Choosing a Persuasive Technique

Overview
Three companies are selling land in an Amazon rain forest. Students review each company’s offer, determine what persuasive technique is being used and decide which offer they think is most valid.

Objective
Students will be able to analyze three persuasive paragraphs and determine their effectiveness.

Standards Addressed
Language Arts — Writing Conventions

Communications: Oral and Visual, Listening and Viewing, Benchmark B

Grades 8, 9 and 10

02. Identify and analyze the persuasive techniques used in presentations and media messages.

Grades 9 and 10

03. Analyze the credibility of the speaker (e.g., hidden agendas, slanted or biased material) and recognize fallacies of reasoning used in presentations and media messages.

Procedure

1. Have students work with a partner or a group of three. Provide each group with a list of persuasive techniques (see handout in this guide) and the Amazon Rain Forest — Persuasive Comparison handout.

2. Instruct the groups to read the three appeals on the handout and then write their thoughts about which persuasive technique was used.

3. Each group should select the technique that most appeals to them and tell why they selected that appeal.

4. As a class, review each group’s findings.

5. Individually, students may choose to write about either the appeal their group selected, or they may create their own appeal using a different persuasive technique to try and sell the rain forest land.

Answers

Appeal #1 — Techniques used:

• Urgency/call to action

• Appeal to emotion

Appeal #2 — Techniques used:

• Appeal to logic

Appeal #3 — Techniques used:

• Snob appeal

• Celebrity endorsement

Evaluation

Either give points for each of the items below or use this list as a checklist for student work.

1. Introduction is interesting.

2. Thesis is correct.

3. Transitions connect all paragraphs.

4. Reason paragraphs have proper structure
   (topic sentence, explanatory sentences, specific, colorful examples, closing sentence).

5. Essay ends with a call to action.

6. The appropriate audience is addressed.

7. A variety of sentence patterns is used.

8. Details are specific and interesting.