The Color-Coded Essay

Color-coding your essays creates a visual picture of the various elements of any essay.

Color-coding is a useful organizational tool.

Any correctly written essay will have the same color patterns, regardless of author, topic or complexity.

A person who knows the proper color-coding patterns will always have an essay that is organized.

The attention-getter should be colored red

The thesis statement should be colored green

The first reason should be colored yellow

The second reason should be colored blue

If more than two reasons are used in an essay, continue to alternate the yellow and blue pattern.

Although the attention-getter is in the beginning of the introductory paragraph, create your thesis first

Identify the essential question Answer the essential question Give reasons to support your answer

Example: Write about a person you admire.

What is the essential question? Whom do I admire?

Answer the essential question The person I admire most is my older sister, Karen.

Reasons: I admire my sister because she had to deal with death of husband and she had to raise two boys by herself. I admire my sister because she had to deal with the death of husband and she had to raise two boys by herself.