8/9/2019 Project Advocacy Letter

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Name(s):________________________________________________________________Period: ____________________

Date: ____________________

Advocacy LetterFINAL DRAFT DUE BY: Tuesday, April 27

LENGTH: at least 400 wordsFOCUS: You will be writing a persuasive letter of at least 400 words in which you identify an issueand build an argument to convince someone with the ability to make or influence changethat something has to change. Choose an issue that you feel strongly about and can discussfrom existing knowledge. The issue should be something that affects more peole than justyouperhaps your family, your community, your classmates, your city, etc.

DETAIL: Your letter must use several, appropriate methods of persuasion (appealing to bothEmotion and Reason if possible). At minimum, your letter must include attempts to use thefollowing techniques:

Anecdote Expert Testimony Rebut Counterarguments At least one additional technique of your choice

DEVELOPMENT: Be sure to explain your reasoning and structure your letter with a clearly developedintroduction, body, and conclusion. Build through assertion, support, and explanation to aconcrete call to action.

CLARITY: Follow all standards of written English grammar as discussed in class (including correctspelling, complete sentences, etc.)

FORMAT: Your paper must meet the following formatting standards: Be typed in your GoogleDocs account Follow conventions of a Business Letter as discussed in class

Category: 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

FocusIncludes a focusedargument advocating aspecific action

Includes minimal orsurface-levelargument advocatingaction

Includes vague andseemingly unrelatedargument on avague action

Is completelyunfocused

DetailIncludes meaningfultechniques ofpersuasion

Includes minimal useof techniques ofpersuasion

Includes little-to-nospecific techniquesof persuasion orrelevant details

Vague andconfusing with noattempt to persuadeor describe

DevelopmentWell-reasonedexplanations andstructure add power toyour argument

Minimal attempts toexplain or structureto add power to yourargument

Few, if any,attempts to explainor structure yourargument

No attempt atexplanation orstructure

Clarity Is virtually free ofmisspellings andsentence errors thatinterfere withunderstanding

May include 2 ormore misspellingsand errors that createconfusion

Includes 4 or moremisspellings andlong passages thatare unclear

Grammar errorsmake most of thememoir nearlyimpossible tounderstand

FormatPaper follows allstandards for abusiness letter

May include 2 ormore mistakes inattempting to followstandards of abusiness letter

Includes 4 or moremistakes infollowing standardsof a business letter

Standards almostcompletely ignoredor missed

20 pts=A+

19 pts=A

18 pts=A-

17 pts=B

16 pts=B-

15 pts=C

14 pts=C-

13 pts=D

12 pts=D-

11 pts=E