1. Travel Writing Please take out your outlines and travel stories

2. Avoid Impetuous Writing  Think before you write  Outline- Work it out!  Use what you have in the text  Know your story!

3. Big Question/Thesis  What did the narrator risk and what did he/she learn about himself/herself from this travel experience?”  Sample Thesis: Through the journey along the Kokoda trail, Sharon Grimberg learns that despite being unprepared, she could emerge as a stronger individual.

4. Thesis  While exploring Australia, the narrator of “The Adventures of Mega Chicken” is a risk taker through facing challenges and in return, learns the importance of gaining experience outside of one’s comfort zone.

5. Finding the RIGHT Evidence  Quotes should be directly connected to the thesis!  While exploring Australia, the narrator of “The Adventures of Mega Chicken” learns the importance of facing experience’s outside of one’s comfort zone.  “Only weeks earlier, I had abandoned my safe add secure existence to travel to the Southern Hemisphere and be among wild things” (119).  “Nature did its worst and I lived to tell the tale” (122).

6. Formal Introductions  Narrative Hook  Asks a question:  Is the world sustaining its mystery or does it appear smaller with the vast amount of information easily available?  Sets context for story:  Papua New Guinea’s Kokoda Trail is a rugged trail conquered by hikers around the globe.  Draws the reader’s attention with detail:  One might think twice about munching on crispy fried insects.

7. Introductions  Provide narrative hook  Sets up essential context for the story  Introduces author’s full name and “title of essay”  Ends with a strong thesis statement  All of these components should flow together

8. Topic Sentence  A topic sentence is the first sentence in each body paragraph.  It does not not contain quotes.  It does state the main focus in the paragraph  It is absolutely directly connected to the thesis AND Quotes

9. Sample Body  Greenwald realizes the ease in which travel takes away from having an authentic experience. He states, when talking of air travel: “[t]hese journeys weren’t explorations; they were long commutes” (3). This moment of a realization reveals that despite the historical appeal of travel, the convenience of modern travel robbed him of a full experience. He further exemplifies his point of missing out on a true experience when he confesses “he had cheated” from authentic travel (3). Clearly, this self realization is the cause for Greenwald having a change of vision.

10. Conclusion  Restates main points  Restates thesis  Brings writing to a close  Reverts back to introduction- continuity  Avoids new info such as quotes.  End with strength- be mindful of your last word

11. Words to AVOID  Many/a lot  Very  Thing/stuff  Good/bad  I/ You/Your/Me/My  Replace with one/the reader/we/our

12. Embedding Quotes  Set UP quote in context:  Clearly Grimberg reveals that she is not prepared when she says, “I had not climbed anything higher than the stairs to my mother’s attic. I barely knew where Papua New Guinea was” (38).  The author reveals that the trail was, “densely forested” with rivers that were “deadly, raging torrents”, and therefore quite dangerous (Grimberg 37).

13. Titles  Clever/Witty: Formal  Salted and Seasoned: Risking Taboos for Cultural Awareness in “Deep Fried Potato Bug”  Jungle Fever: Risking Safety for Awareness in “On and Off the Kokoda Trail”  Trains, Tuk-Tuks, and Taxis: How One Man Risked Giving Up Modern Travel in “The Size of the World”

14. Writer’s Workshop -Should be very quiet and focused -Complete outline first! -Ensure excellent quotes -Rough Draft, typed, due next class, Thursday. MLA format.