Grade 7 English
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
EXPOSITORY WRITING
What is an expository essay?
 Analyzes events, ideas, objects, or written works
 Explains or describes an event
 Explains why a character controls the truth
What is a thesis statement?
 One sentence that shows relationship between ideas and order present them
 Provides the reader with a “guide” to your arguments
 Provides the reader with a “roadmap” of your
essay
How do I write a good thesis statement?
 Narrow the topic
 Take a stand
 Be specific
 Explain the order of your arguments
 Keep to one main idea
What is the main question I am trying to answer?
How does my character control the truth?
____________________________ (name of character) in The Truman Show controls the truth
by ____________________________________________.
Thumbs up or Thumbs down?
1. People use many lawn chemicals.
Bad – observation
Better – People are poisoning the environment with dangerous chemicals to keep their
lawns green.
2. The thesis of this paper is the difficulty of solving environmental problems.
Bad – announce subject; no main idea or argument
Better – Solving our environmental problems is more difficult than many
environmentalists believe.
3. The American steel industry has many problems.
Bad – Too broad; need to narrow focus
Grade 7 English
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
Better – The primary problem of the American steel industry is the lack of money to
renovate old equipment and modernize plants.
4. World hunger has many causes and effects
Bad – vague; need to be more specific
Better – Hunger persists in Mongolia because jobs are scarce and farming infertile soil is
not profitable.
5. I am going to write about senior citizens who volunteer at literacy projects, and I am
going to show that they are physically and mentally invigorated by the responsibility of
volunteering.
Good
Better – Senior citizens who volunteer at literacy projects are invigorated physically and
mentally by the responsibility of volunteering.
6. Because half of all American elementary school children consume nine times the
recommended daily allowance of sugar, schools should be required to replace the
beverages in soda machines with healthy alternatives.
Good
Now we will look at how you can write your own thesis statement for your essay. It
will look something like:
My character controls the truth in the Truman Show by ________________,
_____________________________ and ____________________________.
Let’s look more closely at our question, and how we will need to organize our ideas to
answer in a straight-forward, logical way.
Grade 7 English
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
The Truman Show
An in-class essay question
Choose one of the main characters in the film The Truman Show (Truman, Christof,
Marlon, Meryl, Lauren/Sylvia, Truman’s mother (Angela), Truman’s Father). Write a five
paragraph expository essay explaining how (s)he controls the truth. Describe this
character’s role in The Truman Show, and what makes something “the truth” for this
person. Use third person narration. Write a clear thesis explaining how your chosen
character controls the truth. Use the Point, Evidence, Explanation format for each of
the body paragraphs. Use transitional words/phrases within and between paragraphs.
This is a basic ‘skeleton’ to how we should organize our ideas:
i.
Introduction
a. Brief plot summary
b. Role of chosen character
c. How character controls truth (thesis statement)
ii.
First way character controls truth (personality traits)
a. Point (topic sentence)
b. Evidence
c. Explanation
iii.
Second way character controls truth (actions)
a. Point (topic sentence)
b. Evidence
c. Explanation
iv.
Third way character controls truth (language)
a. Point (topic sentence)
b. Evidence
c. Explanation
v.
Conclusion
a. Summary of main points
b. Restate thesis
Grade 7 English
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
How do we begin?
1. Brainstorming
To get you started on your essay, think about what is real in the movie The Truman
Show and what isn’t. Choose a character from the movie. Think of how that character
controls the truth. At this stage you are brainstorming, so write down everything;
there is no right or wrong or no strong or weak idea. Write them all down as they
might be helpful in supporting other ideas you come up with. You might like to consider
things such as personality traits, actions, or language, just to name a few. As you think
of your great ideas, try to note down any evidence you can remember from the movie.
Character: _____________________________
The ways he or she controls the truth:
The evidence from the movie is…
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
●_________________________________ ●__________________________________
Grade 7 English
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
2. Choose your best ideas.
Now from your list above (or from your classroom brainstorm), choose your three best
or strongest ways the character you have chosen controls the truth. These three ideas
need to strong as you will have to provide evidence from the movie as well as
explanations.
How the character ________________ controls the truth is by:
Reason One:
2. Reason Two:
3. Reason Three:
4. Now you will take these three reasons and include them in one well-written sentence.
My character controls the truth by/because ____________________ 1) ___________
__________________________________________, 2) __________________________
__________________________ and 3) _______________________________________.
This will be your thesis statement for your essay. This will be your roadmap for your
essay. You use this as a guide to shape your paragraphs. Once you write your
paragraphs, you might find that you need to slightly change or edit your thesis
statement. It is a work in progress and can be changed as necessary.
Your thesis statement should give your strongest reasons and be the foundation of your
essay. Look at your thesis statement above – are you able to write convincing ways how
the character controls the truth? Can you support this with evidence? Can you connect
your reasons with evidence and provide a clear explanation?
Grade 7 English
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
Expository Essay Plan/Outline
Choose one of the main characters in the film The Truman Show (Truman, Christof,
Marlon, Meryl, Lauren/Sylvia, Truman’s mother (Angela), Truman’s Father). Write a five
paragraph expository essay explaining how (s)he controls the truth. Describe this
character’s role in The Truman Show, and what makes something “the truth” for this
person. Use third person narration. Write a clear thesis explaining how your chosen
character controls the truth. Use the Point, Evidence, Explanation format for each of
the body paragraphs. Use transitional words/phrases within and between paragraphs.
Paragraph One:
Introduction of the topic/ Background Information
Thesis Statement (Reason One, Reason Two, Reason Three)
The Truman Show takes place in (setting) _______________________________ and is
about (plot) ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
(Name of character) _____________________ is _______________________________
(his or her role). In the film, this character controls the truth by/because 1)__________
______________________________________________________ 2) _______________
_____________________________________________________ and 3) ____________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
Grade 7 English
Paragraph Two
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
Reason One
(Point or Topic Sentence) This character controls the truth by _____________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
(Example) This is seen in the movie when ______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
(Explanation) This example shows the character controls the truth because __________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Grade 7 English
Paragraph Three
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
Reason Two
(Point or Topic Sentence) Another way _________________ controls the truth is by __
_______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
(Example) The part of the movie where this is seen is when _______________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
(Explanation) This part of the movie shows the character controls the truth because ___
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Grade 7 English
Paragraph Four
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
Reason Three
(Point or Topic Sentence) Finally, _________________ controls his or her truth by _
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
(Example) The audience can see this when _____________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
(Explanation) This is important because _______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Grade 7 English
Paragraph Five
Quarter 4 – Truth Essay
Conclusion
How would you summarize what you have written?
Rephrase the thesis statement – do not copy it again.
Finish strong!
The Truman Show is a movie about (truth because) ______________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
__________________ (name character) controls his or her truth by 1)________________
______________________________________________________ 2) _______________
_____________________________________________________ and 3) ____________
_______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
In conclusion (final statement - finish strong) __________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Final Copy
Once you have completed your thesis statement and essay outline, you are ready to begin
writing. When answering the above question, be sure to include your thesis statement in
your introduction, and to write topic sentences for each paragraph. Your three reasons
are your three POINTS and your three topic sentences. Each paragraph needs at least
three convincing supporting details to support your reasons. Supporting details explain
your topic sentences in greater details – here you can give examples and be more specific.