Hook/Attention Grabber (H)
• The opening sentence of your essay; grabs the
reader’s attention and sets up what your paper
will be about.
Strategies:
1. The Outside Connection
2. The Global Statement
3. Using a Quote
4. An Anecdote
5. The Straw Man
6. The Dramatic Fact/Simile or Analogy
Hook Examples…all from the persuasive essay about Friar
Lawrence being the one to blame in Romeo & Juliet
• When things go terribly wrong, it is only natural for
people to point fingers.
• Lovesick teenagers can be like a ticking time bomb.
• When someone is morally responsible for doing
something wrong, their action is blameworthy.
• Romeo and Juliet is regarded by many to be the greatest
love story ever told.
• Holy men are supposed to be wise and celibate, but many
things in life don't turn out the way they are supposed to.
Claim/Thesis (T)
A sentence with a subject, an arguable concept or claim, and topics of
discussion for body paragraphs. This typically comes at the end of
your introductory paragraph.
Subject = the text(s) or topic(s) you are addressing in your essay +
mention of the author(s) if applicable
Arguable concept = an idea that must be proven; one that is not
obvious or self-evident
Topics of discussion = There should (probably) be as many points as
you will have body paragraphs. They need to be consistently
analyzed in terms of how they relate back to your arguable concept.
For Example: In : In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, many
people place the blame solely on Friar Lawrence as the cause of Romeo
and Juliet's demise and they are absolutely right to do so due to his fickle
attitude, his tendency to be dishonest, and his short-sightedness.
Introduction Paragraph
1- Hook (H) AG
2- Background (BG): Introduce topic/text and
why it is of importance. Make sure you give
some background on the text (basically the
issues in the text that relate to your topic),
without resorting to unnecessary summary.
3- Thesis (T)
Topic Sentence (TS)
 The first sentence in a body paragraph.
 Must have enough information to guide
(but not explicitly state) the
evidence/concrete details you will include
in this paragraph.
For Example: Friar Lawrence proves to be
fickle several times throughout the play, and
his fickleness unfortunately greatly affects
those around him.
Evidence/Example/ Concrete Detail
(CD)
 A concrete detail is a specific reason to support
your argument. Sometimes it is a quote or
paraphrased example from the text; other
times it states an implied textual truth or your
own outside example that supports the
prompt (SAT prompt)
 For example: Additionally, in the last scene of the
play, Friar abandons Juliet in her time of need in
the Capulet burial vault because he hears a
"noise."
Support/Analysis/Commentary (CM)
• This is the place to analyze the corresponding
concrete detail and how it relates back to the
topic of your essay/thesis.
• In reflections or personal essays (like
college/scholarship essays), you can SPREE:
-State your opinion
-Personally respond
-Reflect
-Explain your interpretation
-Explicate relevant issues (explicate = combination
of explain + analyze)
But when you are analyzing text, there is
no first person allowed.
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Ways to generate commentary when analyzing text:
Consider the author’s diction. Why does he or she use this
word/phrase? Does the word/phrase have a special
connotation? Is it a charged word/phrase? How does this
choice of word/phrase precisely reflect the author’s message?
What is not stated in the corresponding quote or paraphrased
example, but is rather implied?
Connect to literary terms whenever possible. Consider how
one event foreshadows another, or how a metaphor’s meaning
is particularly relevant to the message the author is
conveying.
Analyze cause and effect relationships when it appropriately
relates to your thesis.
Don’t just analyze what characters say; analyze how they
interact with each other.
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Ways to generate commentary when analyzing text (cont.):
Address the author’s message. He or she wrote the text for a
reason – what is that reason?
If the essay is about rhetoric, explain the general purpose of
the rhetorical strategy (appeal AND/OR device) referenced.
How will the reader/intended audience likely feel or react to
the quote/ paraphrased example? (Be careful here – don’t
speculate too much).
Is there any evidence in the text to counter what is explained
in the concrete detail?
All concrete details in the same paragraph should support
the same topic sentence, but they should not be
interchangeable, or your commentary will grow stale
quickly. That is to say, there should be a progression of
ideas within each paragraph as well as the essay as a whole
in order to keep moving forward toward the next level of
insight.
