HZT4U"
What is an essay?" • An essay is a series of paragraphs the
objective of which is to describe, argue, analyze or clarify an
idea."
• An essay is unified by its thesis, which is the central,
controlling idea running (think: the conclusion of an argument
dictates all the premises)."
• An essay is generally written in three parts:" • Introduction" •
Body paragraphs" • Conclusion"
The Introduction" The introduction to an essay is critical! The
objective of the introduction is to: !
• Capture the reader’s interest (think: seduction!)"
• Provide context for what will be argued (think: introduce the
topic)"
• State the thesis (think: what will your essay argue and hopefully
prove?)"
• Outline the plan (think: introduce all your arguments – premises
– to support your thesis – conclusion)"
If any of these parts are unclear or absent, the rest of the essay
is weakened.!
There is no strict order to how the introduction should be written.
However, you might find the following helpful:!
Yes indeed. This is a funnel."
The Funnel Method The funnel method refers to a style of writing an
introduction where one begins with a general statement, proceeds to
context, and only then introduced the thesis. After the thesis is
presented the arguments are outlined."
The Body Paragraphs" The body paragraphs are all self-contained
units that work together for a common purpose: supporting the
thesis of the essay. There should be no repetition of thoughts from
one body paragraph to the next – organization of your ideas is the
key to success in the body paragraphs." "
Between all paragraphs, you should provide transitional phrases –
words that clearly lead from one idea into the next. Within
paragraphs, you also need transitions that will help the ideas flow
from one to the next. (More to come on the slide about
transitions)." "
Just like the essay as a whole is unified by the thesis, each body
paragraph must be unified by a central idea."
Body Paragraphs (cont’d) Develop your body paragraphs using the
model below (this
model is for each of your body paragraphs):"
C e n t r a l I d e a "
Point! Proof!
the next"
In-text Quotations " Most of the proof that you use in your essay
will come in the form of quotations or paraphrased ideas taken from
the texts you have consulted to generate your ideas."
Whenever you quote or paraphrase an idea from another text, you
must cite it. In English, we use MLA style for citations, which
means that we make a parenthetical reference to the work we have
used. "
FOR EXAMPLE:!
• To refer to a book, put the author’s name and the page(s) used in
parentheses: (Gaarder 34).!
• For an article without an author, put an abbreviated form of the
title of the article in parentheses: (“Titanic” online) – Here
‘online’ indicates that the article is web-based.!
• To reference a scholarly paper (this is MLA format)the author’s
last name must appear in parentheses along with the page number.
!
E.g. Though the number of lion attacks on humans is low, the rate
of increase of attacks since the 1960s is cause for serious concern
(Rychnovsky 43)."
"
"
In-text Quotations (cont’d)" Any works that you cite during your
essay must be listed in full on your works cited page which is
attached to your good copy."
To spell it out clearly (because a surprising number of students
don’t understand how this works):"
• In your essay, you CITE the source of your information by putting
relevant information in parentheses (as on the previous
slide)!
• At the end of your essay, you indicate with a full MLA-style
bibliographical entry the WORKS you have CITED. To NOT cite
anything, but to still include a Works Cited page indicates a lack
of understanding.!
IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO A WORKS CITED PAGE IN MLA STYLE, LOOK
AT THE HANDOUT ON CITATION I GAVE YOU!
The Conclusion " In the Conclusion:"
• Very briefly (and not in the same words) summarize the ideas that
have been presented in the body paragraphs."
• Remind the reader of the thesis of the essay, but avoid restating
it exactly as it appears in your introduction."
• Widen the perspective of your thesis by answering a ‘big picture’
question – provide the answer to ‘so what?’."
Conclusion (cont’d) In fact, your conclusion can be formatted in
an
“inverted funnel” (the opposite of your introduction). "
Briefly summarize your ideas" "
What else?"
"
Follow these tips and pointers to be successful:"
PROOFREAD: You should spend as much time revising and editing your
essay as you do generating a first draft. Most students do a
superficial edit of their first draft and submit it for marks.
Proofreading can make a mediocre essay good and a good essay
great."
