Effective Persuasion

1. Effective Persuasion BUNS, Introductions and Conclusions

2. BUNS • Top Bun---topic sentence that introduces the reason. • Bottom—Wrap up. Draws a conclusion/ ends the reason

3. Example (Paragraph on mental workout) TOP: Stimulating and engaging, horse-back riding is an excellent mental workout. BOTTOM: Not only the body gets invigorated in this workout, so does the brain! **Put your “buns” above and below your reason box (2 per reason, 6 total!)

4. A Typical Essay • All essays will have the following main parts: • Introduction • Body • Conclusion • It is what you DO with those parts that takes a good paper and makes it GREAT!

5. The Challenge: • A GREAT writer will have these essential parts without making their essay feel like a formula, or that it follows an outline or repetitive pattern. • HOW? • The most effective way to achieve this is through carefully planned and effective SENTENCES (think sassy!).

6. The Introduction: Be Crafty • Although you want your reader to know your position and reasons, you do not have to be obvious about it. • Instead of “I believe….” for a thesis, you can use an “although” statement. • Instead of saying, “My reasons are…”, you can just SHARE your reasons with details!

7. The Introduction: What it Needs • A good lead OR hook (first sentence or sentences) • To establish the context of the piece (what are you writing about??) • To give your thesis (what you plan to prove)

8. HOOKS • Start with a Snapshot • Start with an important observation • Start with a strongly stated question your readers might have • Put your connection with the subject in the lead • Flaunt your favorite bit of research in the lead

9. Start with a Snapshot • When you paint a picture, you draw the reader in . Notice the difference between these two leads for a persuasive piece on why people should ice skate. • BoringIce-skating is my favorite sport. • BetterIt's ten degrees below zero and the river is frozen a foot thick. It makes snapping sounds like the limbs of trees cracking. A long figure glides along the black ice, moving toward the city. The only sound is the scraping of each blade as it bites into the river. That's me doing my favorite sport, ice-skating.

10. Start with an important observation • Don't start in the general. Put your most surprising or important observation into you opening. Topic: People should study the human brain. • GeneralThe human brain is a complex and amazing organ. • BetterSeeing stars, it dreams of eternity. Hearing birds, it makes music. Smelling flowers, it is enraptured. Touching tools, it transforms the earth. Butdeprived of these sensory experiences, the human brain withers and dies. (Inside the Brain --- Ronald Kotulak)

11. Start with a strongly stated question your readers might have • In some ways all writing is about trying to answer our best questions. A strong question is one we all want to know the answer to. Topic: Studying history is important. • Weakly-statedIn this paper I will attempt to answer the question why history is important (YUCK!) • BetterWhat's the point of studying history? Who cares what happened long ago? After all, aren't the people in history books dead?

12. Put your connection with the subject in the lead • Why are you attracted to the subject? Do you have a personal reason for writing about this subject? What specific memories of the subject come to mind? Topic:: The study of longitude/ latitude is important. • GeneralThe problem of longitude was one of the greatest scientific challenges of its day. • BetterOnce on a Wednesday excursion when I was a little girl, my father bought me a beaded wire ball that I loved. At a touch, I could collapse the toy into a flat coil between my palms, or pop it open to make a hollow sphere. Rounded out it resembled a tiny Earth, because its hinged wires traced the same pattern intersecting circles that I had seen on the globe in my school room -- the thin black lines of latitude and longitude. (Longitude --- Dava Sobel)

13. Flaunt your favorite bit of research in the lead • Start with the facts that made you smile, laugh, go "ahaaa" or just plain grossed you out. Topic: Flies are important to the ecosystem. • GeneralDid you ever wonder flies were created? • BetterThough we've been killing them for years now, I have never tested the folklore that with a little cream and sugar, flies taste very much like black raspberries.

14. Context • Since your lead may be VERY crafty, you may need to follow it with a sentence that clarifies what you are writing about. This COULD also be your thesis! • A common misconception is that you need to LIST, yuck, your reasons in the introduction. YOU DO NOT….give your reader credit, they will know your reasons and repetition in this case is not a good persuasion technique.

15. Thesis • It is the road map for your paper • It tells your reader, in a persuasive piece, your argument/ what you want to prove • One of the best ways to write one is an “although” statement

16. The ALTHOUGH Statement • Starts with the word “although” (making it complex) • Combines a respect/acknowledgment for the counter opinion with your opinion • EXAMPLE: • Although fast-food can be very satisfying for a hungry appetite, it should not be part of a healthy diet plan. • Counter Your position/ argument

17. Example • The cheese melts delicately along the side of a juicy beef patty. The tomato and elegant cream sauce pour over the edges of the bun while saturating it in heavenly goodness. Yes, fast food can look very attractive. Heart disease and obesity, not so good looking. Although fast food fits the busy American lifestyle, healthier meal choices are essential for a nourishing dietary plan.

18. The Conclusion: Be Crafty • Although you need to wrap things up, transitions like “in conclusion” are too obvious and robotic for a crafty writer • Another common misconception is that you need to repeat your reasons. YOU DO NOT…You need to REMIND your reader of your reasons, you must do this in FRESH language (not the same words)

19. The Conclusion: What it Needs • To remind the reader, in FRESH language, of your thesis/ goal • To answer for them the “so what?”…why does this matter • To leave them with an idea for action…what do you want them to do??

20. Example • For anyone who wants to live longer than the time it takes to eat a Big Mac, I suggest that that calorie king and all other fast food items be scratched off your daily menu.Those convenient, yet detrimental, meals can not only add pounds but shed years off someone’s life while completely ignoring the food pyramid.Salad anyone?

21. The Good News • Both your introduction and conclusion can be relatively short (2 -4 sentences or LESS! ). • The BODY of your essay will do the persuading. Let the intro introduce and the conclusion wrap up!