{Quick Writes

November 28th- December 2nd

Emotional Appeal: Writers may appeal to fear, anger or joy to sway their readers. They may also add climax or excitement. This technique is strongly connected to the essay's mood.

November 28th 2011

Use emotional appeal to convince your audience to recycle.

Word Choice (Diction): Is a person "slim" or "skinny"? Is an oil spill an "incident" or an "accident"? Is a government expenditure an "investment" or a "waste"? Writers tend to reinforce their arguments by choosing words which will influence their reader's perception of an item or issue. Diction may also help to establish a writer's "Voice" or "Tone".

November 29th, 2011

The airline passengers forced to pay $31,000 extra for fuel

Write a newspaper headline with word choice that talks about the unequal treatment of 7th and 8th graders.

Rhetorical Question: Sometimes a writer will ask a question to which no answer is required. The writer implies that the answer is obvious; the reader has no choice but to agree with the writer's point.

November 30th, 2011

Do you use Dial soap?Don’t you wish everyone would?

Convince your English teacher to cancel your next book test. Begin the paragraph with a rhetorical question.

Repetition: Overly repetitive writing can become tiresome. However, when used sparingly for effect, it can reinforce the writer's message and/or entertain the reader. Writers may repeat a word, a phrase or an entire sentence for emphasis.

December 3rd

"But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition."(Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream," 1963)

Convince Ms. Murry to allow students to use their cellphone at lunch. Use repetition in your argument.

Appeal to Authority (association): A writer may mention an important event or person in an essay to lend importance or credibility to his/her argument.

December 2nd

How does this poster use the “appeal to authority” technique? Create your own advertisement for your favorite candy bar using this technique.