Do you remember The Odyssey?!
Odysseus, our hero of The Odyssey, is attempting to get back to this homeland where he is king.
What is... Ithaca!
Fun Fact, Ithaca NY is a real (and cool!) place :)
TRUE or FALSE: This sentence has the correct usage of commas!
"Gully brought me a piece of unidentified plastic a milk bottle top and a blanket he had chewed a hole through."
What is... FALSE.
When we list THREE or more things in a sentence, we need commas to separate the listed items.
"Gully brought me a piece of unidentified plastic, a milk bottle top, and a blanket he had chewed a hole through."
What is the purpose of introducing a quote before including it in your writing?
There is no point.
To make the essay longer.
Because my teacher says I have to
To explain who is speaking or what the quote is about
What is... 4. To explain who is speaking or what the quote is about.
Quotes are our evidence for why our claim or thesis is right and worthy of debate! Without it, our writing is unable to be backed up properly. We need quotes to identify to our reader that other people think the same thing as we do!
TRUE or FALSE:
A thesis statement SHOULD be:
A complete, SPECIFIC thought
Something can be argued or debated
A helpful “road map” to what the rest of your essay will aim to discuss.
WITHOUT “I think” or “I feel” statements
What is...
True :) Yes, a thesis with all of these ingredients is a beautiful, wonderful, heavenly thing.
TRUE or FALSE:
A summary is as many details as you can possibly remember about a story in order.
What is... FALSE.
Nope! Summaries are the MOST important ideas only, but yes, they are in order :)
Odysseus is not everyone's favorite... THIS God of the Sea intervenes to prevent Odysseus from returning home for years and years... Oh no, here comes another wave!!!
Who is... Poseidon!
(Don't mess with his one eyed children!)
TRUE or FALSE: This sentence has the correct usage of commas!
"Gully's two old green fish toys were lying in the middle of the hallway."
What is... TRUE!
Colors and numbers do not need to be separated by a comma.
TRUE or FALSE:
When introducing a quote, a new paragraph should come immediately after the quote in academic writing.
What is... FALSE.
NAY!!! After a quote, we need an explanation or analysis for WHY it's there. What does it prove? How does it help our thesis?!
A thesis statement should belong WHERE in any essay that you write?
What is... In the INTRO, or as the LAST SENTENCE of the INTRODUCTION
... Don't make your teacher go on an odyssey looking for it ;)
TRUE or FALSE: A summary is incomplete without a main idea or main ideas.
What is... TRUE!
You gotta have the "point" of a story in your summary, or who will understand what you're trying to retell us! :)
We talked a lot about The Hero Cycle, or the Hero's Journey, a blueprint or pattern that all hero stories tend to follow in their stories.
Which part of Odysseus’s journey best represents the “Abyss” or lowest point in the Hero’s Journey?
1. Being trapped by Circe
2. The loss of his entire crew after the cattle incident
3. Meeting the Lotus Eaters
4. The battle with the suitors
What is... 2. The loss of his entire crew after The Cattle Incident
(Yeah, they knew they were in trouble when the cow hides started moving with no cows in them, and their barbecue started mooing...)
TRUE or FALSE: This sentence has the correct usage of a semicolon!
"Although Gully wants to; go to the store with me in my backpack, he would never behave."
What is... FALSE.
A semicolon joins two independent clauses that have related topics. "Although Gully wants to" is not an independent clause, and neither is "go to the store with me in my backpack, he would never behave."
This sentence is a complex sentence that just needs that comma after "backpack" to become correct. No semicolon needed!
TRUE or FALSE: The following excerpt is an example of quote dumping:
Animal Farm shows a lot of animals gaining and losing power. "Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way."
What is... TRUE.
This is indeed quote dumping. Notice that our intro sentence is also pretty weak, and we have to guess what the connections are between the intro and the quote because there is no explanation or analysis after the quote! We are LOST!! IN THE DARK!
...Help!
Which thesis best connects The Odyssey to the Hero’s Journey?
The Odyssey shows Odysseus become a wiser, more humble person through all of the challenges and obstacles he overcomes.
