Persuasive Process Essay

This week, we began working on our first persuasive process essay. We are primarily focusing on thesis and body paragraphs for this first essay.

Here is the prompt. You will notice that it gives three different directions (highlighted: Read... Think... Write...), but I only want you to pay attention to the direction that says, "Write an essay..."

Persuasive Prompt Page

When you are persuading, you are convincing someone of something or making them feel a certain way. In other words, you are making your reader choose between two sides. Which means YOU have to pick a side.You can't pick both sides or refuse to pick any side at all. You have to go with one or the other. You should always go with the side you can prove the best, with the best reasons.



Here is the brainstorming page we did for each side:

Brainstorming: Big City vs. Small Town

We discussed both sides. At this point, you have to pick a side:


Pick a side and give your two best reasons why that side is the best.

Next, we use a HELP chart to figure out how to support our two reasons.

HELP Chart

Your evidence can come from anywhere, as long as it's detailed, and it proves your thesis. You can use HELP, LeCHEF, ROSE, or any other strategy, but I used HELP here. You don't have to have an example for every category, but the more examples, the better, even if they don't end up working out later.


H = History. As in, all of human history, ever. You can use anything that has happened in the past to prove your point. All nonfiction.
E = Experience. This is personal experience - anything that has ever happened to YOU.
L = Literature, but not just literature. All stories, all fiction. Movies, TV shows, comics, anything.
P = Pop culture. This is anything that is happening right now.

Next, you need to stop and think. What side did you pick and what reasons did you give for that side? Do you have something on your HELP chart to prove that side, with those reasons? Does that example contain ANY proper nouns (those SPECIFIC nouns that need to be capitalized)?

Once you have a side, reasons for that side, and examples picked out to prove those reasons, you may proceed to write a thesis!


Here is my thesis:



My thesis.

Pick a side, take your stance, and list your reasons. My thesis doesn't look too great yet. It's a little long and it doesn't exactly fit perfectly together. It's only a combination of some boxes, so it isn't meant to sound great. But I want my thesis to have my personal writing voice and sound really sophisticated.


So, I juiced it up by consulting a thesaurus and changing some words and word order:




I changed my thesis a bit. Instead of listing my reasons separately and using the word "because," I shorted my reasons down and added the action verb "promotes." That just matches my thinking and writing style more. If you compare my thesis from the box to my completed thesis, you can see that I made a few small changes.

Below that, I wrote out exactly what I would focus on in my body paragraphs to ensure I knew what I would be writing about. Below that, I wrote down the example I had chosen to use.

This is where we ended after block day, so anything beyond this is a preview for FRIDAY! :)

First off, get rid of the page pictured below. It's an organizer page but I really don't like the way it is laid out. Put an X through it. 

I've got one less problem without you...

Next, pull off the last page of the packet. It's an outline page and the rubric. But I really don't like either of them. We recycled them in some classes. You just need to worry about the green packet I gave out in class or you can write it out on your own paper. 

Here's my first paragraph:

Paragraph 1

And here's my second paragraph:

Paragraph 2

Make sure you have two body paragraphs written before class on Monday. You can do it on the green outline pages provided, or use your own paper. We will have some time to look at model essays and possibly write them during class on Friday after our Reading Check Quiz.