Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques by Dr Jennifer Minter
Writing Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques helps students improve their essays and written skills.
Chapters 2 and 3 introduce students to reasoning and persuasive strategies.
Chapter 4 outlines a range of persuasive text types and their features.
Chapter 5: “Writing Better Sentences” shows students how a basic knowledge of parts of speech and phrases/clauses can help them overcome common grammatical pitfalls.
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: Overview
The following lesson plans are intended as a suggested guide for teachers/students from Years 7 to 9.
Part 1: First Stage (Year 7)
Part 2: Second Stage (Year 8)
Part 3: Third Stage (Year 9)
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques
Part 1: Year 7Chapters 1-2: Essay structure and reasoning techniques.
Chapter 1 focuses on the process of writing an essay, planning and structure.
Chapter 2 focuses on different types of evidence and reasoning strategies.
See also tone-word building strategies.
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 5-34.
Part 1: Exercises (“downloadable” and “writable”)
•Exercises 1 - 13, pp. 23 – 35.•Revision exercise 15 p. 41
Plus supplementary exercises (if required) :
•mini-articles with tone word lists to build tone vocabulary and•essay-writing practice with plans and source material.
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 5-34.
Part 1: Year 7 goals
• Students will identify a range of reasoning strategies authors use to persuade their audience.
• Students will improve their essay-writing skills through:
• a knowledge (and use) of different types of evidence and reasoning strategies and
• an awareness of essay structure and signposting techniques.
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 5-34.
Part 1: Year 7 goals
• Students will seek to improve their written expression and maturity through a series of vocabulary building word exercises.
• See introduction to tone, p. 43.
• Work through small mini-articles/exercises to learn tone words (See pp. 116-117).
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 5-34.
Part 2: Year 8Chapter 3: Persuasive Techniques
The chapter focuses on:
•the author’s views, tone, style and choice of words; •the author’s appeals and values and•the author’s attacking techniques.
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 43-70.
Part 2: Year 8 goals• Students will identify a range
of persuasive strategies.
• Students will use persuasive strategies in their essays.
• Students will use appeals to write better topic sentences
• Students will use “attacking devices” to write better rebuttals.
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 43-70.
Part 2: Year 8 goals
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 43-70.
• Students will seek to improve their written expression and maturity through a series of vocabulary building word exercises.
• See introduction to tone, p. 43.
• Work through small mini-articles/exercises to learn tone words (See pp. 116-117).
Part 2: Exercises
Chapter 3: Persuasive Techniques
Exercises 18 - 29, pp. 48-68.
Revision Exercise 30, pp. 73-74
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 43-70.
Part 3: Year 9Chapters 4-5: Persuasive text types and Better Sentences
Students will identify (and discuss in a fluent manner) a range of persuasive and reasoning techniques.
Students will use a variety of techniques to write different persuasive texts.
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 77-94.
Part 3: ExercisesExercises 33, p. 79Exercise 35, p. 84Exercise 36, p. 87
Plus downloadable supplementary exercises to help students identify a range of persuasive/reasoning techniques.
(See fill-in-the-table samples).
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 77-94.
Part 3: AimsStudents will use their knowledge of persuasive and reasoning strategies to write a variety of text types.
Exercises 33 – 39, pp. 77-95
Students will analyse a variety of texts, p. 84 and p. 86 and write a short essay.
(See Presentation on essay writing Part 1 and responses) Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 77-94.
Resources include:
Suggested responses
E-books with exercises (downloadable and writable)
An e-licence (and class sets)
Better Essays and Persuasive Techniques: pp. 77-94.