Structured Writing Review 10 th grade

1. Structured Writing Review 10th grade

2. Hook (H) • The opening sentence of your essay; grabs the reader’s attention and sets up what your paper will be about. Strategies: • World connection about your topic • Dramatic fact • Simile/metaphor/analogy • Straw man (stating the opposite and a rebuttal) • A relevant definition • Set the scene

3. Hook Examples…all from the persuasive essay about Friar Lawrence being the one to blame in Romeo & Juliet • When things go terribly wrong, it is only natural for people to point fingers. • Lovesick teenagers can be like a ticking time bomb. • When someone is morally responsible for doing something wrong, their action is blameworthy. • Romeo and Juliet is regarded by many to be the greatest love story ever told. • Holy men are supposed to be wise and celibate. But many things in life don't turn out the way they are supposed to.

4. Thesis (T) A sentence with a subject, an arguable concept, and topics of discussion for body paragraphs. This typically comes at the end of your introductory paragraph. Subject = the text(s) or topic(s) you are addressing in your essay + mention of the author(s) if applicable Arguable concept = an idea that must be proven; one that is not obvious or self-evident Topics of discussion = There should (probably) be as many points as you will have body paragraphs. They need to be consistently analyzed in terms of how they relate back to your arguable concept. For Example: In :InRomeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, many people place the blame solely on Friar Lawrence as the cause of Romeo and Juliet's demise and they are absolutely right to do so due to his fickle attitude, his tendency to be dishonest, and his short-sightedness.

5. Introduction Paragraph 1- Hook (H) 2- Background (BG): Introduce topic/text and why it is of importance. Make sure you give some background on the text (basically the issues in the text that relate to your topic), without resorting to unnecessary summary. 3- Thesis (T)

6. Topic Sentence (TS) • The first sentence in a body paragraph. • Must have enough information to guide (but not explicitly state) the evidence/concrete details you will include in this paragraph. For Example: Friar Lawrence proves to be fickle several times throughout the play, and his fickleness unfortunately greatly affects those around him.

7. Concrete Detail/Example/Evidence (CD) • A concrete detail is a specific reason to support your argument. Sometimes it is a quote or paraphrased example from the text; other times it states an implied textual truthor your own outside example that supports the prompt (SAT prompt) • For example: Additionally, in the last scene of the play, Friar abandons Juliet in her time of need in the Capulet burial vault because he hears a "noise."

8. Analysis/Commentary (CM) • This is the place to analyze the corresponding concrete detail and how it relates back to the topic of your essay/thesis. • In reflections or personal essays (like college/scholarship essays), you can SPREE: -State your opinion -Personally respond -Reflect -Explain your interpretation -Explicate relevant issues (explicate = combination of explain + analyze)

9. But when you are analyzing text, there is no first person allowed. Ways to generate commentary when analyzing text: • Consider the author’s diction. Why does he or she use this word/phrase? Does the word/phrase have a special connotation? Is it a charged word/phrase? How does this choice of word/phrase precisely reflect the author’s message? • What is not stated in the corresponding quote or paraphrased example, but is rather implied? • Connect to literary terms whenever possible. Consider how one event foreshadows another, or how a metaphor’s meaning is particularly relevant to the message the author is conveying. • Analyze cause and effect relationships when it appropriately relates to your thesis. • Don’t just analyze what characters say; analyze how they interact with each other.

10. Ways to generate commentary when analyzing text (cont.): • Address the author’s message. He or she wrote the text for a reason – what is that reason? • If the essay is about rhetoric, explain the general purpose of the rhetorical strategy (appeal AND/OR device) referenced. • How will the reader/intended audience likely feel or react to the quote/ paraphrased example? (Be careful here – don’t speculate too much). • Is there any evidence in the text to counter what is explained in the concrete detail? • All concrete details in the same paragraph should support the same topic sentence, but they should not be interchangeable, or your commentary will grow stale quickly. That is to say, there should be a progression of ideas within each paragraph as well as the essay as a whole in order to keep moving forward toward the next level of insight.

