RESEARCH PAPER: Four Paragraph Essay Plan

Junior I: Exploring the American Dream Unit

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RESEARCH PAPER: Four Paragraph Essay Plan

Claim: The beginnings of an argument. Your claim is an analytical statement that requires evidence to be proven—without evidence, it is merely an assertion. Your claim is the first step in building an argument.

Evidence: What you supply to prove your claim. It is your responsibility as a writer to explain clearly the relationship between your supplied evidence and your stated claim.

Explanation of Evidence/Inference: to form an opinion or reach a conclusion through reasoning of information. You must infer ideas or greater insights from your evidence. This may also be referred to as developing your evidence.

Warrant: a statement that explains why a particular example provides evidence that supports a particular claim

Essential Question:

For your selected decade, what is the American Dream? Investigate two areas of evidence such as: politics, culture (literature and/or entertainment), social conflicts or aspirations, economics and technology.

INTRODUCTION:

Introduce Topic via “Attention-Getter”:

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Introduce major areas of interest for your claim: (subcategories of interest such as politics, economics, entertainment, social climate, etc.)

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CLAIM: (Claim should involve the decade, both topics of your body paragraphs, and two adjectives that describe the qualities of the dream during this time period) See example paper.

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FIRST BODY PARAGRAPH: (Paragraph Break Here)

*TRANSITION: USE TRANSITION WORD TO TRANSITION BETWEEN BODY PARAGRAPHS.

Subclaim #1: The part of the claim this body paragraph will address (one area of interest pertinent to your claim).

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Evidence #1: (Direct quote, paraphrase, or summary) + Citation in MLA froma source with context or necessary background for evidence.______

Explanation of Evidence/Infer/Analysis #1: Analyze this example. Pick out key words from the evidence and explain the deeper meaning this source suggests. ______

Warrant #1: How does this example connect back to your claim? How does this example prove your claim? (Do not use the words “my claim” in the warrant).

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Transition betweenwarrant #1 and evidence #2

Evidence #2: (Direct quote, paraphrase, or summary) + Citation in MLA froma source with context or necessary background for evidence.

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Infer/Analysis #2: Analyze this example. Pick out key words from the evidence and explain the deeper meaning this source suggests. ______

Warrant #2:How does this example connect back to your claim? How does this example prove your claim? (Do not use the words “my claim” in the warrant).

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Transition betweenwarrant #1 and evidence #2

Evidence #3: (Direct quote, paraphrase, or summary) + Citation in MLA froma source with context or necessary background for evidence.

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Infer/Analysis #3: Analyze this example. Pick out key words from the evidence and explain the deeper meaning this source suggests. ______

Warrant #3:How does this example connect back to your claim? How does this example prove your claim? (Do not use the words “my claim” in the warrant).

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Concluding Sentence: Restate your claim and compare your three major pieces of evidence using different language. (State explicitly how the three pieces of evidence demonstrate the American Dream of the decade.)

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SECOND BODY PARAGRAPH: (Paragraph Break Here)

Subclaim #2: The part of the claim this body paragraph will address.

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Evidence #4: (Direct quote, paraphrase, or summary) + Citation in MLA froma source with context or necessary background for evidence.

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Explanation of Evidence/Infer/Analysis #4: Analyze this example. Pick out key words from the evidence and explain the deeper meaning this source suggests.

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Warrant #4: How does this example connect back to your claim? How does this example prove your claim? (Do not use the words “my claim” in the warrant).

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Transition betweenwarrant #3 and evidence #4

Evidence #5: (Direct quote, paraphrase, or summary) + Citation in MLA with context or necessary background for evidence.

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Infer/Analysis #5: Analyze this example. Pick out key words from the evidence and explain the context ______

Warrant #5:How does this example connect back to your claim? How does this example prove your claim? (Do not use the words “my claim” in the warrant).

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Evidence #6: (Direct quote, paraphrase, or summary) + Citation in MLA with context or necessary background for evidence.

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Infer/Analysis #6: Analyze this example. Pick out key words from the evidence and explain the context. ______

Warrant:How does this example connect back to your claim? How does this example prove your claim? (Do not use the words “my claim” in the warrant).

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Concluding Sentence: Restate your claim and compare your three major pieces of evidence using different language. (State explicitly how the three pieces of evidence demonstrate the American Dream of the decade.)

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CONCLUSION: (Paragraph Break Here)

Recap: Restate subclaim #1, subclaim #2, to demonstrate CLAIM.

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Connection/Synthesis: How does this claim apply to the larger world?

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Clincher: Final attention-getter that may reflect attention-getter in your introduction.

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