Essay Guidelines

When you begin your essay, you must use MLA format.  Follow these steps if you weren't in class today:

1. Open Word on your computer.

2.  Set margins at 1".  Go to "layout" and click it.  Choose the first icon to click.  It says 1".

3. Double space your paper.  One the "home" tab you will see lines with a blue line going up and down.  Click that and choose 2.0.

4. Make the font Times New Roman.  This is on the home tab again. 

5. Next to Times New Roman you will see numbers, change it to 12.

Do not do anything until you have set the MLA items above.

6. Next you will type your heading.  This does NOT go in the header, but is on the actual page.  Make sure to type it correctly:
You name: First and last name, if you have a double last name you mus use it.
Ms. Coffey
English III, ___ (the blank is where you put your class period without the line under it)
25 September 2019

7. On the next line choose the center button under "home" and center your title.  If you don't know your title yet (it isn't your word) then write the word "title" to hold the centered space.

8. Hit enter again, and click back to the left margin for beginning your paragraph.  Once there hit the "TAB" key and it will give you your indent.

Start typing.  You must indent every paragraph.

**This essay is due end of day Thursday.   You must staple your 1 page rough draft to the back of your essay.

Concluding Paragraph

In your final paragraph you are to do the following:

1. Topic sentence: repeat the ideas in your thesis statement, but with deeper understanding.  This is where you restate your thesis, but not in the same words.  This is basically Task 1.

2. Supporting sentences: summarize the main points in the body of your essay.  This is basically Task 2, the response.  Make sure you are writing about your body paragraphs.  Just a quick couple sentences to refresh everyone's memory.

3. Closing sentence: connect back to the introduction to "clinch" the ideas in the essay, showing their importance.  Make sure you have come full circle to let the reader (me) know that you have wrapped up your essay.

4. Call to Action: Suggest something readers can do about what they've just read.  You are to end with this.  A call to action tells the reader what he or she can do to advance your cause.  You can't just say people should be more compassionate, you have to give ideas on how we can be more compassionate.

Once you've finished your conclusion paragraph begin writing your rough draft of your essay. Once you've written all paragraphs onto one paper as your rough draft you can toss all of your scratch papers.  Make sure you edit your rough draft.  We will be typing Wednesday and Thursday.  This is due Thursday.  You will staple your rough draft to the back of your typed final draft.

Here is how your paper should be laid out:

Introduction (Paragraph 1 of your essay)

Body Paragraph 1 (Paragraph 2 of your essay)

Body Paragraph 2 (Paragraph 3 of your essay)

Conclusion (Paragraph 4 of your essay)

Don't forget this is a summative grade.  20% is the edited rough draft, and 80% is the final typed draft.

Introduction Paragraph

Today we worked on the introduction paragraph.  Here is what you need to know.

Start with the hook.  A hook is the first sentence or two in your introduction.  The hook is the attention grabber.  It should make the reader want to continue reading.  You can use a challenging statement, a quote, an analogy, an interesting mood that captures a moment in time, a definition, a little known or striking fact, or an explanation of why the topic is worth writing/reading about.

Next write your thesis statement:  The thesis is the subject + opinion + reasons.
Ex:  Students should not be forced to wear school uniforms because __________________ and ___________________.
**Make sure your two reasons are your two topic sentences that you've already written.  You need to reword them a bit to make them fit, so don't write them word for word or it will be too much.

The middle step is the bridge. These are the filler sentences to connect the hook to the thesis.  You can't just give me your hook, then the thesis.  There has to be some commentary in between to make it a paragraph.

Body Paragraph 2

This is how you are to complete your second body paragraph.  Make sure you write a defendable topic sentence that goes with your first body topic sentence, but isn't the same.  Here is the format you are to follow:

Task 1:  Topic Sentence.  This must go with your word. (1 sentence)

Task 2:  Response:  Respond to your topic sentence using concession, definition, or explanation. (1-2 sentences)

Task 3: Evidence: Use evidence from "On Compassion" to back up your topic sentence.  Make sure to cite your source.  (2-3 sentences)  Use this format for task 3:  In the text "On Compassion," the author writes, "_______________________" to tell the reader _________________ (Ascher, 1).

Task 4: Conclusion sentence: How does my evidence back up my topic sentence.  This is not the ending to your evidence, but should wrap up the entire paragraph.  (1 sentence)

Lot's going on this week.

This week you are writing your own academic paragraph just like last week.  It has to go with the word your class chose, but you have to write your own topic sentence for the second paragraph.  I will gladly look at it and tell you if you are on track.  Don't forget, I'm out Thursday and Friday this week, so we are cramming our essay into the beginning of the week.  Here is the layout for the week.

Monday:  Today you will begin working on tasks 1 and 2.  You should have your topic sentence and your response finished.  If you finish this begin task 3.  This paragraph will have evidence instead of a story.  Your evidence must come from the essay, "On Compassion."

Tuesday:  Picture Day!  Your goal is to be beautiful and have your picture taken.  If we have any time in the classroom (which we normally don't), you will just continue to work on your academic paragraph.

Wednesday:  We will go over Task 3: Evidence today.  You will  do both Tasks 3 and 4.  You should have everything you need for your second academic paragraph by today.

