ESSAY BASICS—Required Elements
Name______Date______Period______
(Keep this in your notes)
INTRODUCTION
Paragraph #1 –Introductory Paragraph
*Your essay must have an arguable thesis statement (this is your CLAIM).
*Your thesis must be a listing, parallel thesis statement which lists your THREE main REASONS in the order in which they will appear in the body of your essay (CLAIM + 3 Reasons).
*QUALIFY your CLAIM – be sure to limit the scope of your claim.
*Your introductory paragraph should contain some kind of Hook. Here are some examples of hooks:
1. Conflict Hook
-Question: What one section of the newspaper do you think is the most important to read?
-Conflict Hook: My brother and I always fight over the sports section of the newspaper. While reading the paper, I always sit with my back to a wall to avoid an unexpected attack.
2. Mystery Hook
-Use pronouns instead of the name of your topic, until the end of the hook
-Mystery Hook: Without this section of the newspaper, I could not start my morning. I would be without conversation topics for the day. I would have nothing funny to tape inside my locker. I would not be able to start my day without a smile. What is this vital section of the newspaper? It’s the comics, of course.
3. Metaphor Hook
-Step 1 – Begin with your topic (Monday)
-Step 2 – Compare your topic to another unrelated noun (Monday is a soup.)
-Step 3 – Connect the two topics – Elaborate by answering Who? What? When? Where? Why? or How?
-Metaphor Hook: Monday is a thick, spicy soup that’s hard to swallow, but its nourishing stock fortifies us for the week.
4. Hyperbole Hook
-I would prefer eating ten pounds of lard to getting up on a Monday morning.
5. Bizarre Image Hook
-If I had my wish, I would be buried in a giant vat of pizza sauce.
6. Anecdote Hook
7. Startling Fact or Statistic Hook
8. Quotation Hook
BODY OF ESSAY (This is where you prove your CLAIM)
Paragraphs #2, #3 and #4
Paragraph #2 – Body Paragraph 1
*Your topic sentence should prove your CLAIM by building on the first REASON of your listing, parallel thesis statement.
*Sufficient GROUNDS/DATA/EVIDENCE and WARRANTS - After the topic sentence, everything in your paragraph should focus on proving your CLAIM by proving the REASON in your topic sentence. You do this by presenting TWO or THREE different ideas in your own words and backing up those ideas with GROUNDS/DATA/EVIDENCE. Then you need to explicate or EXPLAIN the evidence. You should examine your WARRANTS and decide if you need to be more EXPLICIT – Do you need to help your audience connect your GROUNDS to your CLAIM?
*Transition - Use transitions to help move smoothly from one main idea (or paragraph) to the next main idea (or paragraph). Remember that a transition may go at the beginning or ending of a paragraph.
Paragraph #3 – Body Paragraph 2
*Your topic sentence should prove your CLAIM by building upon the second REASON of your listing, parallel thesis statement.
*Sufficient GROUNDS/DATA/EVIDENCE and EXPLICATION and WARRANTS.
* Transition
Paragraph #4 – Body Paragraph 3
*Your topic sentence should prove your CLAIM by building upon the third REASON of your listing, parallel thesis statement.
*Sufficient GROUNDS/DATA/EVIDENCE and EXPLICATION and WARRANTS.
* Transition
*COUNTERCLAIM – Don’t forget to include COUNERCLAIMS somewhere in the body of your essay – You will probably need to CONCEDE one or more opposing points. You will need to decide where to PUT your refutation (early in your paper (to get it out of the way), where it “fits” naturally, or at the end of the paper).
OTHER NOTES ABOUT THE BODY OF ESSAY
*There are THREE TYPES OF EVIDENCE
-EXAMPLES and/or anecdotes (PERSONAL, HISTORICAL, LITERARY)
-FACTS (AND STATISTICS)
-QUOTATIONS and/or expert opinion
*ALL EXAMPLES SHOULD BE
-RELEVANT
-SPECIFIC or detailed
-VARIED
-ACCURATE
*QUOTATIONS SHOULD BE SMOOTHLY INTEGRATED INTO YOUR PAPER, SO YOU NEED
-A TRANSITION
-A LEAD-IN
-A PARENTHETICAL REFERENCE
CONCLUSION
Paragraph #5 – Concluding Paragraph
*Some ideas for a concluding paragraph
-You MAY want to use signal words (give your reader a sign that you are about to wrap things up – in conclusion, finally, last, and in closing -- Be careful with this idea . . .)
-Rephrase your thesis
-Come full circle (for example, if you began your essay with an anecdotal hook, you may want to refer back to that anecdote)
-Something to think about (this is NOT a new argument . . . don’t start a new essay)