Overview:
This assignment asks you to create 1 persuasive piece of writing (at least 300 words) and 1 note to your instructor (at least 300 words).
Decisions You Will Make (not necessarily in this order):
1. Decide on an audience/reader. You will be writing to an actual person, group of people, or organization. No hypothetical audiences. Though you are not required to give your writing to your audience/reader, you should be able to if you want because your audience/reader exists in real life and there is a way to access them (mail, email, text, hand them a brochure, post a blog, etc.).
2. Decide on a persuasive topic. You will try to influence your audience/readers’ attitudes, beliefs, or actions. Try to convince them of something.
3. Decide on a medium. How will your audience/reader access your awesome words? Will you write them a hardcopy letter? Will you email them? Will you send a text message? Will you fill out a web-based form? Will you hand them a hardcopy brochure? Will you create a flyer? Will you create a blog post? Will you make a custom t-shirt?
4. Decide on every word.
The Persuasive Writing
1) Your writing is written to an actual person, group of people, or organization.
2) You have a specific medium in mind (are you writing a hard copy letter, an electronic blog post, an email, or something else?).
3) Write at least 300 words (for exceptions, contact your instructor at least 1 week before the deadline. I will consider exceptions…hint, if you contact me for an exception, tell me 300 words is inappropriate for your medium, genre, or audience.)
4) Your writing addresses a real issue that has real significance to your life.
This could be any area of your life, such as home life (Mom, Please give me more money for books); school life (Professor, You should allow notes on the final because…or Appropriate Cabinet Member, I have an idea about something related to SJSU…); work life (Coworker, Please stop eating my sandwich from the fridge…); campus or community life (Students, attend this event…or Neighbors, Please join the block clean-up project…); political life (Representative, Vote against this bill because…or President Biden…); consumer life (Trader Joe’s, To save on packaging, please create a 24 oz. package of your Hot Pico de Gallo…); or another area of your life where a persuasive message would be relevant.
The Note To Your Instructor
In a note to your instructor of at least 300 words, answer the following questions (please number your answers in your response):
1) Who is your audience/reader? How did you keep this reader in mind while writing? Be specific and use examples from your writing.
2) Discuss the rhetorical context/situation/occasion of your writing. Include in this discussion ways the medium you’re writing for (print, screen, audio, etc.) impacted your writing choices and/or the ways your genre impacted your writing.
3) What persuasive strategies did you use in your writing? Please point to specific examples of how you used these strategies (e.g. show examples of your use of rhetorical language strategies and show ways you appealed to ethos, pathos, and/or logos).
4) How did you refine your writing? Point to specific examples from your text to explain what you did. Your discussion might include:
- Did you make conscious choices about your word choice?
- Did you select words for their connotative meanings?
- Did you implement precise verbs (and perhaps remove adverbs)?
- Did you choose specific or general words?
- Did you aim for a concise writing style? Why or why not?
- Did you avoid passive language and opt for active language? Why or why not?
5) Question 5 is OPTIONAL: What else can you share about your smart writing choices? Your discussion might include:
- Did you make a stat meaningful to your reader? How so?
- Did you support your argument with facts?
- Did you use stories or examples? Why or why not?
- Did you ‘show’ and/or ‘tell’?
- Did you use concrete details?
- Did you incorporate visual aids?
- Something not on this list?
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