It's probably no surprise that "argument" and "evidence" are mentioned repeatedly throughout the Common Core Standards: virtually everything we do in life and work involves some form of persuasion.
For a quick primer on persuasive writing, please check out THE LITERACY COOKBOOK, which devotes an entire chapter to it.
For my most-current thoughts on how to move students from the concepts of "argument" and "evidence" through a series of steps culminating in a full-blown research paper, check out the TLC "Argument vs. Evidence" page.
As with any genre of writing, there are a few basic steps to effective persuasive writing instruction:
1) Show models and discuss what makes them so awesome. The value of reading excellent examples cannot be overstated. The New York Times provides many resources for student use. Check out, for example, the Learning Network, and this post on "10 Ways to Teach Argument Using the NY Times." ***Check out also "200 Prompts for Argumentative Writing" in the NY Times, which includes great prompts and links to excellent examples of argumentative writing. They have also added "301 Prompts for Argumentative Writing" (see PDF in the Download Zone, too) and "401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing" (PDF in Download Zone). Also see Sample 8th-grade Persuasive Writing Task and Sample 8th-grade Persuasive Writing Response (pages 1 and 2).
2) Provide an instructive rubric to clarify your expectations. See the Writing Rubrics page for more info.
3) Teach students the writing process, breaking down each step and giving them lots of practice and feedback. Writer's Workshop can be a helpful vehicle for this process.
4) Give students opportunities to share their work and celebrate it!
NOTE: You can also boost students' persuasive skills by giving them oral practice. Check out the Socratic Seminars page for details!
FOR NJSLA/NJGPA Prep, check out NJSLA/NJGPA (2025 &ff).
Here are some tools to provide feedback on student writing:
- Persuasive Essay Writing Checklist (ST created)
Alternatively, for holistic scoring (on a scale of 1-4), you can use these rubrics which are correlated to that checklist:
- Persuasive Essay Rubric for Grades 3-6 (ST created, not NJDOE)
- Persuasive Essay Rubric for Grades 7-11 (ST created, not NJDOE) *Note: NJSLS ELA Standards require students in 7th grade and up to provide counterclaims.
- Check out this TLC Blog post: "WRITING MINI-LESSON: How to Integrate Evidence More Smoothly," 2-18-26.
For more information, you should also check out the following TLC pages:
- Recommended Reading (for helpful books)
- Writers' Workshop
- Writing 101
- Writing Rubrics
IN THE DOWNLOAD ZONE for PERSUASIVE WRITING:
- NJ ASK Persuasive Writing Task Organizer
- NJ HSPA Persuasive Writing Task Organizer
- Persuasive Writing Practice Tasks
- Persuasive Writing Techniques
- Sample 8th-grade Persuasive Writing Task
- Sample 8th-grade Persuasive Writing Response (pages 1 and 2)
- 301 Prompts for Argumentative Writing-NY Times
- 401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing-NY Times
- Persuasive Essay Writing Checklist
- Persuasive Essay Rubric for Grades 3-6
- Persuasive Essay Rubric for Grades 7-11