Odysseus avoids challenges by using trickery and hiding.
The story is not a Hero’s Journey because Odysseus is gone too long.
The Odyssey shows Odysseus become stronger because of physical challenges.
What is... 1.
Whether you love him or not, it could certainly be argued that Odysseus DID learn some things on his way home for 20 years. :P
Which sentence best summarizes Odysseus’s journey in The Odyssey?
Odysseus goes on a crazy adventure and sees monsters.
Odysseus travels home from the Trojan War, facing challenges like the Cyclops, Scylla, and the Sirens.
I liked the part where Odysseus fought the suitors.
The story is long and full of sea stuff.
What is... 2.
1... Well, she's almost there. Too vague!
2... No I, 3rd person and no opinions! Eeeeek! (I like that part too)
4... Disagree, and this is also an opinion, which does not belong in a summary!
Odysseus is a tricky guy and a pathological liar. He does this to keep himself safe... from the danger that he seems to have brought upon himself. But never mind that! THIS is the name Odysseus gives himself to trick the Cyclops Polyphemus after he becomes trapped in the cave with him.
What is... Nobody!
("Help help help! Nobody is killing me! Nobody stabbed my eyeball! Nobody is going to ruin my cave aesthetic!")
Which sentence is correctly punctuated?
I watched the scary movie, but they didn’t.
I watched the scary movie; but they didn’t.
I watched the scary, movie but they didn’t.
I watched the scary movie but, they didn’t.
What is... 1. I watched the scary movie, but they didn’t.
This is a compound sentence, meaning we need the comma and a FANBOYS word to connect to make a complete, beautiful thought :)
Your evidence/quote should be clearly marked with WHICH kind of punctuation marks?
What are... QUOTATION MARKS, or "these" :)
Quotation marks around a quote or piece of evidence that is not your writing help us know that we are reading... not your writing! It helps to avoid plagiarism. :)
TRUE or FALSE: This is an acceptable thesis statement.
"He isn’t the hero but he’s the better one. Because his dad doesn’t do the stuff the hero’s journey says you have to."
What is... FALSE. YUCK! This stinks.
A thesis statement SHOULD NOT be:
Vague or an incomplete thought
Something that is just an observation (“Traffic lights direct the flow of cars”)
Something unrelated to the rest of the essay’s paragraphs.
“I think” or “I feel” statements
TRUE or FALSE: It's a good idea to name everyone in the story just so your reader knows all of their names, even if they aren't important to the main idea.
What is... FALSE.
Listing off all the character names would be mighty impressive for a story as long as The Odyssey, but it is not needed or wanted in a summary.
The graphic novel version of this epic poem that we read uses VISUAL cues to help us remember who is a God or Goddess, even if they are in disguise. Athena, the goddess of wisdom are warfare, is usually depicted in WHICH neon color?
What is... Blue :)
AND --Hermes was highlighted in a nice orange :)
Which sentence is correctly punctuated?
I am mad at my friends they went without me.
I am mad at my friends, they went without me.
I am mad, at my friends, they went without me.
I am mad at my friends; they went without me.
What is... 4. I am mad at my friends; they went without me.
This is the correct use of a semicolon! We are joining two independent sentences that relate to one another together.
TRUE or FALSE:
After properly introducing and then providing the quote, you need some form of explanation or analysis to make sure the reader gets a summary of the quote provided and learns what is going on at that moment in the text.
What is... FALSE!
NO! No summaries! After properly introducing and then providing the quote, you need some form of explanation or analysis to make sure the reader knows WHY this quote is important to include in the writing.
TRUE or FALSE: There should be "quotes" or evidence analysis in your thesis.
What is... FALSE.
NO! Save that deliciousness for the body paragraphs! A thesis should just outline where we are going, and give us a "sneak peek" of what is to come. Don't spoil it! :)
Summaries are always written in WHICH narrative POV?
What is... THIRD person.
"I want to tell you about my journey from Troy to all the way around the world, and then back to Ithaca" would be fun... but you're not Odysseus, are you?