a persuasive essay on why education should be valued more

Working Thesis Statement, Outline, & Starting Draft
Due Week 5 and worth 80 points
Instructions:
Every powerful essay starts with an idea that grows and improves over time. You are
well on your way to discovering the power of your own writing! You’ve already completed
your Prewriting & Research Packet and received helpful feedback from your
instructor. Now you will use that feedback to write your thesis statement and outline.
You’ll start drafting your persuasive essay in a new Word document.
Writing Activity 2 has four sections to complete: 1.) Working Thesis Statement 2.)
Outline 3.) Starting Draft and 4.) Feedback Reflection. It may seem like a lot, but just
take them one at a time. When you finish all four, you will have declared your position
and drafted the main body of your essay

Section 1
Working Thesis Statement
This is a brief, one or two sentence statement summarizing the main idea of your
essay. Use your Supporting Points Graphic Organizer from Week 3 to develop your
working thesis statement.

Section 2

Outline

Create an outline based on your Prewriting & Research Packet and your Working

Thesis Statement. This outline is the roadmap for your final essay. It can be in topic,

sentence, or paragraph format. Use brackets [ ] to indicate sections that you need to

research, develop, or restructure.

Outline Structure:

I. Introduction

Ideas for hooking your audience

Working thesis statement

Relevant background information

II. Supporting Points

Include 3-5 supporting points in your essay to flesh out your argument.

Apply the three audience appeals.

Logic: What is your reasoning and why?

Credibility: What evidence are you using?

How are you building credibility?

Emotion: What emotional appeals are you making and how?
(e.g., personal stories, quotes, etc.)
Consider including a counter perspective. Anticipating arguments
against your thesis will strengthen your position.

III. Conclusion

Summarize your argument.

Rephrase your thesis statement.

Include the benefits of taking action and the consequences of

inaction.

Call to action: What do you want your audience to do?

Starting Draft

Now that you have an outline of your ideas, it’s time to start building your essay by

adding the “meat to the bones.” You’ll expand your thoughts into sentences and

paragraphs, using the best Supporting Points you’ve found to back up your argument.

Your goal is to communicate your ideas clearly and persuasively and to identify

where you have gaps (areas that need more information, supporting points, or analysis).

There will be plenty of time to revise your writing as you continue to do research

and find additional sources. For for now, just get started.

For each supporting paragraph, write a topic sentence that tells your

reader what the paragraph will be about.

Cite your sources in the text and continue updating your reference list as you

find additional resources.

Edit Your Work: Run your Word document through Grammarly and fix

any errors.

Check Your Formatting: Include a cover page, page numbers, and indented

paragraphs. Use 12-point Times New Roman font.