Literary Essay #1

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 3

BOOKS OUT!

10 minutes of reading

What is the assignment for Boy?

On the 4th of December, you are going to write a short LITERARY ESSAY about Roald Dahl's Boy.

This essay is written during class (50 minutes) and should be between 200-220 words long. 

This week's lessons:

1. Literary essay - Introduction
2. Literary essay - Body paragraph(s)
3. Literary essay - Conclusion

Aim of this lesson

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain what the introduction of a literary essay looks like.

Literary essay

A short text that tells about the big idea or theme of a book you've read.

It is NOT a summary (samenvatting) of the book or a description of the characters (beschrijving van de karakters).

Layout

1. Introduction
   
2. Body paragraphs
3. Conclusion
   
   

Introduction

The introduction includes:

1. An introductory sentence where you use the title of the book
2. One sentence about the author (Roald Dahl).
3. One or two sentences summarizing the book.
4. Thesis statement (is given to you).

1. Introductory sentence

A short sentence to catch the reader's attention.

2. Sentence about the author

Include one sentence about the author (Roald Dahl). 

Some worthy info to include:

Why he wrote the book.

or 

What kind of book it is.

3. Summary of the book

One or two sentences that summarize (samenvatten) the content of the book.

4. Thesis statement

A literary essay is built around a THESIS STATEMENT (standpunt). 

A thesis statement can also be called the 'main point' of an essay and there is always only ONE.

4. Thesis statement

A thesis statement could be:

1. Roald Dahl's punishment had a massive impact on him.
   
   
2. Boy shows that friendship and family are very important.

4. Thesis statement

The thesis statement of your essay will be given to you.

You can choose ONE out of three.

I will send them to you tomorrow, so you can prepare for them.

Check your email

Complete the short exercise in the email.

Key

Have you ever remembered how important it is to have friends around you? Well in the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone, friendship is an important element. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone” is written by J.K. Rowling, who wrote the book to demonstrate that there could be a secret wizarding world around us. The book shows the journey of Harry Potter, who firstly believes is a “muggle” but after a mysterious letter, finds out he is a wizard. The journey shows him finding friends, learning witchcraft and fighting the “dark lord”. Although the book shows only Harry’s journey to fight the dark lord, Harry would never have defeated him without the help of Hermoine.

catchy intro sentence / sentence(s) about the author / summary / thesis statement

4th of December

You'll write this essay on the 4th of December.

I will send you the thesis statements tomorrow, so you know what to expect. 

Homework

Read INTRODUCTION and PARAGRAPHS in the file that I sent to your email before tomorrow.