Essay Terms and How to Structure an Essay Copy these notes into your notebook.

DMA Wed. Sept. 18th Good Morning! This is your THIRD DMA for the week! What makes a GOOD essay? Write down all the various things that make a good essay.

Introduction Paragraph Hook – begin your paper with a sentence or two that grabs the reader’s attention. This could be a quote from another source, an interesting fact or statistic, or an anecdote (a story to illustrate the point). Do NOT use a question. Background Information – tell some information about your topic that will help the reader to understand your thesis statement. Thesis –a statement that sums up what your paper will prove. Do NOT use a question here either.

Body Paragraphs Topic sentence: This sentence will introduce the main idea of the paragraph. This sentence must support the thesis statement. Evidence : Provide facts, quotes, statistics, brief stories (anecdotes) & examples to illustrate the main idea of this paragraph. Explain the significance of the facts, quotes, statistics, stories, examples. Transition/conclusion sentence to summarize the current main point and introduce the next main point.

Conclusion Paragraph Thesis – restate the thesis from the introductory paragraph – just in different words. Summarize main points but try to do it in a new way; avoid sounding repetitive. Clincher sentence – the last sentence of the paper. Leave the reader with a “thought to ponder.” What do you want your readers to think, know, or do from reading your paper?

Now go to Quizlet.. I will check off your set of vocabulary words. Play games to study your words! Try to beat your scores each time. OR take a practice test! ONLY be on Quizlet. No other games or websites allowed!