excellent essays essay.....42 persuasive essay advanced .....44 argumentative essay a.....46...

1Excellent Resources Inc. 2010 ©

www.excellentresources.netWebster’s Guide: How to Write Excellent Essays

How to WriteExcellent EssaysinEasy Steps7 Successfully master the

techniques for writing the:• Basic Essay• Extended Essay• Narrative/Expository Essay• Persuasive Essay• Argumentative Essay• Super Essay

D R . W E B S T E R ’ S G U I D E

w i t h S t r u c t u r e & S t y l e

ByJ.B. Webster, Ph.D.

Bryan G. Rempel, M.A.

A.D.V.A.N.C.E.

A+

Video & Text



Dr. Webster’s Guide to How to Write Excellent Essays

IndexAcknowledgements .....................................3How To Use This Booklet .........................4The A+.D.V.A.N.C.E. Essay Formula

Anayze the Assignment ................................5 Analyze the Audience ...................................8 Determine the Thesis & Structure ..............10 Validate your Viewpoint ..............................14 Assemble Structure and Add Style .............18 Notation: Cite Your Sources .......................22 Conclusion & Introductions .........................26 Edit & Enunciate .........................................30

Structural Models for Essays Paragraph ...................................................33 Basic Essay ................................................34 Extended Essay..........................................36 Expository / Literary Essay .........................37 Literary Critique Model ...............................39 Critique Vocabulary ....................................40 Persuasive Essay .......................................42 Persuasive Essay Advanced ......................44 Argumentative Essay A...............................46 Argumentative Essay B ..............................48 Super Essay ...............................................51 Citation & Footnotes ...................................54 Bibliography ................................................56

Stylistic Techniques “Dress-Ups” ................................................61 “Clincher/Kickers” .......................................62 Sentence Openers......................................65 Decorations ................................................66 Triples .........................................................67 Lead-Ins......................................................71 Extending the Basic Essay .........................77 Model Introductions ....................................79 Model Conclusions .....................................81 Transitional Words & Expressions ..............84 Essay Checklist ..........................................85 Advanced “-ly” Adverb Chart ......................87 Preposition Chart ........................................88

Sample Essays Phase I “Bare-Bones” Basic Essay ............60 Phase II Dressing Structure........................63 Phase III Adding Flow ................................68 Phase IV Documentation ............................71 Phase V Extension Paragraphs..................76

Resources .........................................................94

Video Link Pages

Introduction ..................................................4

The A+.D.V.A.N.C.E. Essay Formula

Anayze the Assignment ................................7 Analyze the Audience ...................................9 Determine the Thesis & Structure ..............13 Validate your Viewpoint ..............................17 Assemble Structure and Add Style .............21 Notation: Cite Your Sources .......................25 Conclusion & Introductions .........................29 Edit & Enunciate .........................................32

Structural Models for Essays Paragraph ...................................................41 Basic Essay ................................................41 Extended Essay..........................................41 Expository / Literary Essay .........................41 Literary Critique Model ...............................41 Critique Vocabulary ....................................41 Persuasive Essay .......................................50 Persuasive Essay Advanced ......................50 Argumentative Essay A...............................50 Argumentative Essay B ..............................50 Super Essay ...............................................53 Documenting and Extending ......................58 Model Introductions ....................................78 Model Conclusions .....................................78

Stylistic Techniques “Dress-Ups” ................................................64 “Clincher/Kickers” .......................................64 Sentence Openers......................................64 Decorations ................................................64 Triples .........................................................64 Lead-Ins......................................................64



Acknowledgements

The material in this booklet is based on the “Blended Structure and Style in Composition” program developed by Dr. J.B. Webster. His career in teaching creative and academic writing spans five years in elementary, six in junior-senior high and thirty-one at the university levels, the latter seventeen instructing Ph.D candidates in writing their theses. In “retirement” Dr. Webster continues to write instructional course materials and mentor a handful of Master Teachers, who further enhance his “Blended Structure and Style” writing system.

This handbook is designed as a quick reference guide to the key concepts of writing effective, efficient and excellent essays as presented in DVD video format by The Institute for Excellence in Writing (www.excellentresources.net) and in live-online tutorial classes offered by Webster’s Academy for Excellence in Writing (www.webstersacademy.com).

