Peer Review

Thesis statements

Introductions

Conclusions

Peer Review Exchange annotated bibliography with a

classmate

Read essay

Answer guiding questions to offer valid feedback about classmate’s essay

On a sheet of paper, briefly explain which of the following items presents the most difficulty for you as a writer.

Thesis statements

Introductions

Conclusions

Where do you stand?

Where do you stand? Go to the part of the room with the item that

presents the most difficulty for you.

Discuss your issue with the others who have also chosen this item as most difficult.

As a group, decide which reasons are the most common.

Write 3-5 of them on the board.

What is a thesis statement?

A one- or two-sentence summary of a paper’s content

Serves as an assertion about essay’s content

Highlights all main topics covered in essay

What is its purpose?

It establishes a focus

Establishes a basis on which to include or exclude information

Forecasts author’s discussion

What are the components of a thesis statement?

Makes an assertion/claim about essay topic

Don’t be wishy-washy!

Specific

Don’t be too broad!

What is a working thesis?

Hypothesis about topic or a claim intended to be made

After drafting, success of working thesis can be evaluated

Working thesis statements CHANGE!

What is its purpose?

Help guide research

If unable to prove through research, must change and alter this assertion

Name and describe three types of thesis statements.

Explanatory thesis

Call for information, not analysis

Fuel-cell technology has emerged as a promising approach to developing energy-efficient vehicles.

Mildly argumentative thesis

Reports, some analysis and judgment

To reduce our dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuel, the federal government should encourage the development of fuel-cell vehicles.

Name and describe three types of thesis statements.

Strongly argumentative thesis

Call for information, analysis, and a firm point of view

The federal government should subsidize the development of fuel-cell vehicles as well as the hydrogen infrastructure needed to support them; otherwise, the United States will be increasingly vulnerable to recession and other economic dislocations resulting from our dependence on the continued flow of foreign oil.

Write a thesis statement for a summary of Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

William Shakespeare defines what love is and what it isn’t in Sonnet 116.

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 identifies love’s characteristics as being steadfast and everlasting.

Author name…article title…three/four/+ main ideas

What are some strategies for writing introductions?

Quotation

Give quote and explain how it elucidates topic

Historical Review

Background info so that reader can follow issue

Review of a Controversy

Like historical, but shows why issue is debated

From General to Specific

Takes reader from what they know to more detailed info leading to essay’s specific topic

Anecdote and Illustration

Funny, touching, or otherwise appropriate story

Question

Ask simple question that isn’t all that simple to answer

Intro format suggestion Opener

Background information

Thesis statement

7-10 sentences

What are some strategies for writing conclusions?

Statement of subject’s significance

How essay applies to greater world

Call for further research

What needs to still be considered (often done in scientific essays)

Solution/recommendation

Essays about problems/controversy can give what should be done

Anecdote

Quotation

Question

Speculation

What are some strategies for writing conclusions?

Anecdote

Tell a story so that readers discover significance to another source

Quotation

Helps gain authority and credibility

Question

Calls on readers to assume an active role by offering their own answers

Speculation

Get the reader thinking about possibilities

Consider what might happen as well as what has happened

Conclusion format suggestion Summarize points

Reiterate thesis (don’t do this if adequately summarized points)

Final thought

Student presentations Fragments

Run-ons

For Thursday...

Annotated bibliography final copy

Submit rubric, final copy, prewrite, plan, rough draft, peer review

Read Behrens chapter 4 (pgs. 94 – 101) and chapter 5 (pgs. 129 – 137, 149 – 169)