Bullet-Proof Essay The Masterwork of Olga Ardulov

The Theory of Writing Anyone can dribble a basket-ball, anyone can bake cookies, and anyone can write a structured, complete essay. The key is knowing what approach to take when writing, whether it be a right or left brained emphasis. The good news for us tutors is that this means we can teach any student to write a good essay. What does learning style have anything to do with writing essays? Here it is >

The Brain The right brain:  Random  Intuitive  Holistic  Synthetic  Subjective  And tends to look at the big picture. The left brain:  Logical  Sequential  Rational  Analytical  Objective  And tends to look at individual parts.

The Right Brain To help a right-brained student write an essay a good strategy would be to use diagrams and analogies. Allow them to consider the essay as a setup of triangles such as figure 1.1. Your student should begin their essay with a general idea of what they are going to talk about. As the introduction comes to it’s end and the thesis approaches the idea of the paragraph will become more specific. Explain the thesis to be, literally, the point of their essay. The body should consist of three paragraphs and can be looked at as the base of your essay that holds everything together. Finally your student’s conclusion should start off with a paraphrased thesis (the point of their essay, once more) and expand to finalize their thoughts once and for all.

The Left Brain A left-brained student is prone to looking at things in parts. To better help your student, introduce a comprehensive outline. A good suggestion is to use words like “plug this in,” and, “formula.” One of the best aspects of this outline is that you don’t have to write everything in an order. If your student has quotes and a thesis but isn’t sure what to write about, it is a beneficial for them to fill in what they do have and build around it. It is very important to remember that every essay varies based on the individual demands of each instructor. As a tutor it is our responsibility to make sure that the students meet the expectations of instructors first and foremost. I. Introduction I. Hook- II. Author, Title III. (optional) evidence/summary IV. Thesis II. Body (3 paragraphs – same structure) I. Topic Sentence II. Key Point III. Evidence IV. 2 sentences leading into a quote V. Quote VI. 2 sentences leading out of a quote VII. Conclusion III. Conclusion I. Paraphrased thesis II. Reinforce evidence III. Connect to society/ broaden horizons

Essay Parts and What to do With Them Already mentioned in the outline are all the individual parts that make up an essay. It’s important to explain the pieces to help your students be able to use this method on their own. Here is a breakdown of the outline, I however, would strongly urge tutors to go through and find their own ways of explaining each part of the outline so that both the tutor and the student understand exactly what is expected.

The Hook The first thing that your reader will see is your hook. A good hook can encourage your reader to keep reading your essay. Strong claims that may be considered shocking or unusual would entice the reader to find out more about what you have to say. Analogies and metaphors can artistically kick-start your essay and encourage the reader to apply the analogy/metaphor after reading the essay if faced with a similar topic.

The Evidence Evidence is important in the first paragraph because it explains to the reader what you’re going to talk about later and prepares the reader for your thesis. An alternative to evidence is giving a short summary (if writing in response to a story). The summary must be used carefully, and isn’t recommended if the instructor doesn’t specifically ask for it.

The Thesis A thesis is a proposition that is maintained by argument. (as stated on Dictionary.Com)  A good thesis is a claim that your student can support with evidence.  Different instructors introduce different methods for writing a thesis. Expectations vary from answering a question or prompt posed by the instructor to creating their own thesis based on their opinions and thoughts on a certain subject.  It is important to remember that a good thesis will have an opinion, pick a side, or separate itself from a crowd of other thoughts.

Topic Sentences and Key Points The topic sentence is the introduction to each body paragraph (and conclusion).  Transition words such as “therefore,” “nevertheless,” and “despite.”  These transitions are important to connect the body paragraphs like the links of a chain.  The topic sentence is a broad introduction and setup to what your reader will be encountering in the following paragraph. Key points are well…key.  Key points set up the main idea for your paragraph. Although the topic sentence explains what your reader will be reading about, you key point is the focus of the paragraph.  This is also where your student should connect their paragraph to their thesis.

Evidence and Quotes Evidence is important to back up a claim. As long as your student offers evidence their claims will hold more value. Quotes are used to support evidence, and through evidence support claims. It is vital that the student transitions from their evidence to their quotes with at least two sentences and then use at least two sentences to support their quote afterwards.  All evidence and any quote left unsupported can be interpreted incorrectly by a reader.  Support means: Tying the evidence and quote back to the key point. Tying the evidence and quote back to the thesis.

Conclusions and What to do With Them Concluding sentences in paragraphs are confusing and often fling students into a state of depression. Typically, the problem is not knowing what to say. Conclusions should finalize the thoughts introduced in the paragraph. A reminder to the reader of what the maid idea was and how the evidence and quote supported it.

Winding Down The concluding paragraph has almost no standards. The only thing that every conclusion must have is a paraphrased thesis. The rest of the conclusion is blown to the wind and the whims of individual instructors. Variables include but are not limited to:  Summarizing the essay and reinforcing why a students essay has been proven.  Broadening the horizon of the essay and expanding the thesis to include not only a specific situation but a general aspect of society and culture. As a tutor it’s important to remember that every instructor has different expectations for essays. The first and foremost responsibility when working on an essay with a student is to check on the expectations of said instructor.

…In Conclusion Do’s:  Encourage your student to know their learning style  Give your student practice outlines to fill in  Explain every individual step and take your time helping your student, remember that you won’t always be there to remind them what goes where  Remember that this isn’t the only format that exists for essays  Tell your students when they do something well  Have patience Don’ts:  Reprimand the student for not understanding the format immediately  Run through the format without really explaining anything  Just give your student a printout of the format and expect them to understand

FIN In finally, aside from the guidelines I’ve presented, stick to all the other guidelines an ethical tutor should. This isn’t the word of God, this is the word of a 19 year-old student with limited practice. Have patience; WILL CONQUER!