Unit 1 Embedded Assessment II Elements and Topics

1. Unit 1 Embedded Assessment II Elements and Topics Expository Essay Explain how a change in your life has affected your life today.

2. Expository Writing • The purpose of expository writing is to explain, inform or describe. • The difference between your first Embedded Assessment, Personal Narrative ( An incident that changes me), and the expository essay is that now you have to explain the change. (Write about how a change in your life has affected your life today.)

3. Your Essay Choices • Decide which one of the following choices you would like to write your expository essay about. • Think about the many ways in which you have changed in the past several years.

4. Changes in Transportation How has transportation changed throughout the years? What impact has that made on your life? How has it changed you?

5. Benefits of Travel How has travel changed? How has travelling changed you? What impact has it made on your life?

6. Benefits of an Education How does having an education change you? How does it change your life?

7. Choose a technological device and explain how this new technology affects you.

8. Expository Elements Needed • Introductory Paragraph: • A good hook to draw in the reader. (AQQS) • Descriptions of the various ways in which you have changed, physically, intellectually. emotionally, and changes within your family, school, friends, hobbies/interests that are related to your change. • A thesis statement that organizes the essay. It will include the topic, which is “a change in ___,” and your three categories which will state the effect or impact of the change on the world today.

9. The Thesis Statement • THE THESIS STATEMENT • States the main idea of your essay • Helps you and the reader focus on the theme of the essay • Is placed at the end of your introduction paragraph • Lists three categories that support the main idea • Sample Thesis Statements • Travel has changed very much over the years, beginning with horse and wagon, advancing to early automobiles and trains, and presently the smart car. • The technology of communication has advanced through dial-up phones hooked up to land lines, cordless phones hooked up to land lines, and cell phones. • THE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH • This paragraph introduces your readers to your topic through your thesis statement. You need a hook (AQQS) to get the reader interested. This would be your first sentence. It should be 3-4 sentences long, one of the sentences being your thesis statement.

10. Body Paragraph(s) • A topic sentence in each paragraph that states or explains a point related to the thesis statement. • Examples and explanations of how and why you changed. • Descriptive words. • Adjectives and adverbs that convey a clear sense of what you were like then and how you are now. • Similes and/or metaphors. • Transitions to help the reader follow your ideas. • Written in first person (I, me, we)

11. Concluding Paragraph • A topic sentence that reminds the audience of your original thesis idea about a change in you. • The significance (importance) of the change and impact of the change both now and in the future. • What have you learned about yourself and/ or others. What did you realize that you didn’t before? What do you now know? What are you looking forward to? • Use transitions to show cause and effect (as a result, because, consequently, due to, etc.) and to show before and after (then, now, before.) Also, use semicolons to link closely related ideas. • Experiment with different titles, looking for one that introduces the topic of a change in you in a way that gets the reader’s attention.