1. Civilization Smackdown research-debate-paragraph

2. Maya, Inca, Aztec Evaluation
PROMPT: Which culture smacks down the others?
Tasks:
Research Inca or Aztec!
10+ pieces of evidence
3+ sources
Class Debate (Smackdown!)
Verbal thesis, 1 piece evidence, analysis
Paragraph
Draft Monday, November 16 (typed, printed hard copy to class)
Final Friday, November 20 (hard copy turned in with drafts and to turnitin.com)

3. Typed, printed rough draft due Monday!
Smackdown Paragraph
Thesis
3 pieces of evidence total
Use in-text citations
Works Cited Page (3 sources)
Analysis
Rebuttal?
Style
MLA Formatting
Rubric online under ‘Documents’ tab
Typed, printed rough draft due Monday!

4. Paragraph Analysis / Thesis Intervention
Giddyup!
Paragraph Analysis / Thesis Intervention

5. Pargraph: The Component Parts
Thesis (claim)
Evidence
Analysis
Conclusion

6. Rubric. 4 is best.

7. The Strategy Collect evidence. (What, knowledge-level)
Consider evidence to determine importance. (Why, comprehension-level)
Apply your own knowledge to further consider evidence. (Application-level)
Analyze evidence to make sure it’s amazing. (Analysis-level)
Create a new idea, your claim, based on your analysis. (Synthesis-level)

8. The Strategy, Evidence Evidence-collection happens first.
Believable Sources:
Primary?
Reason to lie?
Varied?
Quotes, statistics, graphs, charts, etc. ….

9. The Strategy, Evidence Critically read your evidence!
Why is it important?
Make sure you have some of everything!
Mark it up:
Primary sources
Quotes
Statistics
Graphs

10. Consider your evidence. What did you note?
The Strategy, Evidence
Consider your evidence. What did you note?
Why is it important?

11. Your evidence guides it!
The Strategy, Thesis
Your evidence guides it!
What does it actually tell you?

12. The Strategy, Thesis Use your evidence to create a thesis with …
… arguable point.
… specific point.
… importance (answers “so what?” question)

13. The Strategy, Thesis Thesis don’ts: Use the word “I.” EVER!
Answer the question with the question’s words.
“The best place to live …”
So, no “best!”

14. The Strategy, Thesis Thesis dos
Create an original statement that answers the question specifically.
Minimize the amount of words. Make each one count.
Narrow down the scope so that is as specific as possible.
Claim the most significant, coolest thing you can based on your evidence. (What can you prove?)

15. Any Thesis Review
The Vikings’ hard word and dedication will eventually lead them to the Super Bowl.
Arts programs are vital to healthy societies because they give a way to support the creativity used to invent important things later.
Jeremy Lin is the most important basketball player because he has given hope to others who want to play in the NBA and now know they could .
Expanding our language would bring greater thinking capacity and help solve the world’s problems.

16. Reflection and Improvement, Last Thoughts. Part 1.
Title
Make one! Creative, with a hint about the content of the paragraph. Not “Egypt v. Mes”!
Thesis
No: “many reasons,” extra words, evidence
Use a summarizing reason, later to be proven by evidence.
Specific?
Important? (“So what?”)

17. Reflection and Improvement, Last Thoughts. Part 2.
Evidence
Underlined?
MLA in-text citations?
Quotations?
Style/Organization
Does argument gather power as it goes?
Many varied transitions?
Varied sentences?
Length
First words

18. The Strategy, Analysis Avoid these! This shows that …
This quote shows …
This evidence proves that …
I think that …
We see that …

19. Words to hesitate and thoughtfully consider before using in formal writing …
Words that lead to generalization
Words that lead to speculation
many
people
society
similarities
differences
diverse
various
several
Everything
would
could
should
might 
May
probably
*Use of speculative words is sometimes appropriate in history but never in language arts

20. The Strategy, Conclusion
Transition?
Restatement.