ARGUMENTATIVE RESEARCH PAPER:
ESSAY NOTES
Spring 2016
6th Grade ELA
Connecting Sentences: Behind the Mountains,
Heritage Leader Text, Heritage Interview
• Introduce all authors and interviewees by first and last
name. Introduce all text titles. Use complete sentences.
Examples:
• Edwidge Danticate wrote the book Behind the Mountains to
highlight her Haitian heritage through the fictional characters of
Celiane and her family.
• Nick Berray wrote the article “Artist Brian Jungen” about the
ways in which Jungen celebrates his First Nations heritage
through his artwork.
• An interview with Maria Smith revealed that embracing heritage
can help families carry on traditions across generations.
Counterclaim Only!
• Use a transition sentence between introducing the
authors, interviewee, and texts and stating the thesis.
Edwidge Danticate wrote the book Behind the Mountains to highlight
her Haitian heritage through the fictional characters of Celiane and her
family. Nick Berray wrote the article “Artist Brian Jungen” about the
ways in which Jungen celebrates his First Nations heritage through his
artwork. An interview with Maria Smith revealed that embracing
heritage can help families carry on traditions across generations.
These heritage leaders emphasize the importance of embracing
heritage, but some people argue that embracing diverse heritages in
one country actually causes harm to a nation’s values and culture
rather than creating a positive outcome. Although some argue that
embracing diverse heritages causes Americans to feel like strangers in
their own country, embracing heritage is important for creating a
positive influence on one’s life and identity because a strong
connection to one’s heritage can help a person form strong family
bonds, establish a career that positively impacts others, and achieve
her/his goals.
Thesis Statement Example
Embracing heritage is important for creating a positive
influence on one’s life and identity because a strong
connection to one’s heritage can help a person form strong
family bonds, establish a career that positively impacts
others, and achieve her/his goals.
Point 1 – Behind the Mountains
Point 2 – Heritage leader text
Point 3 – Heritage interview
Body Paragraph 1 Claim (Argument)
Thesis: Embracing heritage is important for creating a
positive influence on one’s life and identity because a
strong connection to one’s heritage can help a person form
strong family bonds, establish a career that positively
impacts others, and achieve her/his goals.
Body Paragraph 1 Claim/Argument
Embracing heritage is necessary in order for a person to
create strong family bonds, as demonstrated in Danticat’s
book Behind the Mountains.
Argumentative Essay: Body Paragraph Claims
• All claims must be arguments!
• Sentence starter option:
• Embracing heritage is important
because_________.
• **Use a thesaurus to look up synonyms for the
word “important” so that your essay is not
repetitive.
How to Cite an Interview
• Do not use quotation marks. Since you took notes,
your interview cannot be considered the interviewee’s
exact words.
• Summarize the main idea of the interviewee’s point(s)
in your own words. Cite using her/his last name.
• Example Citation – Interviewee: Maria Smith
• According to Smith, her family embraces their heritage by
cooking her grandmother’s recipes together each year at
Christmas (Smith, 2016).
Academic Writing Reminders
• No first or second person (I, me, we, our, myself, you,
your, our, etc.)
• No contractions (can’t, won’t, etc.)
• Always refer to the author and interviewee by last name!
(Chavez, Jungen, Escalante, etc.)
• *Exception: Introduce them by first and last name one time in the
essay in the connecting sentences.
Essay Outline Resources
• Heritage poems and “What is Heritage?” text
• Summative essay prompt
• Behind the Mountains text
• Behind the Mountains Think Aloud and reading question
notes (on Google Classroom)
• Heritage leader text
• Say, Mean, Matter graphic organizer for heritage text
Essay Outline Review Checklist
_____We have not used first or second person (I, we, you, your,
our, my, etc.) or contractions.
_____In the connecting sentences, we have introduced each
author and interviewee by first and last name. We have
included the full titles of our heritage leader text and
Behind the Mountains. We have used complete
sentences.
_____The claims in body paragraphs 1, 2, 3 match points 1, 2, 3
in the thesis.
_____Each body paragraph claim is a clear argument.
_____We have used the strongest piece(s) of evidence we can
find to support each claim.