Essay Writing
A plan of an essay where you write out the thesis and topic sentences before writing the essay.
What is an outline?
The first sentence that states the main idea of the paragraph.
What is a topic sentence?
A creative, non-literal way to describe something. Synonyms: literary devices, writing techniques.
What is figurative language?
The time and place during which something happens. It includes culture, community, history, society, and government.
What is setting?
“I am born in Ohio but / the stories of South Carolina already run / like rivers / through my veins” (Woodson 2).
What is simile?
The opening part of the introduction that invites the readers into the essay and makes them interested in reading on
What is a hook?
The number of evidence you should include in each body paragraph.
What is 2?
A type of figurative language; it is a comparison between 2 different things using the words “like” or “as”.
What is a simile?
Descriptions of characters including physical and personality traits, feelings, inner thoughts, and dialogue.
What is character development?
“In Montgomery, only seven years have passed / since Rosa Parks refused / to give up / her seat on a city bus” (Woodson 3.)
What is allusion?
The first paragraph of an essay
What is an introduction?
The part of the paragraph where you explain the evidence and connect it to the topic sentence.
What is elaboration?
Writers choose words intentionally to express specific ideas and feelings; for example, writers repeat words to emphasize important ideas
What is word choice?
The message or life lesson in a story.
What is theme?
“You, with your words like knives / And swords and weapons that you use against me” (“Mean” Taylor Swift)
What is simile?
The last paragraph of an essay that wraps up the essay.
What is the conclusion paragraph?
The last sentence of the paragraph that wraps it up.
What is a concluding sentence?
A type of figurative language when a color, object, person, or other specific detail represents a bigger idea.
What is a symbol?
The events from the beginning to the end of a story.
What is plot?
“I'm a hot air balloon that could go to space”
(“Happy” by Pharrell Williams)
What is metaphor?
The last sentence of your introduction that answers the question/prompt of the essay
What is a thesis statement?
Words and phrases that organize and connect ideas.
What are transitions?
A reference to a person, place, text, event, or something in culture; it can be explicit or implicit.
What is allusion?
The type of story that Brown Girl Dreaming is; it is about the writer's life written in poetry format.
What is memoir in verse?
“Each spring / the dark Nicholtown dirt is filled / with the promise / of what the earth can give back to you” (Woodson 48).
What is setting or figurative language?