The Videos offered in this booklet are specifically designed to accompany this booket only. By clicking on the Video Links in this pdf format document, you will be able to view videos stored on line, and watch them on your computer. [If you are using this booklet as part of a Learnopia Course , the links have been disabled and you will refer to the Chapters within the Learnopia Course and click on the video links there.]This valuable resource plus the linked videos will bring to life the concepts outlined in this handbook. As you watch the videos, be sure to take notes on the pages at the back of this booklet to keep for handy reference.

Live, Online courses offered by Webster’s Academy for Excellence in Writing will take you into much greater depth in learning how to write Excellent Essays.

Bryan G. Rempel, M.A.Master InstructorWebster’s Academy for Excellence in Writing

For more writing resources be sure to visit our website at

www.excellentresources.net



How to Use this

“How To”Book

For students, essay-writing ranks near the top of their “least favourite” activities. This handbook is designed to provide practical “how to” models and examples which will take the mystery out of writing the dreaded essay. Since the teaching of this craft is best done live, the booklet includes links to a a series of online video presentations. Over 3 hours of video accompany this book. This added value combination will bring each concept to life, making this e-book even more valuable.

Here’s what we would suggest:Watch1. Read through each chapter to familiarize yourself with the material. Then click the video link to get the full explanation of the concept of the chapter. It will become more meaningful to you as you see it presented on your screen.

Notes2. Take notes from the video on the pages provided at the back of the book. You’ll be able to refer to them as you prepare to write essays for your various subjects.

Models3. Use the models and structures in this book to serve as a framework for the assignments you are working on for your school & university assignments.

Excel4. Have fun watching your marks go up as your teachers will be amazed at the development of your writing skills!

5. Let’s get started!

Watch Video

“Introduction to

Webster’s Guide

How to Write Excellent Essays”

Click HERE



Step 1. Analyze the Assignment

Key Words

More often than not, the keys to unlocking a successful essay are the Key Words of the question. These key words should provide you with the possible Topics of each body paragraph in your essay (more about Topics in Step 4). Rather than aimlessly rambling about the assignment with some fuzzy iller, your essay should target the key words of the question like a laser beam. “Often the answer to the question is contained in the question itself.”

TipYou should highlight the key words of the question to make sure your essay is on track with the expectations of the marker. He/she will be watching for how closely you stick to the Topics suggested in the question.

Sample Questions:AssignmentWhat do these texts suggest about the ways in which individuals struggle with honour and certainty? Support your idea(s) with reference to one or more texts presented and to your previous knowledge and/or experience.

AssignmentSome people believe that governments should have the power to restrict civil rights during crisis situations. Others believe that there are no circumstances under which the suspension of civil rights is justi iable.Should governments have the power to restrict civil rights during crisissituations?In your essay, take and defend a position on this issue.

A+A+.D.V.A.N.C.E.©

7How to Write Excellent EssaysIn Seven Easy Steps



How Long is the Essay?

Typically essays are assigned either by word count or page length. These methods usually strike fear into the student with the enormity of the task. Most students treat an essay as a mathematical problem of counting down the number of words or pages demanded by the teacher. If you are continually referring to the “WORD COUNT” in WORD®, your slavish attachment to the numbers will drive you crazy and produce weak writing.

The key here is to know your own writing style and break the essay into manageable chunks (i.e. paragraphs.) Once you have mastered the paragraph structure provided in the Second “A” of this formula (Step 4: Assemble the Structure and Style), you will have an accurate understanding of your typical paragraph length. Knowing your average paragraph length, you will divide that number into the total, giving you the approximate number of topics you can cover, with each paragraph covering one topic. Deduct the Introduction and Conclusion, which should be equal in length to your body or Topic paragraphs, and you can determine how many Topics to cover.

Examples:

Essay Assignment: 750 wordsYour Average Paragraph length: 150 words

Total number of paragraphs: 750 / 150 = 5 paragraphsDeduct Intro and Conclusion: 5 – 2 = 3 paragraphs = 3 Topics

Essay Assignment: 3 pages Average Word count per page: 250 = 750 words Based on 12 point Times Roman, 1 inch margins, Double spaced

Total number of paragraphs: 750 / 150 = 5 paragraphsDeduct Intro and Conclusion: 5 – 2 = 3 paragraphs = 3 Topics

KEY: Each Paragraph should only be about One Topic



When is the essay due?

Nothing annoys a teacher or marker more than late assignments. It puts them in a very precarious position of setting deadlines for the class, and then making exceptions for those who fail to meet the deadlines. Is the essay due in one hour, one week, or one month? If you have a month to write the essay, break down the task into bite-sized chunks (like those in the ADVANCE formula) and spread them out over the time available to complete the essay (more about this in later steps).

