1. Writing the “6” Paragraph
English 12

2. Intro
BIG PICTURE: used to gain audience’s attention and interest. Some types:
Rhetorical question
Definition
Anecdote
Famous Quote
Pivotal quote from literature
Philosophical views
Hypothetical situations

3. Examples of the “6” intro:
Upper class men in the 1500’s were strong yet romantic, out-spoken yet gentlemanly, and commanding yet courteous. How could one man be all this?
What does it mean to be an ideal woman? Should the woman have a flawless body, unfaltering manners and a submissive personality? In the 1500’s they were expected to have exactly that.

4. Title and Author
You should never assume that the reader of your essay/paragraph knows what you are writing about. You must always provide the author and the title of the play/literature. In longer writing, you should also provide a very brief summary of the play/literature. This enables the reader to understand your position even if they haven’t read or viewed the play/literature.

5. The “6” inclusion of Author and Title
Suppose that a director of the play The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare was to decide that there was a very specific theme that they wanted to get across to the audience. Utilizing a number of dramatic conventions to warp the theme into what they envisioned would be the ideal way to achieve this.
Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is best known as a comedy. However, was the play always seen that way or did the staging of the characters, delivery of the lines and choices of the costume designer turn it into one?

6. Thesis Statement
Your thesis is the road map for your entire paragraph or essay. It states the purpose of your writing. It should contain no examples, no questions, not supporting quotes. It should never be ambiguous yet it should not be so specific that you could not find several examples to prove it to be true. You should ALWAYS revisit the thesis after you finish writing to ensure that it is still effective for your writing!

7. Example of the “6” Thesis Statement
The theme of the play is so ambiguous that it leaves the audience to wonder whether Shakespeare is attempting to challenge the audience’s mindset about the power of women or merely portraying the lack of freedom and rights of women at the time. It is the use of dramatic conventions by the director and the actors themselves which allows them to convey their personal interpretation of his meaning.

8. Supporting Sentences
The body of your paragraph/essay must support the thesis statement.
You should include effective, relevant examples, details and quotations.
They should NOT rely simply on general knowledge or emotion. Quotations help provide detail.
All quotations should be cited correctly to ensure the reader is able to refer to the source in the future.

9. An example of the “6” Support
Katherine is portrayed as a shrew. The delivery of her lines, however, largely changes the extent of her perceived harshness. This is demonstrated when Katherine insults Hortensio,“But if it were, doubt not her care should be/To comb your noodle with a three-legged stool/And paint your face and use you like a fool” ( ). However, if Katherine were directed to flail her arms about and throw a stool at Hortensio while speaking them, the effect would be far greater. This simple example of the use of slapstick comedy would evoke both laughter from the audience and, more importantly, develop the shrew-like character of Katherine.

10. Conclusions and Clinchers
You must finish off your paragraph or essay by summarizing what you have proved through the use of all of your supporting paragraphs.
The clincher should re-link the end of the paragraph/essay with the beginning.

11. Examples of “6” Conclusions with Clincher
At the conclusion of the play, with the taming of Katherine, the theme would not be fully appreciated if Katherine had begun the story being only somewhat shrew-like. Her change would be less significant, our understanding of the roles of men and women would be less significant and so too would be the play.
All of the uses of conventions leave the play open to interpretation. This is why, from performance to performance, one may gain a different understanding of the theme of the play. So is Kate tamed or is she pretending? Does Petruchio love Kate or is he satisfied with his ego being stroked? It is up to the director to tell us.

12. Stylistic Devices
Spice up your writing by including stylistic devices such as:
Short, emphatic sentences: “I killed him!”
Similes: “her hands were as cold as a January winter.”
Metaphors: “The man was an ogre, devoid of any caring.”
Repetition and parallel structure: “It was not my place to tell him to go. It was not my place to tell her she should ask him to stay. It was not my place to care, but I did.”
Varying sentence structure, use words with greater connotative meaning and add in imagery: “I wanted a candy. Creamy caramel oozing out of rich dark chocolate filled my thoughts and made me almost weep with longing.”

13. Example of the “6” Paragraph