PERSUASIVE ESSAY: RATIONALE FOR SELECTION OF PAINTING
Template for Writing:
Paragraph 1: Introduction
Capture the reader’s interest (Hook):
______
(You may want to use a simile, metaphor, idiom or analogy to describe your painting at the very beginning to capture your reader’s interest. You may want to even use more than one of these here and save the others for either the body of the writing or the conclusion paragraph.)
Give background information (about the painting and the artist- not a lot… maybe three or four sentences).
______
Create THESIS STATEMENT which introduces the THREE MAIN POINTS of your proposal. (You will tell that, after carefully searching paintings, your group agreed upon this particular piece. Here, you could tell where you searched- which websites, what books you looked through and what other paintings you considered before settling on this particular piece.
______
And last, but not least…
There are THREE MAIN REASONS WHY YOU SELECTED THIS PIECE. THIS is your RATIONALE for SELECTION!) Tell, in well-expressed sentences, what those THREE REASONS are! If you can’t THINK of good reasons why you picked this painting, see below for suggestions…
1.______2.______3.______
Possible REASONS why you selected this piece:
· The people in the painting look intriguing. There HAS to be a good story here!
· The texture of the painting is interesting. You want to learn MORE about it.
· The time in history or the country wherein the painting was done is of interest to you- you may have studied it in school or it is just interesting to the group and you want to see how this painting fits into this time period or culture.
· The artist intrigues you. He/she, for some reason, either copies other artists, paints unusual things or sees the world in an unusual way. You want to know MORE about WHY he/she painted THIS subject or in this particular style.
· The size or apparent size of an object seen in relation to other objects, people, or its environment is interesting to you and you want to know more.
· The illusion of space is intriguing or interesting to you. Are things overlapping, is there something about the depth of the objects or overall work that you want to know more about?
· The colors stand out in some way. They could be bright, dull, of the same hue, follow some theme or evoke a certain emotion.
· The theme of the work could be the draw for you. Does this work say playfulness, courage, fear, man vs. nature, man vs. man, man vs. himself, childhood, joy, sadness… or maybe you don’t know and part of why you selected this work is to figure it out!
Paragraph 2, 3,: Body
Use PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE to develop one point of your proposal (Start with your first reason why you selected the piece). Tell WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN about this reason. Tell WHY it is important to answer questions about this. Tell WHERE YOU WILL SEARCH to find the details about the story or the colors or the size of the objects or the time period in history or whatever the reasons… Speculate about what you think the artist meant or about what you might find out!
Paragraph 2:
______
Use a TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE AT THE END OF THE PARAGRAPH to lead the reader to your NEXT reason for selection…
______
Paragraph 3:
______
Use a TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE AT THE END OF THE PARAGRAPH to lead the reader to your NEXT reason for selection…
______
Paragraph 4,: Body
Use PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE to develop one point of your proposal (Use the THIRD reason why you selected the piece). Tell WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN about this reason. Tell WHY it is important to answer questions about this. Tell WHERE YOU WILL SEARCH to find the details about the story or the colors or the size of the objects or the time period in history or whatever the reasons… Speculate about what you think the artist meant or about what you might find out!
AND… ANTICIPATE READER CONCERNS. (What the heck does this mean???? Ok… Tell WHY someone might say this would NOT be a good painting to select… maybe it’s “drab” or maybe the people look “dull and boring” or maybe it’s “too happy” or maybe the artist is “not famous” or maybe the background looks complicated to duplicate or maybe….??? You argue WHY THE CONCERN is unfounded, why this counterargument is wrong and that this IS the painting for you! )
Yes, the counterargument will make this paragraph a little longer than the other body paragraphs.
Paragraph 4 (your third reason for selection):
______
(The COUNTERARGUMENT and why it’s WRONG and you are right to select the painting…)
______
Paragraph 5: Conclusion
Restate (tell again) the IMPORTANCE of your selection. Restate your thesis in a new way (where/how you FOUND the painting in the first place and what struck you about it right off the bat). Here is where you might place a metaphor, simile, analogy or idiom about your painting (or more than one), something a famous person SAID about your painting or something someone in your group SAID about the painting or something your teacher or a scholar said about your painting. You could even go overboard with “sappiness” about it with humor. There could be something new added in this paragraph about the composition, line, shape, form, space, color or texture in the work of art. Or… perhaps it is your dream to go to the museum where it hangs and actually SEE IT IN PERSON. Where is it? Perhaps you’d like to meet the artist and/or read more about the artist or study other pieces later on.
______
1