English and Media Department gcse writing Skills Objective: Writing to argue Resources

Writing to argue

Fireworks: time for a total ban? (GSCE Bitesize)

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  Put up on the board some examples of facts and opinions related to topic. Example:
  

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  make from cocoa beans
  
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  contains milk
  
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  makes you fat
  
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  etc.
  

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  Ask students to separate these statements into two lists. What would these two lists be? Why? Draw out the notion of fact and opinion.
  

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  Shared reading of article ‘Fireworks.’ Highlight the facts and opinions found in the text.
  
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  Pairs come up with a list of features they think have been used to create an effective argument by the writer. (They could use mini whiteboards or text mark copy.) Report back. A checklist of features could be written on a flipchart and displayed on the wall. N.B. if they can thin of any others features not included in the article these may also be included on the checklist.
  

1. Reader directly involved 6. Facts to support argument

2. Emotive language 7. Rhetorical questions

3. Final opinions clearly stated 8. Logical reasoning

4. Expert opinions 9. Real life examples

5. Relevant quotations 10. Ethical beliefs

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  Read the start of the article ‘Is it fair to put Mum in a home?’
  
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  Pupils write an appropriate topic heading for each paragraph.
  
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  In note form, pupils write down the main points the writer makes in the opening paragraph.
  
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  Read the rest of the article. How does the article change? Ask pupils to pinpoint the sentence that marks the turning point in the writer’s argument. Write a list of the positive results of putting her mother in home.
  
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  In pairs, come up with a list of Top Tips for writing an argument. Share.
  

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  Recap the Top Tips for writing an argument using OHT. Introduce writing task:
  

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  Give planning grids, Features checklist, sentence/paragraph starters as appropriate.
  

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  When you write to argue, you are getting your readers to accept your point of view.
  
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  When you write to argue, you include fats as well as opinions to convince your readers.
  

Top Tips for Writing an Argument

Plan and Paragraph

(Make sure it’s logical)

Punchy Opening

Introduce your Argument

Develop your argument using emotive language, examples, etc.

Draw it to a strong conclusion

Writing to persuade

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  Speeches: Martin Luther King – I have a Dream
  
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    Abraham Lincoln – Gettysburg Address
    
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    ‘George Bush’ - Gettysburg Address (Literacy in Context)
    
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  Persuasive Writing Toolkit and grid
  
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  Example answer
  

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  Pupils role play these activities or invent your own:
  
  1. 
     Persuade a brother sister or best friend to let you borrow their new jacket bike or some other treasured possession
     
  2. 
     Talk a parent into letting you stay out late for a party.
     
  3. 
     Persuade your Saturday boss that you deserve a rise!
     

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  Analyse the vocabulary and persuasive phrases that they used instinctively. Were they polite and used ‘please’ and ‘grateful’ a number of times. It’s quite likely they speculated a little e.g. ‘I wonder if …’ and used modal verbs such as ‘might’ and ‘may.’ They may have resorted to stronger forms of persuasion e.g. bribery, intimidation, threat, blackmail? The more subtle they were, the more subtle their language, the less aggressive their techniques will need to be.
  

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  Look at Martin Luther King’s speech together.
  
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  Share techniques of persuasive writing with class/ask them to brainstorm their ideas.
  
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  Pupils complete a grid selecting short quotations from the speech which fulfil each of the techniques listed.
  

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  Read the example of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
  
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  Text mark the speech for persuasive features. (optional)
  
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  Discuss the effectiveness of the speech.
  
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  Explain the term ‘pastiche’ and look at how George Bush might give the same speech.
  
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  What’s wrong with it? What point is the real writer making when writing this?
  

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  Tell them the question - ‘Write a speech for your MP to use when he or she is going to persuade fellow MPs to vote for more money being made available for foreign aid.’
  
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  In pairs/individuals, look at the example answer. Mark it/give advice/set targets, etc. Share ideas with whole class.
  

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  Compose your own speech choosing from one of the following:
  
  1. 
     The right of free speech is till one of our privileges.
     
  2. 
     The problem of unemployment can be solved by raising the school leaving age to 18.
     
  3. 
     Even in the twenty-first century, a woman’s place is in the home.
     
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  Remember to plan your speech carefully and refer to the techniques in the Persuasive Writing Toolkit.
  

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

I’m not quite old enough to remember it – only kidding – but I think it was around 87 some years ago (have to be kinda careful ever since I got the day of Pearl Harbour wrong) that our fathers threw out the first pitch for liberty, started a whole new democratic ballgame on this continent, dedicated, as it was, to the all-men-are –equal thing.

The Independent, March 1991

List of three

‘zoos have supplied us with information about breeding, feeding and habitat’
Repetition

‘no bed, no heating, no family’

‘60% , yes, 60% of polar bears’
Alliteration

‘safari parks offer safe, secure surroundings’

‘I myself recently visited’

‘I agree … I think … I believe … I admit … I am sure …’
Use of statistics or quotation

‘A recent survey carried out by … shows …’

‘£2 million is spent every year on …’
Use of rhetorical questions

‘I wonder …?’

‘Is it true that …?’
Involvement of the audience

‘I am sure that each of you knows …’

‘How would you feel if …?’
Strong Ending

‘Think about it!’

Use a joke, quotation, catch phrase or something memorable.

Persuasive Writing: Speeches