WARNING: Do not be like most students who use the “I work better under pressure” excuse. Manage yourself and manage your time.

Watch Video

The First A in ADVANCE,

“Analyze the Assignment”

Click HERE



Analyze your Audience – Who is going to read this essay?

While many writing instructors talk about “audience” and writing for, or to, a particular audience, the simple fact is there will only be one audience for your essay (unless you are a home school student) – the teacher or marker. If you are home schooled, you will likely add your mom to the list. In any case it is extremely important to understand the person who will be marking the essay. Face it, if you did not need the grade from them, you likely would not write any essay in the irst place. Rarely does anyone write an essay past the ending of one’s formal education, whether that is high school or university.

So understanding the marker is another key.

You can do this by asking these questions:

1. Who will be marking the essay?Let’s take an extreme example. Say you are a irst year university student at a large university taking a class where you are sitting at the back behind 300 other eager-to-please students, where the teacher or professor appears to be about the size of your pinky inger. Do you think that professor is the one who will read your paper? Hardly! It will likely be a third year student paid $10.00 per hour to mark papers. The professor will have instructed him to only present some of the best and some of the worst papers, otherwise he is free to use his discretion in marking. After twenty years of teaching the same subject to 600 students per year, you can be sure the professor has heard it all, and yours will just be one in the pile he would rather delegate.

2. When and where do you think the marker is marking your essay?These third year students also have a full course load themselves, and likely will be marking these papers late at night over a pizza and a case of Red Bull. Your job will be to get his attention and keep him awake. More on this in step 6.

3. How long do you think it takes a marker to assign a grade to a paper?Going back to the scenario, the marker has 300 papers to mark over the weekend. If he spends 5 minutes per paper, that’s 1500 minutes or 25 straight non-stop hours. Any more than ive minutes and it is nearly an impossible task.

A+A+.D.V.A.N.C.E.©




4. Where in the essay do you think the marker looks to determine the grade?Most students will be shocked to ind out…that is why we are saving that bit of information for Step 6. There is a key section in the essay found where students tend to do their worst writing. From there, the marker peruses the rest of the paper to con irm their original hunch of the grade and may adjust it accordingly by a “+” or a “-“, giving the student a “B+” or “B-“ if the paper seemed to be a “B” paper for example.

In summary of the irst letter “A” in the acronym ADVANCE© , you need to Analyze the assignment and know your Audience. Your number one job in writing an essay for a teacher or marker is to grab their attention and make them like you by making their job easy! If you follow all seven steps of the ADVANCE© Formula, you will easily succeed at essay writing.

Watch Video

The “+” in the irst A of ADVANCE,

“Analyze the Audience”

Click HERE



Step 2. Determine the Thesis and the Structure

What type of Essay is required to complete the Assignment?

The second step in writing an essay is to determine what type of essay the teacher or professor is assigning. Knowing the type of essay will help to determine the structure of the essay. You may have to chose from the following types:

1. The basic essay – with a typical ive to seven paragraphs, including an introduction and conclusion.

2. An extended essay -‐ with more than ive to seven, paragraphs, including an introduction and conclusion

3. A super essay - which is really a compilation of several shorter essays, glued together with a super introduction and super conclusion, plus transitional paragraphs between the short essays.

4. An argumentative essay - which takes a position in the introduction (a thesis) and then defends that position throughout the remainder of the essay, reinforcing that thesis in the conclusion.

5. A persuasive essay - which has the goal of persuading the reader, without alienating the reader. The strategy of a persuasive is much different than the strategy of the argumentative.

6. A literary essay – favoured by English departments, which has different requirements in the conclusion than a basic essay.

7. – 10. There are a variety of other types of essays speci ically required by varying faculties within a school or university. It is best to acquire a guidebook from these teachers and professors as to the type they prefer.

Each type of essay has its own characteristics, which when mastered, will remove the guesswork of accommodating the “audience” mentioned in Step 1. Be sure to make sure you have clari ied these with your teacher or faculty member before beginning to write.

A+A+.D.V.A.N.C.E.©




HOT TIP: Write like they write! Get a sample our your teacher’s or professor’s writing and write like they do. You can analyze their writing style and duplicate it. Your writing will automatically be more appealing to them, and they may not even know why. The process is covered in more detail in some of the related material published by Excellent Resources.

Another HOT TIP: Ask the teacher to show you an “A+” paper, and duplicate the style of that paper. (More on Style in Step 4)

Is a Thesis Statement required by the teacher?

