Essay Writing

Grade 9

Mr. MacPhee

Lessons to be discussed…

What is an essay? Parts of an essay? Where to start: Choosing a topic, Brainstorming,

clustering, researching. Determining your audience Your writing style Writing the thesis statement.- Intro Writing the body of the essay; supporting evidence. Writing the conclusion Editing and Revising Final Draft

What is an essay?

• Essentially, an essay is an organized collection of your ideas about literary texts which is nicely written and presented.

• You are writing to convey your ideas with supported evidence to persuade your audience to come over to your side of the argument.

Parts of an essay:

• Essays usually have 3 parts, 5 paragraphs:

Introduction- this includes your thesis statement

Body- three supporting paragraphs

Conclusion- wrapping it up; restating your opinion

Where to start?

• Generate ideas through pre-writing. First you must choose a topic. You should usually choose a topic that you are comfortable with and have some background knowledge of. You can research more using the internet, books, critiques,etc.

• There are two different types of pre-writing strategies:

• Brainstorming

• Clustering

Brainstorming

• Brainstorming is simply writing on paper all the ideas that come to mind about a topic.

Write down as many words, phrases, or sentences as you can think of underneath the topic.

Then look at your ideas and see if any of them havee anything in common.

Identify these relationships, or similarities, and create several categories for your ideas.

Look at your brainstorming list and lump your ideas into the categories you’ve created as you see fit.

Clustering

• Clustering, is basically an idea web.• Once you have written down your ideas all over the

page, draw lines to ones that share a connection. Any type of connection will do.

• Single out those that have the most lines connecting them to other ideas. (Try to aim for three or more).

• Find out what the relationship is between those that have three or more lines and these become your categories.

• Now you can list the idea under the category and these make up your paragraphs for your essay.

Determining your audience

• It is important to keep your audience in mind when you write. Your audience is the person or persons who will read your essay. As a writer you need to keep them in mind because how you say what you want to say will depend on who your audience is.

• Considering your audience also affects the tone you will use when you write. Tone, in writing, refers to how something is said. Will you be writing seriously, sarcastically, humorously, or conversationally?

Writing Style

• Each of us have our own unique style of writing.• There are two main writing style categories: Formal writing- very precise and the language,

or wording is formal and is carefully chosen. Informal writing- more relaxed, and has a

conversational tone The type of writing style you choose to write will

depend on your audience and purpose. For most school essays the appropriate style is Formal.

The opening paragraph- Thesis statement

• Once you have chosen a topic and generated a list of ideas to discuss in an essay, you have to create your thesis statement.

• This is usually ¼ of the way down your page

• The opening paragraph is where you:– Define the topic – Express your opinion (what you will discuss in the body of the essay. This

should have three points)– State your thesis- this should be at the end or close to the end of the paragraph– Get your reader’s attention

• What is a thesis?

A thesis statement expresses your opinion about a topic. It is the basis of the introductory paragraph of your essay.

It should be a single, complete sentence. You must be sure you can support the opinion in your thesis.

Thesis Examples• “I want to learn about what has

influence the music of 50 cent.”

• “I want to find out some ways to stop teen gang activity.”

• I want to know how close we are to a cure for AIDS.”

The music of 50 cent has been heavily influenced by (you fill in the blank).

Teen gang activity can only be stopped with an early education in the public school system. Or

Teen gang activity in Canada can be stopped by a combined approach which consists of supervised youth programs, more job availability, and closer family relationships.

After years of research, scientists are on the verge of discovering a cure for the AIDS virus. Or

Although much research has gone into finding a cure for the AIDS virus, we are no closer to a real cure than we were when the disease first became known.

Is it a thesis???

• I would like to become a chef when I finish school.

• I enjoy white water rafting.

• Steroids, even those legally available, are addictive and should be banned from sports.

• Hip hop is the best thing that has happened to music in twenty years.

The Body of the Essay• The body of the essay is the biggest part, usually

comprised of three separate paragraphs that support your opinion (thesis statement).

• The first question you should ask yourself is: how do I plan to support the opinion in my thesis?

• Begin by listing reasons or examples that support your opinion. You need a list of at least three strong reasons.

• In each paragraph, you will discuss each reason individually. Your third paragraph (reason) should be your strongest point. However, each of the paragraphs should connect with one other.

• Sometimes it may be easier to write the body first, then the introduction and conclusion.

Conclusion

• The conclusion, is your last say on your essay topic. This is where you wrap your ideas up and close the essay.

• It only needs to be one, small paragraph.• You may in your conclusion: Restate your thesis Summarize the main points of your essay Draw a final conclusion about your topic Leave your reader with a memorable statement or quote. Most importantly you want to leave your reader with no

doubt as to your position.

Editing and Revising

• Re-read your essay• Check for spelling and grammar• Examine the whole essay for logic- does it flow,

are you repeatative, etc.• Review individual sentences• Be concise• Get a friend to peer-edit it for you or read it to

you….Have fun!