General Essay Review
I.
Parts of Essay
A.
Introduction
1.
2.
B.
Opening Remarks--Attention
Getter
Thesis (main idea)
Body
1.
Support of the essay
2.
This can be composed of multiple
paragraphs
C.
Conclusion
1.
Concluding statement
2.
Closing Remarks--Attention Getter
• Writing process
• Know your assignment (journalistic
questions)
• Prewrite
• Observe your subject
• Brainstorm, cluster, etc.
• Divine TS, order of support
• First draft
• Revise
• Proof/edit
• Final draft
EXEMPLIFICATION
ESSAYS
Exemplification
• Use examples to prove a main point
• Questions ask writer to “illustrate” or “provide examples”
Example: Discuss the worst job you ever had, including specific examples to
support your essay.
Coherency
• Logical order
• Paragraphs: Weakest/least important point to strongest/most important
point
• Within paragraphs: weakest example to strongest example
Essay Outline
• Introduction—attention getter and
thesis
• Body
• Support Paragraph 1
• Topic Sentence presenting first main
point
• Provide specific example(s)
• Support Paragraph 2
• Topic Sentence presenting second
main point
• Provide specific example(s)
• Support Paragraph 3
• Topic sentence presenting third main
point
• Provide specific example(s)
• Conclusion
• Reinforce main idea in thesis
• Summarize body/restate topic sentences
• End on attention getter
Chapter 14A Sample Essay
• Support Paragraph 1
• Main point: Extreme sports are dangerous
• Examples used: snowboarding & skateboarding falls; rock climbing, bungee
jumping, sky diving performed at high altitudes; bungee cord tangling
• Support Paragraph 2
• Main point: Extreme sports are difficult
• Examples used: surfing in wind/waves; bungee jumping using difficult stunts; BMX
racing requires control over vehicle on mud
• Support Paragraph 3
• Main point: Extreme sports require special equipment
• Example used: surfers need surfboards (long or short), wax, wetsuits
DESCRIPTIVE ESSAYS
Descriptive Essays—Purpose
• To describe a person, situation, place, thing, animal, emotion,
experience, etc.
• Writers create a dominant impression in the reader’s mind
• Painting a picture—show, don’t just tell
Creating an Image
“I am tired.”
vs.
“As I lounge in my blue recliner, covered by my favorite Steelers'
fleece blanket, my eyelids become heavy, and the paperback in my
hands appears fuzzy as I drift lightly to sleep.”
Types of Description
Objective Description
Subjective Description
• Appealing to the senses
• Describe, without flourish, what
you see, taste, smell, hear, and
touch
• Details that create a more literal
image of what you are describing
• Conveying your attitude and
feelings with sensory detail
• Can involve using figures of speech
(non-literal, or figurative, images)
Example: The woman had light
brown hair and blue eyes and
wore a green shirt.
• Simile, metaphor, personification.
Example: The woman, with hair the
color of hay and eyes that shown
like sparkling blue sapphire, wore
a shirt as green as the grassy fields
of Ireland.
Focus on What Senses Perceive
• Taste
• Touch
• Hearing
• Smell
• Sight
Prewriting for Description
• Observe the subject
• Write down associated nouns, etc.write words to describe the
nouns
• Example: subject = pizza
• Cheese—bubbly, oozing mozzarella
• Sauce—red, tangy, tomato-flavored, speckled with parsley
• Crust—golden brown, crunchy, thin, thick
• Pepperoni (and/or other toppings)—spicy, sparsely covering pizza or blanketing
the pizza
• Hot—mouth-watering, steaming
Prewriting: Questions to Consider
• What overall impression are you trying to make?
• Essay needs a purpose
• What additional information do you associate with the topic?
• What are/were you thinking when around the subject?
• What were you feeling?
Prewriting: Organize Essay’s Points
• Spatial order
• Follow clear path—top to bottom, left to right
• Focus on a specific area
• End on strongest detail
• Most important sensory characteristic
• Anecdote—see sample essay in 14C
Outlining
I.
Introduction
A.
Attention Getter
B.
Thesis (identify the subject and
your emotion)
II.
