Students who want to improve on their academic writing skills
Grades 8-12
One-on-one and small group (Max. 7 students/class)
Class Introduction
In this academic writing class, students will learn how to write persuasive, argumentative, and rhetorical analysis essays. Students will also be taught the purpose of citations and how to cite and quote sources effectively in their writing. Each lesson will also feature editing advice for students. Lessons 1-3 will feature instruction on persuasive essays, then lessons 4-6 will feature instruction on argumentative essays, then lessons 7-9 will feature instruction on rhetorical analysis essays, with the final lesson featuring instruction and review of all three essay types. Throughout the program, students will write 1 persuasive essay, 1 argumentative essay, and 1 rhetorical analysis essay.
Outcome
After completing the course, students will:
- Understand how to assess the rhetorical situation of other speakers and writers and how to assess their own rhetorical situation for a writing assignment.
- Understand the purpose of thesis statements in academic essays and be able to craft their own thesis statements.
- Be able to craft effective claims and body paragraphs in persuasive, argumentative, and rhetorical analysis essays.
- Understand how to use personal anecdotes as evidence.
- Be able to make concessions and refutations in their writing.
- Understand how to handle counter-arguments in their writing.
- Be able to craft effective conclusions in their writing.
- Be able to introduce the arguments of other sources into their writing as evidence backing up their claims.
- Understand how to format citations in-text and on a Works Cited page.
- Be able to read and analyze arguments to understand the claims writers are making and the evidence they are using to support their claims.
- Understand the three Aristotelian rhetorical appeals (Ethos, Pathos, Logos) and other rhetorical strategies.
- Understand how to use SOAPSTone to help them analyze another speaker’s rhetorical situation (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone).
- Be able to smoothly integrate quotes and paraphrases from other writers in their essays.
- Understand the weaknesses of certain rhetorical strategies.
- Understand how to avoid common citation and grammar mistakes
Feedback
Students and their parents will receive brief feedback after each class, regarding the student’s general participation in class. Students will also receive feedback on homework assignments via email.
Class Content
| Class | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rhetorical Situation / Introducing the Persuasive Essay / Creating Outlines and Thesis Statements / Claims / Editing Advice |
| 2 | Crafting Effective Claims and Body Paragraphs in Persuasive Essays (Claim/Evidence/Commentary) / Using Personal Anecdotes as Evidence / Editing Advice |
| 3 | Making Concessions and Refutations and Handling Counter-Arguments in Persuasive Essays / Crafting Effective Conclusions in Persuasive Essays / Editing Advice |
| 4 | Introducing the Argumentative Essay / Basics of Introducing Sources and Creating In-Text Citations / Formatting of Works Cited Page / How to Read and Analyze Others’ Persuasive and Argumentative Essays |
| 5 | Crafting Effective Claims and Body Paragraphs in Argumentative Essays (Claim/Evidence/Commentary) / How To Cite and Use Sources as Evidence to Back Up Student Claims / Editing Advice |
| 6 | Making Concessions and Refutations and Handling Counter-Arguments in Argumentative Essays / Citing Sources / Editing Advice |
| 7 | Rhetorical Situation – Part 2 / Introducing the Rhetorical Analysis Essay / Rhetorical Appeals (Ethos, Pathos, Logos), Rhetorical Devices / Creating an Introduction and Thesis Statement in a Rhetorical Analysis Essay / SOAPSTone |
| 8 | Crafting Effective Claims and Body Paragraphs in Rhetorical Analysis Essays (Claim/Evidence/Commentary) / How to Smoothly Integrate Quotes and Paraphrases / Understanding the Weaknesses of Certain Rhetorical Strategies / Editing Advice |
| 9 | Performing Advanced Rhetorical Analysis on More Complex Texts / Creating More Sophisticated Claims About A Speaker’s Rhetoric |
| 10 | Putting It All Together / Reviewing Persuasive, Argumentative, and Rhetorical Analysis Essays / Reviewing Citation Rules and Strategies |
Need to prepare?
To best prepare for this program, we recommend reading:
