Essay Writing 101

1. Essay Writing 101 Lesson #1: Writing introduction paragraphs for reading responses

2. Introductory Paragraphs have three “jobs” to do: • Grab the reader’s attention with good writing • Give the reader all the information she needs to understand what the essay will talk about • Tell the reader what the topic of the essay will be

3. Job #1: “Hook” the reader • One of the most important things your introduction can do is MAKE YOUR READER WANT TO KEEP READING!! • In the “real world,” readers don’t have to read anything that they don’t want to read (think of all the times you’ve “abandoned” books). Your introduction should be snazzy enough to make your reader feel like she has to keep reading!!

4. Helpful Hints for Job #1 • Your intro must be well-written: sloppy writing turns readers off. • Your intro should be interesting: it should be funny, suspenseful, touching… anything but dry and routine. • You can begin in a variety of ways, such as with a quote, description, question, narrative, etc. • Don’t be too random. The “lead” should relate to the main topic of the paper

5. Job #2: Give the reader info • If you are writing about a piece of literature or another piece of writing, you need to provide the name of the author and the title of the work. • You also need to give a VERY brief summary of the information a reader will need to have to understand the rest of the essay

6. Helpful Hints for Job #2 • Be sure not to get too long-winded with your summary– stick to the details that will come up later in your essay and esp. in thesis. • The author’s name and the “title” of the work should appear early in the introduction paragraph of your essay. • Link this part with your “lead” at the beginning—it should all connect!

7. Job #3: Thesis Statement • The thesis statement is a “topic sentence” for your entire essay. It leads the reader from the intro into the rest of the essay. • Your thesis should be one, clear declarative sentence that tells the reader what the essay will be about. • This sentence is at the END of the intro paragraph!

8. Helpful Hints for Job #3 • Your thesis should introduce ONE limited topic that you will discuss for the REST of the essay. • This ONE sentence is most likely the most important sentence in your whole essay because it tells the reader what you plan to do in your essay.

9. Review: • Job #1: The lead • Job #2: Story title and background • Job #3: Thesis • Helpful hint: Begin with Job #3 and work backwards!

10. ESSAY EXAMPLE • Let’s say your essay question is “Who deserves the quilts in “Everyday Use?” • Your essay needs to answer that question; therefore, your thesis needs to state which sister you believe deserves the quilts. • Establish your thesis, then work backwards.

11. Quilts are not only blankets; quilts can also hold many memories of loved ones that you can keep forever.In this story, “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, Mama’s oldest daughter, Dee, comes home to visit her and her younger sister, Maggie. Dee is looking for pieces of her heritage that she would like to have and treasure, but Dee has been very selfish towards her family and always has had everything she has ever wanted. So when Dee asks Mama for the quilts, Mama says, no, and gives them to Maggie, who has never had anything of her own. For several reasons, Maggie deserves the quilts, not Dee.

12. Imagine living with a sister who got every little thing she ever wanted-- who was pretty, had better hair and even wore prettier clothes all the time; a sister who was never told no. What would you do if you were in this situation, but when you got older, it suddenly changed?This happens to be the situation which occurs in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, a short story written about two sisters, Maggie, the sister who still lives at home with her mother and lives life a simple way, and her sister Dee, who had been ashamed of where she came from, her home and maybe even her family. Dee tried to take one of her mother’s quilts, which she believed was rich with culture and heritage, but was refused because her mother told her they weren’t for her but for her sister Maggie. Maggie deserved the quilts because she understood the meaning of the quilts, she would put them to ‘everyday use’ and she was even humble enough to give up the quilts to her sister.

13. A person can not discover himself if he has no knowledge of family history; otherwise, a part of him is missing.The short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is about a family and its issues. The main conflict in this book between the family is heritage, which is a theme of the book. In the book, the two sisters, Maggie and Dee, argue about who should get a set of quilts that were made by their grandmother, even though Mama had already promised them to Maggie. Maggie definitely deserves the quilts because she would appreciate them, she has little else while Dee is selfish, and because Dee is not truly interested in her heritage.

14. For many years there has been a question to parents concerning their children. Who gets what? Or rather who deserves what?In a story called “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, there is a dilemma such as this. Mama, the mother of two daughters, must choose which daughter deserves her quilts that her mother made by hand years ago. The choice is between two daughters: Dee, who is liberal and independent, and Maggie, who knows the ways of the family. Because of her perspective on heritage, Maggie deserves the quilts.