Our Basic Persuasive Essay Outline

 

[Part 1]

[Part 2]

The second morning, Levi and I worked on sorting the ANI chart and writing parallel proofs. The third morning, we talked through the exordium and amplification and typed up the essay outline. Again, we’ll have more time for these tasks and discussions for the upcoming literature selections as long as we are prioritizing our morning meetings each day! The forth morning we turned the outline into a basic persuasive essay.

For a perfect ending to a great week, we attended a local play production of The Secret Garden with a total of 35 of Levi’s classmates and family members after we all enjoyed a potluck dinner together. There is so much to be said for educating our children within a community. I love these people.

Here is our outline, for those of you who might be interested!

The Secret Garden

 

Basic Persuasive Essay Outline [The Lost Tools of Writing]

(With exordium, amplification, and parallel proofs)

I. Introduction

A. [Exordium] “While the secret garden was coming alive and two children were coming alive with it, there was a man wandering about certain far-away beautiful places in the Norwegian fiords and the valleys and mountains of Switzerland and he was a man who for ten years had kept his mind filled with dark and heart-broken thinking. He had not been courageous; he had never tried to put any other thoughts in the place of the dark ones…He had forgotten and deserted his home and his duties.“ (The Secret Garden, pp 223-224)

B. [Thesis] Archibald Craven should not have purposefully stayed away from his son, Colin.

C. [Enumeration] 3

D. Exposition

     1. To fulfill his duties as a man, father

     2. To meet Colin’s needs for a relationship

     3. To experience true joy, rather than misery

II. Proof

A. [Proof 1] To fulfill his duties as a man, father

     1. [Support 1.1] Brave

     2. [Support 1.2] Face responsibilities

     3. [Support 1.3] Father responsible for care of child

B. [Proof 2] To meet Colin’s needs for a relationship

     1. [Support 2.1] Spoiled, needed father’s discipline

     2. [Support 2.2] Needed father’s love and attention, especially since mother was dead

     3. [Support 2.3] Needed father to show him how to be a man--strong, brave, loving

C. [Proof 3] To experience true joy, rather than misery

     1. [Support 3.1] Colin not a hunchback

     2. [Support 3.2] Alone and in prolonged grief rather than loving relationship

     3. [Support 3.3] Delayed reward of happiness greater than hope of immediate comfort or convenience

III. Conclusion

A. One sentence recapitulation

     1. [Thesis] Archibald Craven should not have purposefully stayed away from his son, Colin.

     2. Summary of Proof

          a. [Proof 1] To fulfill his duties as a man, father

          b. [Proof 2] To meet Colin’s needs for a relationship

          c. [Proof 3] To experience true joy, rather than misery

B. Amplification

     1. [To whom it matters] Children

     2. [Why] Children whose honorable fathers are present and have a relationship with them have a better chance at living a happy, healthy life.