Essay Building

From Brainstorming to Developing Support

Concepts guiding this activity

Most college writing requires students to present their ideas as “essays”

These essays are “arguments” that develop an idea or interpretation logically

These essays also develop that idea with sufficient support to convince the reader or at least defend their idea as reasonable and plausible

How can we help students both structure their essay logically and develop sufficient support?

The “Critical Essay”

What are the characteristics of the “critical essay?”

What are the general characteristics of the academic essay?

Guide on Critical Essay

Development How much support? What kind? How do you structure

it?

Guide on Development

Strategies for helping students move from ideas to a developed

essay

Essay Building Activity: using a THEA

prompt Murray’s Writing

Process--sequence Planning for design Collecting Develop

Writing Guides Orienting Yourself To

ward and Essay Topic

Brainstorming for Reasons

Strategies for Developing Support Development Outlin

e Example Critical Ess

ay Detail of Secondary

Support

The Importance of Coherence

Transition sentences that signal the main logical flow of an essay

Transitions that keep the writer on track developing support

Guide on Coherence

Assignment examples from a Developmental English

classroom Read the novel The Education of Little Tree

Write an essay claiming whether you liked the novel or not and supporting that claim.

Write a follow up research essay. Research the author and book. Write an presentation for a fictional school board meeting arguing whether the book should be banned or not.

Analyze an ad and argue whether it is propaganda or not—Essay Assignment

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DiscussionHow could you use this in your teaching context?