Persuasive Essay

Module 6 – Chapter 17: Langan Essay Assignment

Instructions: Read the essay below. Then outline and explain the method of introduction. Write out the thesis statement and topic sentences and list the three major points that fit under each topic sentence. Give two examples of transitional sentences.

Peer Pressure

We often hear about the dangers of peer pressure to teenagers. Teenagers take drugs, skip school, get drunk, or have sex because their friends do these things. However, there is another—perhaps equally bad—effect of peer pressure. Desperate to conform to their friends’ values, teens may give up their interests in school, in hobbies, and even in certain people.

Teenagers may, first of all, lose or hide their interest in school in order to be like their friends. They adopt a negative attitude in which school is seen as a battlefield, with teachers and other officials regarded as the enemy. In addition, teenagers may stop participating in class. It is no longer cool to raise a hand or seem anxious to learn. It is cool to show up without the assigned homework. Conforming also means not joining many after-school activities. A teenager might be curious about the band, the Spanish club, the student council, or the computer club but does not dare join if the gang feels such activities are for the “out” crowd.

Teenagers also give up private pleasures and hobbies to be one of the crowd. Certain pastimes, such as writing poems, practicing piano, reading books, or fooling around with a chemistry set may be off-limits because the crowd laughs at them. So teens often drop these interests or exchange them for riding around in cars and hanging out at the mall. Even worse, teens have to give up their own values and mock the people who stay interested in such hobbies. Against their better instincts, they label as “creeps” the girl who is always reading books or the boy who spends after-school time in the biology lab. Most important, giving up private...