PROOFREAD: You should spend as much time revising and editing your
essay as you do generating a first draft. Most students do a
superficial edit of their first draft and submit it for marks.
Proofreading can make a mediocre essay good and a good essay
great."
PROOFREAD: You should spend as much time revising and editing your
essay as you do generating a first draft. Most students do a
superficial edit of their first draft and submit it for marks.
Proofreading can make a mediocre essay good and a good essay
great."
The Writing Process" 1. Brainstorm ideas" 2. Organize ideas by
topic" 3. Outline ideas (make points, develop a working
thesis, find or use proofs, provide explanations. It is also a good
idea to conference with the teacher while doing your
outline)"
4. Do a rough copy (everything you do up to this point, I recommend
you do by hand)"
5. Type out a draft and print it" 6. Let your essay sit for a day
or so. Try to not
think about it. THEN revisit it and proofread with a less-stressed
mind. You’d be amazed how many improvements you will find and be
able to make"
7. Peer edit, and then conference with the teacher. Show a
‘nearly-complete’ peer-edited draft to the teacher and get
feedback. Major errors can be caught here and fixed before you
submit your essay."
8. Revise again and prepare your good copy or final draft."
Furthermore…"
• Do not struggle to come up with thoughts and look for quotations
to support them. Instead, find quotations and generate thoughts
from them."
• Keep track of the source of your quotations as you write
them"
• Always use the proofreading checklist that is provided for
you."
Some more tips…" • Be sure that word choice is varied and precise,
but don’t use the thesaurus to find words which are unfamiliar to
you in the hope that by using them your essay will seem smarter. It
won’t.!
• Use transitions to move between ideas within paragraphs and
between paragraphs. Do not use the same transitions all the time,
and in a senior class, your transitions should be more
sophisticated than just one word. (e.g. ‘Secondly’ is not as
effective a transition as ‘To examine this idea further…’)"
• Do not use figurative language or any phrasing that expects your
reader to interpret your thoughts. Effective writing does not
require interpretation."
• Employ economical use of words – do not use 50 words to say what
can be more easily said in 15."
E.g. “While the dew was still fresh on the grass and the robin’s
belly not yet full, they embarked on a sojourn to The Big Smoke –
Canada’s biggest city – fully prepared to part with their
hard-earned dollars and by doing so to make the return journey
awash with worldly goods.” "
OR"
A few more thoughts on quotations:"
Quotations are used when you use another person’s idea
word-for-word in your writing. Whenever a quotation is used, you
must be certain to:"
• put it in quotation marks"
• write it exactly as it appears in its original state, context
notwithstanding"
• incorporate it into a sentence and do not have it as a sentence
of its own"
• use it to support an idea and not as an idea on its own"
• cite your source according to MLA style"
For example:!
Writing to Sophie, Alberto makes clear that one of the primary
goals of the philosopher is to maintain the faculty of wonder
beyond childhood. He makes clear that “a philosopher never gets
quite used to the world” (Gaarder, 18)."
Things to note about this example:"
• the period comes after the citation (and is not in the quotation
itself – even if the quotation itself ends with a period)"
• the quotation fits within the natural flow of the sentence (read
aloud, you wouldn’t hear a shift into the quotation)"
Sometimes, however, you may need to slightly alter a quotation in
order for it to make contextual sense in your work. When you do,
put any changes in [brackets]."
For example:"
Sophie’s introduction to philosophy is at once a new and familiar
experience. By introducing Sophie to philosophical questions the
mysterious philosopher “grabbed her by the back of her neck and
pulled her up again to the tip of the fur where she had played as a
child” (Gaarder 19)."
In this sentence, we don’t know which fur, or why it’s relevant,
but this problem is easily fixed:"
Sophie’s introduction to philosophy is at once a new and familiar
experience. By introducing Sophie to philosophical questions the
mysterious philosopher “grabbed her by the back of her neck and
pulled her up again to the tip of the [metaphorical rabbit’s] fur
where she had played as a child” (Gaarder 19)."
Some other tips:!
• If a quotation appears in the middle of a sentence, cite your
source before the next punctuation (comma, colon, semi-colon,
period)"