IE3 Writing: Lesson 12

1/6/2016

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a good vacation. We just have three more lessons, and then we'll be finished our course.

Body Paragraph #3:
In today's lesson, we learned about the structure of body paragraph #3. For this paragraph, you need to introduce a counter-argument (=an opinion against your position) and then argue against it with a rebuttal.

When you introduce your counter-argument, you can use this structure:

a. Opponents to (topic) + believe/claim + argument
b. Supports for (topic) + believe/claim + argument

Examples:
Opponents to nuclear power believe that it is too dangerous.

Supporters for holding the Tokyo Olympics believe that it will help the economy.

Concluding Paragraph:
For your concluding paragraph, remember to include these part:

thesis restatement
summary of body paragraphs #1 and #2
summary of counter-argument and rebuttal
final thought (e.g. prediction, recommendation, quote or question)

Homework:
1. Complete first draft.

due Monday, January 11 by 12:00 noon

2. Upload first draft to Aogaku database
3. Complete Conference Preparation worksheet
4. Blog Comment #9
5. Bring two copies of your essay to class

We will be in Room 217 (PC room) on January 13 and January 20. Remember to bring a USB with your draft on it.

Blog Question #9:

What were your biggest challenges writing a persuasion essay?

Do you feel it was easier to write your second essay? Why or why not?

*Write 8-10 sentences.
*Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly.
*Submit by Tuesday, January 12 by 6:00pm

16 Comments

IE3W-Ryoma

1/6/2016 04:06:43 am

I thought persuasion paragraph was challenging even though I got used to it.
I usually write opinion essays, so I couldn't understand it at first. However, Nicole's advise made me clear what to write. The hardest part was to write the body paragraph 3. The reason is that I had to write my counter-argument and the rebuttal. I never heard of these words before and I had no idea what these are, so it was difficult.
I felt easier to write my second essay because I got used to writing a lot and also in persuasion paragraph we could add our own opinions indirectly, so it felt easier for me to write.

IE3W-Takumi

1/7/2016 05:00:39 am

The biggest challenge was to write counter-arguments and rebuttal. This is because I have never written these before, so I had trouble in writing it. Especially, I had a hard time with hitting upon counter-arguments because it is opposite to my opinion. Also, it took much time to look for quotations that support my opinion. I felt it was easier to write the second essay because I used to write it before many times. It took less time to write second essay than first essay because I did not need to search for information about topic. I had already had my own opinion about the topic of second essay, so I felt it was easier. It was interesting to constitute my opinion.

IE3W-Saki U.

1/8/2016 08:02:34 pm

The biggest challenge I had was that writing supporting sentence. Since I tend to write something too general or unreasonable, I tried to think about carefully what I had written previous paragraph and connect with each paragraph. This was really hard for me, but I gradually wrote better sentences by trying to consider again and again.
I felt it was a little easier to write second essay than first one. Maybe this is because I'm used to organizing essay structure. However, writting essay was difficult for me even it's second time. I am not good at writing something unsual and persuasive, so I thought I had to search information and take time.

IE3W-Ryosuke

1/9/2016 06:12:18 am

My biggest challenges writing a persuasion essay were two. One was thinking of ideas with persuasiveness. Although I had strong opinion about the topic, it was difficult for me to verbalize thinking in my brain. The other one was finding evidences enough to support my ideas. There were not so many evidences or details such as expert opinion, fact, analysis, statistic and description which support my position, so I had trouble in organizing them.
I feel it was more difficult to write my second essay. Since the topic was controversial, I had more difficulty in writing than my first essay, classification essay. In fact, there is no correct answer to the topic. However, I had to try persuading readers to agree with my position. So, it was harder for me to write second essay, persuasion essay than classification essay.

Momona

1/10/2016 12:18:16 am

Choosing my topic was so hard since i need to pic something controversial. My topic was really dfficult. I regret a lot when I started to write an introduction but I believe it was great opportunity to improve my writing skill. Aside from that, I had so much difficulties during I was searching every details which can help my opinion. I could not write "I think" was the also challenging for me to persuade someone. I suppose previous essay was much easier for me to do. At least, I knew the structure of essay and how to write an essay was helpfull.

IE3W-Hideaki

1/10/2016 04:34:40 pm

There were two biggest challenges.
First one is that since it was persuasion essay, I wrote each sentence carefully. If I write without thinking degree of the sentence, it would be the week paragraphs.
Second one is choosing resources.
When I chose resources, I had a trouble in which resources I would use.
I thought that resources I would put playing pivotal role in persuasive essay.
I thought that writing my second essay was a little easier than first one.
Since I could learn how to write essay carefully in my first essay, the second one had many similarities when compared to the first one. Therefore, it was a bit easier.

IE3-yume

1/10/2016 06:59:55 pm

The biggest challenge were wrting counter argument and rebuttle. This is because I think this part should be the most persuasive in the essay. It was difficult to write rebuttle to persuade even the other side. However, writing counter argument and rebuttle is also exciting because it's like debate. I think it is easier to write second essay than to write first essay because I got used to writing. I think I could write more organized essay than before. Thanks a lot.

