Over the last number of days, we have reviewed the essay writing process. Below is a set of notes that you may refer to in order to help you become more familiar with this concept and assist you as we move forward with essay assignments.
REMINDER - Your task for Friday, November 22 is to complete the remainder of the MLK essay and submit it in either hard copy or digital format.
- Do not use first person (I think, you will read, etc.)
- Be aware of heterographs (too, two, to... their, there and they're)
- Do not narrate your essay (In this essay...)
- Do not use rhetorical questions (What caused the War of Independence?)
- Review for run on and fragment sentences
The Building Blocks of Essay Construction
One Sentence = One Complete Thought (the atom of the essay)
One Paragraph = One Main Idea (the molecule of the essay)
One Essay= One Position Justified (an organelle)
Analysing the Task
The essay assignment typically comes in two forms -- a question or a directive.
for example:
Discuss the most significant cause of the War of Independence.(directive)
The most important thing to remember when writing the essay is to make sure you understand the question and answer the question directly.
Below you will find the objectives we discussed for the introductory paragraph (in order of importance - NOT appearance):
1. Answer the question (thesis statement)
2. List of supporting ideas (evidence which will serve to prove your thesis)
3. Introductory statement (this is the first sentence in your essay)
Next, you will find the objectives for the body paragraphs (in order of appearance):
1. Topic sentence (from your list of supporting ideas and relates to thesis)
2. Supporting details (logically prove why the thesis is true... between 5-7 sentences)
3. Transition sentence (make the connection from the present supporting idea/topic to the next supporting idea/topic)
Finally, the objectives for the conclusion are as follows:
1. Restate the thesis
2. Expand on the thesis (original thought)
Below you will find the objectives we discussed for the introductory paragraph (in order of importance - NOT appearance):
1. Answer the question (thesis statement)
2. List of supporting ideas (evidence which will serve to prove your thesis)
3. Introductory statement (this is the first sentence in your essay)
Next, you will find the objectives for the body paragraphs (in order of appearance):
1. Topic sentence (from your list of supporting ideas and relates to thesis)
2. Supporting details (logically prove why the thesis is true... between 5-7 sentences)
3. Transition sentence (make the connection from the present supporting idea/topic to the next supporting idea/topic)
Finally, the objectives for the conclusion are as follows:
1. Restate the thesis
2. Expand on the thesis (original thought)
