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

Introduction To-Dos: Did you underline the titles of the texts? Don’t use “I think…” or “In my opinion…”! Did you follow HBIT? Hook Background Info (brief summary of necessary info) Thesis

Introduction Paragraph Types of Hooks: General Statement Rephrasing of writing prompt Quote

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 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).

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.

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

Body Paragraphs Logically divided among 3 paragraphs Topic sentence relates directly back to thesis Evidence/examples support topic sentence + thesis (should directly tie back to the argument and not summarize)

Conclusion Restate your thesis in different words Don’t literally summarize EVERY main point- make a general summary of your argument. 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?

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 