Welcome to Lesson 8. Now that you have outlined your persuasive essay and begun drafting, you may be in a state a panic--you need to submit a draft by Wednesday night?! It's true, so you'll need to create your plan of attack. Will you:
- Devote significant time to your essay at the start of the week, making it as complete as humanly possible, so A) your peer reviews will be meaningful in the Gathering, and B) you'll be able to spend the next week and a half strengthening and polishing your essay? or
- Will you spend about an hour throwing a draft together (the Lesson 8 Main Page suggests that you spend 60 minutes writing your draft!) so you can check that requirement off and keep working, slow and steady, on your essay? The final persuasion essay will be due NEXT Saturday.
If
I were in your shoes, I would create the plan that works best for your
schedule. But here's something else to consider: I will grade your
drafts for completion (full credit for submitting a draft, regardless of
whether or not it meets rubric standards). But I will also offer a bit
of feedback on every draft. The more complete your draft is, the better I
can help you. Remember, this is the rubric I will use to grade your
final persuasive essay:
- Thesis: The student takes a position on a controversial issue by clearly stating the position OR The paper defines a clear problem or question that can be answered by a solution. The student adequately establishes that the position or problem is one that should be considered by the reader.
- Support: The position or solution is supported by sufficient, relevant, and balanced reasons, examples, facts, personal experience, and evidence. The information used is well-developed and well-researched. The paper adequately and appropriately considers opposing arguments.
- Introduction, conclusion: The title is catchy and indicates the paper's subject and the writer's position. The introduction engagingly frames and focuses the position or problem, provides relevant background information, and states a specific thesis. The conclusion ends powerfully, rather than fizzling.
- Focus, organization: The body of the paper makes it really clear why the solution is feasible, or the position is reasonable. The body of the paper is coherent and unified, with each paragraph focused on only one main idea. The body contains a logical argument with strong transitions between paragraphs, sentences, and ideas.
- Grammar, mechanics, formatting: The
paper format includes Time New Roman, 12-pt font, double-spaced,
one-inch margins and the name and class information. Page length
requirement: 2-3 pages. The essay has few or no errors in the
conventions of standard edited English (spelling, punctuation, grammar
problems, or sentence structure errors).
- The "Elements of Persuasion" presentation from Lesson 7 is finally working. If you have not yet viewed the presentation, please click here to view it as part of your homework this week. It will help you build your essay.
- Forgive the typo in the "Shifts in Time" presentation. The second sentence about the person going to fridge should read "Correct" instead of "Incorrect" (The handout doesn't have the typo.)
- I'm dropping these two quiz questions, but I will drop more if you see more problematic questions: 1. When the crashing sound stops, I can’t feel my hand. I look down and see that it’s covered with blood. The pain was unbearable, but I am able to pull myself out of the twisted metal. 2. We walked towards the box and flipped it over so we can get her dog. The dog was covered in bacon grease, but she barks happily anyway. We laugh together because the dog started to lick her paw like a cat does. I'm sure it tastes delicious. **Read the quiz carefully so your eyes don't glaze over shifts.
Sincerely,
Sister Bowen
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