Revising: Quotations Use the purple marker to underline all of the quotations in your essay. Quotations should: Start with a capital letter, be enclosed in quotation marks End with some type of punctuation, always inside the quotation marks: Question mark: How s Sodapop? Are the fuzz after us? Period: Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold. Comma: **a comma is used in place of a period if the quote is followed by commentary Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold, were Johnny s last words. Contain an introductory phrase that identifies the quote s author or speaker. The quote needs to be explained or its importance will be lost to the reader.
Revising: Flow Read your essay, paying attention to how the ideas in the sentences and paragraphs connect to one another. Do the sentences flow or do you need to add, change, or delete parts to improve the flow of ideas? Is the transition between ideas smooth? Use the list of transition phrases to improve the flow of your essay.
Revising: Hook and Conclusion 1. Use a blue marker to underline the first and last sentence of your essay. 2. Hook: the first sentence of your essay. The purpose of the hook is to get the reader interested and excited about reading your essay. If your hook needs to be revised, look below for ideas. Ideas for hooks: (yes, these are examples from Spongebob, but apply these ideas to The Outsiders). QUESTION QUOTE Where in the Pacific Ocean can you find a delicious Krabby Patty to eat, live in a pineapple, and drive in an underwater boat? Bikini Bottom, of course! "Do you smell that? That smell--it's the smell of a smelly smell that smells smelly," stated Spongebob from the show Spongebob Squarepants. STARTLING STATISTIC (maybe information about the author or when the book was written and how its message still applies today) Over 1 million adults and children worldwide tune in to watch the TV show, Spongebob Squarepants on a weekly basis. DIALOGUE "There's nothing wrong with getting kissys from your grandmother," said Spongebob. "No, especially if you're a big baby who wears diapers!" responded Fish. 3. Conclusion: the last sentence of your essay (the very last sentence of the last paragraph). This last sentence should wrap up your ideas about the character and make a final comment about how this character connects to life or human nature. Example: Readers can learn a lot about the importance of living their lives with integrity by following Johnny s example.
Revising: Organization 1. Use a green marker and number your paragraphs: there should be 5 paragraphs. Paragraph 1: Introduction Paragraph 2: Supporting, Trait #1 Paragraph 3: Supporting, Trait #2 Paragraph 4: Supporting, Trait #3 Paragraph 5: Conclusion 2. Next, box the last sentence of the first paragraph: this is your thesis. The thesis should include the three character traits you chose to describe the character. Example: friendly, loyal, hardworking 3. Box the three traits and number each one: 1, 2, 3 (under each trait). 4. Look at paragraphs 2, 3, and 4. The first sentence of each paragraph should contain one of the traits as its main idea. For example, paragraph 2 should begin with a sentence that has friendly as its main idea. Paragraph 3: loyal, paragraph 4: hardworking.
Editing: Capitalization, Punctuation, Spelling 1. Use a highlighter or yellow marker to highlight the first letter and the punctuation for each sentence. 2. Each sentence should begin with a capital letter and end with a period or question mark. 3. Spelling: WARNING!!! Spell check does not always choose the correct word. Read through your essay and circle words that are spelled incorrectly. Ask if you are unsure : ) 4. Using the highlighter, highlight each time you have used the words: The Outsiders. This is the title of a book, therefore it must be underlined. Example: The Outsiders
Editing: Format Header: Right justified Your First and Last Name (capitalized, of course) Date Period Number Title: Centered, 14 point font, bold Paragraphs: Indented by pressing the Tab Key once. This will automatically advance the cursor 5 spaces. Line Spacing: Double, or 2.0 Paragraph, Line Spacing, 2.0 Font: Times New Roman, Cambria, or Calibri Size: 12 point
TRANSITIONS TO EMPHASIZE A POINT again another key point first thing to remember for this reason frequently important to realize indeed in fact key point most compelling evidence most important information must be remembered on the negative side on the positive side point often overlooked significant that surprising surprisingly enough to emphasize to point out to repeat truly with this in mind TRANSITIONS TO ADD INFORMATION additionally again along with also and another as well besides equally important finally for example for instance further furthermore in addition likewise moreover next together with TRANSITIONS TO CLARIFY for example for instance in other words put another way seems clear from this simply stated stated differently that is to clarify to illustrate the point TRANSITIONS TO CONCLUDE OR SUMMARIZE accordingly all in all as a result consequently due to finally in closing in conclusion in short in summary in the last analysis lastly logical conclusion is therefore thus to conclude