Friday, 22 May 2015
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
Opinion Essay or Persuasive Essay
1st Class - English for academic skills
Activity 1 – Listening skills
Listen to this
video and complete the following gaps with a word or words from it.
Opinion Essay
or Persuasive Essay
One of the most
common types of essay you have to write in your academic careers is the opinion essay also known as the argumentative essay or the
persuasive essay, where you have to take a controversial idea or a topic
that many people have different opinions on
(0:17) you have to present your opinion and you have to……………….. it and support it.
now the …………… of the
opinion essay is to……………. the reader into agreeing with you or at least ………………
that your opinion in argument is valid.
(0:33) a couple tips before you write your opinion essay:
1. take a ………………… position. It's
important that the reader clearly understands your opinion. You cannot ……………………………
in an opinion essay. Pick one side or the other;
2. also you have ………………………., not
just in your opinion but in your reasons, in your details. Remember that it's not
the readers job to ………………………… .. That's your job as the writer;
3. you should consider………………………… meaning you. Think about if you're trying to persuade someone who is it that you were…………………….
to persuade? Who would…………………………. you and why? If you consider the other side
of the argument your own defense will be much stronger. You know, once you've decided or considered those things, it's it's time to write your essay.
(1:25) Now in opinion essay follows the basic structure: it has three parts: the introduction, ……………………………..
, and the conclusion. Now like all essays the introductory paragraph would
start with a……………………… . Meaning a sentence that is engaging to get the reader's
attention and to introduce the topic in an interesting way. You have the background information which would give a little bit of information about the topic in
order that the reader can understand why it´s ……………………… or why it's important.
And then of course the most important sentence in your essay is the…………………………… statement, which is the last sentence of
your introductory paragraph. Now in an opinion essay,
your thesis statement will
be your opinion. In this case, my example thesis statement is: Professional athletes who were caught taking performance-enhancing drugs should be banned from
the sport for life.
(2:22)
Now this is a good thesis statement because
it's clear and I've taken a …………………………….
And now it's time for me to support my opinion. Now in the body you can be one paragraph or three or however many you
need in order to……………………………….. your opinion and meet the requirements of your
class.
(2:41) Now the body paragraph should support your opinion with both reasons and details. To have a ………………………………. you
probably want at least three good reasons. If you can´t think of three …………………………… to support your
opinion, you may have a weak argument.
(2:59) Now once you've given a reason, for example:
A strict lifetime ban could protect other athletes from the…………………..
to use drugs. You may want to
add………………………………… to fully explain what you mean. Now if athletes are aware of the punishment, a severe punishment they will be less likely to be tempted by these performance enhancing drugs like steroids.
(3:24) Now once you have presented your argument with reasons and …………………….., it's time for you to introduce something …………………
the counter-argument. The counter-argument means the opposing view or the view of a person who would disagree with
your opinion.
(3:40) now you may ask you why you would include the counter argument in your
essay but remember that you
want the reader to ……………………… that you have seen both sides of the argument.
You've considered both sides and you've made a decision. So,
it's important to continue
to include…………………, for example in this case: I've said some might…………………. that this
punishment is too severe; if you take
away the person's ability to play the sport, you take away their ……………………. ..
(4:10) Now this is the counter-argument and once you've presented that it's
time for you to answer it and explain why. Your opinion is stronger now. There are two ways
to respond to the
counter-argument: you can…………………… or concede. ………………….
means that you
are saying the counter
argument is wrong that you disagree. To ………………………. means you're saying “yes” but so you're
recognizing that the counter argument is a good point, but that your opinion is
stronger.
(4:44) Now in this case my refutation is: However, it is the athletes taking these
drugs
who are the ones robbing
other athletes opportunity and dreams.
(4.56) Now once you've
established the counter-argument and the response, you can move on to your ………………………. paragraph. In the conclusion like all basic essays, you want to restate the thesis, paraphrase it. You…………………….. your main points and then you want to end, and your
concluding paragraph with a strong statement.
(5:16) Remember that just like the …………………., your grabbing the reader's
attention. In the conclusion you want to leave the reader with a lasting
impression. If you follow this…………………….., you much more likely writing a successful opinion essay. So if you wanna practice opinion essays follow the link at the end of this
video.
Activity 2: speaking and writing
Writing an opinion essay on a controversial issue requires that you look
at both sides of an issue and take a position on one side or the other.
You not only take a stand on an issue, but you must defend it against opposing
points of view. Therefore, your argumentative research paper will involve
advocacy and persuasion.
What to do:
- Select
your topic
- Research the issues surrounding the topic
- Read other writers’ arguments for and against
- Present supporting evidence in favor of your
position
- Defend your position against opposing points
of view
- Anticipate and deflect arguments against your
position
- Make
your case persuasively
Let´s
think together in this statement: Abortion should be legalized for all women
without restrictions.
