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.
What is informative, which means that I am providing information (explaining).
Can you make up what you write about? Why or why not?
What is no because it is based upon the actual text provided with the prompt.
What do ALL essays have to have?
What is a controlling idea (the main idea of your whole essay), an introduction paragraph (that introduces the topic and sets up the organization of the essay), body paragraphs (that elaborate and explain ideas), a conclusion paragraph (restates main ideas and leaves an impact on the reader).
How is evidence different from elaboration?
What is 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 be included in your controlling idea?
What is opinion/topic + your reasons.
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?
What is 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," you should not put your citations at the end - it needs to be right before or right after the evidence.
What are all of the things that you need to do before you can make a plan?
What is read the ENTIRE prompt and pick out key words and phrases to make sure you understand the topic (Unpack the prompt). 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 opinion essay?
What is 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?
What is explain and elaborate on it.
What all should be included in each body paragraph?
What is the main idea of that body graph, at least 2 text evidences supporting that idea, a clear, well developed explanation of the idea, sources cited, and transition words.
How long should you spend PLANNING your essay? What should you include in your plan?
What is at least 15 minutes. At least the controlling, the order of the body paragraphs with main idea statements, 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?
What is a controlling idea statement and it should be the last sentence in your introduction paragraph.
What should be included in your conclusion paragraph?
What is a restating the controlling idea, summarizing the main ideas in the body paragraphs, and 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?
What is at least hour. To make sure you carefully explain all of your reasons and elaborate on all the text evidence used. Leave time to review and revise.