The persuasive paragraph is organized around a central argument, or something about which the writer wants to convince the reader. In the short paragraph below, the central idea, stated in the topic sentence, is to persuade the reader that the student's worst teacher was the student's third grade teacher. To do this, the writer offers an example about getting A's on spelling tests, but getting F's in the grade book. A bad teacher, indeed!
Also notice how the paragraph concludes with a re-statement of the main idea. It is usually a good idea to remind your reader of your argument at the end of the paragraph; this way the reader finishes the paragraph with a clear idea about what you wanted to argue.
The worst teacher I
have ever had was my third grade teacher. The reason that she was my worst
teacher is that she was unfair to me on her grading.
On the
days that the class would have a spelling test, I would get
an A on the test, but she would write an F in her grade
book. So when I would
get my report card there would always be an F. This is why I
thought of her as my worst teacher.
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The OWL is an extension of the Community College
of Denver Writing Center. Bret Hann, Writing Center Coordinator This project was made possible in part by a grant from the Technology Learning Grant and Revolving Loan Program, State of Colorado, Department of Higher Education. We are also grateful for the ongoing support of Colorado Community Colleges Online (CCCOnline).
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