Tips for the ACT Writing Test

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Tips for the ACT Writing Test

• Junior Composition

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Basic Tips

• Carefully read the instructions on the cover of
  the test booklet.
• Do not skip lines and do not write in the
  margins.
• Write your essay legibly, in English.

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Organizing you Answer

• Do some planning before writing the essay you
  will be instructed to do your prewriting in your
  Writing Test booklet.
• You can refer to these notes as you write the
  essay on the lined pages in your answer folder.
• Carefully consider the prompt and make sure you
  understand the question it asksreread it if you
  aren't sure.
• Decide how you want to answer the question in the
  prompt.
• Write down your ideas on the topic.
• A list of ideas or your point of view on the
  subject
• A list of reasons for your ideas
• A list of examples that you will use to explain
  your point of view on the issue.

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Writing your Essay

• At the beginning of your essay, make sure readers
  will see that you understand the issue.
• Strong introduction to the topic
• Explain your point of view in a clear and logical
  way.
• Strong thesis statements (discussed in detail
  later)
• If possible, discuss the issue in a broader
  context or evaluate the implications or
  complications of the issue.
• Try to think of other contexts that this issue
  relates

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Writing your Essay

• Address what others might say to refute your
  point of view and present a counterargument.
• Dont avoid problematic issues
• Address them and refute them
• Use specific examples.
• Avoid very general and clichéd examples
• Vary the structure of your sentences, and use
  varied and precise word choices.

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Writing your Essay

• Stay focused on the topic.
• End with a strong conclusion that summarizes or
  reinforces your position.
• Make logical relationships clear by using
  transitional words and phrases.

7
Proofread your Essay

• If there is time, do a final check of the essay
  when it is finished.
• Correct any mistakes in grammar, usage,
  punctuation, and spelling.
• If you find any words that are hard to read,
  recopy them so your readers can read them easily.
• Make any corrections and revisions neatly,
  between the lines (but not in the margins).

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What is the most important aspect of a strong
essay?

• The Thesis Statement
• The parable of the Two Builders (Matthew 724-27)
• The Wise and Foolish Builders
•  "Therefore everyone who hears these words of
  mine and puts them into practice is like a wise
  man who built his house on the rock. The rain
  came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew
  and beat against that house yet it did not fall,
  because it had its foundation on the rock. But
  everyone who hears these words of mine and does
  not put them into practice is like a foolish man
  who built his house on sand. The rain came down,
  the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat
  against that house, and it fell with a great
  crash."

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What is a thesis?

• A thesis is an essays or papers major claim.
• A thesis is comprised of
• Limited Subject
• Definite Attitude
• Points of Development

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What is a strong thesis?

• A strong thesis makes a claim that
• Requires proof
• Offers some point about the significance of your
  evidence that would not have been immediately
  obvious to readers.

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What is a weak thesis?

• A weak thesis either makes no claim or makes a
  claim that does not need proving, such as a
  statement of fact or a common opinion.

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5 Kinds of Weak Thesis Statements

1. Make no claim
2. Are obviously true or a statement of fact
3. Restate conventional wisdom
4. Offer personal conviction as the basis for the
   claim
5. Make an overly broad claim

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Specify and Subordinate

• These methods will aid in fixing most of these
  problems often found in thesis statements.
• Specify replace the overly abstract terms with
  something specific
• Subordinate rank one of the two items in the
  pairing underneath the other .
• Specify to focus the claim and subordinate to
  qualify the claim still more.

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1. The Thesis Makes No Claim

• Problem Examples
• Im going to write about Darwins concerns with
  evolution in The Origin of Species.

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1. The Thesis Makes No Claim

• Solution
• Raise specific issues for the essay to explore.
• Solution Examples
• Darwins concern with survival of the fittest in
  The Origin of Species leads him to neglect a
  potentially conflicting aspect of his theory of
  evolution-survival as a matter of independence.

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Exception to 1.

• Some disciplines expect writers to offer a
  statement of method and/or intention in their
  papers openings.
• Poor Example
• In this paper I will discuss Americas treatment
  of the elderly.
• Good Example
• In this paper I will examine how congressional
  Republicans undermined the attempts of the
  Democratic administration to legislate a fiscally
  responsible health-care policy for the elderly.

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2. The Thesis Is Obviously True or Is a Statement
of Fact

• Problem examples
• The jean industry targets its advertisements to
  appeal to young adults.

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2. The Thesis Is Obviously True or Is a Statement
of Fact

• Solution
• Find some avenue of inquiry- a question about the
  facts or an issue raised by them.
• Make an assertion with which it would be possible
  for readers to disagree.
• Solution Examples
• By inventing new terms, such as loose fit and
  relaxed fit, the jean industry has attempted to
  normalize , even glorify, its product for an
  older and fatter generation.

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3. The Thesis Restates Conventional Wisdom

• Problem example
• An important part of ones college education is
  learning to better understand others points of
  view

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3. The Thesis Restates Conventional Wisdom

• Solution
• Seek to complicate- see more than one point of
  view on your subject. Avoid conventional
  wisdom unless you can qualify it or introduce a
  fresh perspective on it.
• Solution example
• Although an important part of ones college
  education is learning to better understand
  others points of view, a persistent danger is
  that students will be required simply to
  substitute the teachers answers for the ones
  they grew up uncritically believing.

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The Thesis Offers Personal Conviction as the
Basis for the Claim

• Problem example
• Sir Thomas Mores Utopia proposes an unworkable
  set of solutions to societys problems because,
  like communist Russia, it suppresses
  individualism.

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4. The Thesis Offers Personal Conviction as the
Basis for the Claim

• Solution
• Replace opinions (self-evident truths) with ideas
  (theories about the meaning and significance of
  the subject, which can be supported by evidence).
• Solution example
• Sir Thomas Mores Utopia treats individualism as
  a serious but remediable social problem. His
  radical treatment of what we now call
  socialization attempts to redefine the meaning
  and origin of individual identity.

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5. The Thesis Makes an Overly Broad Claim

• Problem examples
• Violent revolutions have had both positive and
  negative results.

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5. The Thesis Makes an Overly Broad Claim

• Solution
• Convert broad categories and generic (fit
  anything) claims to more specific assertions.
• Specify and Subordinate
• Solution examples
• Although violent revolutions begin to redress
  long-standing social inequities, they often do so
  at the cost of long-term economic dysfunction and
  the suffering that attends it.

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Othello Thesis Statement

• Create a thesis statement for the following essay
  prompt
• Write a character analysis of one major character
  from the first two acts of Othello.

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Othello Thesis Statement

• Othello is a play about love and jealousy.
• Although Othello appears to attack jealousy, it
  also supports the skepticism of the jealous
  characters over the naivete of the lovers.