Slaughter-House Five & The Things They Carried Writing Prompt Workshop

Introduction To-Dos: What do you do with the titles of the novels? Don’t use “I think…” or “In my opinion…”! I think Billy Pilgrim is numb towards death. Follow HBIT Hook Background Info (brief summary of necessary info) Thesis

Introduction Paragraph Types of Hooks: General Statement*** Rephrasing of writing prompt*** Avoid using the 2 Qs: Questions/Quotes If you have trouble with a hook, skip it till later!

Hooks General Statement/Restatement of prompt: “War is usually viewed by many as gruesome or unnecessary, while others in the media industry try their best to make us think otherwise.” “War is often glorified in books, films, and in our society.” “War often praises the heroes without giving the truth behind the horrors of death.”

Hooks Jumping into the issue: In the novel, The Things They Carried, O’Brien gives us a realistic perspective on the emotions soldiers carried throughout their time in war.

Background Information Give enough to support your essay’s argument: In the literary work Slaughterhouse-Five, we are introduced to a weak man named Billy Pilgrim that has been traumatized by his war experiences in Dresden. DO NOT GIVE THE ENTIRE PLOT SUMMARY!

Thesis Statements Subject + Assertion + Why = SAW Billy Pilgrim’s continuous acceptance of death emphasizes Vonnegut’s purpose of convincing readers not to be apathetic towards war. Underline your thesis and label it with SAW

Thesis O’Brien shows us that the fear of shame is what actually motivated soldiers because he wanted to clarify that not all soldiers acted out of courage.

Body Paragraphs Logically divided among 3 paragraphs. Having a strong thesis & outline of ideas will make paragraph writing EASIER. Topic sentence relates directly back to thesis Evidence/examples support topic sentence + thesis (should directly tie back to the argument and not summarize)

Quotes Minimum of ____ quotes per paragraph for a total of ____ quotes total in the essay. If you did a good job reading the novels + doing your summer reading journal, then finding quotes should not be difficult. If you didn’t do either of the above, then you WILL struggle with finding quotes.

Integrating Quotes You learned this last year! Quotes should integrate fluidly into your sentence- meaning, if I read the sentence aloud, you should not be able to hear where the quote is in the sentence. Avoid using “For example” when introducing a quote.

How to Integrate Quotations Use an indirect statement with "that.“ Notice the punctuation. Billy Pilgrim feels that “there was no reason to try and fight in the war" (9).

How to Integrate Quotations 1) Blend your lead-in and quotation. Knight views the symbolism in Jones' play as a "creation and destruction pattern" (164).

How to Integrate Quotations 2) Use a complete sentence lead-in. Follow with a colon and two spaces before the quotation. Tim O’Brien describes war perfectly: “It was a senseless battle fought by senseless young men" (223). Again the O’Brien hears the words spoken by his father: "I never told you, but our life is a war" (154).

How to Integrate Quotations 3) Use an introductory phrase or clause. According to Kiowa, “If [O’Brien] hadn’t killed the man, the man would have taken the shot and killed him" (5). Carlson continuously interrupts the conversation, arguing that “the old smelly dog was useless to himself" (303).

Example Quotes: ‘It was war that made her so angry. She didn’t want her babies or anybody else’s babies killed in wars. And she thought wars were partly encouraged by books and movies,’ (Vonnegut 15). Nowadays, “…wars [are] partly encouraged by books and movies” (Vonnegut 15).

Conclusion Restate your thesis in different words Don’t literally summarize EVERY main point- make a general summary of your argument. End with the message the author is trying to convey End strong: “O’Brien showed us the way in which fear of shame motivated soldiers more so than any emotion because he wanted readers to see truth of war. War is not about heroics; death and guilt are the long lasting effects of war. If the truth of war is never portrayed then future generations will continue making the same ignorant mistakes of fighting for something that will affect them for the rest of their lives.”

Got Essay Structure Down? Work on the depth of your analysis!!! Try to tie in the essential question- WHY do the authors write these novels? How does the author’s purpose tie in with the themes of the novel? Are there facts about their backgrounds you can use?

TOD: Thesis Statements Subject + Assertion + Why = SAW Billy Pilgrim’s continuous acceptance of death emphasizes Vonnegut’s purpose of convincing readers not to be apathetic towards war. Underline your thesis and label it with SAW

Slaughter-House Five & The Things They Carried Peer-Editing Workshop

Self-Assess Before we peer-edit your essays, first self- assess: Use a pen/highlighter and highlight your strongest paragraph Draw a box around the paragraph that you struggled with most- I will be coming around to help you as groups peer-edit.

Peer-Editing You will need 4 colored pens. If you do not have them, grab colored pencils from the art supply box in the back. Your essays will be peer-edited by the 3 other people in your group. If your essay is not complete, please sit in a group on the right and finish your essay.

TOD: What are some common mistakes you saw in the essays you peer-edited? What are some concepts you need further help with? (For example: Thesis, Integrating Quotes, Conclusion, etc.) What are some strengths you observed in the essays? Arthur was here