Notes on a conclusion

Your essay should end by going back to the beginning of your essay.  Revisit your thesis (major claim) and bring me back out into your world.  How does this story apply to your life?  What do you think it is important to remember about Romeo and Juliet?  You want to try to bring in new thoughts and insights that come to you as you consider this text one last time.

Think of the upside down funnel as the basic structure for your essay.  Start with your thesis, discuss the play as a whole, and then bring me back to (y)our world.

Good luck!  Essays are due in class on Monday.

FRIDAY is EDITING DAY

Target: to review the editing process and prepare your essay to turn in on during class on Monday.

 1. Review MLA formating rules:

• Double-space your paper.  Eliminate large spaces between paragraphs.
• Insert Header--Right align--Last name--Insert page number top corner.
• put a heading in the top left hand corner
• Looks like this:  Your name/ English 9/ LaMonte Period/ Literary Essay/day/month/year
• Make sure you have quotation marks around your direct quotations and that you attribute (Romeo says,)  and cite every line or paraphrase of the text. 
• Citations need to be punctuated like this: ... end of your quote" (Act.scene.line). 
• Indent the first line of every paragraph. 
• Make sure your font is consistent--12 point  No fancy fonts!
• Give your paper a title that sums up your point.  Don't underline it.  Just capitalize every world (except articles and prepositions) and center it after your heading, before your essay.
• Italicize the title Romeo and Juliet and be sure that you have spelled William Shakespeare correctly.

2. Grammar check:  

• Spellcheck!  Review the suggestions, but be aware that spellcheck can't catch it all.  Be vigilant here!  Check for common errors:  there/they're/their  it's/its  who/whom  to/too
• Read your (or your partner's paper) out loud.  Check for sentence errors: fragments, run ons, comma splices, fused sentences.
• Find one place where you could combine sentences to avoid repetition.
• Has the writer properly introduced each piece of text with context?  

PEER EDITING: SHARE YOUR PAPER WITH YOUR PARTNER on google docs. Set to comment only.  When you see an error in your partner's paper, comment on it and tell them what the problem is. For example, sp=spelling error, frag= fragment, ro=run on sentence, ^ insert missing word, cs=comma splice, fs=fused sentence, ???= can't understand what you are saying here/rephrase, 

Wednesday: Writing your 3rd body paragraph

Today you have more time to work on the body of your Romeo and Juliet essay.   (At this point you all should be working in your doc titled "Your name's R & J essay." )

Tomorrow you will be working in groups to peer review your essays and give each other feedback.

Each body paragraph should have

• a claim that is NOT a fact!  This is a conclusion that comes naturally from your thesis.
• evidence/details from the text that support your conclusion about the text.
• commentary that carefully and thoughtfully explains what you see in the details you cite.  

By tomorrow, you should have an opening paragraph, along with three body paragraphs.

Here is a link to the rubric we will be using: RUBRIC

Monday: Begin building the body of your essay

Learning Target:  to write one body paragraph in google docs

In order to begin writing a body paragraph today, you will need to 

A) Copy and paste your OPENING (intro) paragraph into a new google doc titled "Your Name's R & J essay".  (this is also where you will be writing your body paragraph) SHARE IT with me.

B) Complete the detail collection chart---ask me for help if you need it!

Remember:  Your 1st body paragraph should look like this:

1. Point/claim #1
2. Context for first detail  (who is speaking, what is happening in the story--make it brief)
3. First detail (citation)
4. Commentary (1st sentence) on the diction in that detail.
5. Commentary (2nd sentence) on "so what?" (AKA how does it support my point?)
6. Transition/Context for second detail
7. 2nd detail (citation)
8. Commentary-parts one and two

Last ten minutes:  copy and paste your body paragraph (what you have so far) into this shared doc:  

1st period:  http://goo.gl/8WqKxu

3rd period: http://goo.gl/4MhCKu

5th period: http://goo.gl/uAVhDF

  

Wednesday: Gathering evidence

Today your writing target for your final essay is to find at least three pieces of evidence for each point or claim in your essay.

See my sample again:  http://goo.gl/BH6iNi

Tomorrow you will be writing your introductory paragraph and reviewing vocabulary words for test on FRIDAY-Lesson 14!

Parts of an Intro Paragraph: review for tomorrow:

• HOOK: Engage your reader!
• introduce the book title, author and topic.  Briefly summarize the story (1-2 sentences)
• THESIS-theme statement--this is main point that you are trying to prove!!!

TUESDAY's Class: Gathering evidence to support your claim

Today we will breaking our thesis statement into distinct claims or points, in order to narrow our search for evidence to support our/your thesis.

By the end of the period, you should have at least two pieces of evidence for each point/claim.

See my model here: http://goo.gl/BH6iNi

Your Romeo and Juliet Essay: Writing Evidence Based Claims

Friday's Learning Target:  To understand what a 3 part claim looks like and form a thesis statement for your essay that could be broken up into 3 parts. 

1. Answer text specific questions from yesterday.  See the link in yesterday's post.  

2. Review a sample 3 part claim for Plato's "Apology" (thanks Mr. Title) http://goo.gl/Uz749A

3. Here is a link to the prompt and pre-writing worksheet: http://goo.gl/iAIclY

Make a copy of this document and put it in your English folder BEFORE you begin working on it.

Target for today:  Compose a solid theme statement and brainstorm ways to organize your essay in 3 parts.