Persuasive writing assignment

Week 3 Activities

This week you will be responsible for persuading key stakeholders about the importance of a critical issue for Special Education.

After reading through the brief articles found in the Course Content folder, choose a topic of interest. You may not choose teacher shortages or disproportionality that were discussed last week. If you have an idea other than what you read in the Course Content folder, you must email me for approval.

Once you have chosen your topic, you will have two options. The first option is to write a persuasive essay. The second option is to create one side of a debate. More information on the requirements for each of these is below.

Persuasive Essay:
For the persuasive essay you will be required to write a 2-3 page essay that includes at least 3 references.
Think about the following items when writing your persuasive essay (retrieved from https://www.scribendi.com/advice/how_to_write_a_persuasive_essay.en.html). I have copied directly from this link to make it easier for you to have the information in one place.
1. Take a stance. What do you think about the issue? What side will you take? Be aware
of any prejudices you might have that could color your argument. What resolution
will you suggest?
2. Know your audience. Determine if your audience will agree with your position and
why they may not. You must be able to understand both sides of the issue in order
to successfully argue your point of view.
3. Thoroughly research your topic. The point of a persuasive essay is to provide
detailed and compelling evidence—you should be able to disprove the opposing
argument. It will likely be necessary to undertake library-based research in order
to accomplish this.
4. Think about the structure of your essay. Determine what evidence you will include
and the order in which you will present it. Remember, it must be logical.
5. Support your argument. Use hard facts. You can gather these from your research,
observations, or personal experiences. But be careful! In order to avoid plagiarism, you must cite your sources. You should always use verifiable statistics. It is important to be able to back up your argument with data. In order to further strengthen the argument in your persuasive essay, try using one or two direct quotes from experts on the topic. Finally, provide meaningful examples to enhance and clearly illustrate your argument.
Your essay should follow the format below:
1. Introduction – Make sure this grabs the reader’s attention and provides background
information about your topic. End your introduction with a clearly stated stance.
2. Body – This is where you will write your arguments supporting your point of view. You will need a paragraph for each new argument. You will need at least 2 arguments with 2 details for each argument. Each argument must be backed with research.
3. Conclusion – This is where you will restate your stance and supporting points.
Debate:
For the debate you will be required to complete the sample outline below. The outline should be brief, but MUST include references for each reason/detail. You may choose to have more reasons and/or less details, but you MUST include at least 2 reasons and at least 2 details for each reason. You need to have at least have 3 references total. You will also be responsible for creating an audio recording in which you expand on your outline. Your recording should be no longer than 10 minutes.

I. Position or Opinion of the topic
II. Reason 1
a. Detail 1
b. Detail 2
c. Detail 3
d. Detail 4
III. Reason 2
a. Detail 1
b. Detail 2
c. Detail 3
d. Detail 4
IV. Closing Argument