Writing Prompts

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Writing prompts can focus on a variety of topics. For example, you might be asked to write about a

Personal experience

Current event

Social, scientific, historical, or political issue

Work of literature

Questions about works of literature are generally accompanied by excerpts.

What is it???

Persuasive Essay

An essay in which the writer takes a side on an issue or expresses an opinion.

Narrative Essay

An essay in which the writer describes a meaningful experience from his or her own life.

What’s the goal???

Persuasive Essay

To convince readers to agree with or accept your position.

Narrative Essay

To share with readers both the details of the experience and the insights gained from it.

How does a writer accomplish the goal???

Persuasive Essay

A writer should explain his or her position and provide reasons, justifications, and evidence in support of it.

Narrative Essay

A writer should tell what happened—and tell why the experience matters.

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In this activity, you will walk through the steps for writing an effective persuasive essay. These steps include

Carefully reading the prompt

Writing about the appropriate topic

Establishing a position or opinion on the given topic

Developing support for that position or opinion

Planning and organizing your response

Writing sentences that follow the rules of standard English grammar and usage

Incorporating effective vocabulary words

Reviewing the completed response

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Vary your sentence structure. Simple sentences generally convey one idea. By writing compound and complex sentences, you can convey two or more ideas and show the relationship between them. This makes your writing more interesting and demonstrates higher-order thinking skills.

Use the active voice. Limit your use of the verb to be, and make the subject of your sentence perform its action. "Joe was insulted by Tom" is written in the passive voice. "Tom insulted Joe" is written in the active voice.

Use specific examples. If you cite the behavior of a character in a novel in support of your thesis, name the character and the novel. When you are writing about an abstract concept, such as mercy, provide concrete examples of someone being merciful so readers