Writing an Essay

1. Writing an Essay

3. The Academic Essay • The academic essay is composed of 3 parts: an introduction, the body, and a conclusion.

4. EVIDENCE The most important part of the academic essay is finding and using credible evidence to support your thesis. • Provide logical evidence to support youropinions. • Use ACE and signal phrases to integrate your quotes

5. A word of caution about evidence… Sometimes you want to support your opinion with research. Sources like Wikipedia, Webster’s Dictionary, or the World Book encyclopedia are not considered academic sources. They are too general and have issues with timeliness, target audience, and credibility. They are a great place to start research or find great links to other, credible sources.

7. TONE • Use a formal or academic voice in the essay. • Edit your essayfor conventions, such as grammar, mechanics, and style. • Use third person: • The author, reader, audience, novel • NOT- I, we, you

8. TONE • Avoid emotional or ambiguous arguments • Your FEELINGS can change. • Your position on the topic should be the same, regardless of the mood you are in. • In addition, YOU are the expert. Do not use words like, “kind of” and “sort of”.

10. Organization • Some argue this is the most important feature of an essay. • Must have an Introduction with a thesis • Body Paragraphs • A conclusion

11. The Introduction • Should include: • A hook–grabs the reader’s interest and is relevant to the essay’s topic and tone. • Try to avoid a question in formal writing. • Important background information the reader must have concerning the issue. • Helps establish context for the reader. • Transition from the general to the specific (thesis).

12. The Thesis Statement • At the end of your introduction, the reader should find your thesis. • The thesis has 3 major parts: the subject (what you are writing about), the attitude (what you are saying about the subject), and the sequence (the order of the topics): • The narrator in Lucien Stryk’s poem, “Cherries,” reflects the greedy and selfish attitude of corporate leadership in North America. • Tracey Devon, the protagonist of Out of Sight, Out of Mind, by Marilyn Kaye, is lonely, melancholy, and shy.

13. Thesis Statements • Identify the the subject (what the author is writing about), the attitude (what the author is saying about the subject), and the sequence (the order of the topics) in the following examples: • In the beginning of Anderson’s novel, Speak, Melinda is portrayed as a depressed and miserable person. However, throughout the novel Melinda becomes increasingly optimistic and resilient, which indicates that she is beginning to heal from her traumatic past. • The title of Marcus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, has a strong relationship to the content of the novel itself because the title highlights the importance of the act of stealing books, which is correlated with the most important times of emotional and intellectual growth in Liesel’s life.

15. The Body • The body is where writers present their evidence to support their thesis. • For an academic essay, the writer must present at least two points of support in each body paragraph. • The first sentence of each body paragraph should clearly support some part of the thesis. We call these topic sentences. • The last sentence of each body paragraph sums up the paragraph and links back to the thesis. We call these concluding sentences.

16. Developing the Body Paragraph: ACE • Assertion/Context: Give the reader information about what is happening in the quote or show how you have come to the position you hold on this issue. • Use a signal phrase to incorporate the quote: In chapter four Bill says, “… • Explanation: Show the reader why you have used this quote to prove your thesis.

17. Developing the Body Paragraphs: Evidence Evidence/Examples/Quotes: • You will provide two or more citations from the novel to prove your point. • This helps your reader “see” what you are talking about. • Provide a concrete example of the more abstract concept.

18. Developing the Body Paragraphs: When Should you use Definitions? • Define terms: You only need to define terms if you are using a specific term that is either unknown to your audience or is open to multiple definitions. • For example, if you are writing about the novel “Unwind” you may need to explain what a “clapper” is to the audience if you are making reference to it in your essay.

19. Developing the Body Paragraphs • Transitions/Concluding Sentence: • This is the last step in a body paragraph. • Transitions help wrap up the paragraph’s point and move the reader to the next stage of the essay.

20. The Conclusion • This paragraph ends the essay. • The first element in a conclusion is traditionally a restatement of the thesis. You never copy the thesis exactly as it appears in the introduction, but you do want to remind your reader of the overall point of your essay. • Your conclusion is a place to show the significance of your thesis – why your interpretation is important or unique. • Do not introduce new evidence here!