Writing is a necessary life skill activity that is not only important for the intellectual development of a child but is also important as per the course curriculum of young children.
The foundations for good writing skills are developed and strengthened in the early years of schooling where students learn different forms of writing and engage with multiple writing formats. Although, understanding different writing formats and developing proficiency in them is challenging.
Persuasive writing is among the forms of writing where various children struggle to get an accurate tone and content. To help students achieve proper persuasive writing, we have curated a detailed persuasive writing checklist to help them assess their writing and make it accurate. The checklist can also be used by educators to guide the students or to assess their progress and guide them accordingly.
Before moving to the checklist, let’s understand what persuasive writing is.
Let’s get started!
Understanding the essence of persuasive writing
Persuasive writing is a form of writing that focuses on persuading the reader about a certain viewpoint or argument. Persuasive writing is more than informing the reader of a certain viewpoint; rather, it aims to convince the reader of the authenticity and credibility of that viewpoint.
In persuasive writing, the person writing the article represents and thoroughly discusses only one viewpoint that he/she favors. They can also use logical arguments, personal experiences, compelling words, emotional tone of voice, and other persuasive components to make the writing convincing.
Decoding the Secret of persuasive writing: A comprehensive checklist
The comprehensive persuasive writing checklist includes a list of questions that will help the students assess whether their writing is on the right track and will help the educators guide the students in the basics of persuasive writing. Follow the given checklist and master the skill of persuasive writing.
The checklist is stated below-
1. Did you make the beginning of the writing compelling enough to capture the attention of the person reading the persuasive writing?
2. Does the introduction clearly state what the topic of the article is all about?
3. Does the introduction favor and include content on only one viewpoint rather than on multiple viewpoints?
4. Is the tone of the article clear, confident, and focused?
5. Is the content supported by verified facts, figures, and examples?
6. Does each paragraph of the article revolve around one principle you favor?
7. Does the article include a minimum of 3 clear reasons for your argument?
8. Have you described each reason in a separate paragraph with backed-up data?
9. Is the content added in the article relevant and matches the theme of the article?
10. Does every point is thoroughly discussed for a better understanding?
11. Does the article have the necessary emotional appeal to persuade the person reading the persuasive writing?
12. Is the article properly organized with a clear introduction, middle, and end?
13. Is there a constant and continuing flow between one point to another?
14. Does the writing have the necessary sensory touch, such as visual appeal or tactile emotions, to convince the person reading the article of the viewpoint?
15. Does the article include the proper use of transition words, such as additionally, further, moving ahead, etc.?
16. Are the ideas and viewpoints accurately and sophisticatedly represented using proper transition words?
17. Does all the arguments, facts, figures, examples. Etc, accurate, verified, and justified?
18. Is the argument strongly represented with bold, fresh, and intriguing words?
19. Is the writing convincing enough to facilitate brainstorming and agreement with the viewpoint?
20. Does the article involve rhetorical questions and necessary metaphors to encourage thinking of the argument?
21. Does the article properly acknowledge the opposing views to make the argument more clear and compelling?
22. Does the writing involve the clear use of active voice?
23. Does the writing involve the correct use of punctuation to make the writing attractive and appealing?
24. Does the article involve a personal touch and revolves around a personal retelling to attract the attention of the person reading it?
25. Does the writing involve a clear, concise, and strong call to action (CTA)?
The detailed checklist will help the students and teachers write compelling persuasive writing.
How to get the most out of the checklist
Whether you are a school student writing a persuasive article for your school-term assignment, or an educator trying to help the students understand the basics of persuasive writing, the persuasive writing checklist covers you.
To get the most out of the checklist, consider the following mentioned steps-
1. Help students write a basic persuasive writing
To begin with, educators can guide students through the basics of writing a persuasive piece of writing and encourage them to try writing on their own. Teachers can encourage students to be confident about their writing and to have logically thought ideas and facts and put them together in a coherent manner.
2. Verify it from the persuasive writing checklist.
Once the persuasive writing is done, educators can help students verify it from the checklist and assess what is left and already included. Here, educators can assess and identify the points that need to be worked on based on the checklist and guide the students for the same.
3. Re-work the article
Educators can further encourage the students to incorporate the points from the checklist that were not done before and re-work the writing to make it more persuasive. Ensure the piece of writing ticks the maximum points in the checklist.
4. Re-verify the writing
After working on the article again, educators or students themselves can re-verify it from the checklist and assess if all the points are ticked. Encourage children to repeat the process till they understand the concept and get a perfect piece of persuasive writing.
Concluding thoughts
Persuasive writing is a form of writing that persuades readers of a specific viewpoint. Persuasive writing should be specific, compelling, and strongly represent the viewpoint to convince the reader of the arguments and persuade for a necessary call to action. Persuasive writing is an important component of a curriculum in the early school years.
Writing compelling, persuasive writing could be challenging, especially for young children, and requires advanced interpretation skills. The persuasive writing checklist will help the children assess their writing and ensure that they have added all the necessary components. It will also help educators to ensure that students understand the essence of persuasive writing.
I am Sehjal Goel, a psychology student, and a writer. I am currently pursuing my Masters’s from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Child psychology has always fascinated me and I have a deep interest in learning about disabilities in children and spreading awareness regarding the same. My other areas of interest are neuropsychology and cognitive psychology. Connect me on Linkedin