Crafting the 7+ essay has been a major skill to master this year. Here is a brief recap:
Opener
Don't jump in with a random dissertation on setting acting as a character in gothic novels, warm up with some outside information. Avoid at all cost the dreaded "Throughout time...".
The Thesis
Should be a road-map for the entire essay. This little monster MUST FOLLOW PROMPT! all of it. Including the implied "meaning" question. Split-thesis is acceptable. Must be arguable.
Body Paragraphs:
Opening sentences should refer back to thesis and are in the same order as topics addressed in thesis.
Plain-style:
Essays should be unadorned in adverbs and superfluous language. Use one word instead of three. Overloading on adjectives and adverbs is the work for the insecure writer and lawyers. It sounds pretentious and says nothing. Allow strong verbs and nouns to speak for themselves.
DIDLS:
Details, Imagery, Diction, Language, Syntax. These are the techniques to address in analysis essays, particularly useful in closed prompt poetry. Authors use these to create EFFECTS.
Effect:
This is the result of the author's choices on the reader. Includes mood, emotional response, characterization.
This is laid out in a way that is easy to follow with clear points. It was helpful that it wasn't too wordy, but you just included the most important things about writing an essay. You could have separated it into two categories, one about the open and one about the closed prompt. This would point out the similarities and differents in the writing of the two essays. I would also elaborate more on DIDLS, we learned a lot about diction and syntax that may be easy to forget. I think the organization is good and this would be helpful to study from.
ReplyDeleteYou do a great job of clearly outlining the steps to writing a great essay. One thing I didn't see was the meaning. This is extremely important and Ms. Holmes stresses this concept an incredible amount. As Kim mentioned, I would go into some more detail with DIDLS. We spent a lot of time, especially at the start of the year, learning about all the different aspects to it. Overall, great job.
ReplyDeleteExcellent =)
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