Commentary Example
Example:
He must know that with Romeo dead in front of
her, it is only a matter of time before Juliet kills
herself, for she explicitly states in his cell two days
earlier that without Romeo in her life, she wishes
to die. However, Friar mildly suggests that Juliet
become a nun and then abandons her because he
decides that it is more important for him to run
away in case any guards are approaching to
investigate.
Integration of Text
You can integrate text in many ways:
 Refer to the author(s) [last name(s) only!]
 Refer to the name of the text(s)
 Integrate quotes from the text
 Paraphrase examples from the text
 Use terminology to describe different parts/print
features of the text, keeping in mind the different
genres of text we will examine – terms like excerpt,
prologue, epilogue, preface, foreword, afterword,
appendix, caption, illustration, headline, introduction,
conclusion, body, chapter, vignette, stanza, verse, lyric,
etc.
Technique for integrating quotes: Transition, lead-in,
quote (TLQ)
 Transitions are words or phrases that help to organize
the order AND content of the examples in your essay.
 Lead-ins: 1) help to explain what you are trying to
prove with your quote (i.e. they connect back to the TS
or arguable concept in claim/thesis), or 2) provide
context for when/where the quote appears in the text.
1) In contrast, Friar shows his wisdom by stating: “young
men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their
eyes” (2.3.29).
2) For instance, when Romeo comes to visit Friar in Act 2.3,
he notices that "our Romeo hath not been in bed tonight"
(line 18).
Concluding Sentence (CS)
• Last sentence in a body paragraph
• Sums up the purpose of that paragraph as it relates
to the thesis and the concrete details discussed
• Might be similar to TS but should show a new
level of insight
For example: Friar clearly changes his mind often
and spontaneously ditches ideas that he previously
thought were important, which majorly contributes
to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Body Paragraph Formula
 A Chunk refers to the combination of a Concrete Detail connected
to sentences of Commentary/Analysis within a body paragraph.
Typically a chunk is three sentences in this configuration:
CD-CM-CM
 It is advisable to have at least two chunks in a body paragraph,
more as needed to make the point you need to make in that
paragraph in order to answer the given prompt.
 Formula: TS, however many chunks (CDs /CMs) you need to
make your point, and then CS.
TS-CD-CM-CM-CD-CM-CM-CS
Body paragraph structure should look something like this 
Conclusion Paragraph
The Conclusion should do most (not all) of the following:
 Recap your main topics of discussion
 Reflect on what you said in your essay
 Say more commentary if there is anything relating to your topic
that has not been stated
 Discuss how the topic relates on universal/world scale
 Discuss the author’s effectiveness
 Make predictions/state future implications of topic
 Include a proposal or call to action if appropriate
 Link back to the hook if possible
 Which strategies are more appropriate for literary analysis?
Research papers?
*It gives a finished feeling to your whole essay. It DOES NOT repeat
words or phrases from your paper and especially not from your
thesis and introductory paragraph, though it may re-state concepts
overall.
So to sum it all up…
• Structured writing is difficult, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle
with many moving parts and pieces that look alike but are
not exactly alike.
• Hopefully you have realized this already, but writing takes
a lot of time and a lot of revision to perfect.
• However, you need to keep the type of writing you are
doing in mind. If you are working on something at home
with multiple revisions, then you have ample time to make
sure all the puzzle pieces fit and will be held to this
standard.
• On the other hand though, if you are doing a timed write in
class, you oftentimes need to use only the essential parts of
this structure in order to get your point across and you can’t
obsess over every word choice or you will run out of time.
Miscellaneous
• Awareness of your diction – get rid of redundancies
and vague words, and choose precisely connoted
words to help you get your meaning across as
powerfully and as efficiently as possible
• Awareness of syntax (?) – don’t write choppy
sentences but don’t always use long, complex
sentences; variety in sentence length can be used
deliberately for impact
• Awareness of sentence starters – don’t always
follow a typical subject-verb pattern (this is…).
*More to come soon on techniques for sentence
variety
Claim/Thesis (T)
The best kind of vacation is a staycation because it is cheap and there is no need to
hassle with making reservations.
The best place to eat in TO is Rustico because the food is great and the
waiters/waitresses have great personalities.
CD/CM
(TS) Students must do more than just complete their homework in their
classes in order to get good grades. (CD) For example,