Mini-Lesson: Essay Structure

Mr. Essay has been looking for someone to write him for a long while. Supposedly, you are a highly skilled of team of professionals built for such a task.  Your task will be to dazzle Mr. Essay and his board of advisees on Thursday of this week (unless Mr. Essay's busy schedule dictates otherwise):

Presenters: Essay Manager (organization-is there a thesis, topic sentences)
                  Essay Lawyer (providing convincing evidence)
                  Public Relations Director (being clear, engaging)


Preparing for your Dress-Up Essay report will require a bit of essay structure review. Let's look at a sample.

Review on the parts of an essay:

Introductions:

- Introductions are supposed to be EXCITING. The reason? To hook in your reader.

-The first sentence or two (opening statement) should introduce the topic/issue in an interesting way The reason? To interest your reader, but to also establish a focus. Without this, your essay’s purpose may be blurry at first.

-A descriptive thesis statement is present—your argument and reasons for arguing in such a way (in the case of a persuasive essay, your claim or position on the issue) The reason? Without this, there is no purpose

-The importance of your thesis—what do we miss out on by not buying your argument? Almost like a warning. The reason? We want to convince our reader that what’s about to follow is indeed worth their time.

Body Paragraphs:

-Body paragraphs include a topic sentence (related to your thesis statement) The reason?  It gives your reader an idea or direction of where you’re going

-Body paragraphs recall the specific reasons that you noted in your intro, but there main job is to expand and elaborate them, using explanation and examples. The reason? To support your claim with evidence.

-Body paragraphs will often present opposing viewpoints (counterclaims), and then explain why your position is still more valuable. The reason? To anticipate questions and issues that arise in the reader’s mind as they try to see your point of view. It helps solidify your position as the more reasonable option.

-Body paragraphs conclude with a statement that recalls main idea for that paragraph.

Conclusions:

-restate your thesis or main argument, but in an exciting and memorable way. The reason? To give the reader one last strong impression that your position on a given issue is most worthy of consideration.

HW: In your journals: draft an introduction and one body paragraph for the iissue you decided on as as group. Be ready to share your work with your groups.