Freedom or Independence Essay: write a FIVE paragraph essay where you explain the significance of freedom and independence. You must CLARIFY the difference between the two and use “ALL” FOUR sources to explain WHICH of the THREE groups involved in our reading required either freedom or independence. Your informative essay needs to address white male Colonists, white women and the Black slaves who were being used during the 1800’s. You are using “ALL” four sources to JUSTIFY WHY the ideals of FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE are important to “ALL” people to help them find their place in the world and find their identity.
Your planning sheet should be set up like this: Informative Essay Freedom or Independence (as the heading/title of the assignment) skip TWO LINES and your NEXT line should be THESIS (since this is an informative essay, not an argumentative essay, you have a thesis, NOT a claim, since you aren’t claiming any side) THE NEXT line of the planning sheet should have your FIRST reason of support followed by a QUOTE as EVIDENCE, and EACH REASON OF SUPPORT SHOULD FOLLOW WITH ITS EVIDENCE — if these guidelines are confusing ask me questions.
Essay Writing Strategies
When making a reference to each source, you must place the title in quotation marks and address the name of the writer this has to be done ONCE and then you can simply refer to the authors name.
Please have a planning sheet. You must have your THESIS or CLAIM, then REASONS OF SUPPORT which DEFEND the thesis/claim, and then the EVIDENCE is placed under EACH reason of support. Remember, if the essay is argumentative, you MUST have a COUNTERCLAIM at the end of the planning sheet.
DO NOT USE I ME, OR MY IN THE ESSAY AT ALL YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO STATE YOUR POINT OF VIEW WITHOUT WRITING I BELIEVE, OR IN MY OPINION.
The introductory paragraph must have your THESIS or CLAIM written AFTER your attention grabber or hook. Your thesis/claim is composed of a portion of the topic included with your point of view without using I or Me. Must create a complete thought about the topic given to you.
You must INTRODUCE, not go into detail about, your three reasons of support in the introduction. Your introductory paragraph should then have a CLOSING statement which wraps the introduction up in preparation for the FIRST reason of support opening its paragraph.
Begin your introduction with an Attention Grabbing Hook or Good Lead-In.This draws the reader in and makes the person want to read on with interest.
The first body paragraph should be about the FIRST reason of support and EACH body paragraph after that should be about each reason of support in the order in which they were presented in the introduction.
Remember, since EACH REASON OF SUPPORT has its own body paragraph, you need to include EVIDENCE which backs up each reason. This EVIDENCE HAS TO BE A QUOTE FROM THE TEXT this is the FACTUAL piece that PROVES your reason of support and your claim to be STRONG.
IF your essay topic is argumentative, you MUST have a COUNTERCLAIM in your essay. This is the side OPPOSITE to the side you have chosen to defend. The most INTELLIGENT place to incorporate this COUNTERCLAIM is the FIRST body paragraph GET IT OUT OF THE WAY!!! Your job is NOT to PROVE the COUNTERCLAIM, but to simply PROVE you know it exists, THEN go back to THE SIDE YOU ARE DEFENDING WITH YOUR REFUTATION OF THE COUNTERCLAIM BY BRINGING IN YOUR REBUTTAL.
FINALLY, the CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH should re-address the MOST IMPORTANT POINTS about EACH REASON OF SUPPORT BUT with DIFFERENT WORDS than those used in the INTRODUCTION or BODY Paragraphs.
The CONCLUSION SHOULD BE SO CONVINCING THAT ANY READER WOULD WANT TO TAKE ON YOUR POINT OF VIEW AND AGREE WITH WHY EACH GROUP DESERVES THEIR FORM OF FREEDOM.
PLEASE USE MATURE TRANSITIONAL WORDS you should know by now which ones are too un-scholarly for HIGH SCHOOL.
Pulling the ESSENTIAL QUESTION out of the writing prompt is going to save the writer the confusion of writing about the wrong topic. Use one of the question stems, who, what, when, where, why, how, should as a starter to CREATE the question. Pull the KEY words OUT of the WRITING prompt so that you DO NOT lose the ESSENCE of what you are to write about. Create a question out of this information. Your job now is to ANSWER this ESSENTIAL QUESTION you have created. YOUR ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION BECOMES YOUR CLAIM OR THESIS. Every detail you write in your essay should focus around CONTINUALLY answering the ESSENTIAL QUESTION.
