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Building an Essay. Attacking the Prompt . The Strategy in a Nut-Shell. Carefully read the prompt. Underline words which give specific, direct, important instructions/topics to address. Pull out and bullet words/directions underlined. Brainstorm answers for the bullets.
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Building an Essay Attacking the Prompt
The Strategy in a Nut-Shell • Carefully read the prompt. • Underline words which give specific, direct, important instructions/topics to address. • Pull out and bullet words/directions underlined. • Brainstorm answers for the bullets. • Use these answers for the bullets to develop the thesis. • Based on the prompt, decide how many paragraphs to use. • Pre-write for the body paragraphs.
A Hypothetical Prompt • Prompt: Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that society because of gender, race, class, etc. Choose a character from your summer reading, and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions and moral values.
Follow these steps…. • Step 1: Read the prompt. • Step 2: Underline words which give specific, direct, important instructions/topics to address: • Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that society because of gender, race, class, etc. Choose a character from your summer reading, and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions and moral values.
Steps Continued…. • Step 3: Pull out and bullet the words/directions you underlined: • Character from TKAM • How Character is Alienated: • Society’s Assumptions/Moral Values: • Step 4: Brainstorm answers for the bullets. • Character from TKAM – Boo Radley • How Character is Alienated: literally locked away and shunned as a menace by the town • Society’s Assumptions/Moral Values: unforgiving of people’s choices and fearful of what they do not understand • Step 5:Use these answers for the bullets to develop the thesis.
Thesis…. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley is literally locked away and shunned as a menace by the town which reveals that Maycomb society is unforgiving of people’s choices and fearful of what they do not understand.
Practice Prompt: Some authors use children as characters to provide a more innocent point of view. Choose a child from your summer reading and discuss how their innocence is portrayed through their thoughts and actions.
Step 1: Read the prompt.
Step 2: • Underline words which give specific, direct, important instructions/topics to address: • Some authors use children as characters to provide a more innocent point of view. Choose a child from your summer reading and discuss how their innocence is portrayed through their thoughts and actions.
Step 3: Pull out and bullet the words/directions you underlined
Step 4: Brainstorm answers for the bullets.
Step 5: • Use these answers for the bullets to develop the thesis. • Create your thesis