A REVIEW OF THE EXPOSITORY ESSAY Fall 2018

Housekeeping/formatting Indent each paragraph on a new line, can be small Legible handwriting 3rd person, take out all of the “I think, “I believe”, “in my opinion” and “you” or “I” Get familiar with a list of transitions to use at the start of each new paragraph You may not write outside of the lines provided Do not double up on your lines Use a thesaurus…CORRECTLY

WRITTEN COMPOSITION: Expository Tackling the prompt WRITTEN COMPOSITION: Expository “With us it ain't like that. We got a future.” John Steinbeck Read the following quotation. Think carefully about how goals contribute to long-term success. Write an essay explaining a goal that you think is important for teenagers to have for their future. Be sure to – • clearly state your thesis • organize and develop your ideas effectively • choose your words carefully • edit your writing for grammar, mechanics, and spelling

Tackling the prompt Make sure you CLEARLY understand the task at hand Many students wrote about multiple goals in their essay But, how many goals does your prompt ask you to discuss? What, then, should your thesis statement include? Or, some students talked about the importance of having (a) goals, but never named one Read everything on the prompt page, but remember: You start to engage your brain whenever you see the words “write an essay”

introduction Introduction paragraph = HOOK + THESIS Hook: this only needs to be 2-3 sentences Thesis: always, always, always is the last sentence of the intro. Paragraph Your thesis statement must CLEARLY and EFFECTIVELY answer the prompt. Take a look at a few thesis statements and discuss….. “goals are important for teens to achieve” “teens should have an education and be able to financially support themselves” “recycling is not only a goal that will enhance someone independently, but as a universe overall” “you may think goals are too much to handle, but they are important”

Body paragraphs You will still follow the burger format Remember: this is the formula for any coherent essay, no matter the type You will, however, have to condense your ideas to make them all fit within the 26 lines The body paragraphs are the meat of your essay – they provide your explanations to your thesis statement and prove that you know what you’re talking about

examples Where can you pull examples from? real life situations, current events, personal life (the only reason for using first person in this essay, BRIEFLY), literature, history, movies 2 solid examples in your essay Do NOT use hypothetical examples: For example, imagine these two friends talking about goals. One friend has the goal of going to college in mind and one friend has no goal at all. The friend that set a goal for himself is more successful….blah blah blah. VERSUS… For example, in “Rocky,” the main character Rocky set a goal to become one of the greatest fighters in all the land. After much hard work and dedication, he was able to achieve that goal.

conclusion Avoid statements such as “these are a few reasons” or “ I have discussed my reasons in this essay” and “in conclusion” Avoid being too preachy: “Not having goals set for yourself as a teen is just dumb. We should always set goals to achieve greatness” Remember to tie your conclusion to the world around you. This is what a thematic connection is: “Not only can volunteering benefit the people directly being helped out, but it can also benefit a whole community.

Silent rubric ideas Essays that score a 7 and 8 are typically longer. Why do you think that’s a fact? Unique examples Unique way of writing The wording of your thesis: try and answer the prompt without so much using the prompt’s language. For example: “gaining an education is beneficial to young adults” instead of saying “one crucial goal to teens is gaining an education”