1. Become familiar with formats for persuasive essays. There are many ways to write a persuasive essay. As you begin to write this type of essay, it may be a good idea to follow a standard format at first. As you become more at ease with your writing, you should try to be creative with the organization of your essay as long as you make sure that:
-your thesis is clearly stated
-you present arguments to support your thesis
-you present specific examples and details as evidence to corroborate your argument
Before you start writing, you may want to read editorials that appear in the editorial section of Spanish language newspapers online. Since your purpose in writing a persuasive essay is to convince your audience of a particular viewpoint, these editorials offer excellent examples of persuasion.
Here is one standard way of organizing a persuasive essay:
a. First paragraph: State your opinion, which will become the thesis of your essay. Make sure that you clearly state your views and beliefs about the topic while enticing your audience to read more. Do not try to introduce too much information at this stage.
b. Second, third, and fourth paragraphs (as needed): Present arguments that validate and substantiate your opinion. Give specific examples and facts that support your argument. Depending on the number of examples and fact you have, you can vary the number of paragraphs accordingly.
c. Final paragraph: Summarize your ideas by arriving at a conclusion or by leaving a final question or questions in the reader's mind. Go back and read the first paragraph of your essay again to see if you have accomplished the task or answered the question you presented there. Make sure that you summarize quickly the main ideas you stated without using the same wording as in the first paragraph.
2. Follow a three-step approach to writing:
a. Before writing
-Budget your time in advance so that you will have time to read, listen , organize, write, proofread, and review. As you practice for the exam, you should get used to writing essays in a forty minute time period.
-Try to understand exactly what the directions are asking you to do. Read the question carefully and underline the key words. Keep this information in mind while reading and listening.
-Look for key verbs or words in the prompt and use them to help you plan your answer.
-Examine what the three sources have in common and how they are different.
-Decide upon the thesis for your essay, taking into account the information and perspectives provided in the three sources.
-Use a graphic organizer of some kind to go back through the sources and take notes that will help you synthesize the information they contain and to use that information to provide supporting details, opposing points of view, and conclusions about the topic.
-Choose a technique or techniques that will help you to support your thesis across your essay. Examples of these kinds of techniques include citing brief quotations from the sources, referencing facts and figures, comparing and contrasting, and giving examples.
b. While writing
-Write the introduction that presents the thesis (your answer to the prompt).
-Concentrate on adapting the ideas you have read and heard to respond to the prompt. Compare and contrast ideas if necessary.
-Incorporate and integrate pertinent, meaningful references from all the sources.
-Quote only what is necessary to support your views. If you are quoting directly from the text or audio, use quotation marks. But keep your quotations to a minimum. Instead use expressions such as: Según la fuente número 1, 2, etc., Según la fuente auditiva/escrita, etc.
-Avoid using a dictionary, or try to keep this practice to a minimum, since in the actual examination you will not be allowed to use one. If you cannot think of a specific word or words, describe what you want to communicate by using circumlocution.
-Remember, organizations is important. You must include a clear introduction and thesis, present supporting details, and arrive at a definite conclusion.
-Make smooth transitions between the paragraphs of your essay, so that each section follows logically from the next.
-Stay focused and keep on task
-Make sure you demonstrate that you have interpreted and synthesized the three sources to support your essay's thesis statements.
-Avoid merely paraphrasing or repeating what the sources say in your own words. Instead, you must interpret the significance of their contents and then synthesize that significance with that of the other sources.
-Make sure that your final paragraph is not just a restatement of your thesis, but rather a conclusion that takes into consideration what you have discussed throughout the essay.
c. After writing
-Is your introductory paragraph clear and does it establish the essay's thesis topic?
-Have you developed your ideas clearly? Have you given enough examples to illustrate your point of view?
-Have you checked:n
...the agreement of verb ad subjects?
...the agreement of adjectives and nouns?
...the use of ser and estar?
...the use of por and para?
...the use of the indicative and subjunctive mode?
...the use of the imperfect and preterit tense?
...the use of the personal a?
...the sequence of tenses in the subjunctive?
...the use of accents, capital letters, and punctuation?
-Do not count words. You will be wasting time because the instructions do not ask you for a definite number of words. Instead, budget your time so that you can thoroughly complete the task and allow some time to go ovver your work.
3. Memorize words and phrases from appendices B and G. The terms on appendix B are organized to help you with the various sections and tasks for the persuasive essay (such as presenting a thesis, citing sources, making comparisons, etc.) Those on appendix G provide words that can use to make transition and connect ideas. Build your vocabulary with items from these lists. Knowing them will make it easier for you to write smoothly and efficiently without having to work around too much unknown vocabulary. Increasing your "word power" is a powerful way to enhance your written (and oral) presentational skills.
4. Learn how your work will be evaluated. Become familiar with how your teacher scores the essay and/or the scoring guidelines that will be used to evaluate this part of the exam. This will allow you to know beforehand what is expected of you. If our teacher gives you a score for an essay, go back to the scoring guidelines and determine why you received that score. This will also help you to improve in those areas in whiih you may be lacking the skills you need to succeed in this class.