Persuasive Paper Guidelines

Draft needs to be completed by the end of Monday's class, along with the organized outline.
Remember:

• Topic sentences for body paragraphs should include the counterargument as well as your argument.
• At least 2 cited facts per body paragraph AND a 2 sentence explanation for each.
• Closing sentences for paragraphs that summarize what the reader should get out of reading that section
• Body paragraphs should be about 8 sentences long, given the specifications above
• Works Cited page

Examples of closing sentence techniques:

• "What the evidence shows is that..."
• "Because of the evidence presented..."
• "As a result of the facts..."
• "The conclusion to this argument..."
• "Since..."
• "Not only...but also..."

For your conclusion, try to tie your issue back to the real world. Explain why this issue is significant to think about and discuss. What would the impact be if this issue be if people were convinced by your argument?

Using Sources Notes

CLICK ME for notes on how to use and comment on facts.

CLICK ME for notes on citations.

Blog 6: Propaganda as Persuasion

DUE TUESDAY OCTOBER 23, 2012
According to Wikipedia, propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position by presenting only one side of an argument. Propaganda is usually repeated and dispersed over a wide variety of media in order to create the chosen result in audience attitudes. Generally, propaganda is distributed in the form of cartoons, posters or visuals - and often has a political slant (but not always). During WWII, many cartoons depicted the Germans as evil and inhumane in order to paint the enemy as monsters.

For the blog response, select a piece of propaganda on a subject of your choice. Paste a link to the piece in your response for reference (since you can't post the actual picture). Explain how the piece is trying to use persuasion to convince the audience or the viewer. What emotions is it using? What language? Look at the image and explain how it relates to the message. Explain if the technique used is effective? or offensive? Sometimes propaganda is inflammatory on purpose, to cause anger so that people will discuss the subject. Are the images used recognizable - often propaganda references visuals that people are familiar with or they spoof previous propaganda (see the "We Can Do It" ones below). Think about the way the piece is trying to engage the audience: could the author have done things differently to get the point across.

Below (and above) are some examples of propaganda. You are welcome to choose one of them if you cannot find your own (just let us know which you are writing about). As always, the response should be 2 paragraphs.

Thesis Worksheet

Click on the image to download worksheet.

Blog 5: Rewards in Education

DUE Tuesday, OCTOBER 16, 2012

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Learning and doing are their own rewards. No external rewards are required. Yet when external rewards are introduced—whether attention and praise from parents or prizes from teachers—these rewards exert a substantial influence. Instead of reading books to find out about the world, kids will read to win prizes. Kids will produce for rewards, but the quality of their activity and their interest in it will be dramatically altered.

Adapted from Barry Schwartz, The Costs of Living

Assignment:

Is it wrong or harmful to motivate people to learn or achieve something by offering them rewards? Plan and write a minimum 2 paragraph response in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Post your response by Tuesday.

Freshmen Focus Day Response

Directions:  Write a reaction paper (5 paragraph response minimum) describing your experience throughout the Freshmen Focus Day activities. Use the following questions to guide you; however, add additional information to your response beyond these questions.  Follow all the rules of good writing (focused ideas, clear organization, grammar, and sentence fluency.)  When you are finished with a first draft, proofread your work then get it checked by me for submission. Final draft will be due tomorrow.
I.                   Intro

1. What did you enjoy most about Freshmen Focus Day?
2. What are some significant things you learned from this experience?

II.                 

3. Did your color category fit your personality traits? Explain.
4. Which speaker did you like best? Why? 

III.              

5. Is there any particular career of interest to you? Describe what you would like to contribute to the world someday.  How do you plan to reach your goal?

IV.              

6. What would you say was the most successful part of the day? Explain.
7. What, if anything, could have made the day more significant and interesting for you?
8. What are some goals the school should focus on for the future success of this event?

V.                Conclusion

9. How is motivation and hard work going to be an important way to achieve your goals?
10. Final comments about what you observed, and how it may apply to you in the future.

Blog 4 - Respect Week

Your response must be a minimum of 2 paragraphs and is due Tuesday October 9, 2012:

This week, schools across New Jersey celebrate Respect Week, where we give a little extra respect to our peers, teachers, loved ones, our neighbors, our pets (and even those people we don't like very much). As we go through the week, try and think of how you can embody this mantra in your own life - choose to respect someone else's opinion, not argue with them; help out your little brother, sister, cousin or parent; respect the beliefs of another culture (or at least their right to have a belief other than yours). There are many people who we can give respect to, both older and younger than us.

For your blog this week, I want you to think about the word "respect" and what it means to you. First, define the word in a personal way, perhaps illustrating with an interesting or colorful example. Tell us a situation when it was hard for you to respect someone (or try to think of a fictional character that has experienced a similar event). Relate a moment when a person has earned your respect.
We all know that we need to respect certain people. In your own words, describe the types (or specific) people that demand your respect, either habitually or occasionally. What makes them worthy of your attention and respect? Also, consider how one gets respect: is it something that is earned? or something that comes with a certain position or relationship to you? Explain. Think about how a person could lose respect (either self-respect or the respect of others) and how one earns it back. Isn't it difficult to earn the respect of someone whom you've let down? Finally, think about how you respect yourself: how do you evaluate your value? what actions to you take (or chose not to take) that show self-respect?

You do not have to tackle all of the questions above - they are meant to guide you and spark thoughts. I would much rather read a lengthy discussion of a few of the topics, with depth and meaning, than a list that answers all of them briefly.