Remember: Your #1 Job is to make the marker’s job easier.If your teacher is requiring a thesis statement, it is for two reasons: 1. To make sure you stay on track and answer the question. 2. To save valuable time for the teacher in helping them understand the point you are trying to make in the essay – early on – so they don’t have to guess or waste time searching for what you are trying to communicate. (Remember the pro ile of the marker from Step 1 – Make them Like You! Follow Their Directions!)

Determine How many Topics are required to complete the Structure of the Essay.

Using the paragraph formula in Step 1, you should be able to determine the number of topics you need to cover to meet the word count or page expectation of the teacher or professor.

HOT TIP: Writing an Essay is a Finite Exercise. This means that you do not have to know everything about a subject to write something or anything about a subject. If you are to write a thousand words about something, that translates to about seven paragraphs, ive Topics and ive to seven details per Topic – plus Introduction and Conclusion -‐-‐ That’s it! -‐ Endless research is not necessary to get the job done – Great News, isn’t it?

Decide which Topics best support your Thesis.

Remember, you can’t write everything about your thesis, so chose those topics that best support your thesis and let the others go. Then focus on the details that best support each Topic.



These categories may help your thinking about the facts you will present:

Thesis (or Theme): The overall message you wish to present

Topics: Concepts supportive of the Thesis

Details: Supportive of the Topic

Supporting Facts: Provide objective support for the Details

Remember: Decide whether the information you have gathered is a fact, detail, topic or theme/thesis.

Facts are found in the Details

Details are found in the Topics

Topics are found in the Thesis

The Thesis is part of a larger Theme.

FOCUS: Remember that an essay has a very sharp and limited FOCUS. Don’t try to cover every possible Topic. Choose a few and support them well with facts. Teachers love this.

In summary of the second letter “D” in the acronym ADVANCE© , you need to Determine the Thesis and the Structure of your Essay. If you follow all seven steps of the ADVANCE© Formula, you will easily succeed at essay writing.

Supporting Facts

Details

Topics

Thesisor Theme



Watch Video

The “D” of ADVANCE,

“Determine the Thesis and the Strucure”

Click HERE



Step 3. Validate Your Viewpoint

Gather the Information, Facts or Details which Support your Topics

This stage of the Essay Writing Process seems the most onerous to students, yet is the vital starting point for building your case. In the next step we will see that the structure of your essay will support all your information, like the frame of a building, but the facts and details act like the individual pieces or “bricks” which when glued together, give the structure its strength.

Teachers and markers become quite irritated with long, rambling statements of opinion, without the facts and evidence that gives the opinion its validity.

Good News…The good news about research is that you do not need to know everything about something to write anything. Like a building that has limited dimensions, your essay can only contain “so much” information.

Rule of thumb: Each Paragraph should be about one Topic and should contain 5-7 details about that topic (at the middle school to high school level.) Elementary students may have as few as three topics. More than seven facts, even in University level writing, should be a trigger for a second paragraph on that Topic.

ResearchYou will need to gather information from multiple sources to support your arguments or thesis. These can include internet sources, but should not be entirely from the internet. Well rounded research may come from encyclopedias, authoritative books, articles from respected magazines, and other research papers.

Warning: If you use only internet sources, your marker will think you are a weak researcher at best, and downright lazy at worst.

Rule of thumb: Never use less than three (>3) sources, or more than (<9) nine for an essay. Less than three and you will have an inadequate base to work from…more than nine, no teacher will believe that you actually read that many books, and it will look like you are “padding” your research.

A+A+.D.V.A.N.C.E.©




Gathering Information

If you use the following technique, you can save countless hours in research time and avoid the syndrome of sitting in the library, writing out countless 3x5 cards only to have them spill on the loor in a hopeless scattered mess.

Remember: You only need 5 – 7 details or facts per Topic (paragraph).

If you have 3 Topics, you only need a total of 15 – 20 facts for the entire essay.

Topic 1: __________________________Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

In this diagram you can write your first Topic in the upper box labeled Topic 1. Then go to your first source and gather five facts about that topic using Key Words and page numbers to find that fact if you need to quote it. Once you have gathered 5 facts, go to another source and gather 5 more facts about that topic. Repeat this process using the sources you have chosen.



KEY: When you have completed gathering your information about Topic 1, select ONLY 5 – 7 of the MOST INTERESTING OR MOST IMPORTANT DETAILS to use in your paragraph about Topic One and create a FUSED OUTLINE* for that paragraph.