11. Commentary Example Example: He must know that with Romeo dead in front of her, it is only a matter of time before Juliet kills herself, for she explicitly states in his cell two days earlier that without Romeo in her life, she wishes to die. However, Friar mildly suggests that Juliet become a nun and then abandons her because he decides that it is more important for him to run away in case any guards are approaching to investigate.

12. Integration of Text You can integrate text in many ways: • Refer to the author(s) [last name(s) only!] • Refer to the name of the text(s) • Integrate quotes from the text • Paraphrase examples from the text • Use terminology to describe different parts/print features of the text, keeping in mind the different genres of text we will examine – terms like excerpt, prologue, epilogue, preface, foreword, afterword, appendix, caption, illustration, headline, introduction, conclusion, body, chapter, vignette, stanza, verse, lyric, etc.

13. Technique for integrating quotes: Transition, lead-in, quote (TLQ) • Transitions are words or phrases that help to organize the order AND content of the examples in your essay. • Lead-ins: 1) help to explain what you are trying to prove with your quote (i.e. they connect back to the TS or arguable concept in thesis), or 2) provide context for when/where the quote appears in the text. 1) In contrast, Friar shows his wisdom by stating: “young men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes” (2.3.29). 2) For instance, when Romeo comes to visit Friar in Act 2.3, he notices that"our Romeo hath not been in bed tonight" (line 18).

14. Concluding Sentence (CS) • Last sentence in a body paragraph • Sums up the purpose of that paragraph as it relates to the thesis and the concrete details discussed • Might be similar to TS but should show a new level of insight For example: Friar clearly changes his mind often and spontaneously ditches ideas that he previously thought were important, which majorly contributes to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

15. Body Paragraph Formula • A Chunk refers to the combination of a Concrete Detail connected to sentences of Commentary/Analysis within a body paragraph. Typically a chunk is three sentences in this configuration: CD-CM-CM • It is advisable to have at least two chunks in a body paragraph, more as needed to make the point you need to make in that paragraph in order to answer the given prompt. • Formula: TS, however many chunks (CDs /CMs) you need to make your point, and then CS. TS-CD-CM-CM-CD-CM-CM-CS Body paragraph structure should look something like this 

16. Conclusion Paragraph The Conclusion should do most (not all) of the following: • Recap your main topics of discussion • Reflect on what you said in your essay • Say more commentary if there is anything relating to your topic that has not been stated • Discuss how the topic relates on universal/world scale • Discuss the author’s effectiveness • Make predictions/state future implications of topic • Include a proposal or call to action if appropriate • Link back to the hook if possible  Which strategies are more appropriate for literary analysis? Research papers? *It gives a finished feeling to your whole essay. It DOES NOT repeat words or phrases from your paper and especially not from your thesis and introductory paragraph, though it may re-state concepts overall.

17. So to sum it all up… • Structured writing is difficult, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle with many moving parts and pieces that look alike but are not exactly alike. • Hopefully you have realized this already, but writing takes a lot of time and a lot of revision to perfect. • However, you need to keep the type of writing you are doing in mind. If you are working on something at home with multiple revisions, then you have ample time to make sure all the puzzle pieces fit and will be held to this standard. • On the other hand though, if you are doing a timed write in class, you oftentimes need to use only the essential parts of this structure in order to get your point across and you can’t obsess over every word choice or you will run out of time.

18. Miscellaneous • Awareness of your diction – get rid of redundancies and vague words, and choose precisely connoted words to help you get your meaning across as powerfully and as efficiently as possible • Awareness of syntax (?) – don’t write choppy sentences but don’t always use long, complex sentences; variety in sentence length can be used deliberately for impact • Awareness of sentence starters – don’t always follow a typical subject-verb pattern (this is…). *More to come soon on techniques for sentence variety