Writing a Personal Essay

1
Writing a Personal Essay

• Topic 5
• Thesis 10
• Brainstorm 10
• Outline 10
• Rough Draft 10
• Editing 5
• MLA Style Final Draft 50
• 100 points

2
Topic

• Generate at least 5 potential topics about which
  you could write.
• With a partner- think aloud. (We will do this
  activity in class) Discuss for 30 seconds why you
  chose this topic and some of the ideas you will
  touch upon for your essay.
• Narrow down the topic to one.

3
Thesis

• Write your thesis.
• Definition a statement of the purpose, intent or
  main idea of a piece of writing
  flwi.unl.edu/resources/glossary.html
• Example My scar reminds me of my careless
  behavior as a child that led to the injury but
  also a crazy hospital adventure and acceptance by
  my cousins because they finally found me
  interesting.
• Example I want to join the Army because of the
  leadership opportunities, the chance to serve my
  country, and to learn how to program computers.
• (Make sure the points you are trying to make are
  easy to identify in the thesis.)

4
Brainstorm

• Brainstorm your ideas. This can be done using
  www.bubbl.us or by just making a list.
• Try to come up with at least 3 points for each of
  your three ideas.

5
Outline

• Turn your three points into an outline.
• Each point must have at least 3 supporting
  details you could include in the essay.
• Use a pattern Roman numerals, Capital Letters,
  numbers, small letters. You can also use dots and
  dashes.
• Indent each time.
• The more details, the better.

6
Rough Draft

• Use the outline to make the draft.
• The outline is the skeleton. The draft is the
  skin on top of the bones.
• Write the draft on notebook paper.
• NOT IN YOUR RESPONSE JOURNAL!!!!
• Skip lines.
• You may write on the back.
• You may also word process your draft.

7
Introduction

• Make the introduction interesting- FRIES?
• Facts
• Reasons
• Incidents, Inferences
• Examples
• Statistics
• Questions or Quotations

8
Hamburger Check

• Organization- Beginning, middle, end- bun, meat,
  bun
• Supporting Details- lettuce, pickles, onion,
  ketchup, mustard, etc.
• Focus- It is a hamburger, right? Make sure you
  are answering the writing prompt.
• Conventions- Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation,
  Audience, Purpose, Tone- Someone else would find
  it tasty and attractive. Yum!

9
Peer Edit

• Give your draft to a peer, parent, or guardian to
  do a hamburger check.
• Use a different color pen or a highlighter.
• Your peer should use proofreading marks on your
  paper and sign his/her name that it has been
  proofread.
• Ask your peer to write one positive comment about
  your paper.

10
Final Draft-MLA Style

• Name, date, and course in the upper left hand
  side of the paper.
• Title of the paper centered
• one inch margins all around
• black 12 standard font
• double spaced

11
Due Date

• The paper is due on August 18, 2009.
• Submit your essay to a page in the blog that I
  will designate on Monday August 18th.

12
Rubric

• Essays will be scored on the College Board's SAT
  Writing Rubric. Students will have multiple
  opportunities to revise the draft.
• http//www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/ab
  out/sat/essay_scoring.html
• SCORE OF 6 (an A paper) An essay in this category
  demonstrates clear and consistent mastery,
  although it may have a few minor errors.
• A typical essay -
• effectively and insightfully develops a point of
  view on the issue and demonstrates outstanding
  critical thinking, using clearly appropriate
  examples, reasons, and other evidence to support
  its position
• is well organized and clearly focused,
  demonstrating clear coherence and smooth
  progression of ideas
• exhibits skillful use of language, using a
  varied, accurate, and apt vocabulary
• demonstrates meaningful variety in sentence
  structure
• is free of most errors in grammar, usage, and
  mechanics