Unit 2: Persuasive Communication

Assignments Overview

For your next assignments, you'll choose a topic that you care about and develop both a video genre pitch and a written persuasive piece. You'll create the video pitch first, then develop your written argument based on feedback and further reflection.

Begin by choosing a specific problem or issue affecting your campus, community, or an organization you're part of—something that genuinely matters to you and that you believe should matter to our class. Your topic should focus on something concrete and debatable, but choose wisely based on your own experience and what you know about your audience. By now, you know our class pretty well; you can make some effective judgments about how to build credibility with this audience.

In your video pitch, you'll demonstrate your understanding of different genres of argument by exploring multiple approaches to your topic, then making a case for which approach you'll take in your written piece. This will allow you to test-drive your thinking and get feedback before crafting your final written argument.

While your written piece is not primarily a research paper, you may decide to include some targeted material from research as you develop your argument. People often need to pitch ideas both orally and in writing in the world after college, so we'll spend time discussing the rhetorical choices you need to make for effective presentations and written arguments.

Please note: This will be a very fast-paced unit, so staying on top of daily assignments is crucial to finishing on time. 

Persuasive Essay Rubric