Writing About what you know

1. Writing About what you know What you need to know

2. Know your essays The Types of Essays: • Expository: informative writing that shares knowledge, conveys messages, instructions, or ideas • Narrative: fictional or non-fictional writing that relates a clear sequence of connected • Persuasive: presenting reasons and examples to influence action or thought

3. Are you ready to have your opinion heard? Words to know first: • Prompt (noun): A statement or question meant to start the writing Process • Brainstorming: The act of writing down ideas to start the writing process • Thesis statement: A thesis statement is a short statement that summarizes the main point of an essay and is developed, supported, and explained in the text

4. What does a prompt say? More than a Fox Examples: Expository: “Friends are important, but everyone has a different opinion of what makes a good friend. Explain what, in your opinion makes a good friend.” Narrative: “Think of an experience when you realized that you suddenly understood an idea, a skill, or a concept you had been struggling with. Write a narrative that tells the story of your movement toward understanding.” Persuasive: “Your school has decided to enforce school uniform policy. Write a letter to persuade the school board to make the change or to keep the policy.

5. things to consider before making that opinion • Purpose: A Writer’s reason for writing Examples: “To Entertain” “To Inform” “To Persuade” • Audience: The intended reader(s) of the essay

6. Braainnss…Storm them. Ways to brainstorm: • List: Good for Pros and cons, best to use for persuasive writing • Plot diagram: Good for retelling events or stories, best to use for narrative writing • Web: Good for connecting ideas, best to use for expository or persuasive writing • Venn Diagram: Good for comparing and contrasting ideas, best for expository writing • Starburst: good for categorizing ideas, good for all types of writing

7. The Outline: the Skeleton of a Paper The Basic Essay is five paragraphs long and follows a form of the following outline: • Introduction • Body paragraph 1: Topic 1 • Body paragraph 2: Topic 2 • Body paragraph 3: topic 3 • Conclusion

8. Introduction: Tell them what you’re about to tell them Introductions Should follow some form of this outline: • Attention Getter or Grabber: 4-5 sentences to grab the reader’s attention Ways to do it: • Ask a question • give surprising facts or statistics • tell a brief anecdote about your topic • Thesis Statement: Sentence that tells the reader what the essay is about, gives the main idea, and reveals the structure of the essay Examples: “On that day, I learned ____(topic 1)____, ____(topic 2)_____, and _____(topic 3)_____.” “If we adopt that policy, students will _____(topic 1)____, _____(Topic 2)_____, and __(TOPIC 3)____.

9. BODY Paragraphs: Tell them • Body paragraphs are the “meat” of your essay. They should be 7-9 sentences in length. • They should follow this outline: • Transitional phrase: Phrases to create “flow” from paragraph to paragraph • Paragraph Topic Introduction: Found in the same sentence as your transitional phrase, this introduction states your paragraph’s topic • Details and Support: The “meat” of your paragraphs that comes from reliable sources • The four types of support: (This is where research comes into play.) • Facts: Pieces of information that can be verified • Statistics: Numbers and percentages used to make a point • Anecdotes: Short stories or incidents used to make a point • Expert Testimony: Paraphrased statements or quotes from experts used to make a point • Paragraph Conclusion: Sentence to sum up the topic of the paragraph

10. Conclusion: Tell them what you told them The conclusion paragraph sums up the essay. A conclusion should be 5-7 sentences and should follow this outline: • Paraphrase (reword) thesis statement • Include key details to your argument • Clincher statement: A statement to make your reader think or a call to action