Topic 1: ____________________

Source 1 Source 2 Source 31. Detail / Fact

2. Detail / Fact

3. Detail / Fact

4. Detail / Fact

5. Detail / Fact

1. Detail / Fact

2. Detail / Fact

3. Detail / Fact

4. Detail / Fact

5. Detail / Fact

1. Detail / Fact

2. Detail / Fact

3. Detail / Fact

4. Detail / Fact

5. Detail / Fact

Fused Topic #1

1. Detail / Fact

2. Detail / Fact

3. Detail / Fact

4. Detail / Fact

5. Detail / Fact

Fused Outline: Simply highlight or check the details you want to use and bring them down into your fused outline, and write that Topic paragraph from the Fused Outline.Repeat this process 3 Times (or as many as the number of Topics you need to cover) and you will have written the 3 Body paragraphs of your Essay.

*Fused outlines are a research strategy taught inthe Research and Reference Writing Courses at Webster’s Academy for Excellence in Writing.

Remember: A well written body paragraph will contain a mixture of Facts and Comments. Make sure your writing is NOT just your rambling opinion about the Topic without the Research and Facts to back it up.



In summary of the third letter “V” in the acronym ADVANCE© , you need to Validate the Viewpoint of your Essay. If you follow all seven steps of the ADVANCE© Formula, you will easily succeed at essay writing.

Watch Video

The “V” of ADVANCE,

“Validate Your Viewpoint”

Click HERE



Step 4. Assemble the Structure and Add Style

Assembling an Essay

The structure of your essay will support all your information, like the frame of a building. The facts and details act like the individual pieces or “bricks” which when glued together, give the structure its strength. A beautiful building has both Structure and Style. You will now begin to Assemble that structure.

KEY: An essay with a clear and evident Structure will make the marker’s or teacher’s job much easier, resulting in a higher grade. An essay with great Style will keep the reader reading, awake and interested … another KEY to a great grade!

Basic Structure You Must Master – The Paragraph

A paragraph is more than a group of sentences that have been broken up by a space and an indent. It serves a particular purpose – to discuss ONE TOPIC.

To build a paragraph we will follow a speci ic formula using Three Key Concepts:

Concept 1. The Topic Sentence

The Topic Sentence is normally the irst sentence in the paragraph, and it MUST contain 2-3 Key Words that make clear what the Topic of the paragraph is about. There should be no doubt as to what you will be discussing in the paragraph.

Concept 2. Details

The details contained in the paragraph support the Topic and give more information about that Topic. These details were gathered using the process found in Step 3 of the A+.D.V.A.N.C.E. formula – Validate your Viewpoint.

Concept 3. The Clincher Sentence

The Clincher Sentence repeats or re lects the Key Words of the Topic Sentence in the inal sentence of the paragraph. Think of it as a combination of “clench” like you would clench your ist to hold something tightly, and “pinch” where you can almost feel the point being made again.

A+A+.D.V.A.N.C.E.©




Memorize this:

The Topic/Clincher Rule

The Topic Sentence and the Clincher Sentence MUST Repeat or Re lect 2 – 3 Key Words.

Well written paragraphs are the “building blocks” of an essay. When you are reading, try to identify the “Topic” of the paragraph you are

Paragraph StructureTopic

Sentence 2-3 key words

Details 5-7 facts or details

Clincher Sentence 2-3 key words

reading. When you are writing make clear in the Topic Sentence and the Clincher Sentence what the Topic of the paragraph is --- Always Think Topics. Your reader will be able to clearly following your train of thought if you do this.

The Structure of the Essay

Introduction Covered in more detail in Step 6

Body Paragraph 1 Topic / Clincher5-7 Facts



Conclusion Covered in more detail in Step 6

KEY: Always write the body paragraphs FIRST. Then write the Introduction and Conclusion. Most Students do the opposite, writing the Introduction irst, struggling through the body, and after much exhaustion write the conclusion with their worst writing. Markers know this, and read the Conclusion irst ! More on this in Step 6.



Style

Your #1 Job in Essay Writing is to keep the reader Awake!

If your writing style is highly repetitive, starting every sentence nearly the same way, weak in vocabulary and uninteresting in supporting your details, the reader/marker quickly becomes bored. Variety is the Key that keeps a reader interested and motivated to continue.

Stylistic Techniques Create Variety and Interest

90% of Students start 90% of their Sentences with a Subject. The Tip Off – The irst

word is “The”, “He, She, They, It…” Break this Habit by changing the way you start sentences.

