Persuasive Writing

The weather is perfect for racing: not too hot, not too humid, not too windy. I dash down the twisted trails in the woods, trying not to stumble on the gnarled roots protruding from the dirt. My spikes puncture the soft earth with every stride, and my legs repeatedly pound on the ground, soreness surging through them. As sweat trickles down my face and dirt smears across my aching calves, I ascend a steep hill, trying to bring forth the strength I have accumulated throughout endless hours of practice. Now that I am nearing the final two hundred meters, I must force my body to begin sprinting. Breathing heavily, I dart for the imminent finish line, trying to beat the uninterrupted tick of the timer. Even though the crowd surrounds all around me, I can barely hear their animated cheers, because all I can focus on is crossing the line before the girl next to me. I can feel adrenaline surging through my body, and I widen my stride to cap off the remaining distance. When I glance at my Garmin watch, a new personal best time flashes across the screen. I realize that all of the gruelling work I have put in is worth the final result: happiness. (Snapshot Lead)

In 1983, Raymond Carver introduced his short story “Cathedral” to the public. The first-person narrative takes place within the narrator’s home, where his wife is waiting upon the arrival of her blind friend Robert. The narrator, however, becomes more concerned about how Robert’s visit will affect him rather than enjoy the situation. Once Robert arrives, the narrator tries to understand the blind man, but he is unaware of what tasks Robert is capable of performing due to the narrator’s inability to “see”. In time, Robert shows the narrator the difference between looking and seeing through illustrations of a cathedral, drawn by the narrator with his eyes closed. “Cathedral’s” narrator exposes readers to anti-heroic views

Persuasive texts are written for the purpose of presenting a point of view in favor or against a specific topic. The goal of the author is to try to convince the reader to

Being an athletes is one of the best-paid jobs on Earth. Being that they are paid so much the cost for the consumer is very high. The prices of tickets and sports memorabilia have been steadily rising over the years. The average ticket prices for the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL all rose 5% to 10% this year, according to Jon Greenberg, executive editor of Team Marketing Report. (Mihoces).

The use of persuasive rhetoric writing can be helpful in the working world, especially when you need people to follow you. Using Ethos, is a way to approach your audience by establishing common ground, instead of coming off as authoritative. Even if someone doesn’t have the same views as you, if you acknowledge their values and beliefs, it’s easier to persuade them, because they see you do care about their opinion. As I move forward in any form of communication it is important to keep that in mind, and next year I’ll being using it a lot as president of CAC. Being the president of club means you have to communicate with your members, and the general public. CAC is involved in getting others to help, with the biggest event we hold, Relay for Life.

My strengths as a writer would have to be my wide and varied lexicon that I can draw upon as needed to assist my writing to make it seem far less bland than it actually is. I would also consider my ability to create convincing arguments one of my better writing traits. However, both of those are hobbled by my inability to clearly express my ideas in a cognizant manner. I struggle to put my ideas from my thoughts onto paper in a way that most people can make sense of, which has led me to be a "bad" writer for the majority of my life. My other weakness is something that ties into inability to clearly express myself, and that's my use of punctuation. I'm keenly aware that it tends to be atrocious, which baffles me because I consider myself to be a good editor. I feel this stems from the fact that my brain plugs in or omits certain information when I read my own papers so that it seems

“For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.” Margaret Heffernen, stresses out on this quote, the need for plausible arguments and smart conflicts that generates successful ideas and modernization of the mind. Similarly, when in writing persuasive, the main purpose of the literary work is to convince others to agree with facts a values, accept arguments and conclusions, and embrace the writer’s way of thinking.

Good question. I feel that persuasive writing does not put pressure on their reader but gives their reader another way of looking at a topic. My suggestion to you is to stick to the facts and back your statement with reliable research. Your reader will come to their own conclusion that is persuasive by you.

Purposeful. You will be writing to solve problems and convey information. You will have a definite purpose to fulfill in each message.

Throughout this course I have come to recognize my many strengths in written communication and APA style as a whole. In writing, I have found that I am able to maintain focus and keep my writing coherent. I have also noticed that I am able to use transitions effectively and have very few grammar and punctuation errors. In regards to APA style, my writing demonstrates critical thought and a clear understanding of the subject. I am able to present information in a scholarly manner and in a way that flows smoothly. Overall, my strengths allow me to write in an effective, well structured, and scholarly manner.

to write with the art of persuasive writing to persuade the readers on the topic which will

When you read an article, book or website the authors usually try to get a message out to the readers. The message could be to inform people on a certain situation, inspire someone to do something that is better for their life, or they can persuade individuals to impact society. To persuade an individual into something is to change their personal way of thinking, and it uses both to inform and inspire. To impact someone is to change something enough to have an effect, which can be positive or negative. Writers use language to persuade individuals to use their ideas and teachings in their own life.

“Your assignment is to write a persuasive essay and present it to the class in a week. You will be graded based on how convincing it is. Today we will be choosing topics,” announced Mr. Bowerbank, my 7th grade English teacher and ruler of classroom 110. My class simultaneously groaned at the prospect of work. I simply lifted my head with intrigue as it was already May and about time we had our first essay. He then proceeded to give examples of topics we could choose and gave us some time to think before we had to tell him our topic. My classmates were already rushing to tell the teacher their idea lest someone else steal it. That meant the usual abortion, death penalty, or drug use topics were out. I really couldn't think of anything and the teacher was slowly making his way through the remaining students like an executioner beheading criminals in a line. I have always thought that he would make a marvelous supervillain if he had a curly mustache, a tophat, and a cape. Eventually my name was called. I slowly dragged myself over to his desk. Even sitting down, he still seemed to tower over me. “What is your topic Cindy?” As usual in such desperate times, my mind turned to food. “Waffles are better than pancakes.” I figured that a waffle was just a differently shaped pancake with a nicer texture. “Hmm. Excellent topic. I look forward to your essay!” I survived to live yet another day.

Argumentative and persuasive witting are sometimes hard to distinguish from one another. The goal of persuasion writing is to conquer or win over your audience while the goal of argumentative writing is to “convince by demonstrating the truth” (Barnet; Bedau, pg.71). Argumentative writing is defined as “a genre of writing that requires the student to investigate a topic; collect, generate, and evaluate evidence; and establish a position on the topic in a concise manner.” There are many different literary components that contribute to a strong argumentative writing. Good argumentative writing must include strong evidential support, it must actually make a claim that can be argued or refuted, and the author must be able to effectively

Having escaped rule from a tyrannical British government, the United States was founded on ideals of freedom and equality for all people. These fantasies of universal egalitarianism turned out to be merely that: fantasies. American history is full of stories of the oppressed struggling to get the rights they deserve and of the controversy over these issues that consequently ensues. “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery” by Frederick Douglass and “We Shall Overcome” by Lyndon B. Johnson are two speeches made confronting two of these issues. Douglass’s speech, delivered in 1852, condemns the institution of slavery and maintains that slaves are men and are therefore entitled to freedom. Johnson’s speech, on the other hand, was written in 1965 and discussed the civil rights movement. In it, he implored local governments to allow all American citizens, regardless of race, to vote. Despite the significant gap in time between these two addresses, both speakers use similar persuasive techniques, including ethos, pathos, and parallelism, to convince their audience that change needs to be implemented in America.