MIDTERM REVIEW

2011-2012

During the exam, you may use:

• “The Crisis”• “Speech to the Virginia Convention”• “The Autobiography”/”Poor Richard’s

Almanack”• “Stride Toward Freedom”• “Necessary to Protect Ourselves”• MIDTERM- Prewriting• Note card (provided by Miss S)

During the exam:

• Follow the steps in the writing process1. Analyze the prompt 2. Prewrite - select your quotes and organize your

thoughts before you begin3. Draft – write the essay4. Edit and revise – proofread, review the rubric,

and make necessary corrections

How you will be graded

Parts of the Rubric

STRONG INTRODUCTION

• Broad to narrow• Effective thesis• TAG– Since you are writing about several pieces, you do not

necessarily need to list EVERY title, author, and genre in the introduction. You will give the title, author, and genre of every piece you use at some point within the essay. Use your judgment to decide what information should be in the introduction and what information fits better elsewhere.

BODY PARAGRAPHS(2)

• Accurate text details• Ideas and content tie to the thesis• Strong and appropriate topic sentences• Engaging concluding sentences• Quotes! (MINIMUM of four quotes throughout

the paper-two per body paragraph)• Use the appropriate selection and amount of

quotes to clearly prove your thesis

CONCLUSION

• Summarize ideas• Restate thesis• Tie back to the introduction (use both broad

and narrow elements)• Provide closure

SANDWICHING

• Excellent lead ins• Strong analysis• FLOW!!!!

To properly sandwich and discuss these pieces…

• You should know some information about each piece and each author

• Some information to consider:– Who wrote each piece– What type of literature each piece is (speech,

pamphlet, portion of a book, etc)– Author’s purpose for writing each piece– When/where the piece was presented

Sandwiching nonfiction• With The Postman and The Crucible, you used the

lead in to “set the scene” for the quote by providing necessary plot details.

• With nonfiction, you can still “set the scene” by providing the necessary information about the context in which your quote appeared.– Perhaps it was in a speech given to convince

politicians to go to war…– Perhaps it was a pamphlet published during the

Revolutionary war to motivate the demoralized troops…

For example…

• Before the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry explained, “Quote” (2).

• MLA REMINDER: if you use the author’s name in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the in-text citation.

SENTENCE VARIETY

• You must use at least THREE of the assigned sentence structures in your essay

• Select three DIFFERENT sentence structures• You must UNDERLINE and LABEL the three

sentence structures

Select from:

• Two adjective beginning• Ly beginning • Ing beginning• Ing ending• Appositive (must be in the middle of the

sentence)• Semicolon

Sentence Structures

• Two adjective beginning– Annoyed and frustrated, Miss Sidebotham

answered a question she had already answered five times.

Sentence Structures

• Ly beginning– Passionately, Patrick Henry addressed the Virginia

Convention.

Sentence Structures

• Ing beginning– Trying to motivate the tired troops, Paine

distributed “The Crisis”

Sentence Structures

• Ing ending– Patrick Henry addressed the Virginia Convention,

hoping to gain support.

Sentence Structures

• Appositive (MUST be in the middle of the sentence)– Please honor Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights

leader, on your day off on Monday.

Sentence Structures

• Semicolon– Midterms are next week; you should begin

preparing.– I keep class documents on the course website;

however, most students do not take advantage of this.

WORD CHOICE

• Use challenging and complex vocabulary• Avoid repetition• Avoid vague and weak words (thing, stuff, a

lot, etc)• Use at least TWO vocabulary words in your

essay (select from Revolutionary Vocab, SAT Lesson 1, SAT Lesson 2)

• UNDERLINE the vocab words in your essay.

MLA FORMAT

• Write the appropriate MLA heading on your paper

• Punctuate titles appropriately• Use in-text citations correctly