Assemble a complete formal sentence outline in preparation for your Persuasive Essay. You will need to include your thesis, s

GUIDE TO FORMAL OUTLINING I. The outline should be in sentence form. A. That means that each section of the outline must be a complete sentence

B. Each part may only have one sentence in it.

II. Each Roman numeral should be a main section of the speech.

A. Capital letters are main points of the thesis. 1. Numbers are sub-points under the capital letters. 2. Little letters are sub-points under the numbers.

B. Sub-points need to correspond with the idea it is under. 1. This means that capital letters refer to the idea in roman numerals. 2. This means that numbers refer to the idea in the capital letter.

III. All sub-points should be indented the same.

A. This means that all of the capital letters are indented the same. B. All numbers are indented the same.

IV. No sub-point stands alone.

A. Every A must have a B. B. Every 1 must have a 2. C. You don’t need to have a C or a 3, but you can. D. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Your speech outline should look something like the one in the sample. Your outline will also include the full sentence details of your speech, including source citations. The number of sub-points will differ in each speech and for each main idea.

FORMAL SENTENCE OUTLINE FORMAT

Student’s Name: Date: Topic: Key statement that describes the topic of your speech General Purpose: To inform OR To persuade Specific Purpose: Your specific purpose identifies the information you want to

communicate (in an informative speech) or the attitude or behavior you want to change (in a persuasive speech).

Thesis: The central idea of your speech (should predict, control and obligate). I. Introduction

A. Attention Getter: Something that grabs the attention of the audience. Examples of this: startling statistics, stories, rhetorical questions, quotations, scenarios, etc. This point should be more than one sentence long.

B. Reason to Listen: Why should the audience listen to your speech,

make it personal to each of them.

C. Thesis Statement: Exact same statement as above.

D. Credibility Statement:

1. What personally connects you to this topic?

2. What type of research have you done to establish credibility?

E. Preview of Main Points:

1. First, I will describe …

2. Second, I will examine …

3. Third, I will discuss… II. Restate thesis, exact statement as above.

A. Statement of the first main point; you should not use a source in this sentence.

1. Idea of development or support for the first main point

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc.- cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

2. More development or support

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc.- cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

3. More development if needed Transition: (Required) Statement of movement that looks back (internal summary)

and looks forward (preview).

B. Statement of second main point. Do not use a source in this statement.

1. Idea of development or support for the first main point a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

2. More development or support

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

3. More development if needed

Transition: (Required) Statement of movement that looks back (internal summary)

and looks forward (preview).

C. Statement of third main point. Do not use a source in this statement.

1. Idea of development or support for the first main point a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

2. More development or support

a. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

b. Support material (ex: statistics, quotation, etc. – cite source)

3. More development if needed III. Conclusion

A. Review of Main Points:

1. Restate your first main point.

2. Restate your second main point.

3. Restate you third main point.

B. Restate Thesis: Exact same as above.

C. Closure: Develop a creative closing that will give the speech a sense of ending. This point may be more than one sentence. You should refer back to your Attention- Getter.

References

APA format; all references need to be sited in APA format.

Electronic sources must be .edu, .gov, or .org in order to be acceptable.

Be sure to make sure that the references are in Alphabetical order.

Double-Spaced; all references should be double-spaced and indented.

Five source minimum: You must have at least five sources cited in your outline and listed

on your reference page.

Make sure to provide all necessary information in the references.

Persuasive essays are any essay where you are trying to convince the reader that your view of the subject is valid. Note that you are not trying to convince the reader that your

view or position is the ONLY way to see the subject, nor are you necessarily trying to convince

the reader that your position is the best way to see the subject.

The key is to think defensively: you are trying to explain why YOU see the subject this way.

More importantly, you want to base your argument on solid evidence. This is NOT a personal

experience essay, even though your personal experiences will probably influence your

viewpoint. EVERY point that you make needs to be supported with evidence. Your entire

argument should be based on evidence from reliable sources.

In general, evidence that proves that your views are known or shared with a wide variety of other

people will help validate your claim; that is one of the primary reasons for using sources – to

provide that outside validation that you are not the only one who feels this way. However,

remember that your position should be the focus of the paper. You should not just be blindly

repeating your sources' arguments — we want to know YOUR unique set of evidence and how it

adds up to support your claims.

