Persuasive Essay Outline

Topic 1: Persuasive Essay: Outline Worksheet

Review “How Do I Organize My Brainstorm into an Outline?” in “The Writing Process” Media piece.

http://lc.gcumedia.com/phi105/persuasive-writing-website/persuasive-writing-website-v1.1.html 

Assignment Directions:

Use the Persuasive Essay Outline on the next page to outline your persuasive essay by completing the following:

1. Use the feedback you received from your instructor to revise your thesis statement.

1. Write your thesis as a complete sentence (as you would in your essay) in the “Thesis Sentence” section under the Introductory Paragraph heading in the outline below.

1. Create a topic sentence for each of the three paragraphs that comprise the body of your essay.

1. Record the topic sentences in each of the “Topic Sentence” sections under the “Support for Thesis” headings in the outline below.
2. Your topic sentences should support your thesis and provide transitions between the paragraphs.

1. Write at least three details for each topic sentence.

1. These details should provide support for the topic sentence.
2. Remember to include at least one in-text citation for each supporting paragraph.

1. Write a concluding sentence under the “Conclusion” heading in the outline below.

1. Your concluding sentence should be your thesis restated in different words.

Persuasive Essay Outline

Introductory Paragraph:

Hook:  Abortion has always been a topic that evokes very strong emotional reactions on both sides.

 Background and contextual information: Over the years abortion has continuously been a controversial matter that remains up for debate.  Should it be legal or illegal?  Is it a womans right to choose?  Is it murder?  Although some states have put certain protocols in place, unfortunately, no concensus has been reached in this great debate nationwide.  Under certain circumstances abortion should be legal and remain an option.

Thesis Sentence:  Abortion should be legal due to complications during birth, rape and financial status.

Support for Thesis 1 (Subtopic 1)

Persuasive Topic Sentence including position and subtopic 1:  During pregnancy there are situations where complications may occur that hinder the lives of the mother, the fetus or both that may make abortion the more feasible option.

Detail A: A study conducted shows that maternal complications arose such as placental abruption and placental previa.  Ante -partum haemmorrhage was the most common but more women died from obstructed labor.  74% of infants born alive to women that died also died (Bartlett, Mawji, Whitehead, Crouse, Ionate, Salama & the Afghan Maternal Mortality Study Team, 2005)

Detail B: If a woman gets pregnant and she has a medical history that makes her a high risk pregnancy that puts her life or her babies life in jeapordy then a woman has the right to choose whether to terminate her pregnancy or not.

Detail C:  The fetus may have a genetic disease or other abnormalities that will cause it to die or suffer after birth.

Transitional sentence:  Medical complications during birth do occur and so does rape.  These circumstances warrant a woman's right to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy or not.

Support for Thesis 2 (Subtopic 2)

Persuasive Topic Sentence including position and subtopic 2                

There are instances when a women should be afforded the opportunity to seek out abortion because she has been forced to have sex against her own will and becomes pregnant due to these egregious acts.

Detail A: Forcible sex is against the law.  After being forced to have sex and becoming pregnant without the choice of being able to terminate pregnancy she is then forced to carry this “child of rape” to full term.  

Detail B: According to Cohen, Larry Tribe states “ Nothing is more devestating than a life without liberty.  A life in which one can be forced into parenthood is just such a life.  Rape is among the most profound denials of liberty and compelling a woman to bear her rapist’s child is an assault on her humanity.  Cohen also mentions that Susan Sherwin states that “If the fetus is the result of rape or incest, then the psychological pain of carrying it may be unbearable, and the woman may recognize that her attitude to the child after birth will be tinged with bitterness (Cohen, 2015).”

Detail C: Pregnancy caused by incest can lead to birth defects that effect the fetus because of recessive abnormalities present amongst family members that can lead to genetic mutations.

Transitional sentence:  Being raped is a traumatic and stressful situation and under these circumstances a woman deserves the right to choose whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.

Support for Thesis 3 (Subtopic 3)

Persuasive Topic Sentence including position and subtopic 3:  A woman may not be able to afford having children and if she decides to terminate her pregnancy then that should be her right.

Detail A:  Women can still get pregnant while using birth control or other means of contraceptives.  This is her way of being responsible.   While being responsible she may get pregnant and realize that she does not want a child and lacks the financial resources needed to raise this child.  This may be the main reason why she took preventive measures and used contraceptives in the first place.

Detail B: If a woman has no financial resources and the child is unwanted there is a huge possibility that the child will be neglected, placed in the system, wind up in jail or even dead at an early age.  The harsh reality of a financially unstable woman being forced to have an unwanted child leads to tax payers being forced to foot the bill for a child that they did not ask for or want themselves.

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