HSPA Persuasive Writing

Time: 60 minutes

TASK

Write a response to a current controversy related to an interpersonal, school/community, or societal issue.

Format may be a letter, a formal essay, an editorial, or a speech.

Interpersonal Concerns

Individuals ask for help about choices, decisions, behaviors, or ideas.

Writing Situation- Helping a Friend

A friend of yours comes from a family in which he is obligated to help raise his brother and sister and hold a part-time job at night, while still carrying a full course-load in school. Your friend is a gifted student who wants to go to college to study design, but he has trouble in math. Often in math class, he falls asleep from having worked late the night before. He has confided in you that he is worried about the HSPA and the SAT because he fears he will do too poorly in math to be accepted by good colleges or to get a scholarship to a good college.

Directions For Writing

You want to help your friend with his problem. Write a letter to him suggesting ways in which he could improve upon his acknowledged weakness in math while still addressing his personal responsibilities. Give reasons why you think your solution(s) will work. Convince your friend to try your solution(s).

School/ Community Controversies

When two or more groups disagree about rules, behaviors, procedures, conditions, or ideas.

Writing Situation- Tardiness

The number of students arriving late for school or class has increased 15% since last year. As a result, more students are serving detention and /or losing credit for class, and jeopardizing their chance of graduating. You and your friends have been invited to meet with the principal and a group of other administrators to help provide suggestions on how to lower the tardiness rate.

Directions for Writing

Prepare a speech for presentation to this group of administrators offering solutions to the problem of tardiness to school or class. Offer specific ways to solve this problem and give reasons why your solutions will work. Convince this group to accept your solutions.

Societal Controversies

When people disagree about laws, conditions, and ideas.

Writing Situation

In recent years, business representatives have expressed concern about the skills of students entering the workforce. Responding to these concerns, state legislators have enacted a law that establishes high educational standards for all students. Now the state legislature is considering enacting a law that would prohibit students from participating in any after-school activity after 6 pm. They believe this law would ensure that students have adequate time to study and complete daily homework assignments. However, many people believe this law would be unfair, and the proposed legislation has become a controversial issue in communities across the state.

Directions for Writing

Write an essay either supporting or opposing the proposed legislation to prohibit students from participating in any after-school activity after 6 pm. Use facts, examples, and other evidence to support your point of view.

Before You Begin

Read the “Directions for Writing”. Understand format of writing

– Letter– Essay– Speech

Persuasive Essays

state an opinion on a subject. FOR or AGAINST an issue. use facts, reasons, and examples to

convince readers. need to capture the audience’s attention with

a strong introduction. have a single opinion, which is clearly stated

in the thesis.

INTRODUCTIONS

Your essay must begin with an introductory paragraph.

Get your essay off to an interesting start with a hook.

Pick a side of the argument and stick with it! Clearly state your thesis (your argument) in

your introduction.

IDEAS FOR HOOKS

Accusation

A charge of wrongdoing that is made against a person or other party. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/accusation

This could be directed toward the reader or another person.

Example: “The Board of Education cares more about extra curricular activities than about the well being of the students at Rancocas Valley Regional High School.”

An unusual detail

This will raise the interest of your reader. Researchers have measured the presence of

the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin in teenagers' saliva at different times of the day. They learned that the melatonin levels rise later at night than they do in children and adults -- and remain at a higher level later in the morning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901561.html

Anecdote

A brief story that relates to the topic. In an interview about sleepiness in school,

one student in the hall responded by saying, “Sleeping in class? It’s mostly during the earlier hours like 1st block when a lot of people sleep, but during the 2nd block some people sleep and then it tapers off.”

Background

The writer gives the reader a brief history of the issue or situation.

Example- “During the early 1990’s medical researchers found that teenagers have biologically different sleep and wake patterns than preadolescents or adults.”

Claim/Facts/Statistics

In a timed testing situation, you may invent a claim or facts, as long as they are realistic.

Example: “One in ten high school students have trouble getting to school on time.”

Joke

Use jokes with care. Make sure it is appropriate and related to the topic.

Example- What is droopy eyed, has dark circles under the eyes, and has his head close to the desk top? A high school student in class at 7:30 am.

News

The writer gives the reader the who-what-when-where-why of a situation or issue.

Example- “When high schools in Fayette County, Kentucky, changed their start times from 7:30 am to 8:30 am., teen car crashes in that county dropped by more than 16 percent.”

Quotation

Since this is a testing situation, you can make one up.

My mom always says… It has been said that … Someone once said … If you know the author, use their name

– “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” said Ben Franklin but does this saying apply to today’s teenagers?

Rhetorical Question

A rhetorical question is a question you don’t expect answered.

Example: “Why do high schools think they have to start before 8 am?”

Thesis Statements

Every essay must include one. Answers the question- “What are you trying

to prove?” It combines your opinion with your main

points. It is only one sentence. It is the last sentences in your introduction.

Opinion

High Schools should begin the school day at a later time.

3 Main Points

poor academic achievement, inappropriate social behavior, serious health and safety problems.

Example Thesis Statement

High Schools should begin the school day at a later time because sleep deprivation leads to poor academic achievement, inappropriate social behavior and serious health and safety problems.