This resource is a quick reference guide for students as they craft effective introduction paragraphs in response to persuasive writing tasks, such as the Writing SOL Short Paper. The resource includes essential components, stylistic options, guiding questions, and an exemplar paragraph based on a released SOL prompt.

What follows from here is in addition to the original source authored by Margaret Harris-Shoates and is therefore a remix. 

As a way of having students develop their own unique voices in response to released SOL prompts. Have students practice with some frequency during the year by starting their responses with a personal salutation (Dear mom, Dear dad, Dear little brother, Dear person on my bus I see everyday but never talk to). In this way their responses become intimate communications to important people in their lives with whom they have established relationships as opposed to mandated essay responses read by strangers.  Have students type one of these personal responses to a prompt and submit it along with a revised version of the response. The revised version of the response should be edited to sound more formal and should be edited so that it's no longer addressing a family member, personal friend, or even an acquaintance. 

After students have handed in their two responses, have them participate in peer review sessions to assess whether the formal or informal responses work better according to the released SOL rubrics.