Purpose, Focus, and Organization
What kind of essay is this and what does it mean? Write an informative essay in which you explain the benefits of sports. Include the health and social benefits.
Informative, which means that I am providing information (explaining).
Can you make up what you write about? Why or why not?
No. It should be based upon the actual text provided with the prompt.
What should you do once you finish writing one paragraph?
Revise and Edit that paragraph.
1. Whisper read your paragraph to yourself to make sure it makes sense when read aloud.
2. Check for correct spelling, proper punctuation, and capitalization.
How should you start the introduction paragraph?
With a "Hook" to grab the readers attention.
What should every paragraph start?
A transition word.
What do ALL essays have to have?
1. An introduction paragraph (that introduces the topic and sets up the organization of the essay)
2. Body paragraphs (that elaborate and explain ideas)
3. A conclusion paragraph (restates main ideas and leaves an impact on the reader).
How is evidence different from elaboration?
Evidence is pulled from the text.
Elaboration is when you take the evidence and apply it in some way. It is also using creative ways to do it.
What should you do to make sure that you didn't make any mistakes when writing your essay?
Revise and Edit. You can do this by whisper reading the paragraph to yourself.
What should be included in your thesis statement?
Your Opinion/topic plus your reasons.
A formatting technique used to emphasize the start of a new paragraph or topic of a text.
Indents are used to physically differentiate one paragraph from another. The only time it is not needed is when a paragraph is preceded by a title or subheading.
What kind of essay is this and what does that mean? Write an essay in which you give your opinion. Should students be required to wear uniforms to school? What are the social and educational effects of your choice?
An argumentative/opinion and it means that I have to take a side about whether students should have to wear uniforms or not.
What is citation, where should it be and what are several ways that you can do it and what should you NOT do?
Citation is telling the reader where you got your text evidence. You can use, "According to," "in the article," you can give the author, paragraph number or the title of the article.
You should not just say, "According to the text," without stating the name of the text or source number. You should not put your citations at the end - it needs to be right before or right after the evidence.
Fix the errors in this sentence: Physicians will tell there patients too exercise daily.
Physicians will tell their patients to exercise daily.
What is the first sentence in each body paragraph that helps support your claim or make a point called?
A topic sentence is used to introduce the reason you will focus on in that paragraph.
What are all of the things that you need to do before you can make a plan?
Read the ENTIRE prompt and pick out key words and phrases to make sure you understand the topic.
Then you need to actually read the text sets and gather evidence and ideas. Then use the strongest evidence in your essay.
What is the best way to decide which side to take on an argumentative essay?
The side that has more text evidence to support the big ideas.
What do you need to do with your text evidence to show the reader that you understood it?
Explain and elaborate on it.
Fix the errors in this sentence: Wearing a uniform dosent stop a students creativity it encourages.
Wearing a uniform doesn't stop a student's creativity, it encourages.
What all should be included in each body paragraph?
1. Topic sentence (referred to as the introduction to the main idea of that body graph)
2. Text Evidence supporting that idea
3. A clear, well developed explanation of the idea (Elaboration)
4. A closing sentence
How long should you spend PLANNING your essay? What should you include in your plan?
At least 15 minutes. Your plan should include the thesis, the order of the body paragraphs, and what evidence can be used to support them.
What must you have in your essay to clue the reader in on how your essay is going to be organized? Where in your essay should this be located?
A thesis statement and it should be the last sentence in your introduction paragraph.
Where does your evidence come from and how do you find it?
The evidence comes from ALL the sources/articles provided with the prompt.
Fix the errors in this sentence: Principal's belive that uniforms prevent student's from being distracted
Principals believe that uniforms prevent students from being distracted.
What should be included in your conclusion paragraph?
1. Start by Restating the thesis statement
2. Summarizing the main ideas in the body paragraphs
3. Leaving the reader with something to think about or a call to action.
How much time should you spend writing the essay? Why should you give yourself this much time?
An hour to write the essay. To make sure you carefully explain all of your reasons and elaborate on all the text evidence used.