Freshmen: Read Books 13-18 online. Complete Frayer Models for 5 vocabulary words of your choice.

Sophomores: tips for your essay

A thesis statement is the main idea of an essay. The thesis statement makes a general statement about the essay's topic a little more specific. The thesis is usually one or two sentences long, and it's always a statement, not a question. The thesis statement may be a concise and general summary of the main points of the essay, or it may be the logical conclusion to the argument made in the essay.

THE REVISION PROCESS – HAVING A WRITING CONFERENCE WITH YOURSELF

Read your draft to yourself, at least once but probably several times. The best writers spend a lot of time reading over and thinking about what they have written.
Your next job is to make some decisions about what’s down there in that paper: the weaknesses of the piece – the parts that need more work – and its strengths – those parts that work so well you want to do more with them. In other words, your next job is to have a writing conference with yourself.

A writer’s biggest question is always, “What is it I’m trying to say here?” The questions below may help you find and shape what you’re trying to say.

QUESTIONS ABOUT INFORMATION

1. Have I completely answered the question asked of me? (Take apart the essay question and take a look!)
2. Does my introduction follow the correct format?
3. Does my thesis statement clearly show the reader what my paper will be about? If not, how can I change it?
4. Have I shown (not told) by using examples? Do I cite my examples correctly?
5. Is there any part that might confuse a reader? Have I explained each part well enough that a reader will know what I mean?
6. Do I have too much information? What parts aren’t needed – don’t add to my point or story? Can I delete them?

QUESTIONS ABOUT QUALITY

1. Generally – my essay should be free from opinions. Do I include words such as “I think, I believe, etc.?”
2. Each body paragraph should contain a new argument – are these arguments strong? Do I have a solid case here or does it sound like I’m just straining for information?
3. Do I use proper sentence structure or are my paragraphs littered with sentence fragments?
4. What don’t I like? Chances are if I don’t feel comfortable with a certain aspect of my writing, it needs to be changed.

HELPFUL TIPS

1. Be sure to properly cite quotes. Here is an example of how to do so …

“They didn’t give us anything…they said that if we were ill we should die soon anyway and it would be a pity to waste the food” (Wiesel 102).

· Notice how the author's last name and the page number are listed in parenthesis with a period after the parenthesis!

2. Avoid juvenile language such as the following:
· (introduction) In my paper I will discuss…
· (conclusion) This was my essay about…