Persuasive Writing: Hook and Call to Action

Yesterday, K/H did a table essay focusing on hook and CTA in preparation for our imminent timed persuasive essay.

Some things to remember for tomorrow:

Hook: The biggest difference between expository and persuasive writing is that in persuasive writing, you care about whether the audience is interested. You care about all aspects of the rhetorical situation and about coming across as an expert. You care about making sure your reader is interested and engaged. That's why doing a hook and doing it well is so important.

Call to Action: Typically, teachers tell students to end their essays by reviewing their main points and possibly restating the thesis. Those are fine options, but allow me to give you some other, more sophisticated ideas to use, as well. A call to action means that you are trying to convince your audience to do, think, or believe something. To do that, I suggest you use emotive language. Think back on the movie clips we saw in class. What was some of the emotive language we saw in those? Take whatever your concrete example is and assign it some emotive language. For example, today's practice prompt included the words "assignments" and "relax."

What are some emotive words that could possibly go with assignment?
Achievement, advancement, success...

What are some emotive words that could possibly go with relax?
Rejuvenate, treating yourself, pampering yourself, putting yourself first, respite, mental or emotional health...

Using emotive language like this makes your topic - relax/assignment - seem more important to your reader, which is a good thing. All of the sudden, the paper's about something bigger than just a simple choice on a prompt page. It's about something that matters. It's not about tasks or assignments - it's about success and the importance of getting things done.

Conclusions aren't just the final words in your persuasive essay. They're a golden opportunity for you to inspire your reader and get the grade you deserve after all of your hard work and dedication.

See what I did there?

Also, please remember that these tactics are appropriate for persuasive writing, not expository or AP writing (unless your AP exam requires persuasion... in which case your AP teacher would be the best person to tell  you whether or not these things would be appropriate).