Essay+Writing

In general, what are the key characteristics of excellent writing? What are additional keys to excellent writing in social studies? -Answers the question -Is specfic -Provides evidence that backs up your argument -States your argument -Refering back to certain events to help your argument
 * Activity 1**

15 keys to excellent (social studies) essay writing:

These three are most important to me because I feel that this things are the base/key to writing a good paper primarliy because this is what you start off when trying to write an essay. =
 * 1) Be knowledgeable about your content
 * 2) Read the directions / prompt / question carefully
 * 3) Brainstorm & Outline ﻿-I feel that this is the foundation of your paper needs be your starting point
 * 4) Have an appropriate title
 * 5) Directly answer the question / respond to the prompt
 * 6) Use a strong, clear thesis statement
 * 7) Prove your thesis statement throughout the essay
 * 8) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Make sure your arguments are presented in an organized way
 * 9) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Include evidence/examples //and// analysis of them
 * 10) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Include key terms, academic vocabulary, appropriate research/documents/sources
 * 11) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Provide context
 * 12) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Acknowledge other POVs / opposing arguments (and disprove them, if possible)
 * 13) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Use correct grammar and spelling
 * 14) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Make sure the <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;">paragraphs and sentences flow together, that it’s a smooth read
 * 15) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Finish with something profound
 * 16) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Proofread and revise*

= =** ﻿ Activity 3**= Write a paragraph reflection on your strengths and weaknesses as a social studies essay writer. Make sure that you reference some of the items on the list of keys to excellent essay writing, you might want to especially consider your use of thesis statements, your organization and grammar, your use of academic vocabulary, evidence, examples, key terms, your abilities to analyze evidence and examples, etc...What are you good at? What do you need to improve on? What don't you really understand?

My strenghts as social studies writer would have to be using evidence in a way that supports my argument and is relevant to what I'm talking about.Also I would say my vocabulary is another strong suit of mine. Something I need to work on is paragrapgh fluencey because I may have all the right evidence and details but the way I set it up is sometimes a little weird. Another weakness of mine is making that my thesis is exaclty what I'm arguing about that it's specific enough.

=**Activity 4**= <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__[]__ - You would need to know the military,diplomatic and pollitical ascepts of the US winning the war. From 8-9 you are remind about relevant evidence,organization,and talks about the military,diplomatic and political aspects of the US victory. the main difference between the 5-7 and the 8-9 is that the 5-7 mainly talks about having organization and relevant information,some errors
 * -**You would need to know about the time 1775 to 1783 regarding the war

=**Activity 5**= I feel like the essay was more of a 5-7 kind of essay because the lack of organization and the spelling errors that were present.While reading I didnt really get an idea of what the writer was talking about or what he was trying to prove or make us understand.I suppose I agree but not really.

=**Activity 6**= <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">From your experience and background knowledge, describe the proper structure of a (5 paragraph) social studies essay <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Introduction-Introduces your topic and includes your thesis <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Body-has eveidence that supports argument

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Body-has eveidence that supports argument

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Body-has eveidence that supports argument <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Conclusion-wraps up your paper and is your last remarks to your argument

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__Title__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> – always have a title that you have created

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__Intro Paragraph__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Introduce the topic with a general topic sentence.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Include a year or time frame.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Provide context: explain key background and related info for the time period and topic.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Transition into a brief, general mention of the specific topic of the essay.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Provide a <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__Thesis Statement__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> that clearly responds to the essay question or topic.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Make sure the sentences connect, that the paragraph flows.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__Body Paragraphs__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Break the essay into specific subtopics (which should have been mentioned in your thesis statement)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Begin each body paragraph with a TOPIC SENTENCE that is basically a thesis statement for that paragraph’s subtopic
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Topic sentences should bridge the previous paragraph (may require only one word to make a bridge (e.g. “also”))
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Follow general topic sentences with specific details, examples, evidence (from documents/research if applicable)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Include key terms, names, dates, events, and data (#s)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">ANALYZE your evidence and examples - why are they important? what do they show? So what?!
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">PROVE YOUR THESIS throughout each paragraph

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__Conclusion Paragraph__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Summarize some of the most important information from the essay.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Acknowledge opposing arguments (and refute, if possible).
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Restate your thesis in different words.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Explain why your topic is important in the big picture of history (so what?) and/or give a preview of what is or may be next to come...give your audience something strong to leave with.

write another brief paragraph reflection on your strengths and weaknesses as a social studies essay writer, especially taking into account the most recent information we have studied. My weakness would have to be analyzing my evidence.

=**Activity 7**=

I feel like a weakness that I have is to make sure to bridge back to the previous paragraph. Most of the time when I write I expect the reader to catch on instead of me saying point blank. For me in a paper the easiest part is to write the introduction paragraph because that is when your just shedding light on the situation or problem. It just clicks to me that, that's the way it's supposed to flow.

=**Activity 8**= What is a thesis statement? Why are thesis statements so important?

Thesis statement is kinda like a one sentence summary of what your arguing about. They are important because they give you rpaper purpose you know what your trying to prove or justify.

=Activity 9=

Thesis Statements a. What is my topic? b. What argument am I prepared to make? c. How can I state my argument as clearly and powerfully as possible? d. Is my statement a direct answer to the question or response to the prompt or claim about the topic?
 * 1) A thesis statement is an argument. It is a 1-2 sentence statement of the purpose of your essay: what will you be proving to the reader in the essay?
 * 2) It should be toward the end of an introductory paragraph and include enough specifics that the reader has a general idea of the key points you will make to support your biggest claim.
 * 3) Your thesis statement should likely be a compound sentence, including a preview of the major points you will make to support your big claim. So, instead of writing a simple thesis statement like "The end of World War II brought about major consequences" you should probably write something like "When World War II ended in 1945, the major consequences included the division of Germany, the start of the United Nations, and the beginning of the Cold War."
 * 4) To write your thesis, ask yourself 4 questions:

A compound sentence starts off with a statement then evidence to back up that statement. The second thesis is better because it gives reader an idea of what is going to be discussed.

=Activity 10=

The first thesis statement is better because it show the understanding of that period in time and is a clear cut and consise answer. Prompt A - The first answer was better because it answered the question unlike the other one. Prompt B - Choice one was specfic, answered the question and was clear. Prompt C - Coice one answered the question was relevant and made sense while the other simply just wrong.

=Activity 11=

9. There are various reasons why teens drop out whether it's lack of ambition,home situations. 7. Malden High is a great school in all the ways it needs to be it offers Sports,Clubs and is serious about academics. 1. The best fast food restaurant would be Bostons Market offereing high quality meals that fill you up.