Body
A.
Describe first section (i.e., eyes,
mouth, etc.)
B.
Describe second section (i.e.,
hair, skin, etc.)
C.
Describe third area or present
anecdote (i.e., physical build,
voice, etc.)
III. Conclusion
A.
Concluding statement
reiterate main idea
B.
Review descriptive points
C.
Attention getter
Writing Tips
• Be concise and choosy
• Language = relevant, descriptive
• R E M E M B E R…
Don’t just tell…SHOW!
• Words like “lovely,” “ugly,” “beautiful,” etc., are vague, nondescriptive
• Give details to explain why something is beautiful, ugly, etc.
Journal--Descriptive
Practice
Think of a scene from a TV
show or movie and
imagine yourself as the
writer for this scene.
Describe…
•the physical location
Where does this take
place?
What do you see here?
•the characters in the
scene
•What are their names, job
titles, and general
background stories
•What do they look like?
PROCESS ESSAYS
Process Purpose
• Two types
• Explanation
• To show how something is done without expecting reader to perform the process
• Present tense
• Task is repeated, runs in cycles
• Past tense
• Task not repeated
• Instruction
• To show how to do something
• Write in commands
• Present tense
Process Essay Introductions
• Can start in various ways
• Start with short story
• Example:
• When I was planning the budget for my wedding, I had a limited amount of money to
work with. I needed to reserve most of the money for the reception—mainly, food and
decorations. Therefore, when it came to the music, I had a very small amount of money
to spare—about $150. Most disc jockeys charged much more than this, so I found an
alternative: downloading the songs I wanted from the Internet and putting them in
order on my own playlist.
• Start with a question
• Example:
• What is the best way to create one’s own playlist that includes various artists to
entertain guests at a party? (follow with supporting sentences)
Thesis in Process Essay Introduction
• Need a main point
• How doing something is fun, easy, timesaving, money-saving, etc.
• How a process is complex and involves several key steps to be carried out
successfully
• Example (after narrative)
• From my experience in serving as my own wedding DJ, I learned that
downloading music and arranging a playlist was easy and inexpensive.
Support Paragraphs in Process Essay
• Each support paragraph should have…
• Topic Sentence introducing a step or group of related steps
• Support
• Reminders and warnings related to steps and/or why this step or group of steps is
important
• Concluding statement
Support in Sample Essay (206)
• Step(s) 1: Reserve a spot; get a helper
• Step(s) 2: sort through items
• Extra details about how to do this
• Step(s) 3: price the items
• Extra details about challenges and lessons learned from this
• Step(s) 4: pack items
• Extra details about how to do this
• Step(s) 5: set up tables; change from bank; collect bags, newspapers
• Step(s) 6: go to flea market and set up
• Extra details about setup
• Step(s) 7: sell the items
• Extra details and examples about past experience with this
• Step(s) 8: count money; pack up; leave
Conclusion in Process Essay
• Concluding statement
• Restates main idea
• Example:
• On the day of my wedding, the music played, from the wedding ceremony to the
reception, carried a lot of meaning—and very little financial burden—for me
because I knew it was a compilation of my creation.
• Closing remarks
• Summary of steps
• Attention-getting
Process Essay Tips
• Keep steps in clear order
• Remember to be consistent in…
• Voice
• Person
• Verb tense
• Instructions in present tense
• Explanations can be past or present
• Rarely use future tense b/c explaining what you did (past) or what someone is
doing as they follow along (present)
Transitions in Process Essays
• Use transitions…
• Between steps in paragraphs
• Between body paragraphs
• Incorporate in TS
• Include words that incorporates previous paragraph with next paragraph
• Examples of words to use:
• First, The next steps, The last step(s)
• Page 205
In-class Response Descriptive Essay
• You will describe a person or place or thing
• Focus on physical attributes, distinctive qualities of voice
• Focus on personality (display through an anecdote?)
• Use subjective and objective description
• Thursday, June 24
• 1 hour, 15 minutes (first half of class)
• Break from 6:15-6:20
• Peer review (narrative essay), discuss Chapt. 24 to finish class