Slaughter-House Five & The Things They Carried

Slaughter-House Five & The Things They Carried Essay Follow-up

Introduction To-Dos: • Did you underline the titles of the texts? • Did you follow HBIT? • Hook • Background Info (brief summary of necessary info- not literally one sentence PER book) • Thesis (clear, defined argument)

Thesis Statements • Subject + Assertion + Why • Must include author’s purpose and tie it to the theme! • Ask yourself: Why did the author choose to include the theme in the book? For what purpose? Think about the audience (the reader) and what the author was trying to tell them.

Sample Thesis Statements • Vonnegut uses Billy Pilgrim as a pathetic protagonist to illustrate how the numbness of death leads to a meaningless life. • O’Brien uses the struggles of his characters to convey that soldiers felt that the fear of shame was more powerful than their need to be courageous.

Body Paragraphs • Logically divided among 3 paragraphs • Topic sentence relates directly back to thesis • Evidence/examples support topic sentence + thesis (should directly tie back to the argument and not summarize) • Many of you did not choose EXs that tie to your thesis or did not thoroughly explain the EXs and how they tied back to the thesis

Body Paragraphs • USE YOUR WRITING PACKETS • Especially for: • Transitions between paragraphs • Going from one example to another • Concluding statements

Citing Quotes • Only use author’s last name if discussing BOTH novels • (O’Brien 24) (Vonnegut 24) • Integrate the quotes into your sentence: • Bill Pilgrim’s acceptance of death is demonstrated in his persistence of saying, “So it goes,” (Vonnegut 175) after the deaths of others.

Citing Quotes • Don’t feel like you need to use the ENTIRE quote- break down the quote to what you need or use “…” to cut out what you don’t need. • O’Brien reflects that “years later… he realized it was Tim trying to save Timmy with a story” (O’Brien 345).

Conclusion • Restate your thesis in different words • Don’t literally summarize EVERY main point- make a general summary of your argument. • End strong: “If the truth of war is never portrayed then O’Brien fears future generations will continue making the same ignorant mistakes.” • Check for your 3 SAT words (they must be integrated into your final draft)

Got Essay Structure Down? • Work on the depth of your analysis!!! • Try to tie in the essential question- WHY do the authors write these novels? • Are there facts about their backgrounds you can use? • Cohesiveness of your ideas • Do your paragraphs come together with fluid transitions? • Do all EX’s tie to your thesis & do you do a thorough job of explaining how these EX

Essay Writing • Essay writing is one of the most difficult skills to perfect- scientific studies have shown that it is more cognitively challenging than other subjects • To get better, you must put in effort into your writing and continuously revise! • You will be much better writers by the end of the year, I promise 

Prewriting = +20/20 • -5 points for any of the following • Incorrect heading (it’s all wrong, not following MLA structure) • Does not use 12 point font • Does not have TWO SAT words • No double-space • If they only messed up on the heading a little, take off -2 points

Slaughter-House Five & The Things They Carried