Crafting Your Essay: a step-by-step guide

1. Henderson Crafting Your Essay: a step-by-step guide

2. ANALYZE the PROMPT! • Underline all the key concepts and demands of your essay prompt. • Check for understanding by rephrasing the prompt in your own words. Know your prompt!

3. While your initial steps for pre-writing may vary (searching through the text and your notes, free-writing, listing), your formal pre-writing document will be a cluster diagram. Pre-writing

4. Place your central argument in the center bubble Write your supporting arguments in the outer bubbles; these may become your main ideas (topic sentences) Write supporting ideas on the “branches”. These will likely be drawn from plot points or specific character traits. Clustering

5. For each “branch”, search the text for IDEAL, APPLICABLE quotations. Record potential quotations (with page numbers) in your notes or on a separate sheet of paper. COLOR CODE your quotes (using highlighters, markers, post-its) based on their validity. The color codes should indicate strong, adequate, and weak textual support. Alternatively, you may follow this process by flagging your text. Finding evidence

6. So now you have your “raw materials” in the form of ideas and evidence. Time to construct an argument! Incorporate all demands of the prompt in your statement. For 90% of essays, the thesis statement can be established in one sentence. Crafting your thesis statement

7. Since the thesis is the central argument of your essay, it is concerned with a BIG IDEA (not to be confused with a BROAD idea). Thesis statements address the text’s meaning and the author’s purpose & techniques. Remember the Goldilocks Effect: a strong thesis is not too broad and not too narrow – it is just right! Valid thesis statements

8. Decide whether the following thesis statements are too broad, too narrow, or just right. • In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem has to grow up. • To Kill a Mockingbird deals with innocence. • In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee argues that innocence is always lost. • Through her use of symbolism and juxtaposition in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee argues that innocence is lost when ideals are corrupted. Evaluating thesis statements

9. Look back at the “outer bubbles” in your cluster diagram. • Rephrase the arguments in those bubbles so that they serve as “mini-thesis statements”: • They will read like thesis statements, except that they will deal with a more specific aspect of the text • They will address an idea that is clearly related to your thesis I prefer the term “main idea” to “topic sentence” because it connotes an argument, but it’s the same thing, really. Don’t get all confuzzled. Crafting your main ideas

10. Consider our sample Mockingbird thesis from earlier. Decide which of the following main ideas strongly and specifically supports the thesis. • The concept of innocence – and its fragility in a corrupt world – is best symbolized by a mockingbird. • Many characters have their innocence corrupted. • Early in the novel, Atticus instructs Jim not to shoot a mockingbird. • In the beginning of the novel, Scout and Jem are innocent characters. • A study in character contrasts reveals the process by which characters lose their innocence in the novel. Evaluating main ideas

11. This is a handy way to organize your clustered ideas before beginning your formal outline. Intermediate step: Line Diagram

12. Once you have your thesis statement and main ideas established, you can start mapping out those components and supporting details in a formal outline. The outline will not cover ALL the components of your essay, but it will organize all the key parts of your argument and essay structure. Outlining

13. Access the blueprint for your formal essay outline on my Wiki. A formal outline

14. Plug in all the components of your outline on a word document. Add context for your quotations (don’t forget to weave!) Add transitions between and within your paragraphs. ** Keep your thesis at the top of the page as your cognitive focal point! ** Building your body paragraphs

15. Plot • Exposition, rising action, climax, denoement • Conflict • Internal vs. external; four types • Genre • Adherence to/departure from genre conventions • Theme • Tone Elucidating literary elements

16. Character • Flat, static • Round, dynamic • Protagonist, antagonist • Hero, antihero/heroine • Foil • Chorus Elucidating literary elements

17. Metaphorical devices • Simile, metaphor, and extended metaphor • Symbol and motif • Allusion • Allegory • Diction • Dialect • Slang, idiom, colloquialism Delineating literary devices

18. Devices of sound • Alliteration, consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia • Denotation vs. connotation • Contradictions • Paradox, antithesis, dichotomy, oxymoron Delineating literary devices

19. transitions

20. You should already have the most important part of your introduction securely placed in its sacred spot at the end of the paragraph (ahem, your THESIS). • In the lead, establish the title, author, and topic of your essay. • In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a racially charged crisis shatters the innocence of a sleepy, southern town. Initiating your essay: introduction

21. Next, look to your body paragraphs for main plot points and ideas. Use this material to write a 5(ish)-sentence synopsis. (In other words, retell the story with your perspective in mind. Make general points along the way.) Establish the issue/problem/focal point that will serve as the reason for your thesis. Initiating your essay: introduction

22. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a racially charged crisis shatters the innocence of a sleepy, southern town. Two white children, Jem and Scout, are denied the blissful ignorance of their youth when they witness a rape trial which ends the life of an innocent black man. Through the ordeal, Jem and Scout learn that adults’ motives are not always pure and that the arc of the universe does not always bend toward justice. Such a complex idea is made accessible to the children (and Lee’s audience)through accessible symbols and the juxtaposition of benign and malicious characters. Through her use of symbolism and juxtaposition in To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee argues that innocence is lost when ideals are corrupted. Initiating your essay: sample

23. Remember that the purpose of the conclusion is to repackage – to restate in a succinct way – the argument that you have taken pages to develop. • Follow the REVERSE of your intro paragraph: • Loosely restate your thesis • Loosely restate your main ideas and arguments • Final thought on the significance or lasting impression of the text Closing your essay: Conclusion

24. Honey badger says Don’t… • Forget the 80/20 rule! • Open a paragraph with a quotation! • Follow a quotation with “This quote means”; “In this quote”; “In other words”! • Begin your conclusion with “In conclusion”! • Write in first or second person!

25. To improve clarity, voice, and fluency, consider using the following sentence constructions: • Compound sentences with semicolons • Complex sentences • Modifiers with colons and dashes • Interrupting phrases • Subordinating conjunctions • Periodic sentences to emphasize a point Revising sentence structure

26. Edit for grammar! • Is your grammar a turd in the compositional punch bowl? • Subject-verb agreement • Pronoun-antecedent agreement • Run-ons & comma splices • Fragments • Dangling/misplaced modifiers • Homophones

27. Formatting and citations must be in accordance with MLA standards. All secondary sources must be valid and authoritative. ANY presentation of another writer’s IDEAS as your own is considered PLAGIARISM. Citing your sources

28. Done! Hootie says hi.