Writing an Essay HZT4U"

What is an essay?" An essay is a series of paragraphs the objective of which is to describe, argue, analyze or clarify an idea." An essay is unified by its thesis, which is the central, controlling idea running (think: the conclusion of an argument dictates all the premises)." An essay is generally written in three parts:" Introduction" Body paragraphs" Conclusion"

The Introduction" The introduction to an essay is critical! The objective of the introduction is to:! Capture the reader s interest (think: seduction!)" Provide context for what will be argued (think: introduce the topic)" State the thesis (think: what will your essay argue and hopefully prove?)" Outline the plan (think: introduce all your arguments premises to support your thesis conclusion)" If any of these parts are unclear or absent, the rest of the essay is weakened.! There is no strict order to how the introduction should be written. However, you might find the following helpful:!

Yes indeed. This is a funnel."

The Funnel Method The funnel method refers to a style of writing an introduction where one begins with a general statement, proceeds to context, and only then introduced the thesis. After the thesis is presented the arguments are outlined."

The Body Paragraphs" The body paragraphs are all self-contained units that work together for a common purpose: supporting the thesis of the essay. There should be no repetition of thoughts from one body paragraph to the next organization of your ideas is the key to success in the body paragraphs." " Between all paragraphs, you should provide transitional phrases words that clearly lead from one idea into the next. Within paragraphs, you also need transitions that will help the ideas flow from one to the next. (More to come on the slide about transitions)." " Just like the essay as a whole is unified by the thesis, each body paragraph must be unified by a central idea."

Body Paragraphs (cont d) Develop your body paragraphs using the model below (this model is for each of your body paragraphs):" Central Idea" Point! Proof! Explanation! Transition" Point! Proof! Explanation! Transition" Point! Proof! Explanation! Conclude this paragraph and transition to the next"

" In-text Quotations " Most of the proof that you use in your essay will come in the form of quotations or paraphrased ideas taken from the texts you have consulted to generate your ideas." Whenever you quote or paraphrase an idea from another text, you must cite it. In English, we use MLA style for citations, which means that we make a parenthetical reference to the work we have used. " FOR EXAMPLE:! To refer to a book, put the author s name and the page(s) used in parentheses: (Gaarder 34).! For an article without an author, put an abbreviated form of the title of the article in parentheses: ( Titanic online) Here online indicates that the article is web-based.! To reference a scholarly paper (this is MLA format)the author s last name must appear in parentheses along with the page number.! E.g. Though the number of lion attacks on humans is low, the rate of increase of attacks since the 1960s is cause for serious concern (Rychnovsky 43)." Note: Unlike APA, use no punctuation between the name and the page number. "

In-text Quotations (cont d)" Any works that you cite during your essay must be listed in full on your works cited page which is attached to your good copy." To spell it out clearly (because a surprising number of students don t understand how this works):" In your essay, you CITE the source of your information by putting relevant information in parentheses (as on the previous slide)! At the end of your essay, you indicate with a full MLA-style bibliographical entry the WORKS you have CITED. To NOT cite anything, but to still include a Works Cited page indicates a lack of understanding.! IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO A WORKS CITED PAGE IN MLA STYLE, LOOK AT THE HANDOUT ON CITATION I GAVE YOU!

The Conclusion " In the Conclusion:" Very briefly (and not in the same words) summarize the ideas that have been presented in the body paragraphs." Remind the reader of the thesis of the essay, but avoid restating it exactly as it appears in your introduction." Widen the perspective of your thesis by answering a big picture question provide the answer to so what?."

Conclusion (cont d) In fact, your conclusion can be formatted in an inverted funnel (the opposite of your introduction). " Briefly summarize your ideas" " Restate the thesis" " Widen the perspective " of your thesis" " Present a " big picture " question " for the reader s " consideration"

What else?" You now have a sense of what an essay IS, but there is a whole universe of difference between merely writing an essay and writing a very good essay. " " Follow these tips and pointers to be successful:"

PROOFREAD: You should spend as much time revising and editing your essay as you do generating a first draft. Most students do a superficial edit of their first draft and submit it for marks. Proofreading can make a mediocre essay good and a good essay great."

The Writing Process" 1. Brainstorm ideas" 2. Organize ideas by topic" 3. Outline ideas (make points, develop a working thesis, find or use proofs, provide explanations. It is also a good idea to conference with the teacher while doing your outline)" 4. Do a rough copy (everything you do up to this point, I recommend you do by hand)" 5. Type out a draft and print it" 6. Let your essay sit for a day or so. Try to not think about it. THEN revisit it and proofread with a less-stressed mind. You d be amazed how many improvements you will find and be able to make" 7. Peer edit, and then conference with the teacher. Show a nearly-complete peer-edited draft to the teacher and get feedback. Major errors can be caught here and fixed before you submit your essay." 8. Revise again and prepare your good copy or final draft."

Furthermore " Do not struggle to come up with thoughts and look for quotations to support them. Instead, find quotations and generate thoughts from them." Keep track of the source of your quotations as you write them" Always use the proofreading checklist that is provided for you."

Some more tips " Be sure that word choice is varied and precise, but don t use the thesaurus to find words which are unfamiliar to you in the hope that by using them your essay will seem smarter. It won t.! Use transitions to move between ideas within paragraphs and between paragraphs. Do not use the same transitions all the time, and in a senior class, your transitions should be more sophisticated than just one word. (e.g. Secondly is not as effective a transition as To examine this idea further )" Do not use figurative language or any phrasing that expects your reader to interpret your thoughts. Effective writing does not require interpretation."

Employ economical use of words do not use 50 words to say what can be more easily said in 15." E.g. While the dew was still fresh on the grass and the robin s belly not yet full, they embarked on a sojourn to The Big Smoke Canada s biggest city fully prepared to part with their hard-earned dollars and by doing so to make the return journey awash with worldly goods. " OR" That morning, they went to Toronto to shop."

A few more thoughts on quotations:" Quotations are used when you use another person s idea word-for-word in your writing. Whenever a quotation is used, you must be certain to:" put it in quotation marks" write it exactly as it appears in its original state, context notwithstanding" incorporate it into a sentence and do not have it as a sentence of its own" use it to support an idea and not as an idea on its own" cite your source according to MLA style"

For example:! Writing to Sophie, Alberto makes clear that one of the primary goals of the philosopher is to maintain the faculty of wonder beyond childhood. He makes clear that a philosopher never gets quite used to the world (Gaarder, 18)." Things to note about this example:" the period comes after the citation (and is not in the quotation itself even if the quotation itself ends with a period)" the quotation fits within the natural flow of the sentence (read aloud, you wouldn t hear a shift into the quotation)"

Sometimes, however, you may need to slightly alter a quotation in order for it to make contextual sense in your work. When you do, put any changes in [brackets]." For example:" Sophie s introduction to philosophy is at once a new and familiar experience. By introducing Sophie to philosophical questions the mysterious philosopher grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her up again to the tip of the fur where she had played as a child (Gaarder 19)." In this sentence, we don t know which fur, or why it s relevant, but this problem is easily fixed:" Sophie s introduction to philosophy is at once a new and familiar experience. By introducing Sophie to philosophical questions the mysterious philosopher grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her up again to the tip of the [metaphorical rabbit s] fur where she had played as a child (Gaarder 19)."

Some other tips:! If a quotation appears in the middle of a sentence, cite your source before the next punctuation (comma, colon, semi-colon, period)" Do not use a quotation merely to repeat the point you ve made. In essay writing, you must employ economical use of words. Repetition is bad form. "