What is an Essay? Review of Essays Have you ever written an essay? If yes, what kinds of essays have you written? What is the structure of an essay? • Introduction • Body • Conclusion Three things that need to be considered before writing an essay include: the topic, the purpose, and the audience. What kinds of essays are there? • Examples: Process, comparison, cause-effect, persuasive, argumentative, research or a combination Common Essay Forms • 5 paragraph essay (starting point) • Many more paragraphs (for more complex/sophisticated ideas) • E.g. a research paper is usually counted by number of pages instead of paragraphs What do you know about the following components of an essay? • • • • Introduction Thesis Body Conclusion Add any knowledge your group has to the following PADLET https://padlet.com/smithv5/Bookmarks Introduction 1-3 Should be fluid 1. 2. 3. This is not a thesis! Starts with a hook that grabs the reader’s attention Gives background information to connect the reader to the topic Includes a thesis statement that summarizes the main point of the essay and explains the writer’s idea or position about the topic THE HOOK What is a hook? • It is an opening sentence in an essay that is supposed to attract and interest the reader in an attempt to make them want to read more. Types of hooks • Shocking statement • Anecdote (personal essay) • Definition • Quote • An interesting question • Scene • Dilemma • Common misconception The Hook: Examples 1. What makes a person happy? 2. Imagine going to a sushi restaurant that no longer served fish. 3. AI technology has been defined as “Simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions” (Frankenfield, 2021). 4. Canada is one of the wealthiest and most waterrich countries in the world. Yet many of its First Nations communities continue to lack safe drinking water. 5. Most coffee addicts would tell you their favorite drink comes from a bean, but they are wrong. Coffee is made from a seed called a bean. 6. According to Komet (2019), People lie in 1 out of 5 conversations lasting more than 10 minutes. Background • Get the reader warmed up to your topic by giving some background. Your background information is a bridge between your hook and your thesis: • DO • Give your reader some background information that shows what your topic is and why your topic is important • DON’T • Give details that you will include in the body of your essay Example: • Imagine going to a sushi restaurant that could no longer serve fish. Such a scenario may seem difficult to believe, but the fish populations of the earth’s oceans face severe threats. Like land animals that have been hunted to near extinction, such as buffalo, elephants and tigers, marine animals also need to be protected if they are to survive into future generations. Governments must encourage sustainable fishing practices and other regulatory guidelines to ensure that the oceans preserve their variety of animal and plant life as well as sufficient fish populations. Thesis Statement • The thesis statement is the MOST IMPORTANT part of your essay. • It provides your POSITION on the TOPIC of your essay • It provides a blueprint on the organization of your essay • It’s typically the final sentence of your introductory paragraph Example of a basic thesis: • Topic: Cell phones in school • Thesis statement: Student use of cell phones in schools should be prohibited Thesis Statements with Key Words • Sometimes in 5 paragraph essays, the controlling ideas are key words that we can find in each of the body paragraphs. “At least 25 percent of the federal budget should be spent on helping upgrade business to clean technologies, researching renewable energy sources, and planting more trees in order to control or eliminate pollution.” (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/01/) • Paragraph topics 1. 2. 3. Upgrading business to clean technologies Researching renewable energy sources Planting more trees • With this type of thesis, you need to have parallel structure. Essay Introduction Example: Fast Food Can you identify the hook, background and thesis? The fast food industry in the U.S. has grown dramatically during the last few years. According to the book “Fast Food Nation”, people in the U.S. spend more money on fast food than in higher education. This trend is concerning as the impact of eating such foods can have devastating impact for people of all ages throughout society. Eating fast food has negative consequences for society, which include Predict the making people lazy, harming people’s health and hurting topic of the essay family relationships. paragraphs The Essay Body • The body of the paragraph • Usually consists of three or more paragraphs • Explains and supports the thesis statement • Each paragraph should contain it’s own clear idea. • Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence • PEA structure is an excellent way to organize your ideas in a paragraph. For each point that you have, you should include evidence and possibly analysis. The Essay Conclusion • The conclusion of the essay • Summarizes the writer’s main idea and main points • Uses vocabulary from the introduction • Offers some critical thinking on the topic such as a suggestion, opinion or prediction • Does NOT include any new supporting information The Writing Process 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Choose your topic Brainstorm Outline First Draft Edit Second Draft…(revise…third draft) Essay topic: What are the benefits of being bilingual? Brainstorming techniques Freewrite Mindmap Collective Brainstorming • https://app.mindmup.com/map/new/1615320908412
