This writing plan is based on the classic persuasive essay structure. This plan can be used as a tool to help students plan and research their topic. When they have completed this sheet, they can use it as a reference as they write their essay according to whatever structure they use.

I used this plan in a class with 12 year old’s who were given three topics to choose from and write an essay about. We first read two articles together, and unpacked them using these headings. The aim was to understand how this plan would help them form their own article with evidence and conclusions, just like the ones they had read. They then spent about an hour or more completing this sheet, and researching their topic. They wrote down the facts and examples in the mid section as they went, and then wrote down their conclusions in the last section based off their research.

I gave the students access to computers to do their research on their chosen topic, so I found this sheet a helpful tool to keep them on track and help them know what they were looking for in their research.

This sheet is a stepping stone to a larger essay structure plan, and can be used to plan individual paragraphs, or the whole topic, which can then be broken into paragraphs in a more detailed essay plan. This plan is mainly a tool to guide their research, and give them a basic argument layout.

I hope this helps your students! Feel free to leave a comment sharing how you used this resource.

Follow this link to download the Persuasive Writing Plan template.