Essay Notes

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Essay Notes

• Mrs. Sells NOTES FOR LIFE

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B a s i c s i n a B o x
Response to Literature at a Glance
STANDARDS FOR WRITING
RUBRIC
Introduction
Introduces the title and author and a clear
statement of your response
A successful response to literature should

• include an introduction that identifies the
  literary work and clearly states your overall
  response to it
• tell enough about the literature so that readers
  can understand your response
• contain clearly described, specific reactions and
  responses to the literary work
• support your statements with quotations and
  details
• summarize the response in the conclusion

Conclusion
Summarizes the response
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Writing Your Response to Literature
We must read not to understand others but to
understand ourselves. E. M. Cioran French
philosopher
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Writing Your Response to Literature
Make a list of ideas for your personal response
essay.

• Note stories with scenes you can relate to.

• Write down names of characters that have traits
  that you admire or dislike.

• Review the stories that make you laugh or cry or
  that stay burned into your memory for some other
  reason.

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Writing Your Response to Literature
You can begin writing even if you have not yet
decided on everything you want to say. As you
draft your response, think about how to organize
your ideas.

• Write an introduction that identifies the title
  and author of the work, gives your overall
  response, and explains the connections to your
  own life.

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Writing Your Response to Literature

• Begin the body by explaining why you felt as you
  did. Elaborate with specific examples from the
  literature. This includes quotes and descriptions
  of scenes, among other things. Then describe how
  these relate to your own life.

• Finish with a conclusion that summarizes your
  response.

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Writing Your Response to Literature

• TARGET SKILL
• A STRONG INTRODUCTION
• The introduction of your personal response must
  include the title and author of the work and must
  introduce a statement of response. It should
  focus on creating a single impression. Perhaps
  begin with an image from the story or an
  attention-grabbing quote.

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Writing Your Response to Literature
TARGET SKILL RUN-ON SENTENCES A sentence
expresses a complete thought. A run-on sentence
is two or more sentences written incorrectly as
one for example, Many veterans have bad memories
of the war and this story is about a man who
cannot forget what he saw in Vietnam.
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Writing Your Response to Literature
FOR YOUR WORKING PORTFOLIO How did writing about
the story add to your understanding of the
literature and the world around you? What did
you learn about the process of writing a personal
response essay?
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Planning Your Response to Literature
1. Carefully reread the topic. Read the selection
again, paying attention to what you are thinking
or feeling as you read. What are your responses
to the characters, the events, and the writers
message? Creating a chart can help you keep track
of the information.
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Planning Your Response to Literature
2. Freewrite about your responses. How would you
describe your overall response to the piece? What
life experiences have you had that helped you
connect to the story? 3. Choose a focus. Once
you have done a freewrite, decide which parts of
the story you will include in your response.
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Planning Your Response to Literature
4. Identify your audience. How familiar is your
audience with the work? What background
information will they need to know in order to
understand your response?
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SELLS RULES FOR WRITING WELL

• 1) STRIVE FOR FIVE
• Five Sentences Per Paragraph
• Five Paragraphs Per Essay
• MINIMUM (Earns a grade of C)

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SELLS RULES FOR WRITING WELL

• 2) NO AOL/IM LINGO
• Omgosh, SAs R 2 Impt 2 Abbr.
• (Essays are too important to abbreviate)

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SELLS RULES FOR WRITING WELL

• 3) Create a Great Introduction
• Get your audience involved in your story
• Clearly state your thesis or main idea

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SELLS RULES FOR WRITING WELL

• 4) Three Required Elements of all Writing
• When you turn your essay in
• FINAL COPY ON TOP
• ROUGH DRAFT (with PROOFREADING) second
• Mindmap, outline OR brainstorm on bottom

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SELLS RULES FOR WRITING WELL

• ALWAYS PUT THE NP HEADING ON TOP
• Name ( ) Focus
• Mrs. Sell, p ___ ( ) Content
• English 8 ( ) Organization
• Day Month Year ( ) Conventions
• ( ) Style

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SELLS RULES FOR WRITING WELL

• 5) GIVE IT YOUR ALL
• If youre not interested in your writing how
  will the person reading it get interested???