Thus, the key to doing an argumentative essay is to begin with a subject, but do not lock yourself

into a viewpoint yet. Keep an open mind. Try to find as wide a variety of sources as possible and

learn as much about the subject as you can. After you have done the research, reading, and

thinking about the subject, then you are ready to share your viewpoint with the audience.

Remember that the focus should be on how YOU are putting the evidence and ideas together, not

on how your sources have interpreted this information. Make sure that you cite all evidence from

your sources. Give credit where credit is due.

To produce an acceptable persuasive essay, the writer should:

— Use grammatically appropriate sentence structures

— Organize the essay in a format appropriate to the assignment

— Use appropriate paragraph breaks to control the flow of information

— Use transitions both within and between the paragraphs

— Develop and explain the essay content completely

— Communicate a clear and specific purpose to an audience

— Incorporate information from outside sources ethically, effectively, and appropriately

using the MLA citation style

Option 1: Traditional

Pick a subject from current events and give your viewpoint on the issue. The subject should

either be controversial or at least a subject where there are multiple sides or viewpoints being

presented. Make sure that you do the proper research for this paper. Try to get a variety of

sources in terms of timeframe and perspectives. If all of your sources are from the same week,

there probably will not be much variety. If all of your sources are liberal in perspective, you also

will not get much variety.

Option 2: Career Focused

Review the literature for your career field. For example, for business you would look at Fortune,

Forbes, Barron's, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, or their websites. For education, you

would look at Education Digest, NEA, AFT, ERIC, or other education resources. See what

issues they are discussing. Review the materials on the subject.

After determining what professionals in the field are saying, go to general interest magazines,

especially magazines with editorial/opinion writing like National Review, New Republic,

Commentary, the Progressive, The American Spectator, etc. or their websites to see what non-

professionals are saying about the subject.

Option 3: Fun

Pick a subject that you want to know more about, or that you are already somewhat of an expert

about. Research that subject to determine what other people need to know about it. Explain what

the major issues or controversies are in the area, and take a stand on that issue. For example, if

you are a football fan, you could research team relocations and write a paper indicating whether

you think it is good or bad for the sport.

The writer of a persuasive essay should keep the following elements in mind:

Purpose:

Remember that you are writing this essay to explain YOUR viewpoint on the issue, not just to

repeat your sources' views. You cannot just tell us that something is true. You cannot just say:

"Smoking is unhealthy." You need to have sources that back that up. You need to explain to us

WHY it's unhealthy. Remember that you are DEFENDING your view, not just telling the

audience what to believe

Audience:

Try to remember that your audience does not know as much as you do. Even if they know more

facts about the subject, they do not know YOUR understanding as well as you do. Your job is to

explain to the reader how YOU interpret the information and how YOU see things fitting

together. Also, as indicated above, remember that you are not telling the audience members that

their views are wrong or stupid. You are defending/explaining your views, not attacking theirs.

Organization:

The organization of an argument is always open to interpretation. You will probably find

yourself using parts of other types of essays like personal narrative, compare/contrast,

classification, etc. to do different parts of the argument. Remember that each part of the

argument needs to be connected to the main thesis at some point so that the reader sees how the

overall argument builds to the conclusion.

Argumentation:

Remember the basic body paragraph formula for an argument:

· thesis,

· evidence supporting the thesis,

· explanation of HOW the evidence supports the thesis and how the paragraph's point fits into

the overall argument.

Make sure that your argument includes the three facets of a convincing argument: logos, ethos,

and pathos.

Logos: is it logical? Is it based on solid evidence clearly connected together into a strong

argument?

Ethos: The traditional element of ethos deals with the character of the writer. How trustworthy

are you? What are your credentials? How believable is your argument? Does any bias show

through, and if so, does it harm their argument's "truth?" Most student writers already feel

uncertain about their credentials, which is one reason why outside sources are often used. The

ethos argument then needs to be applied to THOSE sources as well.

Pathos: Have you given the issue a human face? Have you used specific examples to show the

reader how this issue affects real people, not just theoretical abstracts?

ESSAY 3 GRADING RUBRIC

 Final Draft Essay 3: 30% (300 points)

100: Length: Draft, 1500 words. Final, 2000 words/6 pages (+Works Cited)

50: Proper MLA format throughout

50: Proper use and documentation of AT LEAST 6 credible sources

15: Properly formatted Works Cited page with proper citations

15: Arguable THESIS

30: Three supporting reasons

20: Counterarguments addressed

20: Grammar