Try these Sentence Openers when you are thinking “The…”

Sentence Openers

1. Subject Opener ( you are likely doing these automatically.)

2. Prepositional Opener – Start with a preposition.

3. “-ly” Opener – Start with an adverb ending in “-ly”.

4. “-ing” Opener – Start with a verb ending in “-ing”

5. Adverbial Clause opener – Start with a clause using “When”, “Where”, “While”, “As”, “Since”, “If”, or “Although”

6. V.S.S. – A very short Sentence – 2-5 Words

Remember: Simply changing the way you start sentences will automatically make your writing more interesting and more powerful – keeping your reader awake.

In summary of the fourth letter “A” in the acronym ADVANCE© , you need to Assemble the Structure of your Essay. If you follow all seven steps of the ADVANCE© Formula, you will easily succeed at essay writing.



Watch Video

The “A” of ADVANCE,

“Assemble the Structure and Add Style”

Click HERE



Step 5. Notation – Cite Your Sources

The ifth step in writing an essay is to avoid the Number One Pitfall of Writing Essays – Plagiarism.

Plagiarism De ined

A writer plagiarizes when he or she presents another writer’sunique work as a product of his or her own knowledge orimagination.Plagiarism occurs when an author fails to do any of thefollowing tasks:

- Include required in-text citations or notes- Provide a complete reference list- Cite accurately

Plagiarism: A Contemporary Issue

Plagiarism is on the rise, and its consequences are becomingmore drastic. In today’s Web Era, plagiarism is commonbecause it is easy for a writer to copy and paste others’ ideasfrom the Internet, and dif icult to properly document sources.Because plagiarism poses such an obvious threat to genuinelearning, educators do not take plagiarism offenses lightly. It isincreasingly common for colleges to rescind acceptance lettersor deny graduation rights if they discover students plagiarized inthe past or violated their academic integrity policies. Despitethese disciplinary measures, some students in today’s high pressureculture will do anything to secure a diploma from areputable institution and the well-paying job it ensures, even atthe cost of their own academic integrity. (Fox, Johns and Keller 1)

As you can tell from the previous quote from “Cite It Right” (noted in the Bibliography at the end of this chapter) Plagiarism is about the most serious offence one can commit in a student’s academic career.

A+A+.D.V.A.N.C.E.©




Quotes are the backbone of support for your Thesis. You should try to have at least one per paragraph, using a variety of styles. Try the following types of quotes:

Types of Quotes:

1. Integrated quotes are those contained within the body of a paragraph and low with, or are integrated into, the text of the paragraph. Integrated quotes would be less than 3 lines of a student’s writing in length.

Example:

… Fishing led the Norwegians to become the world’s greatest sailors and consequently the “great Norwegian merchant leet carries a large part of the world’s trade.”1 Predictably, the rivers of the country seem alive with ish. ….

2. Inset quotes are those to long (more than 3 lines) to be contained within the body of a paragraph and are inset as a unit within the text of the paragraph. Inset quotes would be more than 3 lines of a student’s writing in length.

Example:

…However, the iords have tended to separate the rural areas from the capital region. It has been pointed out that this causes:

…friction between local districts in Norway and the capital of Oslo which has always been viewed with suspicion by the countryside a an originally Danish and thus too European city---not the Real Norway.19

3. Broken quotes appear within the body of a paragraph and have two or more sections, each with its own set of quotation marks.

Example:

Fiords are long narrow inlets for which Norway has been famous. They are “submerged valleys bordered by high steep cliffs,”17 long ingers of the sea which have been deeply “cut into Norway’s west coast.”18 Occasionally the walls of rock stretch straight up….

4. Paraphrasing occurs when a writer takes another writer’s main idea an puts it into his/her own words. - The idea must still be credited to the original author.- Because it is not a direct quote, no quotation marks are required.

Example:…while their home villages clung to the rocks along the iords. The beautiful iords and the midnight sun of the far north attract tourists.20 They bring wealth. Of all the iords…



Citation

Giving proper credit to those you quote is a KEY to successful Essays.

Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010 (and other word modern processing programs) have excellent tools to make the job of “Citing Your Sources” easy. It is not in the scope of this chapter to go into detail on how to do this, but at starting sequence could look like this:

MS WORD> References Tab> Insert Citation > Bibliography

Explore the above sequence to discover how useful and ef icient these tools can be in supporting your essays.

Another great resource is the following website:www.citeitright.com

There you will ind amazing tools that will automatically build your bibliography and give you more detailed instructions on how to follow the various formats required by different faculties.You can use the Citation Builder on the site to load up the information from the sources you are using. Then you can tell the program which format you want to receive the information in, and it will organize it and provide it for you.

