Advocacy letter to Paul Kiecker president of fsis on recent listeria outbreak

AUDIENCE: You must write with an awareness of the audience (stakeholder) you chose. You have already researched and analyzed that audience
(stakeholder), and now you must tailor your word choice, evidence, and tone to the expectations of that audience.
EVIDENCE: Use a combination of highly reputable sources your stakeholder will respect. The type and number of sources will depend on how you frame your
argument and your audience’s (stakeholder’s) expectations.
This is a researched academic argument, so you must use evidence from at least two peer-reviewed articles. Your other sources should come from the most
reputable sources you can find. You should not cite general encyclopedias, dictionaries (unless they are specialized dictionaries), or popular magazines and
websites (TIME Magazine, The Huffington Post, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, etc.) unless they are the centerpiece of the issue itself. It’s not that
these publications lack credibility; it’s that they are popular sources written to the public. You will write to sophisticated audiences who will be persuaded only
if you use highly credible evidence from experts written for scholars and professionals in the field. Introduce and synthesize the evidence you provide.
Make deliberate choices about how to attribute sources, how to situate your own experience as the writer, how to organize your main claims and your main
argument.
GENRE: You will write an actual letter, likely no longer than two single-spaced pages. The final version should comply with the genre conventions of the
advocacy letter, especially in terms of length, documentation, and formatting.
Note how advocacy letters position the writer’s ethos, or authority to speak on the issue. This is something you will need to do as well. You will write as
yourself, an undergraduate student majoring in the field of study. You will not be approaching the audience pretending to be an expert or pretending to be
someone else.
STRUCTURE: Advocacy letters have a specific structure, but that structure still requires an introduction and thesis, body (background information, argument,
and counterargument), and conclusion. Use good paragraphing techniques to help your audience move easily through your argument.
• THESIS AND ARGUMENT: Since you are writing an argument, you will need an argumentative thesis that contains a claim and a reason. Your thesis must
take a stand on the issue, provide reasons for your stance, and propose a solution your audience should take. The thesis is most often the answer to your
research question.
• CONCESSION AND COUNTERARGUMENT: In the body of your paper, you must also acknowledge the valid points in your stakeholder’s stance to be
persuasive. The counterargument should address the audience’s resistance, concerns, or opposition to your
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position and/or your suggested plan of action. Concede where necessary; refute where you can.
DOCUMENTATION STYLE: Use the documentation style appropriate for the advocacy letter genre. Note that many advocacy letters use bibliographic
footnotes.
REFLECTION

1. What words did you choose to establish and communicate exigence to the audience in the letter?
2. How did you establish the purpose of the letter, or the reason(s) why you are writing it to this
   specific audience (stakeholder)? How did you make that choice?
3. How did you establish your credibility? How did you make an appeal to ethos?
4. What types of evidence did you choose to support your stance? Why did you choose those specific
   sources for your specific audience (stakeholder)?
5. Does the letter make a new offering, provide a different perspective, or support the audience’s own
   advocacy goals? If the audience already mostly agreed with you, how did you establish the letter as a new contribution to the conversation? You may cut and
   paste the sentences where you establish the new offering the letter makes.