Persuasive and informative writing

An author uses persuasive writing to persuade someone to do something which agrees with his/her point of view.  A student could write to his/her teacher to persuade the teacher that homework is not needed.   The student should think about what kind of words of persuasion to use that might appeal to his/her teacher.  The student could aim his/her writing towards the teachers emotions.  Perhaps the student could conduct a survey to get the teachers’ opinion on the way he/she felt about homework when he/she was in the same grade level.  Questions like “Did you find homework useful in elementary, middle, and high school?  Did you feel like when you came out of school you didn’t want to work, you wanted to play or rest from a hard day of work?”   The student could also appeal to what the teacher values.  Maybe the student could look up different teacher websites that lists different teacher’s opinions on homework to get an idea of what teachers may value.  From here the student can see why some teachers may or may not value homework.  Also statistics, studies, and surveys that contain information supporting that homework is not needed. 

Informative writing is used to inform an audience of something or teach something.  A teacher could have the student look up a web page for example on bats.  From there the teacher can give them a worksheet shows students questions to consider when they are trying to see if what they are reading is informative.  Questions like “What is the subject? What new information is being taught? Where facts and data used?  Where you taught something by the end of their reading?” are good ways to identify informative writing.