Writing

Learners need to know:

• What makes an issue significant (impact, relevance, urgency, or controversy)

• How context (social, cultural, historical or personal) shapes an issue

• The concept of a thesis statement as a clear position or central claim

• That persuasive writing requires taking a stance, not just summarizing information.

Learners need to know:

• The structure of an argument: claim + reason + evidence

• The difference between opinion and argument (arguments are supported by reasons)

• That strong arguments are logically organized and clearly connected to the thesis.

Learners need to know:

• What counts as evidence (facts, examples, data, expert opinion, personal experience)

• How to integrate evidence (e.g., summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting)

• The importance of relevance—choosing evidence that supports the argument directly

• How to explain or interpret evidence to make its connection clear.

Learners need to know:

• Who the intended audience is and what their background, values or interests may be

• The difference between formal and informal tone

• That tone should be consistent with purpose (respectful, assertive, reasonable)

• How word choice, sentence structure and level of formality affect tone.

Learners need to know:

• What “voice” means in writing (i.e. a writer’s style or personality on the page)

• How word choice (diction) shapes tone and reflects attitude

• Common persuasive language techniques (i.e. repetition, rhetorical questions, figurative language)

• The role of sentence variety and pacing in creating a unique or engaging style.

Learners need to know:

• The standard structure of persuasive texts: introduction–body–conclusion

• How to write clear topic sentences and use transitions for flow

• The concept of cohesion (how ideas fit together logically)

• That each paragraph should focus on one main point supporting the overall position.

Learners need to know:

• Subject-specific or domain-specific vocabulary relevant to the topic

• Transitional expressions that guide the reader (e.g., however, therefore, for instance, secondly…)

• Persuasive phrases (e.g., It is clear that..., The evidence clearly demonstrates… )

• Phrases that introduce evidence (e.g., The survey results indicate…, In the minutes, the council states…, In a text message exchange, community members said…).

Learners need to know:

• Grammar rules for sentence structure, verb tense, and subject-verb agreement

• Common punctuation rules (commas, periods, apostrophes, quotation marks)

• Spelling of commonly used words, including persuasive transition words

• Capitalization, paragraph formatting, and basic proofreading techniques.

Learners need to know:

• Types of sentences (simple, compound, complex) and how to vary them

• How to avoid run-on sentences and sentence fragments

• How sentence structure affects clarity and rhythm

• How to link ideas across sentences for coherence.