The Shape of a Persuasive Essay
Sunday, January 14, 2007
On Thursday & Friday we looked at the Shape of the persuasive essay, examining two different schematics. First we explored the Essay flow chart, color-coding the parts so that we could understand the interrelationship of the parts, including their repetition. The chart is reduced below. It can be downloaded as a Word document at the Student Resources part of the Literacy 8 website.
Students also color-coded a webbing model for the same essay flow:
We discussed the importance of the 3 introductory elements: scenario (followed by rhetorical questions, imperatives or other device), the Grabber Ending (restatement of Topic and Power Sentence about Topic), and the Nod to the opposition followed by a transition. Although these parts of the essay may be short, they are an essential “setup.”
Students then opened their Persuasive Essay planning document and worked on crafting the elements, in sequence. Most students got to the Topic phase of the planning.
