out of every window. I am greeted by name by the people walking leisurely down the sidewalk. An air of calm seems to cloak everyone and everything. Just being in Walnut Springs feels like home, the smell of fresh air and the feeling of the cool, clean, and trashless pavement beneath my bare feet. The small town is home.

15. Some people say living in a big city is exciting; this is certainly not the case for everyone. The city’s constant hustle and bustle of day to day life, the endless noise and pollution from every direction, the sea of cars and traffic that cannot be escaped, all this “excitement” is clearly too much for some people. A small town’s charm and beauty stems from its cute shops and cafes, and from the calmness that can always be found in a small town. In a small town, no one goes unnoticed, unlike in a big city where it is easy to be forced into the background. Small town life is simple and tranquil contrary to the complex and busy city life. It is obvious how small town charms lure people in. Everyone should appreciate small towns and their special characteristics for their simplicity and timelessness.