In summary of the ifth letter “N” in the acronym ADVANCE© , you need to provide

Notation or Cite the Sources you have used for your Essay. If you follow all seven steps of the ADVANCE© Formula, you will easily succeed at essay writing.

Bibliography:Fox, Tom, Julia Johns and Sarah Keller. Cite It Right. Osterville, Massachusetts: SourceAid LLC, 2007.



Watch Video

The “N” of ADVANCE,

“Notation - Cite Your Sources”

Click HERE



Step 6. Conclusions and Introductions

Great Introductions and Great Conclusions = Great Essays

If you are like most students, you will sit down to write an essay, start writing and keep going until you basically run out of gas. You become so tired of the process, that by the end you are producing your worst writing. Without a plan, you would be making the same serious error that plagues most student essay writers.

The Marker’s Biggest Secret - Revealed

Where do you think essay markers start to read your essay?

What do they look at irst to establish a grade for the paper?

Most markers read the CONCLUSION FIRST. Then they read the INTRODUCTION. By the time they have read the Conclusion they have already formed an opinion of the grade the paper will receive. If the Introduction matches the Conclusion it con irms to the marker the grade they had in mind. The “body” of the essay may change their opinion by a + or - , giving the student a B+ or B-, A+ or A- and so on.

Unfortunately for most students, their worst writing is in the conclusion!

This strategy works for the marker, but spells disaster for unsuspecting students.

Writing a successful essay is like taking a successful airline trip. The irst question the reservation attendant will ask is “Where are you going?” This assures that the light you are booked for will take you to your ultimate destination. The test of a successful light is when you land, and enter the airport at the destination you intended. A great light to the wrong destination is not a successful light.

Like the light analogy, an essay should take the reader to the place promised in the introduction. Anything less is a failure, even if the content between the Introduction and Conclusion is tremendous. Most students will spend 80% of their work on an essay in the body paragraphs where only 20% of the grade is, while ignoring the importance of the Introduction and Conclusion where 80% of the marker’s irst impression is made.

KEY IDEA: Write the Introduction and Conclusion last, after writing the body paragraphs.

A+A+.D.V.A.N.C.E.©




If you were to introduce your friends to someone, you would need to know something about them, usually their name, where they live, what they do for a living, what they like to do in their spare time and something unusual about them. You couldn’t do that without knowing those things irst. In the same way with an essay, get to know the Topics of your subject irst; write about them in the body paragraphs, and then you are quali ied to introduce

them to your audience. THAT IS WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER WRITE YOUR INTRODUCTION FIRST.

Basic Essay Structure (structure may vary with length)

Basic Essay Structure

Introduction Tell them what you are going to tell them!

Body Paragraph 1

Topic / Clincher5-7 Details

Body Paragraph 2


Body Paragraph 3


Conclusion Tell them what you told them!

Structure of the Introduction

Basic Essay - Structure of the Introduction

Attention Getter• Grab the reader’s attention• Use a startling statement, quote, question, dramatic opening,

Background Information • Time• Place

State the Topics• Topic 1• Topic 2• Topic 3

Thesis Statement • Present Your Main Agrument



Structure of the Conclusion

Basic Essay - Structure of the Conclusion

Re-State the Topics• Topic 1• Topic 2• Topic 3

State which of the 3 Topics is MOST Important

• Use strong “-ly” word to introduce statement• Use “The MOST........”• Avoid “I think...” “I feel...” “In my opinion...”

Explain WHY?• Express your opinion as a FACT• Use BOLD language• Back it up with Triple “because” clauses

Title • Key words of title in final sentence

Reminder KEY: Always write the body paragraphs FIRST. Then write the Introduction and Conclusion.

Introduction Tips

Grabbing the reader’s attention, giving some background information, and introducing the Topics of the essay is the primary scope of the introduction. Each of these should take about 1 sentence. Depending on the type of essay you are writing the teacher may require a clear Thesis Statement. Make it easy for the reader to know where you intend to end up with the essay in the Thesis Statement.

Conclusion Tips

Start the conclusion by re-stating the three (or more) topics discussed in the essay. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE ESSAY COMES NEXT – State which of the Topic is MOST IMPORTANT, MOST INTERESTING, MOST SIGNIFICANT, or some other “MOST”. Then say “WHY” without using the words “I”, “I think”, or “in my opinion” –SIMPLY STATE YOUR OPINION AS IF IT WAS A FACT. This is where the “money” is in the essay. The conclusion demonstrates your ability to THINK about the information you have gathered, and that is where the MARKER DETERMINES THE GRADE.End your conclusion with the words of the Title.



