Strengthen student writing by helping them turn a bare assertion into a well-supported opinion using these engaging and practical worksheets.
Say Goodbye to Bare Assertions in Your Students’ Writing!
A bare assertion is a statement presented without evidence or reasoning. When it comes to writing a strong and convincing persuasive text, bare assertions are not the best choice! For this reason, students should be encouraged to avoid bare assertions in their writing and instead use more authoritative opinions backed up by reputable sources.
This bare assertion worksheet pack has been designed by our teacher team to help your students transform vague opinions into strong, convincing statements. They guide students through the process of adding support and authority to their ideas, promoting critical thinking and boosting writing confidence.
The activities in this pack include:
- Sort the Sentences – Students read the sentences, then determine if the sentence is a bare assertion, a general opinion or an authoritative source.
- Write Three Versions (1) – Students write a bare assertion, a general opinion and an authoritative source for the topics of social media for kids and online learning.
- Write Three Versions (2) – Students write a bare assertion, a general opinion and an authoritative source for the topics of class pets and school uniforms.
- Rewrite the Opinion – Students rewrite each bare assertion statement to make it sound more thoughtful and supported.
This bare assertion worksheet pack downloads as a quick-print PDF or an editable Google Slides file. Answers are also included in the download.
Differentiate This Assertion Without Proof Resource
Differentiating this bare assertion worksheet pack can help ensure all students are appropriately challenged and supported. Here are several ways to adapt the resource for students with varying needs:
- For students needing extra support, offer sentence starters to help them level up their bare assertions. This reduces the overwhelm of having to complete the task without any assistance.
- For advanced or gifted learners, have the students write a sentence for each of their upleveled bare assertions explaining why their new statement is more authoritative.
- For students who speak English as a second language, pre-teach key terms such as “assertion,” “opinion,” “reason” and “evidence” using student-friendly definitions and examples.
Download to Explore the Bare Assertion Fallacy
Use the Download button above to access your preferred version of this resource. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides template on your personal drive before accessing it.)
As this resource contains an answer sheet, you may wish to print only one copy and remove the answer sheet before making further copies.
This resource was created by Brittany Collins, a teacher in Indiana and Teach Starter collaborator.
Resources to Complement This Bare Assertion Worksheet Pack
Are you looking for more persuasive writing activities to complement this resource? Click below for a great sample of teacher-made, curriculum-aligned worksheets and games!
[resource:46130] [resource:66405] [resource:5061042]
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