1. Read and Read and Read Prompt: Whatever you choose, make sure to think about
every facet of the question. Read over
and over again. Think. Digest what you are about to accomplish.
2. Return to the text.
Return to your blog responses, journal, and class notes. Go back and look your work again with the
prompt in mind. How is everything new now that you are seeing the plays with
the prompt in mind?
3. Rehearse.
What? Yes! Rehearse and perform a verbal essay using the
prompt and the works. How would you
address a jury of your peers with you proposed thesis? What evidence would you use?
4. Find your Evidence:
Find and cite valuable passages for each of the parts of the above
prompt. Go to the net and cut and paste
at least 10-12 passages and or quotations to use in your piece into a word
document.
5. So what’s your point?
Thesis statement: The questions in
the prompt are guiding your essay. Look at your 10 major passages and ask
yourself…what message am I taking away from this reading experience? Write a solid one sentence thesis statement of
purpose.
6. Organization: Look
at the list of quotations and organize the quotations into the paragraphs. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO JUMP AROUND. JUMP AROUND.
JUMP UP, JUMP UP AND GET DOWN!
7. Your thesis and 10 Quotations. Your complete thesis is the heading and the
10 quotations should be arranged in the order you would use them in your
argument.
8. Compose body paragraphs: Using the prompt and your accompanying
quotations - start writing your essay.
Make sure you come to some sort of conclusion in the third
paragraph. You may even have a brief
conclusion as another paragraph.
9. Read your essay over: The professor’s eyes should not be the
first set of eyes to read your essay.
Make sure it is solid. Read it
out loud.
10. Compose your introduction: Keep it brief and make sure the thesis
statement you wrote is the last sentence.
Thesis Statement Templates
Prose/Open
Response Example #1:
(Insert author’s name) presents
readers with _________________________ as a means of
__________________________. Through the
use of __________________________, ____________________________, and
_________________________ he/she demonstrates the necessity for human beings to
________________________. However, this
becomes more complicated because___________________________. Therefore, (Insert author’s name) uses
________________________ to make his/her point that in order to
____________________ one must ___________________________.
Prose/Open
Response Example #2:
In the art of fiction, an author
may choose to utilize (insert literary device) as a means of
________________________________.
(Insert author’s name) takes this device to another level in
_____________________________ by revealing
_____________________________ through the use of
_________________________. Through the course
of the novel/play, ____________________________________. However, by the end of the work
___________________ ________________. Therefore, (insert author’s name)
utilizes (insert literary device) to make the point
_________________________________________________.
Prose/Open
Response Example #3:
Often novelists/playwrights
_________________________________.
However, (insert author’s name) chooses to
______________________________________ in his her novel/play
____________________________ in order to reveal
_________________________________________ about (insert theme). While on the surface it may appear
_________________________, by the end of the work, (insert author’s name)
proves __________________
______________________________. Therefore,
______________________________________________________________________.
Poetry
Example #1:
A poet may choose to utilize
(insert literary device) as a means of describing the complex feelings attached
to________________________________.
(Insert author’s name) takes this device to another level in
_____________________________ by revealing
_____________________________ through the use of
_________________________. On one level,
the poet reveals ____________________________________. However, the use of (insert literary device)
also brings out the paradoxical feelings of ________________________________.
Therefore,
_______________________________________________________________________.
Poetry
Example #2:
A poet may choose to utilize
(insert literary device) as a means of describing the complex feelings attached
to________________________________.
(Insert name of poet #1) takes this device to another level in
_____________________________ by revealing
_____________________________ through the use of
_________________________. (Insert name
of poet #2) also tackles this notion, yet utilizes (insert literary device) in
order to describe _____________________________________________. On one level, both poets reveal
____________________________________.
However, when one examines ______________________________ one will
notice the paradoxical feelings of ________________________________. Therefore,
while (poet #1 ) describes _________________________________________________,
(poet #2) reveals that what really counts is _____________________________.
