Guide to Writing Essays Cordell – English II

Requirements FIVE (5) PARAGRAPHS: Introduction, 3 Body, Conclusion Schaffer Method Thesis Statement Textual Evidence TURN THINGS IN ON TIME! Typed, double-spaced, MLA format

Shaffer Method Shaffer Method: ◦Topic Sentence/Claim (relates to thesis) ◦Concrete Detail (Evidence/Example) ◦Commentary (Analysis) ◦Concluding Sentence (Recap/ Summary) Each body paragraph should be about ¾ to a full page in length

Creating the Thesis Statement Two parts: 1. Interpretive claim 2. Roadmap sentence *we will discuss this in depth next week

But first you need a topic! Topic: what you’re writing about, not “The Crucible” but instead a concept or idea exemplified in the text What insights into human nature are most evident to you? Which insights interest you the most? WRITE DOWN TEN (10) TOPICS!

Exploring the Topics Question your choices (are some topics just baloney to get through this exercise?) Let’s take an example from the class to explore: ◦Is topic workable? ◦Give examples from play (characters or scenes) ◦Give evidence from characters or scene

BRAINSTORM TOPIC For HOMEWORK: Choose two of your topics With EACH topic you are to create five LEVEL II questions. Think of discussion questions you might ask in a fishbowl to help further understanding. ANSWER THEM. We will use these questions to guide our thesis statements.

THESIS STATEMENTS tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.

THESIS STATEMENTS directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.

THESIS STATEMENTS makes a claim that others might dispute. is usually a single sentence (max 2 sentences) at the end of your introductory paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

EXAMPLE THESIS Arthur Miller reveals that humans are strong enough to fight against evil and maintain their morals even in the worst of times, as evidenced by John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey.

FORMALITY NO first or second person ◦(I, you, we, our, us, etc.) NO contractions ◦(can’t, don’t, won’t, etc.) AVOID slang, clichés, colloquialisms ◦(awesome, flip out) ◦(absence makes the heart grow fonder) ◦(What’s up? vs. How are you?) Use upper-level vocabulary

FORMALITY Paper should always be in PRESENT TENSE Avoid “This quote shows, tells…” DO NOT CHANGE A QUOTE

CONCLUSIONS – your final impression Restate the main idea of your essay, or your thesis statement (do NOT simply copy and paste) Summarize the three subpoints of your essay Leave the reader with an interesting final impression

CONCLUSIONS No new information is presented in this paragraph. Instead, the writer sums up what has been written so far and leaves the reader with a last thought.

Example Conclusion During troublesome and stressful trials in life, many individuals fold under the pressure and forego certain values or morals to survive. The Crucible offers evidence of the strength of the human spirit through certain characters. John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey all stand strong in the face of difficulty and torment. None of these characters relinquish their values or morals and succumb; each stays true to himself or herself. Every life encounters storms, but what makes someone strong is how he weathers that storm and remains faithful to his own ideology.

WORKS CITED PAGE Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page. Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries. Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent. List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to the essay in your textbook that appeared on pages 370 through 375, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as Note that MLA style uses a hyphen in a span of pages.

WORKS CITED PAGE For every entry, you must determine the Medium of Publication. Most entries will likely be listed as Print or Web sources, but other possibilities may include Film, CD-ROM, or DVD. Writers are no longer required to provide URLs for Web entries. Use italics (instead of underlining) for titles of larger works (books, magazines) and quotation marks for titles of shorter works (poems, articles) Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name (or, for entire edited collections, editor names). Author names are written last name first. Alphabetize works with no known author by their title; use a shortened version of the title in the parenthetical citations in your paper.