Book excerpt: This guided workbook will develop all the skills needed for effective persuasive writing and give students practice creating a wide range of opinion pieces. It will also help prepare students for persuasive writing tasks on the ILEARN English Language Arts tests. The first section contains sets of exercises and writing prompts that will develop the persuasive writing skills listed in the Indiana Academic Standards (IAS). The second section gives students practice applying the skills by writing a wide range of persuasive texts. Key Features - Focused sets develop key persuasive writing skills one by one - Each set introduces the skill, guides students to complete a task, and then provides independent practice - Examples, guided tasks, and hints teach students how to produce effective writing - Additional warm-up exercises prepare students for each set - Guided planning activities help students learn the process for creating focused, well-organized, and effective opinion pieces - Hints and tips help students focus on key features Develops the Key Skills of Persuasive Writing - Producing well-organized texts with an introduction, body, and conclusion - Developing and clearly stating an opinion - Writing strong and effective introductions - Having a clear structure - Creating a well-organized body with focused paragraphs - Developing and using reasons to support an opinion - Using details, examples, facts, and personal experiences to support ideas - Using linking words and phrases to transition between ideas - Enhancing writing by using a range of writing techniques - Writing effective conclusions Includes Practice for a Wide Range of Opinion Pieces - Opinion essays - Letters and letters to the editors - Articles and research-based essays - Product reviews - Texts used to promote - Responses to literary and informational texts