How To Write An Essay Learning Goal: I will examine the basic components to an essay and why writing them is important. Note: this is drawn from 9D lesson 45

Topic vs. Main Idea Are the following topics or main ideas? 1. Groundhogs 2. The importance of swamps to the ecosystem. 3. Winter 4. Running 5. Home owners can take several easy steps to becoming more eco-friendly. 6. Christmas has become too commercialized.

What is an essay?  The word essay comes from the French word essayer, which means to try.   An essay is an attempt at examining and exploring a specific topic or thesis. It is a piece of non-fiction writing that usually gives the author’s point of view. Literary Essay: Explores elements of meaning and structure of a specific literary work. This type of essay can discuss and compare elements like theme, character, or a leitmotif (a specific topic that reoccurs within the text).

I’ve chosen a topic, now what? Before you can start developing your essay, you need to have a clear idea of what you are going to write about (obvious, right?) Start with a topic that interests you, and then write down everything that comes to mind when you consider that topic. Take the time to go back to the text for inspiration and to double-check your ideas. For example, if the topic is “Imagery in ‘The Flowers’”, I could do something like this:

Brainstorm: Imagery in “The Flowers” Now that I have a bunch of connections, I can start to examine them to decide on why imagery is important, and how it is used in the story (these are “so what” questions). Answering these questions will lead me to the THESIS.

What is a thesis? A THESIS is a condensation/statement of the position and argument that will be developed in the essay to follow. If you are writing on an assigned topic, answer the question that is posed. For example: TOPIC: Imagery in “The Flowers” POSSIBLE THESIS: In the short story “The Flowers”, imagery is used to describe setting, which echoes the personal growth of the protagonist Myop. A GOOD THESIS WILL: take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree deal with a subject that can be adequately treated given the nature of the assignment (not too vague, not too specific – stick to the text) express one main idea assert your conclusions about a subject: it answers questions about how an author uses technique, why an aspect is important, or what you discovered about a character by making connections.

Next step: The essay outline Is your ROADMAP for a successful essay. If you wander into new territory without a map, you increase your chance of getting lost! Start with your TOPIC. What are you writing about? Develop a working thesis: You can worry about the wording later, just state your position. Decide on your supporting points. For each one, write out the POINT, EVIDENCE, and EXPLAIN how they connect using a few point-form notes. DO NOT START WRITING YOUR INTRODUCTION BEFORE YOU HAVE WRITTEN YOUR OUTLINE!!!!!

The essay outline: Example Topic: imagery in “The Flowers” Working thesis: In the short story “The Flowers”, imagery is used to describe setting, which echoes the personal growth of the protagonist Myop. Paragraph #1: P: In the introduction of the story, the setting reflects her youth and innocence. E: “each day a golden surprise that caused excited little tremors to run up her jaws” “she felt light and good in the warm sun” E: The sunshine of the day echoes her optimism and youth. She responds physically to her environment in a positive way, despite the indications of poverty in the setting. Specific words: golden, surprise, light, good, warm

Another example…. http://prezi.com/6luafee_mhwd/copy-of-welcome-to-the-world-of-the-five- paragraph-essay/