Discuss with
your classmate about the pros and cons of abortion and write down your ideas in
the persuasion map.
In pairs try to discuss and think about your essay. Have a try thinking on this essay map.
Activity 3: Reading and writing
1st
Draft of your opinion essay
Pair
work activity
Using
the tool of google docs, open a document and share it with a classmate or
classmates and the teacher. You should write
an opinion essay about one of the following topics:
·
Abortion should be legalized for all women without restrictions.
·
It is inappropriate to let a gay couple adopt a child of the same
gender.
·
The only difference between organic and non-organic food is its cost.
·
If we want to stop the global warming process, we need to stop driving
cars.
Remember
to search for texts and information about the subject in the internet, so that
you can have strong arguments about the theme chosen.
Useful links about it:1. http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/general/general-advice
2. http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/StudyResources/Essays/sta-developessay.aspx
3. http://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/essay-structure
4.http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/writing/writing-resources/writing-essays
5.https://intranet.ecu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/20609/essay.pdf
Useful sentences
to use in your essay
Introduction
“Nowadays… “In
modern society…”
“(In my country) many (older/ younger) people think
that...”
Introduction – Saying why it is an important and/ or interesting question
“This is a common talking point…”
“… has been getting a lot of newspaper coverage recently.
Explaining the structure of the essay
“I will look at … and…, and then
… in my conclusion.”
“To look at this matter from both sides, I will…”
“In this essay I will… the main points and then…”
Starting
paragraphs – Explaining why you chose that topic
“There are many advantages to
this/ possible ways of approaching this topic…”,
“the most important/ most
topical/ easiest to illustrate/ one I know most about…”
Starting paragraphs – Showing a change of topic
“Looking (now) at the advantages/
disadvantages (of…)…”
“Another area of this topic that
is worth looking at is…”
“I will now examine the arguments for…/ about…”
Strong
statements
“It seems clear to me that…”
“We can therefore obviously
conclude that…”
“I don’t think anyone can doubt that…”
“It is almost universally agreed that…”
Weak statements
“I don’t have the data I would
need to be confident on this matter, but…”
“It could perhaps be said that…”
“Although I am no expert on this matter,…”
Supporting your arguments - Personal experience
“In my own
experience,…”
“A relevant experience I had was…”
“I (once) experienced this when…”
Supporting your
arguments - Other people’s opinions and experiences
“My own friends and family…”
“I once saw a television programme in which…”
“According to a newspaper article I read last week,…”
Supporting your
arguments - Giving examples
“One (well-known) example is…”
“An example from my own experience is…”
“To give an example,…”
“For instance…”
“…, such as…”/ “…, e.g…”
Other ways of
supporting your arguments
“In other words…”
“To put it another way…”
“I can perhaps illustrate this
point by…”
Listing
“Firstly,…/ Secondly,…/
A third point to consider is…/
Finally,…”
Generalising
“In general,…”
“Almost everyone (I know)…”
Summarizing
“To sum up/ To summarize (what I
have written above/ the two sides of the argument),…”
Concluding
“As should be clear from the
arguments above, the … outweigh the …”
“I therefore conclude that….”
“Having weighed up both sides of
the argument,…”
“Although the arguments for/
against… are also quite convincing,…”
“On balance, I would say that…
Activity 4: Reading and writing
Revision of your opinion essay
1. Now that
your essay is nearly ready, invite two other classmates as editors to read your essay. They are supposed to give
you feedback about your writing. After that you can send it your teacher for
appreaciation.
Attention: Read
the checklist below. The teacher will
check and evaluate your essay according to the following checklist.
Introduction
1. Does the first paragraph provide a good idea of what the essay is
about? P O
2. Does the first paragraph include a topic sentence that strongly and
clearly states the writer’s opinion? Does
the topic sentence tell the reader which side the essay will support? P O
Supporting Details
3. Are there three points that support the topic sentence? P O
4. Are there details to further explain the three supporting points? P O
The Other Side
5. Does the writer give an argument for the other side—a point that
argues against the topic sentence—and explain why that opinion is weak or
flawed? P O
Conclusion
6. Does the last paragraph remind the reader of the main points of the
essay? P O
7. Is the conclusion free of any new information (like another
supporting point)? P O
General
1.
Does the whole essay read smoothly? P O
2.
Do the
details relate to the topic sentence? P O
3.
Does
everything make sense? P O
4.
Are the grammar, punctuation, and spelling correct?
P O
5.
Is the essay convincing? P O
6. Does the essay keep the reader interested? P O
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