In summary of the sixth letter “C” in the acronym ADVANCE© , you need to Conclude and Introduce with power and structure. If you follow all seven steps of the ADVANCE© Formula, you will easily succeed at essay writing.

Watch Video

The “C” of ADVANCE,

“Conclusions and Introductions”

Click HERE



Step 7. Edit and Enunciate

Save this Step for the end – once you think you have inished, but before you hand it in.

Editing your paper puts the inishing touches on the essay. Expect that there will some “polishing” to do. Many students feel that their “ irst draft is the inal draft.” Resist the temptation to make a decision from exhaustion, and just hand it in. If you have planned out the writing process, you should have enough time to edit.

First Impressions are important. Just like you get “dressed-up” to go to a job interview, the polishing and editing of your written work creates the impression that what you have to say is of quality, has value and is important. A paper with great content but sloppy spelling, missing punctuation, and faulty grammar will put off the reader to the extent that he/she will not care what you say if it is poorly presented.

Your #1 Editing Tool

Your ear is you Number 1 editing tool. Here is the biggest tip you will ever receive when it comes to editing –READ YOUR PAPER OUT LOUD (enunciate). You will catch many errors by reading your paper out loud. Since you were very young, your ear has been trained to listen to words and phrases in context and determine whether they make sense or not. Have you ever said to yourself “That doesn’t sound right!”. Likely it wasn’t, and needed to be corrected. Writing or typing on a computer does not tap into your innate ability to edit with your ear. Go ahead and try it – you will be amazed at what you ind.


Give your paper to someone else to read out loud and edit. After you have been working for a long time on your own writing, you become blind to things that are obvious to other people. We all have a “writer’s blind spot.” Even the greatest writers have editors who review their material before publication. They will see things you cannot.

A+A+.D.V.A.N.C.E.©





Print out your paper if you have written it on a computer. It will look very different to you on paper than it did on the computer screen. You will see things with a “fresh set of eyes”, and more importantly you will see the paper the way your marker will see it.


Leave your paper for a day, and come back to it later – BEFORE THE DUE DATE. It will look very different to you on paper than it did the day you wrote it. Again, you will see things with a “fresh set of eyes.” Be sure to allow for this step in your planning so you don’t run out of time.

HOT TIPS:

Avoid “Chattiness”

• Do not talk to the reader in the paper as if you already know what they may be thinking. NEVER use phrases like “I know that you are probably thinking that…”. You cannot presume to know what the reader is thinking unless you have discussed it in your paper already.

Avoid Padding or Filler

• If you are clearly “padding” in words to boost your word count, you will clearly offend the marker. In the case of Essays “less is more.” NEVER use phrases like “What this essay is going talk about is…” – JUST SAY IT!

Avoid “Run On” and “Incomplete” Sentences

• These two dangers in writing are very common. If it sounds like a sentence doesn’t make sense, it probably doesn’t. Edit and re-write until it does. If it still doesn’t – delete it and try again. You are better off with more short sentences, than long rambling ones that never seem to end.

Avoid ‘Spell Checkers’

• Markers can tell when you have relied on “spell check” programs. You will have many correctly spelled “wrong words in the wrong places” in your paper. If you do not know the difference between “bear” and “bare” or “their”, “there” and “they’re”, you may need some help with a spelling program. Go back to Editing Tool #2 and have a real live person check your spelling for you.

Use “Structure and Style”

• When you use the structure and style presented in the ADVANCE Formula, you make your marker’s job easy, your message clear and your grade substantially higher. Clear Introductions that tell the reader where you are going. Content that supports your thesis in the body paragraphs and a clear statement of your interpretation of the facts in the conclusion will make your paper stand out from the rest.



What about Grammar?Professional grammarians are able to debate the ine points of grammar seemingly without end. While certain elements like starting a sentence with a capital letter and ending with a period appear elementary, more complex matters are often points for debate. When in doubt, consult with a grammar guide like “The Blue Book of Grammar” available from Excellent Resources.

In summary of the seventh letter “E” in the acronym ADVANCE© , you need to Edit your paper by reading it out loud (enunciation). If you follow all seven steps of the ADVANCE© Formula, you will easily succeed at essay writing.

Watch Video

The “E” of ADVANCE,

“Edit and Enunciate”

Click HERE

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