1. A slideshow for the benefit of the children.

2.  Def: The author does something. What does he/she do? How? (Appears in the intro paragraph).  Ex: In his poem ‘Out, Out –’ Robert Frost writes about trauma with a detached, insensitive tone to at first horrify the reader, but to ultimately earn the reader’s sympathy.

3.  Def: You tell the reader how the author accomplishes what you stated in the thesis. (First line of a body paragraph).  Ex: Frost writes passive, sometimes elliptical phrases in order to avoid dealing with the outright gruesomeness of the boy’s accident.

4.  Def: The part of the text where the author does what you say he/she does. (Follows assertion).  Ex: Describing the moment of carelessness that leads to the accident, Frost writes, “He must have given the hand. However it was,/neither refused the meeting” (lines 17- 18).

5.  Def: To what effect? For what purpose? (Follows support).  Ex: The dismemberment is described in vague terms of the boy’s offering (his hand), and a “meeting” of the hand and the buzz saw. This refusal to deal with the trauma head-on has the ironic effect of actively engaging the reader’s emotions. Frost does not demand sympathy by giving every upsetting detail; he earns it by taking a step back and letting the reader make up her own mind.

6.  Frost writes passive, sometimes elliptical phrases in order to avoid dealing with the outright gruesomeness of the boy’s accident. Describing the moment of carelessness that leads to the accident, Frost writes, “He must have given the hand. However it was,/neither refused the meeting” (lines 17-18). The dismemberment is described in vague terms of the boy’s offering (his hand), and a “meeting” of the hand and the buzz saw. This refusal to deal with the trauma head-on has the ironic effect of actively engaging the reader’s emotions. Frost does not demand sympathy by giving every upsetting detail; he earns it by taking a step back and letting the reader make up her own mind.

7.  Go through your own paper. Underline/highlight any line where you describe what happens in the play, what characters do, or what characters believe.  Ex: “Antigone tells Ismene…” “Creon believes…” “Haimon doesn’t want to…”

8.  Based on what has been modeled here, write a thesis statement for your Antigone paper.