IE3W-Sae

1/10/2016 07:13:37 pm

I had a hard time choosing good supporting ideas to pursueade my readers. Since my topic had a lot of aspects to consider such as the cost, human right, safety, and inefectiveness, I had to choose what to write carefully. In addition, this time, I needed to prepare 2 details for each supporting ideas, it took much time to find good sources.
At some point, this second essay was a little bit easier than my first essay, however, overall, I think this one was as difficult as my first one. What I felt easier was choosing my topic. In my first essay, I took a time to understand what principle was, but this time, I only needed to choose controversial topic, so it was very clear what kind of topic I should choose. Also, the topic I chose was very familiar with me. My topic was school uniforms, and I went to 3 high schools. 2 of them had uniform mandatory, and 1 didn't have. Therefore, it was very fun to write this essay looking back my school days.

Seicho

1/11/2016 01:29:51 am

The difficult part in persuasion essay is body paragraph 3. I had to think of counter argument and rebuttal at the same time. I had to come up with a sting counter argument and then try to counter it again. It's a little hard.
I do feel easier writing the second essay. I understand the structure better and it's easier to organize opinions. Intext citation is easier for me. And I think I made less mistakes this time.

IE3W-Yuuka

1/11/2016 06:24:23 am

For me, writing body paragraph 3 was most challenging. It's because that i had to find a strong reason against my topic that everyone can be pursuaded by. I think most people who don't smoke agree with my opinion. So writing my opinions for my topic was not so difficult, but writing against it was difficult.
Writing my second essay, I found some points that got easier through the first one, but some were still hard. I think it was difficult because the essay changed to a pursuasion essay. But because I had already learned to write an essay properly, it wasn't so difficult concerning about the structure. It was a great opportunity to learn how to write both essay form.

IE3W- Miki

1/11/2016 06:16:15 pm

There were two biggest challenges writing a persuasion essay. The first one was finding enough supports. Since there are few people who are Pro GM foods, it was hard to find supports. The second one was writing counter argument. Because I have to write two positions in one paragraph, it was not easy for me to write this part.
I felt easier to write my second essay. Since I learned how to write in my first essay, the second one was not as difficult as the first one. Anyway I enjoyed writing essay.

IE3W-Kanta

1/11/2016 08:36:29 pm

The most challenging part for me when writing the persuasion essay was to stay on topic. It was difficult for me to write specifically about the reasons about weather to legalize casinos or not. Also the research was quite difficult and I had problems finding the information I needed the most. That may also be the reason why staying on topic was hard for me.
The second essay was not as easy as I thought it would be since a persuasion essay was completely different from a classification essay. The system of the body paragraphs were different and you had to stay on one topic so it was quite difficult. Although it wasn't so easy, since I learned to choose a topic I'm interested in, choosing the topic was easy. Thanks to this, i guess it'll be easier for me to write essays from now on.

IE3W-Mizuki

1/11/2016 11:36:30 pm

1. For me, collecting a lot of information about nuclear energy was the one of the biggest challenges. I thought that I could easily write my essay because I lived in Tohoku when the accident happened. However, there was only similar information of nuclear power on the Internet, so I had to search using several keywords. I had one more of the biggest challenges of writing. It was to summarize easily to understand. This is because almost every website use too difficult words and I didn't know how to replace those words to another. However, I gradually learned it and felt that my English skills improved a little.
2. I feel it was easier to write my second essay than first one. This is because I knew a lot about nuclear energy before I wrote my essay. Moreover, I could understand the way of writing persuasion essay throughout your classes, so I wrote my essay easily.

IE3W-Shoko

1/11/2016 11:57:41 pm

It was a big challenge for me to write counter-argument and rebuttal. As I had never written such a formal essay, it was really difficult to think about the structures of three body paragraphs. Every week, I spent much time writing the essay, and through that time, I had to think carefully about what the readers will expect the essay will develop in the next part. Also, another thing tormented me. The topic seemed to be a little difficult. I learned that choosing the topic is the most important task when writing an essay.
It sure was easier to write the second essay. This is because I knew what I have to write through the first essay. And your kindly support. Thank you!

IE3W-Yu

1/12/2016 12:22:26 am

The biggest challenge in my essay was persuasion paragraph. This is because I had never written such paragraph. To write good persuasion paragraph, I read sample essay many times. Another challenge was search and choose resources. There were many informations. so, I was unable to make a decision.
I thought that it was easier to write my second essay than first essay. This is because I am used to write essay logically. I understood How readers can understand my essay smoothly.

IE3W

1/12/2016 12:28:28 am

Coming up with a good reason to persuade was very difficult for me. I thought I had a good reason. But after having them checked, I learned there were not that logical. I was for my topic. But the reason against it were much more logical. That was very challenging for me.
The second essay looked easier, but it was a lot difficult. Thinking logical was very difficult for me.

IE3 Writing: Lesson 12

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