Thursday & Friday:  Since I'm out you will finally get to do that grammar diagnostic.  This will take both days.  When you finish, you will continue working on your academic paragraph.  It should be complete by Monday.  I will check it if you would like (on Monday), after our lesson.

Happy Writing!  (It's okay, you know you like writing).  :)

It's a new day with revamped work...

Here is the work we did today (Thursday) on our paragraphs.  There are some revisions, so please look at your period and make sure you have what is there.  You have to write your own story that relates to the topic, but the other three parts we did together.

1^st Period:  Word: Empathy. 

Topic sentence is:  Our actions are based on empathy.

Response: When people feel for others in need they are able to put themselves in their shoes.

Making your case:  Tell your own story in three sentences (beginning/middle/end).

Conclusion sentence: Showing empathy through your actions help those in need.

3^rd Period: Word: Compassion

Topic sentence: Compassion lives in the heart of many people as shown through helping the homeless.

Response:  Some people believe compassion is something we are born with; however, kind behavior is learned through observing others who show compassion.

Making your case:  Tell your own story in three sentences (beginning/middle/end).

Conclusion sentence: Observing others show compassion helps influence and inspire people to do the same.

4^th Period: Word: Adversity

Topic sentence:  By experiencing adversity we learn compassion.

Response:  When people undergo difficulty or misfortune they are struggling with adversity.

Making your case:  Tell your own story in three sentences (beginning/middle/end).

Conclusion sentence: Through these obstacles the end result was compassion.

5^th Period: Word: Compassion

Topic Sentence: Showing compassion is expressing kindness for others without expecting something in return.

Response: Many people believe they deserve something in return for doing good; however, people should be kind out of the goodness of their hearts.

Making your case:  Tell your own story in three sentences (beginning/middle/end).

Conclusion sentence: Being compassionate is much more than getting a reward for being kind.

6^th Period:  Word: Empathy

Topic sentence: Everyone should have empathy toward homeless people.

Response: We should be able to understand the feelings of others in need.

Making your case:  Tell your own story in three sentences (beginning/middle/end).

Conclusion sentence: No one should feel forgotten, so showing empathy for those less fortunate can change lives.

7^th Period: Word: Empathy

Topic sentence: People do not have empathy toward homeless citizens.

Response: People tend to ignore those less fortunate and treat them poorly.

Making your case:  Tell your own story in three sentences (beginning/middle/end).

Conclusion sentence: Those who ignore homeless citizens are not showing empathy toward those in need.

Making your case (personal story):

We worked on the personal story (Task 3).  You are to write your own story to back up the topic.  Once you’ve written (about 5 minutes) condense it to 3 sentences (beginning/middle/end).

We also wrote the concluding sentence.  Please see your class period to write what we did if you were absent.

**Tomorrow you will take everything we did in class and write me a perfectly clean paragraph.

Here's what we did today...

It's still a work in progress, but here you go.

Today we read and annotated the short essay "On Compassion."

Annotations:

*Number the paragraphs (there are 14)

*Underline and define new words

*Circle strong or important words

*Highlight figurative language (there is a simile and a metaphor)

*Comment in the margins as you read

We also chose the word that we will use to begin our topic sentence, and some classes made it to the response.  Please copy the sentence from your period.

1^st Period:  Word: Empathy. 

Topic sentence is:  Our actions are based on empathy.

3^rd Period: Word: Compassion

Topic sentence: Compassion lives in the heart of many people as shown through helping the homeless.

Response:  Some people believe compassion is learned rather than something with which we are born, however, if you observe young children you see they care for one another unconditionally.

4^th Period: Word: Adversity

Topic sentence:  By experiencing adversity we learn compassion.

Response:  When people undergo difficulty or misfortune they are struggling with adversity.

5^th Period: Word:

6^th Period:  Word: Empathy

Topic sentence: Everyone should have empathy toward homeless people.

7^th Period: Word: Empathy

Topic sentence: People do not have empathy toward homeless citizens.

Week of September 9 - 13

Monday:  Today we played catch up.  Anyone who still had to take Friday's test, or complete Friday's test did so today.  Any work from Unit 1 was to be completed today.

Tuesday: Today we went over the Four Tasks of Academic Writing.  Everyone took notes, and we discussed them a bit.  Once we finished, we read "On Compassion" and annotated as we read.

Wednesday:  We will continue to discuss and annotate "On Compassion," then come up with one great word.  I will post each day beginning tomorrow so anyone absent knows how far we've gotten.  We will be writing an academic paragraph together this week.  It will be due Monday (September 16th).

Thursday: Write topic sentence (Task 1).  We will use the one great word from yesterday and compose a topic sentence for our paragraph.  I will post by end of day.  We will also write our response to the topic sentence (Task 2).  Both will be posted.

Friday: Write your story (in 3 sentences, beginning/middle/end) to back up your topic sentence and response (Task 3).  Write your conclusion sentence (Task 4).  The conclusion sentence reminds why you told your story.

Annotation Test

Well, we ended week 2 with an annotation test.  I have to say I was pretty proud of everyone.  I saw students actively using the dictionaries, reading, highlighting, and writing.  Again, I am proud of everyone, you all rock!