The Essay. What Do You Know?

Transcription

1 The Essay What Do You Know?

2 Start at the End Goal STEP ONE: KNOW YOUR PURPOSE! (aka: Your End Goal!) Do I want to defend my topic? Am I being asked to describe my topic? Is this personal and informal? Is this formal and academic?

3 Steps To Achieve This Purpose/Goal... Understand the question: break it down so you know exactly what is being asked. For Example: Identify three specific personality traits of Sr. Philip Morton and explain how these traits are developed through the use of direct and indirect character development in Cue For Treason.

4 Understanding the Question Determining my Purpose/Goal Identify three specific personality traits of Sr. Philip Morton and explain how these traits are developed through the use of direct and indirect character development in Cue For Treason. Purpose: To Expose Sr. Philip's Personality (after analysis) Format: Formal Essay... Intro Paragraph identify topic (core personality)and plan (identify three traits) Body Prove three traits (examples of 1 direct;1 indirect/trait = double ppc) Conclusion Re-state topic and sum up points

5 Time To Start The Real Outline First, develop the thesis: the most important part of an essay! A thesis is a big, slightly more complex topic sentence A topic sentence states the topic of a formal paragraph; a thesis identifies the focus of an essay...

6 A Weak Thesis Is too general Is too specific Makes a simple announcement States the obvious

7 Step 2: Developing the Thesis A Good Thesis States the specific topic of the essay. Directly answers the question and gives your formal opinion/insight as it relates to the question.

8 Developing The Thesis: The Most Important Part of the Essay Re-visit the question... Identify three specific personality traits of Sr. Philip Morton and explain how these traits are developed through the use of direct and indirect character development in Cue For Treason. Now, brainstorm the possible traits...

9 Developing The Thesis: The Most Important Part of the Essay (Research) Look through the footprints in your book to find examples of character development. Start coming up with a thesis statement that could answer the question. This is a process...

10 A Sample Working Thesis QUESTION: Identify three specific personality traits of Sr. Philip Morton and explain how these traits are developed through the use of direct and indirect character development in Cue For Treason. THESIS: Sr. Philip, the antagonist in Cue For Treason, is a privileged man who uses his privilege to perform acts of evil.

11 What's Next? It is time to build the introductory paragraph Ingredients: The Lead The Thesis The Plan of Development

12 The Lead Grabs the reader's attention using any of the following: Rhetorical question Famous Quote(properly referenced) Definition (properly referenced) Surprising statistic Historical Background The first sentence(s) of the essay.

13 The Plan of Development The POD identifies the sub-topics that will be used to describe, justify, or expose the main topic your thesis. Brainstormed sub-topics for my thesis (personality traits) 1. privileged: his social status and money give him power to oppress other people and he always gets what he wants. 2. arrogant: thinks he can do anything...sense of entitlement 3. evil : commits treason= criminal; criminals are evil

14 Sample Intro. Paragraph Lead, Link,Thesis + POD The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of [privilege] and leads to 'the slavery of sin'." ( Man's Vocation Life in Spirit, article 28). In this quote, the Catholic Church demonstrates how man can become a slave to sin once he uses his privilege, and the power associated with that, to commit evil acts. Being a slave to sin will ultimately lead to one's physical or spiritual death. Sr. Philip, the antagonist in Cue For Treason, is a privileged man whose arrogant and evil personality leads to his downfall. Sr. Philip uses his privilege to oppress other people, including the protagonist: Peter Brownrigg. His arrogant sense of entitlement is evident in his evil actions. These actions ultimately lead to his downfall: a death reserved for criminals.

15 Now build the essay You have an introductory paragraph. Now use point, proof, comment to write the body paragraphs.

16 The Body Paragraph We will start with one PPC... Point: Re-state the first sub-topic identified in the plan of development. Proof: Give a direct quote from the text, with page numbers, that shows this sub-topic in action. Comment: Explain the context of this quote and explain how this quote is good proof for the point/sub-topic; therefore, defending the thesis.

17 If you want 2 PPC's Topic Sentence: Re-state the sub-topic identified in the plan of development. Point: Identify first point to prove this sub-topic Proof: Give a direct quote from the text, with page numbers, that shows this sub-topic in action. Comment: Explain the context of this quote and explain how this quote is good proof for the point/subtopic. second point to support sub-topic. Proof: Quote to support the second point. Comment: Explain the context of this quote and explain how this quote is good proof for the point/subtopic then connect the whole paragraph back to the thesis.

18 The Conclusion Invert the introductory paragraph to create a conclusion: 1. Re-state the thesis 2. Summarize the three sub-topics. 3. Create a generalized statement that connects to or reflects the lead and keeps the reader thinking or leaves him/her with a lasting impression.