ENGLISH 9 OMM AND THE
DEPRESSION
WEEK 5: REVIEW, ARGUMENT ESSAY
10/21-10/25
ENGLISH 9: OMM & THE DEPRESSION
Objective
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thurs
Fri
Assignments
HW
WI: Write
WU: Roots
arguments to
“To a Mouse”
support claims OMM Literary Analysis Exercise
RI3: Analyze
how author
unfolds series
of ideas
SL3: Evaluate
speaker’s
POV,
reasoning,
evidence
WU: Roots
OMM Plot analysis
Argument Essay prompt & Notes
Prewriting
Thesis due Thursday
WU: Roots
Notes: Persuasive Techniques & Rhetoric
Vocab for “First Inaugural Address” pg. 550
Read “Inaugural Address”
Read & Respond to
Informational Texts
pgs. 285-288 by Fri.
WU: Roots
Outline Essay
Worksheet: Literary Analysis: Persuasive
Speech & Reading: Analyzing Persuasive
Techniques
Read & Respond to
Informational Texts
pgs. 285-288 by Fri.
Outline due Monday
Turn in HW
Critical Thinking for “First Inaugural Address”
Outline due Monday
OMM ESSAY
“’Tell me like you done before’” (104).
• “The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!”
• Robert Burns
• Of Mice and Men Argument Essay
• Topic: Should Lennie be held accountable for his
actions?
• or
• Should George have shot Lennie, and should he be
punished?
DESCRIPTION
• Objective: Successfully apply standard W1: Write
arguments to support claims, using reasoning and
evidence.
• Assignment: Write a 650+ word argument essay
supporting your position on one of the above topics.
• Introduce a claim
• Develop claim and counterclaim through evidence
• Use, punctuate, and cite three quotes accurately and effectively
• Use transitions effectively
• Use a formal style and tone
• Apply formal essay structure with an engaging introduction,
supportive body, and summative conclusion.
• Include an MLA-formatted Works Cited page
• Grammar Goals: I will edit and grade your paper for
the stated requirements, as well as the grammar
rules below.
• Capitalize proper nouns
• A pronoun must agree with its antecedent
• Use a comma after an introductory phrase (like a
prepositional phrase)
• Punctuate clauses appropriately: an independent clause
requires a period; a dependent clause should be set off
with a comma.
• Steps: We will complete the following steps in the course
of this essay
• Day 1: Support—take notes on the assignment requirements so
you can better fulfill them
• Day 2: Prewriting—brainstorm ideas for your topic and develop
a thesis
• Day 3: Outlining—gather and organize evidence, support, and
a counterclaim. Learn how to use and punctuate quotes; learn
transition words and phrases.
• Day 4: Developing—work on an effective introduction and
conclusion
• Once all steps are complete, we will go into the
computer lab to type the essay. You will have two days
in the lab to type, so you should have the goal of 325+
words a day (roughly three paragraphs).
THE THESIS: THE MOST IMPORTANT
SENTENCE IN YOUR PAPER
Statement, not a question (one or two sentences)
Sums up the “point” of your essay
Something that can be argued/proven, not a
simple fact
Organizing sentence for the whole essay (miniroadmap)
Appears at end of introduction (last sentence in
intro)
EXAMPLE
• Lennie should not be held accountable for his
actions because
• his IQ is too low for him to understand the consequences
• it is George’s responsibility to look after him
• and the guys should have known never to leave him alone
when Curley’s wife is wandering around.
COUNTERCLAIM: ACKNOWLEDGE THE
OTHER GUY
•
•
•
•
An argument the opposing side would uphold
Imagine your opposition
Imagine its support
Argue against it!
EXAMPLE
• Some people would say Lennie is responsible for his
actions
• because he is an adult
• but they don’t realize that mentally, he is only as
aware as a young child.
EVIDENCE: EVERYONE NEEDS SUPPORT
• You must support your ideas with evidence from the
text (or other texts)
• Evidence is:
• Specific examples
• Quotes (dialogue or narration)
• Evidence is NOT:
• Generalizations (general or vague statements)
EXAMPLES
Good Evidence
• Lennie is not a violent
person by nature
• For example, when
Curley beats him up, he
only fights back when
George tells him to.
Bad Evidence
• Lennie is not a violent
person by nature
• He is always nice to
everybody
TRANSITIONS: TELL THE READER
WHERE YOU’RE GOING
• A transition can be a simple word or phrase
• First, next, finally
• Conjunctions are transition words
• However, furthermore, therefore, and, but, ultimately, etc.
• Use at the beginning of each paragraph, and
within paragraphs to indicate added information or
a change in flow
EXAMPLE
• The first major reason Lennie should not be held
accountable for his actions is…
• Furthermore,….
• Some may say he should be punished because he
is an adult; however, they don’t realize he truly has
the mind of a child.
• In summation,…
FORMAL STYLE AND TONE: WRITING
AN ACADEMIC ESSAY
Avoid
• Avoid using the 1st person
(I, me, I think, in my
opinion)
• Avoid using the 2nd
person (you)
• Avoid referring to the
essay itself (in this essay, in
this paragraph, etc.)
• Avoid fillers and casual
language (“like,” slang
words)
Do
• Do talk about the
events in the story in
the present tense
• unless the action takes
place before the story
begins (like the events in
Weed, or George and
Lennie’s childhood)
• Maintain academic,
formal word choice
(diction)
EXAMPLES
Present Tense
• In Of Mice and Men,
Steinbeck describes
Lennie using animal
imagery to show that
he is less mentally
developed than
George.
Past Tense
• Because of what
happened in Weed,
the guys should know
not to leave Lennie
alone with Curley’s
wife.
OMM ESSAY PREWRITING
Write the above title on a piece of binder paper.
Then, respond to the prompts:
1. Journal/Quickwrite
Write a one-paragraph response to one of the essay
prompts
2. Brainstorm
Now that you have an idea of what you want to write
about, brainstorm three to five specific reasons you feel and
think the way you do.