1. Warm-up Write the following in your NOTES: THESIS STATEMENTS:
Last sentence in introduction.
Says what subjects your body paragraphs are about.
Should NOT do any explaining yet (no summary!).
Should be CLEAR.
Should directly answer the prompt!
Can be argued! (not merely summary or obvious points)
Ex: Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

2. Literary Analysis
Macbeth Essay

3. Two Body Paragraphs TS (Topic Sentence)
LCD 1 (Lead-in TO Concrete Detail)
CM (Commentary)
LCD 2 (Lead-in TO Concrete Detail)
CS (Concluding Sentence)

4. Topic Sentence State your first point of analysis.
Be sure it is CLEAR and relates back to your thesis.
Ex: Esperanza wants to have more power over her own life than the women around her seem to have.

5. Lead-in TO Concrete Detail
Must set the stage for your quote.
Explain the context.
Concrete Detail
Your evidence.
Quote or paraphrase cited with page numbers.
Must be properly formatted.
Example:
For example, when Esperanza is talking about her great grandmother, she says: “She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow… I don’t want to inherit her place by the window” (11).

6. Commentary Analyze the meaning. How does this support your thesis?
Do not summarize AT ALL.
Your lead-in has already told us what’s going on in the quote.
Example:
Esperanza dislikes the fact that her grandmother did not do anything to improve her life. She does not want to follow in her mother’s footsteps; instead, she wants to be in charge of her own life.

7. Concluding Sentence
Clear and insightful.
So what? Why is this important? How does everything you just said tie back to your thesis?
Example:
Esperanza wants to be different from the women around her, who are submissive and give up their power to men.

8. Whole Paragraph
Esperanza wants to have more power over her own life than the women around her seem to have. For example, when Esperanza is talking about her great grandmother, she says: “She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow… I don’t want to inherit her place by the window” (11). Esperanza dislikes the fact that her grandmother did not do anything to improve her life. She does not want to follow in her mother’s footsteps; instead, she wants to be in charge of her own life. In addition, when Esperanza is talking about the woman in the movie who is beautiful and cruel, she says: “She is the one who drives them men crazy and laughs them all away. Her power is her own” (89). Esperanza wants to take her own path to happiness, and she hopes to be more like the woman in the movies than those in her own neighborhood. She wants to be independent and not let men control her life. Esperanza wants to be different from the women around her, who are submissive and give up their power to men.

9. "Black Bart" Bartholomew Roberts was one of the most successful pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy in the early 1700's. Roberts created what is now known as the Pirate's Code, "a list of articles, or rules, that promoted fairness and equality on board his ship“ (34). It could be said that the ideas of democracy could be traced back to the Pirate's Code. Without the Pirate's Code, America might not have become the democracy we know it as today. A diary by one of Black Bart's crew members also states, "he was chosen to be captain by monthly vote“ (65). Just like the President of the United States is elected, so was Black Bart. Indeed, the crewmembers were like happy citizens who got along well; their happiness is inferred because no talk of mutiny exists in the diary. Although it might be a surprise given that these pirates were blood thirsty killers, they did bring about the start of democracy and equality for all for America.

10. Introductions & Conclusions
Save them for last.
Then it will truly introduce what’s written instead of what writer intended.
Write the into and conclusion at the same time.
This ties the introduction more effectively to the conclusion by writing them both at the same time.
You don’t have to write in the order things are read.

11. Part 1 of Intro: “Hooks” A startling fact or bit of information
A meaningful quotation
A universal idea related to your thesis
A thought-provoking question

12. Part 1 of Intro: “Hooks” AVOID… Dictionary definitions.
“Webster’s Dictionary defines fate as…”
Rhetorical questions.
“Did you know?” or “Have you ever wondered?”
Unnecessary explanations.
“This paper will be about …” “In this paper I will prove”
Your thesis will tell us what your paper will be about, and the entire paper is what you think.
A “book report” list of irrelevant facts.
“William Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan era in England. He wrote many plays. One of these plays was Hamlet.”

13. Part 2 of Intro. A: Address the Prompt
Do not plagiarize but paraphrase.
Address the issue at hand.
Here is where you state the author’s full name and title of work.
After this point, you may refer to the author by his/her last name.
B: Provide a Roadmap
Preview the main ideas, questions to be addressed.

14. Part 3 of Introduction Your thesis. a.) Your point.
b.) How you will prove/explore it.

15. Sample Introduction
Charles Dickens once wrote, “I wear the chain I forged in life...I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.” William Shakespeare’s Macbeth calls such a view of individual autonomy into question. A tempting yet dangerous prophecy leads the play’s protagonist along a blood-stained path that forces his “destiny” into being. Though a witch-given vision prompts this journey, Macbeth does deliberate and exercise choice in obtaining his “rightful” station. Throughout Macbeth, the role of the witches and a faulty prophecy ultimately prove that fate is merely an illusion luring Macbeth to his destruction.

16. Conclusion Part 1 I. Thesis
Echo the major thesis without repeating words verbatim.
II. Reflect on the ideas addressed in your paper.
Indicate why these ideas are important.
Add some new insight.
III. General Insight
Connect back to idea presented in “hook.”
Show how topic relates to life.
Leave the reader thinking.

17. Conclusion Beginning with “In conclusion …”
AVOID…
Beginning with “In conclusion …”
Restating thesis and main points without adding anything new.
Adding irrelevant details
(esp. just to make a paper longer)

18. Intro and Conclusion Outline
Introduction
I. Hook
IIa. Address the prompt
IIb. Preview main ideas
III. Thesis
Conclusion
Thesis
Reflect on main ideas.
General insight.

19. Group Writing
Prompt: III. In Macbeth, things quickly reverse from their natural state to an unnatural one. Explore the significance of this reversal of a stable universe to an unnatural, dis-orderly world.
Thesis: The reversal of Macbeth’s universe from a natural to an unnatural one suggests that evil transforms every level of man’s existence.
Group ONE – Introduction: Complete the introduction using this thesis.
Group TWO – Role of Nature: Complete one body paragraph on the role of nature using the body paragraph outline.
Group THREE – Reverse of Gender Roles: Complete one body paragraph on the reverse of gender roles using the body paragraph outline.
Group FOUR – Macbeth’s mental decline: Complete one body paragraph on Macbeth’s mental decline using the body paragraph outline.
Group FIVE – Conclusion: Complete a conclusion.

20. Peer Feedback
Switch with a partner, read over their introduction and conclusion and, on a separate sheet of paper, respond to the following questions for them: 1.) Is their hook engaging? Why/why not? 2.) Does their hook relate to the thesis in a GENERAL way? How? 3.) Is there a smooth transition into paraphrasing the prompt? 4.) Do they paraphrase the prompt effectively? Why/why not? 5.) Do they state the author’s full name and title of the work in underlining or italics? 6.) Do they give you a sufficient preview into the main issues/ideas they will be discussing? What are they? 7.) Is their thesis statement clear? Does it state 1. the main topic and 2. they two ways they will discuss that topic in his/her paper? What is their main topic? What are the two ways they will discuss it?

21. Peer Feedback (cont.)
1.) Is their thesis restated but not word for word? 2.) Do they reflect on the main ideas and not just restate what they already said in the introduction? What new things do they say about the main ideas of their paper? 3.) Do they leave the reader with a general insight that does NOT reference the book itself but only the TOPIC they were writing about (i.e. “free will”)?