1. ESSAY REVIEW

2. The Prompt
Look at your prompt. What are the key words from the prompt that you should reference, repeat, address in your paper?

3. Manage your time carefully so you can
Write an essay for a teen advice website arguing how old adolescents should be before they start dating. Your essay must be based on ideas, concepts, and information from the “Teens and Dating” passage set.
Manage your time carefully so you can
plan your essay;
write your essay; and
revise and edit your essay.
Be sure to
include a claim;
address counterclaims;
use evidence from multiple sources.
Do not over rely on one source. 

4. Thesis/Claim
This is taken from the Purdue Online Writing Lab: The thesis statement is a sentence that summarizes the main point of your essay and previews your supporting points. The thesis statement guides your readers from the beginning of your essay by telling them the main idea and supporting points of your essay. Generally, the thesis statement is the final sentence of your introduction. Sometimes, it is a good idea to use two sentences. For example, you might identify your main point in one sentence and then identify your supporting points in a second sentence. (Some might call this second sentence a preview sentence.) Other times, your thesis statement will only be one sentence. Either is acceptable, but remember that you need a clear thesis statement at the end of your introduction so that your reader understands your main point and knows what to expect from the rest of your essay.

5. Thesis/Claim
Find your claim/thesis. Underline it in red. It will most likely be only one sentence for a paper of this size.
Look back at the list of key words from your prompt. Are they in your thesis/claim? Circle them if they are.
IF IT IS TWO SENTENCES….the 2nd one better be good. It better preview your points.
HOWEVER:
“English class is my favorite class. It’s my favorite because we read great books, we write papers, and we have the best teacher ever” is NOT the way 10th graders should be identifying their supporting points. It’s too simplistic.

6. Introductory Paragraph
Think TRIANGLE
Start broad, then narrow to this particular text, then narrow to exactly what in this text you are going to be addressing
Look at your introductory paragraph. Underline the attention getting stuff in orange.
Now underline the background information in green. (This should be a brief summary of some of the debate around dating.)
Attention Getter
Background
Thesis

7. Attention-Getters Should be appropriate to the paper.
Be careful…MANY of your attention-getting sentences were actually thinly-veiled arguments, personally-biased statements, or questions/statements that were inappropriate to the tone of the essay.
For example:
It is wrong to date before you are 16.
It’s insane to think teenagers know what is best in terms of dating age.
Dating. Woohoo!
Dating. Bring on the women!
Dating before you are 16 can lead to immoral or even dangerous consequences.
Everyone must find a romantic partner at some point in their lives.
Look at your attention-getter. (It’s in orange.) Is it an argument all on its own? Or does it direct the reader’s attention to your topic? Is it appropriate in tone for an academic paper?

8. Always remember your AUDIENCE & PURPOSE!!!
WARNING!!!
This form of introductory paragraph is used mainly for English papers.
Do NOT walk into Mrs. Vowels class (or another science teacher’s class) and use this form. She will ridicule you, then ask you who your English teacher is, then come ridicule me. It doesn’t work for a scientific paper.
It also does not work for a paper in the Social Sciences. Mr. Conner will tear your paper apart and claim you are being too flowery in your writing. Then he will ask who your English teacher is and say bad things about me. Then I will be mad at you because I was publicly humiliated. This has happened.
THIS IS YOUR WARNING!!!
Always remember your AUDIENCE & PURPOSE!!!

9. Topic Sentences/Minor Claims
The first sentence of each of your body paragraphs should connect back to the thesis/claim you laid out in the introductory paragraph. It should focus the entire paragraph and tell your reader what you are proving. (WITHOUT actually saying, “I am going to prove…”)
They should also use key words from your thesis/claim and the prompt.
Underline your topic sentences/minor claims in red ONLY if they do this.
Circle the key words from the prompt if they appear in your TS/MC.

10. Evidence (Quotes)
Your evidence in each body paragraph should connect back to the topic sentence/minor claim. It should support your argument for that paragraph.
It should also be embedded correctly and in a way that is easy to read. (quote sandwich)
It should come from one of the four source materials.
Be careful you used more than one source, and didn’t depend disproportionately on one source!
Underline your evidence in yellow.

11. Evidence Examples
GOOD
NOT-SO-GOOD
Teenagers who start to date too early can experience developmental problems. In a chart “States of Healthy Adolescent Development” published by the Oregon Health Authority, they explain that dating early can lead to autonomy problems such as “challeng[ing] authority, loneliness, [and] wide mood swings.” These are all significant problems that could negatively impact a teenager who begins to date before they are developmentally ready…
Teens who start to date too early can experience problems. “If teenagers start to date at they could have side effects like challenging authority, loneliness, and wild mood swings.” Teens shouldn’t start dating too early.

12. Articles & Source Material
You need to correctly state the source materials you used.
Go through and circle in purple any article titles. Are they in quotation marks?
Go through and circle in purple any author’s or source’s names. Have you attached an author’s name to each title?
Do you have the source attached to each piece of evidence?

13. Reasons/Warrants
Do you have an explanation as to why your evidence supports the topic sentence/minor claim as well as the main thesis/claim?
These explanations are called “reasons” (English 10 Core) or “warrants” (if you’re using Toulmin).
Underline your reasons/warrants in blue.

14. Conclusion
Please, please, please tell me it’s at the very least, three sentences.
Does it neatly sum up your paper? Including your main argument and how you proved it? Without actually saying, “I have proved…”?

15. STYLE
“Well…” – TAKE IT OUT!!! Slash through it. (This is one of my TOP pet peeves in student writing. )
Skim your paper. Is there any slang? Words that are “conversation” words but not “sophisticated, academic” words? Circle them.
Look at the last sentence of each body paragraph. Does it transition the reader to your next topic sentence/minor claim?
Sentence variety: Do you have a variety of sentence lengths? If they are all about the same number of words, that’s bad.
Do the sentences start in different ways? Look at the first word of your sentences. They should start differently. If they’re mostly the same, or similar, that’s bad.