Developing your Exploratory Essay English 111

Goals of your Exploratory Essay In your exploratory essay, you need to accomplish the following: Define and describe your topic, using information from your sources, so that your readers understand what it is you are researching. This begins in the introduction but might also continue in the first paragraph of the body of your essay. Prove the importance of research your topic – Your essay needs to discuss why this topic is worthy of investigation, including why it should be investigated here and now. Try to convince readers that the topic is interesting and that it needs to be looked into, using information from your sources to back up your arguments. The arguments you make here should be identified in your thesis statement (in your intro) and developed in your body paragraphs Describe what else needs to be learned – Your essay needs to discuss what kinds of information you think you still need to look for because you didn’t locate it in your first round of research. This is often done in the last body paragraph or in the conclusion.

Developing your draft Developing your draft of the exploratory essay requires you to read and understand your sources and then develop a thesis statement – one to three sentences that state the central message you will communicate in your draft. After you have a thesis statement, you can start developing the other parts of your essay. The following slides will instruct you on this process and will provide an example of what this looks like.

Developing your draft 1) Respond to the question, “Why is it important to research this topic?” EXAMPLE: TOPIC: Summative Testing required by No Child Left Behind RESPONSE, based on my reading of my research, this topic is important because… All children in the US are affected by this legislation Teachers consider it bad for teaching and parents are increasingly dissatisfied with this testing Is it clear whether this kind of testing actually helps improve schools or learning outcomes?

Developing your draft 2) Take those responses and shape them into a thesis statement. EXAMPLE (Each part of the thesis has a number corresponding to each of the responses I gave on the previous slide): THESIS STATEMENT: Currently, (1) the federal government’s No Child Left Behind law requires all schools in the US to do summative testing of the state’s education standards and to hold teachers and schools accountable to those tests. (2) This legislation was met with resistance by teachers who continually complain that it hampers true teaching and learning experiences in the classroom and doesn’t demonstrate true learning and now even parents are increasingly dissatisfied with this testing. (3) All of this makes it unclear whether such mandated testing actually helps improve schools or improve students’ lives.

Developing your draft 3) Break your thesis statement into chunks that can be turned into topic sentences. Write those topic sentences. Topic sentences are shorter statements introduce one section of your essays’ body. Each corresponds to one part of your whole thesis statement. EXAMPLE: TOPIC SENTENCE 1: Currently, the federal government’s NCLB law requires summative testing in all schools and for all children, making teachers and schools entirely accountable for our children’s education. TOPIC SENTENCE 2: Teachers and parents alike have serious doubts about this educational policy. TOPIC SENTENCE 3: Can we even be sure such testing is helpful?

Developing your draft 4) Brainstorm the information and ideas you’ll need to share with readers in order to develop and explain each topic sentence. EXAMPLE: TOPIC SENTENCE 1: Currently, the federal government’s NCLB law requires summative testing in all schools and for all children, making teachers and schools entirely accountable for our children’s education. To develop this topic sentence, I need to tell readers about… What the NCLB law is (define it). Explain how teachers are supposed to be evaluated. Data on how much control teacher has on a child’s education? TOPIC SENTENCE 2: Teachers and parents alike have serious doubts about this educational policy. TOPIC SENTENCE 3: Can we even be sure such testing is helpful?

Developing your draft 4) Brainstorm continued… EXAMPLE: TOPIC SENTENCE 2: Teachers and parents alike have serious doubts about this educational policy. To develop this topic sentence, I need to tell readers about… Report what some top teachers say about this testing Report what parents have been angered about in states like Indiana and Washington TOPIC SENTENCE 3: Can we even be sure such testing is helpful? Actual success rates of schools in the last several years and failure of states to meet the goal of NCLB Research about whether summative testing improves teaching and learning (This is future research I nee to do) Formative testing versus summative testing

Developing your draft 5) Write your draft The above brainstorming results in an outline you can follow to write your draft. Write… An Intro that defines your topic in an interesting way and presents your thesis statement. Body paragraphs that use quotations and paraphrases from your sources, as well as your explanations and interpretation of that information, to develop and examine the idea in each topic sentence. A Conclusion that wraps things up in an interesting way and points out to readers what research you still need to find on the topic.