1. Formatting your letter to the President of Sierra Leone
Formal Letter
Formatting your letter to the President of Sierra Leone

2. Introduction Your introduction should start with the statement:
Dear President Koroma,
Notice the capitalization of the word President (as this is his formal title) and the use of the comma at the end of the name Koroma.
After you have addressed the letter, you are now ready to skip a line, and indent the first word of your introductory paragraph:
My name is Jane Doe and I am writing to you today from Bedford, Nova Scotia requesting that you stop using children in your army and militia. My class just finished a novel study, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah where he outlines his experiences as a child soldier in your country…

3. Introduction
We read three articles in class about the use of child soldiers. If you reference any of them in your letter, you must identify what these articles were in your introduction.
For example:
My name is Jane Doe and I am writing to you today from Bedford, Nova Scotia requesting that you stop using children in your army and militia. My class just finished a novel study, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah where he outlines his experiences as a child soldier in your country. We also read articles, “South Sudan: Child Soldiers Thrust into Battle”, “Returning Sudanese Child Soldiers Their Childhood” and “Child Soldiers Continue the Battle in Sudan” about the struggles in South Sudan with child soldiers and how the government and organizations are working together to help stop the problem.

4. Body Paragraphs
You should start Body Paragraph #1 with a topic sentence.
For example: When you use children as soldiers, you take away their childhood as their experiences affect them mentally, physically and emotionally for the rest of their lives.
Each body paragraph should have three (3) recognizes and a reflect which provides examples/details that explain your recognize.
Recognize #1: Children suffer severe mental anguish due to their experiences as soldiers.
Reflect #1: They will often have nightmares that haunt their dreams about the crimes they have committed or the atrocities they have witnessed. “…I tried to think about my new life in New York City, where I had been for over a month. But my mind wandered…We were on our way to attack a small town…We opened fire until the last living being in the group fell to the ground” (Beah, 19). These sorts of memories haunt children for the rest of their lives…

5. Conclusion Summarize your points.
Leave the reader with something to think about.
Thank the reader for considering your ideas.
Sign your name.

6. Rough Draft Editing Task:
Choose one body paragraph and create a visual paragraph using color coding to identify each section.
Underline all of the transition words you used in your essay.
Choose one quote that you used and did a really good job explaining. Circle it.
Choose one quote that you think may need to be edited because the explanation lacks detail. Put a star * beside it.
Circle any vague words: things, stuff, etc.
Highlight in yellow, 5 words that are misspelled OR 5 sentences that are fragmented, or run-on sentences.

7. MLA Formatting Essay should be double-spaced.
Margins set to 2.54cm or 1” on all sides.
Titles of novels should be in italics or underlined – not both!
Titles of articles should be in “quotation marks”.
All quotes are to be cited using either the last name of the author (if available) or the title of the article:
“One of UNICEF’s big challenges is providing opportunities…” (“Child soldiers continue the battle in Sudan”)
“But my mind wandered…We were on our way to attack a small town…” (Beah, 19)

8. MLA Works Cited Page
On a separate page, that you will attach to your letter, you will create a Works Cited page.
References should be listed in alphabetical order.
Only reference books and articles that you actually quoted in your letter.
The words: Works Cited should be in the center of the page.

9. Works we used…
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone. Douglas & McIntyre, 2008.
“Child soldiers continue the battle in Sudan”. Lateline Australian Broadcasting Corporation, July 18, Web.
Green, Andrew. “Returning Sudanese Child Soldiers Their Childhood”. Inter Press Service, April 15, Web.
“South Sudan: Child Soldiers Thrust into Battle”. Human Rights Watch, August 20, Web.

10. Final Draft Checklist My essay is formatted using MLA.
Each paragraph is indented.
I have properly addressed my letter to the President of Sierra Leone.
Each Body Paragraph: You have a topic sentence, and a, conclusion sentence that summarizes your argument and relates back to your topic sentence.
I have met ALL of the criteria as laid out in the assignment (3 novel quotes, 3 article quotes)
I have gone through my essay VERY CAREFULLY and am convinced that it has NO sentence fragments, run-on sentences, grammar/spelling errors.
I have checked my essay for words/phrases that I have repeated too many times.
I have checked my essay to make sure that I have replaced any “boring” words.
I do not use words such as “things” and instead use more specific wording.
I have read my essay OUT LOUD to myself and can say the following:
I have not had to restart a sentence because I got confused in the middle or tripped over my words.
My sentences don’t sound short and choppy.
I have met the 500 word minimum. If not my word count is ________.
I have reviewed the RUBRIC and am satisfied I will fulfill the requirements.
I am happy with my letter and feel it is absolutely ready to be sent off to Amnesty International’s Letter Writing Program.

11. Reflection Questions:
In a ½ page journal entry, answer the following questions about your essay: (Either on looseleaf or typed)
What do you think you did well on in your letter?
What do you want me to notice about your letter?
What did you struggle with in the writing process?
What part of the writing process did you find to be most helpful in getting to your final draft? Why?

12. Final Draft Due: Wednesday, December 7
Hand in the following items with your Final Draft stapled on top:
Final Draft Checklist (printed from this PowerPoint)
Essay Outline
Edited Rough Draft
Reflection Questions
You are marked either formatively or summativey on ALL aspects of this essay writing process and must hand in ALL of the above to receive credit.