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The purpose of this essay is to describe the writing strategies used when writing to

persuade. Last Monday, the professor divided the class in groups and assigned each group a

writing situation to reflect on. The members of my group were all ESL teacher candidates. Our

assignment was to reflect on how to create a letter to convince our local school board that a

particular book should not be banned from our high school¶s library. First, the members of the

group determined that the letter would have a persuasive purpose, to try to convince the school

board of what we, as a group of ESL teachers, thought about the book in question. We decided

that it was going to be a personal and formal letter, written in first person plural. The letter,

directed to an audience of professionals, will express our point of view as teachers about a

subject we think is important while maintaining a very professional style of writing, that

represents our academic proficiency and mastery of English.

After we conversed about the writing details, we started focusing on its contents. The

letter has to include a summary of the book we are defending. Afterwards, we present and

support our arguments with facts. They should focus on why we think it¶s important that

students read this book, why is it beneficial to them in terms of plot, motivation, vocabulary and

acquisition of reading skills. We also have to present the arguments of the opposition and argue

against them with facts to prove that we have thorough knowledge of the topic and validate our

point of view. After revising and editing our work, we can circulate the letter among colleagues

to receive feedback. We revise it, edit it, and submit it to the school board.