We have just finished another project and with that, it’s time to reflect. This project focused on persuasive writing and how we can use our voice in different media forms to create change. To answer the driving question of “How can I use my voice to effect change”, we had to go deeper into how we can use media to persuade others. We got to decide what we wanted to create our persuasive writing piece on, who our audience was, and in what form we could create our writing to persuade them. I’ve learned a lot from this project about structuring an argument and how to create a strong persuasive writing piece.
The topic that I chose to write about was how NFTs are not just a trend and that they are an important utility that will grow. The reason I got this idea was from my friend Daniel who said to me that NFTs are just a trend that will die out in a month. That’s why I decided to persuade him that he was wrong and change his mind.
After choosing the right topic, I needed to better understand my audience. I already knew who I was going to interview, but to help with my writing I needed to better understand the other side of the argument. Why do people hate NFTs? One way that helped me better understand my audience was by completing an empathy map. The empathy map was a way to gain a deeper level of understanding of my audience and their opinion. I’ve learned that understanding both sides of an argument helps with strengthening your side of the argument. You also gain a way better understanding of the topic you’re discussing. Better understanding your audience and their stance on the topic helps you better understand your topic and persuade them. I felt that I did more research on the negatives of NFTs than the positives. Below is an image of my mind map.
To also help with my writing, I had to interview my audience. My audience was my friend Daniel who gave me this idea in the first place. Hearing about his thoughts on NFTs helped me understand why he didn’t like NFTs. I learned that he wasn’t knowledgeable about the technology behind NFTs and the potential that it holds. His view on NFTs was that they were only digital pieces of art used to either scam others or launder money. Overall, this interview helped me because It gave me ideas on what I had to focus on and educate him on to persuade him.
When it came down to creating persuasive writing, I decided to persuade him by giving real-life examples. I gave an example of where NFTs could be useful in different ways for different people. If you’d like to read my persuasive writing, you can click here to read it.
In the end, I was able to persuade my audience. My friend didn’t realize the potential behind the technology of NFTs. Showing him that NFTs can be applied to many different industries using examples, helped open his eyes to the possibilities. Although he still doesn’t have any faith in the digital art world for NFTs, I’ve changed his mind about the fact that NFTs won’t disappear.
Overall, the most important thing I’ve learned is that to better understand your own argument, you have to understand both sides. This helps with creating an argument that covers the points that the other side has in order to strengthen your argument. Along with that, I’ve learned how to structure a persuasive writing piece and how to use the 6 + 1 traits too enhance my writing.
