VWO 6 Writing an essay lesson 5

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• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

VWO 6 - Writing Class 4

Today

Class work

- review essay writing

- using formal language

- checklist 

Individually

- practise writing an essay

Goals

• Ik weet hoe ik een essay moet schrijven.
• Ik weet hoe ik ervoor kan zorgen dat mijn essay formeel is.
• Ik weet waar ik op wordt beoordeeld tijdens de toets. 
• Ik heb geoefend met het schrijven van een essay. 

I. Introduction   

          A. Hook

          B. Background information

          C. Thesis statement

II. Paragraph 1

          A. Topic sentence

          B. Evidence and/or examples

III. Paragraph 2 (same as paragraph 1)

IV. Paragraph 3 (same as paragraph 1) 

V. Conclusion

          A. Summary

          B. Significance

          C. Strong closing sentence 

Essay outline

Step 1: What is your point of view? Write a temporary thesis statement.

Step 2: Why is this your viewpoint and how are you going to persuade your readers? Brainstorm and think of arguments. Write down whatever you can think of.

Step 3: What is a natural order of presenting your arguments? Make an essay outline.

Step 4: Write your topic sentences.

Step 5: Write your introduction and body paragraphs. It doesn't matter in which order, you can start at any point.

Step 6: Re-write your thesis statement, including the arguments from your body paragraphs.

Step 7: Write your conclusion.

Step 8: Re-read your entire essay a couple of times. Make sure everything is tied together, makes sense, whether things are in the logical order, maybe add some linking words.

Roadmap

Checklist

• My essay follows the requirements of the assignment (topic and length).
  
• My introduction sparks the reader’s interest and provides any necessary background information on the topic.
  
• My introduction contains a thesis statement that states the focus and position of the essay.
  
• I use paragraphs to structure the essay.
  
• I use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph.
  
• Each paragraph has a single focus and a clear connection to the thesis statement.
  
• I make clear transitions between paragraphs and ideas.
  
• My conclusion doesn’t just repeat my points, but draws connections between arguments.
  
• I don’t introduce new arguments or evidence in the conclusion.
  
• My essay has an interesting and informative title.
  
• I have followed all formatting guidelines (e.g. font, page numbers, line spacing).

Checklist essay

Formal writing
Remember the following rules while writing a formal essay:

• Do not address your readers with 'you'. Doing this, can result in overly broad assumptions.
  You would feel the same way if something like that happened to you. 
  If this is not the case for the reader, they might stop reading your essay. Instead, say something like:
  Logically, one could feel angry when something like that happened. 

Formal writing
Remember the following rules while writing a formal essay:

• Avoid using contractions, such as I'm, they're, haven't, can't, etc. Instead, write out the complete words:
  This cannot be the case.
  Making this statement does not have the correct effect. 

Formal writing
Remember the following rules while writing a formal essay:

• Avoid using slang expressions.  Slang expressions are used in spoken language; however, they should not appear in a formal piece of writing. 
  Yeah, you could say that. 
  You guys understand what I'm saying. 
  Stuff like that seem interesting. 

Formal writing
Remember the following rules while writing a formal essay:

• Avoid using non-standard language, i.e. words that are not actually words. 
  This ain't right.
  I wanna talk about that.
  Anyways, ... 
  
  

Formal writing
Remember the following rules while writing a formal essay:

• Avoid using informal linking words at the start of your sentence. 
  But this is not the case here.  
  Because I believe something different. 
  And now let's talk about something else. 
  Instead, use:
  However, this is not the case here.
  As I believe something different. 
  Moreover, introducing a new point of discussion. 

What to do? 

Write a practise essay according to the assignment in the next slide. 

Finished? Check your essay using the checklist. 

Assignment

The school board has recently asked all of their students the following question: Should there be extra incentives* for good grades at school? With your class, you had a discussion about this topic, in order to provide the school board with a sufficient answer. During this discussion the following notes were made.

Notes:

• Internal motivation vs external motivation: what motivates students best?
  
• What is a good grade? How to determine this?
  
• What will you get? What incentives will work?
  
• ….
  

* incentives = stimulansen (oftewel, extraatjes die je krijgt als je goede cijfers haalt)  

Assignment

Now, your teacher has asked you to write a persuasive essay to convince the school board of your class’ opinion. Your class does not think there should be extra incentives for good grades. However, in your essay you can be either pro or con, or you can give arguments for both sides.

 

Write an essay of 300 (or more) words. Choose two of the mentioned notes above to write two of the paragraphs. The third paragraph should contain an argument which you thought of yourself. Remember to construct a good thesis statement; divide up your essay into an introduction, body and conclusion.

Today

We reviewed essay writing.

We talked about formal language. 

We practised writing an essay. 

Next lesson

Exam practise.