Assignment Preparation
When Stanley Yelnats first arrives at
Camp Green Lake, he has little sense
of self-worth. However, during his
time there, Stanley develops into a
character with admirable qualities
and emerges as a true hero.
 Stanley starts his journey with little self-worth
 Stanley’s admirable qualities  how he slowly
transforms  hero
 We have collected quotes from the novel and have
started planning our paragraphs.
 We are now ready to start planning to write our
assignments.
 What is it?
 Why is it important?
 Planning is very important when writing any
assignment. We need to work out what we are going to
include in our paragraphs (remember, we can’t include
everything), and how to structure our paragraphs so
that our argument makes sense.
 ‘My Place’ is Sally Morgan's rich, zesty and moving
story of her childhood and growing up in Perth,
Western Australia. It tells how she gradually came to
realise the truth about her family and their heritage. In
its original edition, ‘My Place’ was warmly and
enthusiastically received by readers and critics.
 Look out for:
 introduction and conclusion – what is included?
 Topic sentences
 Quotes
 Punctuation
 Formal style of writing (third person)
 ‘Clincher sentences’
 What do you think needs to be included in the
introduction? (refer to the ‘Sally’s Story’ example if you
need to).
 Name of the novel and the author
 Any interesting information about the novel
 Brief plot synopsis
 Thesis (what you are arguing)
Write the following onto your planning sheet:
 ‘Holes’ written by Louis Sachar
 Published in 1998
 Has won the ‘Newbery Medal’ and has been adapted
into a screenplay for the 2003 film by Walt Disney
Pictures.
 Brief plot synopsis (summary) 2-3 sentences
 Thesis (main argument)
 What do you think you would write about in this
paragraph?
When Stanley Yelnats first arrives at Camp Green
Lake, he has little sense of self-worth. However,
during his time there, Stanley develops into a
character with admirable qualities and emerges as
a true hero.
 What are some examples where the reader is
positioned to see that Stanley has little sense of
self-worth?
 Topic sentence
 Stanley enters Camp Green Lake with low self-esteem
 Use some examples from the novel to support this:
 Bullied at school
 Teacher using Stanley’s weight as example – Stanley is
embarrassed by his size
 Family having no luck
 Use quotes to support your ‘examples’
 Remember the sandwich rule – never leave a quote by itself.
 Don’t think that the reader of your essay has read ‘Holes’.
Therefore you need to explain/introduce the characters you
mention.
 Clincher sentence: links back to thesis statement
 When Stanley Yelnats first arrives at Camp Green
Lake, he has little sense of self-worth. However, during
his time there, Stanley develops into a character with
admirable qualities and emerges as a true hero.
 Discuss how Stanley develops ‘admirable’ qualities
 How, through the struggles he faces, he begins to
emerge as someone who is strong, in control of his life
and becomes more confident.