Read chapter 8 in your textbook. What follows is a summary of some of the most important things you need to know for this assignment; however, it is not a substitute for a through study of the chapter.

Logical Argument is not Enough

In chapter 8, the authors say that persuasion "aims to close the gap between assent and action" (227). In other words, it is one thing to get some one to say, "OK. I understand your point, and your position on the issue makes sense," and another thing to get them to act on what they understand to be true.

In order to get readers to act, you have to do more than appeal to logic; you also have (1) to make the readers believe that you have good character and are dealing with them honestly; (2) to appeal to their emotions so that they feel the need to act; and (3)to express yourself in a clear and convincing way.

Thinking about Audience

In order to convince an audience, you have to have a sense of the "rhetorical context" for the argument. The "Key Questions for Case Making" on page 191 will help you consider your audience and how to present your case.

But in attempting to persuade, you must intensify your analysis of audience. Questions to ask in this regard are listed on pages 228-230. In thinking about your audience, you also need to consider what the differences are between yourself and your audience as well as what you share. The general areas to think about here are listed on page 231.

The Appeal to Character

The authors make some important observations concerning the role of character in writing argument. They note that "a good argument will always reveal the writer's values, intelligence, and knowledge" (249). But there is a difference in this appeal when simply writing to convince as opposed when writing to persuade: "In convincing, the appeal is implicit, and diffused throughout the argument; in persuading, the appeal is often explicit and concentrated in a specific section of the essay" (249). The consequence is that "in convincing, we are seldom aware of the writer's character; in persuading, the writer's character assumes a major role in how we respond" 249).

Thus, in writing your persuasive essay, you must make a conscious effort to project a character that is not only knowledgeable but is also honest, sincere, trustworthy, understanding, and sympathetic. Study the example of King's letter to see how he secedes in projecting an appealing character.

The Appeal to Emotions

The authors say that academic discourse often eschews emotional appeals "because all fields of academic study claim to value reason, dispassionate inquiry, and critical analysis" (251). Emotional appeals are associated with politicians, demagogues, and religious fanatics. Therefore, they must be used with caution in academic writing and only after making sure that the emotional appeal is legitimate. To determine the answer to this question, the authors suggest that you pose the following questions:

• Do the emotional appeals substitute for knowledge and reason?
  
• Do they employ sterotypes and pit one group against another?
  
• Do they offer a simple, unthinking reaction to a complex situation?
  

Another important question to ask is "if I act on the basis of how I feel, who will benefit and who will suffer?" (251).

However, recognizing these cautions, the authors still maintain that emotional appeal can have a role in logical argument because it "supplements argument, drawing on knowledge and often first had experience" (251).

The Appeal through Style

The authors define style as "the choices a writer makes at the level of words, phrases, and sentences" (253)They say that style is not an add-on or a dressing up of what has been written, but rather is integral to thought itself (253). To write a different sentence is to say a different thing. It is important to the success of a persuasive argument because it "makes what we say memorable" (253). A common fault of student writers is to compose a first draft and then to think, "Well, I've finished that. What class shall I work on next?" But a first draft is the end of the beginning, not the end itself.

The first draft must be revised (which means looked at again with a fresh eye). Revision involves adding information (reasons or evidence), deleting what is off the subject or unclear, reorganizing what you have (this is where an outline helps), and restating what is incomplete or unclear. In restating, you are addressing the issue of style. Revising for style means making choices from options and the options you use should be based on your topic, your thesis, your audience, and the rhetorical context of the argument. So there is no formula to follow and no strict set of rules; instead, there are good practices that can be effectively applied when "you are in the groove," knowing what you want to say and understand your audience and the rhetorical context.

Using King's essay as an example, the authors point out the following aspects of style that he uses effectively.

• Connotation and denotation of words
  
• Concrete language
  
• Metaphor and simile
  
• Factors affecting the sound of language
  
  • Sentence length and rhythm
    
  • Parallelism
    
  • Alliteration
    

These, of course, do not exhaust the stylistic options available to writers, and you may discover and use many of them without even knowing their names. A successful style is achieved by working and reworking your sentences until they say what you mean. You are the first judge, and if a sentence does not sound right or makes no sense to you, a reader will not understand it either.

Some writers are handicapped because what sounds right to them is not right according to the rules of grammar, which brings you to another step in the writing process, editing. When you edit, you make your writing correct according to the grammatical rules of the language. This is where your handbook is a help. The correct way to write sentences can be learned, but it requires sharp attention and a willingness to do the work.

What was said in the assignment on writing to convince applies to this essay on writing to persuade. The principle difference is that in addition to creating a logical argument that your reader will accept as valid, you must also make a special effort to appeal to your audience through character, emotion, and style.

Documenting your Essay

Research is an important part of this assignment. You cannot write a successful argumentative essay to convince someone to accept your thesis on a topic unless you have read extensively and know what you are writing about. So your essay must have both parenthetical documentation and a works cited that gives complete publication information for your sources. You will use the MLA style of documentation for this course. see pages 122-132 in your textbook for documentation models. My Links Page also has links to information on MLA documentation.

You may choose to use the topics and the source materials provided by your textbook. If you do so, you can use the publication information given in the credits section of the book.

The Length of your Essay

The completed essay must be at least 500 words. To do a good job on this assignment, your essay will need to be longer. There is no limit on length, but all essays should be concise, informative, and correct. Longer essays that multiply errors simply provide more justification for a poor grade. Microsoft Word will tell you how many words there are in a document.

Works Cited

This essay must have a works cited. A works cited is not the same thing as the annotated bibliography that you created in preparation for the essay. The works cited lists all the sources that you actually summarize, paraphrase, or quote in your argument. Give the complete bibliographic for each source following MLA guidelines. Arrange your sources alphabetically. Do not include any annotations for the sources on your works cited.

Outline

This essay must have an outline of your case structure. The outline should precede the body of the essay and must include an explicit statement of your thesis, the reasons you give in support of your thesis, and major points of evidence that you offer as proofs of your reasons. The reasons should be indicated on the outline by Roman numerals, and the points of evidence by capital letters. No further detail is required, but it is essential that the elements of the outline be accurately represented in the essay.

In other words, there needs to be a complete topic sentence in the body of your paper that expresses each of the reasons you include in your outline, and a complete subtopic sentence for each major piece of evidence that you offer as proof of your reasons. The order of the points on the outline and in the body of the essay should match; the structure of the outline and the structure of the essay should be mirror images.