The Essay

Where can I find this PP? OR feel free to me from the Carlynton website.

Review of last week How long is the test? 3 hrs. 45 minutes What are the three sections? Math, Reading, Writing What are the sub-sections? Reading = sentence completion and passage based Writing = ID sentence errors, improving sentences, improving paragraphs, and essay

Review Continued… What is the only section in which you will not lose points for the wrong answer? Student produced response (math) How much is taken off for other questions? ¼ point

Review Continued… How is the essay scored? By two people in about two minutes each (holistic) Granted 2-12 points How often do you guess when you can narrow your answers down to three? Every time

Reviewing Table 8.1 (pp ) Examples: 1) After he broke his arm, he is home for two weeks. *Shift in tense 2) If you are tense, one should try to relax. *Shift of pronoun 3) Anne and Sarah want to be a pilot. *Noun number agreement

Continued… 4) The carpenter showed us how to countersink the nails, how to varnish the wood, and getting a smooth surface *Parallelism 5) Harry grew more vegetables than his neighbor’s garden. *Logical comparison

Continued… 6) Barking loudly, the tree had the dog’s leash wrapped around it. *Word order 7) In the newspaper, they say that few people voted. *Ambiguous/vague pronouns 8) He circumvented the globe on his trip. *Diction (word choice)

Continued… 9) There are many problems in the contemporary world in which we live. *Wordiness 10) If your car is parked here while not eating in the restaurant, it will be towed away. *Missing subject 11) His friends agree that he drives reckless. *Adjective and adverb confusion

Continued… 12) He sat between you and I at the stadium. *Pronoun confusion 13) Natalie had a different opinion towards her. *Idiom 14) Of the sixteen executives, Meg makes more money. *Comparison error

Continued… 15) Whether or not the answer seems correct. *Fragment 16) Shawn enjoys crossword puzzles, he works on one every day. *Comma splice

So, what is the essay? Similar to on-demand writing done in college. You will be given 25 minutes to respond. The topic will be general enough that you will not need advanced knowledge on a specific topic. The question should be relevant to a range of fields and interests (literature, sports, politics, history, science, etc.)

Sample Essay Topics In order to be the most productive and successful people that we are capable of being, we must be willing to ignore the opinions of others. It is only when we are completely indifferent to others' opinions of us—when we are not concerned about how others think of us—that we can achieve our most important goals. Assignment: Are people more likely to be productive and successful when they ignore the opinions of others? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Sample Essay Topics In many circumstances, optimism—the expectation that one's ideas and plans will always turn out for the best—is unwarranted. In these situations what is needed is not an upbeat view but a realistic one. There are times when people need to take a tough-minded view of the possibilities of success, give up, and invest their energies elsewhere rather than find reasons to continue to pursue the original project or idea. Assignment: Is it better for people to be realistic or optimistic? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Sample Essay Topics It is easy to make judgments about people and their actions when we do not know anything about their circumstances or what motivated them to take those actions. But we should look beyond a person's actions. When people do things that we consider outrageous, inconsiderate, or harmful, we should try to understand why they acted as they did. Assignment: Is it important to try to understand people's motivations before judging their actions? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

From where should I choose my examples? Personal experiences or observations (avoid the hypothetical!) Literature Moments in history Current events Sports

Guidelines You must respond to the question. You may write in any mode : persuasive, narrative, argumentative, etc. You must have clear handwriting. You must limit your essay to the lines in your test booklet. (See examples in the back of your book).

Scoring Two people typically score holistically (taking about two minutes to read your writing). See Chart 9.1 on page 105.

What have you been taught about Essay Writing? 5 Paragraphs Intro = thesis with three parts Paragraphs 2-4 contain the three main details of thesis Closing = restatement of thesis

What do you need? 5 paragraphs?? Not necessarily…don’t force it. You lack time and space. Some of the best essays are three paragraphs. Thesis? Yes…but not as rigid. Stick to a statement of purpose. This will help you maintain focus. Opening and Closing? Yes, but don’t spend an excess of time on this.

Approaches to the Essay See pages Important tips and strategies.

Using Abstract AND Concrete Language Abstract – general, vague, means something different to everyone (love, hate, intelligence, success, etc.) Concrete – specific, measurable, means the same to everyone (a score of 520 on the math section, passing driver’s test). Provide concrete examples when you make abstract statements.

Practice Page 115. Use examples to make the following words more concrete for your reader: Love Intelligence Evil

My examples Love is…being married for forty years with no infidelity and still looking at one another in the same way. Intelligence is…a 4.0 at Harvard. Evil is…stabbing a baby and laughing.

The Benefit of using Abstract and Concrete Language Read page Practice making statements more concrete (p ).

Student Samples Analyze student samples to see how students deal with a) The abstract vs. the concrete b) Their organizational method c) The sources they draw from (literature, current events, real life examples, etc.)