WGBH CPB
Making the Case for Health

Using Frames to Strengthen Your Argument

Most of the teens working with Ms. De La Rosa, including Jamal Pettway, said that they didn’t know much about the risks of drinking sugar-sweetened beverages before they got together. But after learning more about the issue as they worked on this project, they felt it was important to educate others about making healthier drink choices.

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Using Frames
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You can use simple language formulas, sometimes called templates or frames, to make your argument more persuasive or convincing. Frames are effective in both speaking and writing. Jamal uses two in the video that work very well together: 

Before, I thought _______________________. What I learned ________________________.

Here is an example of a frame that you can use to point out why your audience should care. 

___________________________ is important because _____________________________.

Watch Jamal’s video one more time. As you watch, listen for the following phrases: “Before, I thought….” and “What I learned.…” After you watch, frame some of your own ideas in Take Notes below.

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Space Pause/Play video playback
Enter Pause/Play video playback
m Mute/Unmute video volume
Up and Down arrows Increase and decrease volume by 10%
Right and Left arrows Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds
0-9 Fast seek to x% of the video.
f Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key.
c Press c to toggle captions on or off
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Video Transcript: Now That I Know Better
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JAMAL PETTWAY: I see my nephews, my cousins, sucking down big soda bottles and whatnot. And before, I thought it was just fine, it’s just soda. But what I learned now [is] that soda is so dangerous and so harmful, especially to a younger kid, a young, small kid who hasn’t even grown up yet, it makes me want to really give him a bottle of water or give him some milk or something, something better, a better alternative to quench their thirst.

Take Notes

Think about the change you are proposing to your audience. Then, complete these two sample frames:

________________________ is important because _________________________________.


If I were you, I would ______________________ because_____________________________.