Special Types of Persuasive Letters

Persuasive Letter Assignment and Examples

Suggested Topics for the Persuasive Letter

Cultural Differences

Some further help writing business letters from the University of North Carolina's Writing Center

Persuasive Letter Exercises:

 Persuasive Letter Exercise #1

  Persuasive Letter Exercise #2
 
 

You should learn the following things from this assignment:

• how to further refine your letter-writing skills
• how to persuade your audience; specifically, when to use the carrot and when to use the stick

more about how to be reader centered rather than writer centered.

•  a central appeal (a concern or feeling you and the reader have in common).  If you're asking the reader to do something s/he really doesn't want to do, you'll probably begin with that central appeal and end with the request.  On the other hand, if you're asking the reader to do something s/he wouldn't mind doing or really hasn't thought much about doing at all, you may begin with your request and incorporate the central appeal(s) somewhere else.
• a justification of your position (why should the reader vote for X, or why should employees accept the new change?)
• the persuasive message itself (what do you want your reader to do?)  Finally, make it easy for your reader to do as you ask.  Include due dates, instructions, or whatever the reader will need to grant your request.  If you're asking for money, or asking someone to send you information, it's good to include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

Submission Guidelines

When you have completed your document, name the file in the following way:  your last name_persuasive (for example, Joe Blow's file would be called blow_persuasive. Then e-mail your document to me at jpullia@lsu.edu  as an attachment file  by the due date.    Put the heading “Persuasive Letter” in the Subject Field of your message so that I know that this is a legitimate e-mail (rather than a spammer  using your name).

Please also remember to include your name in both the body of your e-mail and in your document itself. For the purposes of this assignment, your name should appear in the letter's signature file. Once I receive the file, I’ll delete your e-mail and won't be able to identify your assignment if you don't include your name.  Also, I never open attachments if I don't recognize the sender.

Academic Honesty

Plagiarism is academic dishonesty, and I will not tolerate it in its various and sundry forms. Plagiarism is when you represent someone's writing as your own.  It is plagiarism to take material verbatim from another source without surrounding it with quotation marks and properly documenting the source. It is also plagiarism to paraphrase words from another source without giving it credit. It is plagiarism to have someone else write a paper for you or submit someone else's work for a grade. Plagiarism isn't limited to information found in books or assignments previously submitted by other students.  Taking sources from the internet without attributing them is also plagiarism. I expect my students to have a clear understanding of how to document outside sources (and we'll even go over this concept in Freshman Composition), so there's no excuse for failing to give credit where it is due. 

I will keep out a sharp eye for plagiarism and may randomly audit a set of assignments by submitting some of them to turnitin.com or checking the internet or the vast files kept by my colleagues to ensure that everyone is doing his/her own work. Students suspected of plagiarism will be turned over to the Dean of Students for disciplinary action. If the Dean of Students rules that a student has plagiarized an essay, that assignment will receive a zero, and thus, the student will receive an F for the course since one of the class requirements is that students not have a zero on any major assignment. Students who plagiarize have basically lied to me, and will be dealt with harshly.