Essay+Writing

=Essay Writing: Tips, Structure, Outlining, Thesis Statements, Evidence, Style, and Execution=

__Questions:__

 * 1) What makes a piece of writing "good"?
 * 2) What makes you enjoy something you read?
 * 3) What are some things that all school essays should include?
 * 4) What are some things that all history essays should include?
 * 5) What is a thesis statement?
 * 6) What should an essay look like (structure)?
 * 7) What goes in an introduction paragraph?
 * 8) What goes in a body paragraph?
 * 9) What goes in a conclusion paragraph?
 * 10) What do you need to do to become a better writer?

__Essay Prompts:__ Can you write a thesis statement for each of these? How would you write a strong essay for each?

 * 1) Which fast food chain is the best?
 * 2) Facebook is a waste of time. Evaluate this statement.
 * 3) What are the three most important things to do to prepare for a job interview?
 * 4) What should the voting age be?
 * 5) What should the smoking age be? Should there be one? Drinking age?
 * 6) To what extent do people make their own success?
 * 7) Rich people deserve to be rich and poor people deserve to be poor. Evaluate this statement.
 * 8) What changes, if any, would you make to the way school is structured for teenagers?
 * 9) Compare Malden and another place you have lived or gone to school.
 * 10) Is violence ever necessary?

SPECIFIC WRITING TIPS

 * Learn the commonly misspelled words: their vs. there vs. they're, are vs. our, led vs. lead, etc...
 * Don't use don't: DO NOT use conjunctions (don't, can't, won't, etc).
 * Use __ACADEMIC LANGUAGE__: always use key terms AND words like significant, important, aspect, factor, etc instead of words like big, thing, etc. and use the vocabulary of your topic, including key terms.
 * Learn to write mostly in __compound sentences__, they are usually required in order to write thoughtfully.
 * Become adept at using words and phrases such as: because, however, though, including, along with, for example, similar to, different than, etc...which help create compound sentences and good arguments.
 * Always have a __TITLE__ that you create.
 * Avoid absolutes. Try not to use the words never, always, all, none, etc. Instead, use words like most, some, few, almost all, many, etc.
 * Don't use "etc." Instead use "and others" or "and many more" or something similar.
 * Use the __past tense__. Start in the past tense. Stay in the past tense.
 * Every time you make a general point, support it with at least one example.
 * Recognize (and refute, if possible) at least one argument that opposes yours.
 * Call historical figures by their full name once and then by their last name. Abraham Lincoln should be discussed as Abraham Lincoln once and then called Lincoln after that.
 * Call Americans Americans. Don't call Americans "us" or "we".
 * The United States is a country. Americans are people. A country is "it" whereas a people is "they."
 * Don't use "I" or "In my opinion" or "The two topics I am choosing are _". Just write what you would write after those items.