Last week you read three different essays, each of which answered the question of what it means to be an American. You shared your ideas about them in small groups and wrote a journal entry about them. For today, you will write a paragraph connecting two of the essays you read. You will compare / contrast their ideas to help create a thesis statement - an assertion - about the point they are making and why. Your paragraph will then include support from each essay - a quotation - which you will explain and analyze.
Part of the purpose of this essay is for us to have the opportunity to see your writing at the start of the year. We are specifically looking at these components:
- Your thesis / assertion
- Is it clear? Is it specific?
- Does it have both a position and a reason (so what / why / because)?
- e.g. While both Mr. Kramer and Mr. Rigler believe being an American is part of a person’s everyday existence, Mr. Kramer asserts it comes from a person’s actions while Mr. Rigler claims it is imposed on a person by their government.
- Your use of evidence
- Do you use it properly in a sentence?
- Do you explain its meaning?
- Do you link it back to your thesis / assertion?
- Your focus
- Does your paragraph stay focused on addressing the question of what it means to be an American?
- Your grammar and usage
- Are there challenges with the mechanics of your writing?
Like all of your written work for this class, you will submit your final paragraph to turnitin.com. In order to do so, you must go to turnitin.com and register for the class. Here are the instructions to do so-Turnitin.com sign up instructions. You must be signed in to google with your school email account to access the instructions. If you do not yet have a school email account, please let us know.
