Mastering Formal Essay Writing in English 12
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F
ORMAL
ESSAY
WRITING
English 12
KWL – F
ORMAL
E
SSAYS
Write down everything you know about composing a formal essay.
1
ST
BLOCK
3
RD
BLOCK
4
TH
BLOCK
M
AIN
C
OMPONENTS
OF
W
RITING
Content
Organization
Voice/Style
Grammar/Mechanics
C
ONTENT
What you are saying.
Textually correct.
Supported with apt & specific evidence.
Responds to prompt properly.
Well-focused & persuasive.
Discuss literary work with significant insight and understanding.
Interest Grabber.
ORGANIZATION
Logical organization of thoughts.
Transitions.
Proper elements in appropriate paragraphs.
Title/Author – intro & conclusion.
VOICE/STYLE
How you say it.
Correct tense.
No 1
st
person.
Formality.
Effective control of language.
GRAMMAR /
MECHANICS
Underline/italics/quotes.
Contractions.
No distracting errors.
AP R
UBRIC
The score reflects the quality of the essay as a whole—its
content, its style, its mechanics.
Students are rewarded for
what they do well.
The score for an exceptionally well-written
essay may be raised by 1 point above the otherwise
appropriate score. In no case may a poorly written essay be
scored higher than a 3.
9 – 8
These well-focused and
persuasive
essays
identify a
tragic character who functions as an instrument of others’
suffering.
These essays also discuss
how
that suffering
contributes to
the
tragic vision of the work as a whole
. Using
apt textual support
, these essays not only explore the nature
of the suffering, but they also analyze
how
that suffering
contributes to the work’s tragic vision. Although not without
flaws, these essays exhibit the writer’s ability to analyze a
literary work with insight and understanding, to control a
thesis, and to write with clarity, precision, coherence, and - in
the case of a nine (9) – with particular persuasiveness and/or
stylistic flair.
7 – 6
These competent essays
identify a tragic character
in an appropriate novel
or play and
analyze that character’s impact on others’ suffering
. They also
attempt
to articulate
how
that suffering he or she brings on to others
contributes to the work’s tragic vision (Work as a Whole).
Although these
essays have some insight, the analysis provided by the 7 – 6 essays is less
thorough, less perceptive, and/or less specific in supporting detail than that
of the 9 -8 essays. References to the text may not be as apt or as
persuasive. Essays scored a 7 will demonstrate
more sophistication in both
substance and in style t
han those scored a 6, though both 7’s and 6’s will be
generally well written and free from significant or sustained
misinterpretations.
5
These essays tend to be
superficial in analysis
even though
they may respond to the assigned task and may offer a
plausible
interpretation of an appropriate novel or play. They
often rely upon
plot summary
that contains some analysis,
implicit or explicit. Although they may be obliquely attempt to
explain the work as a whlole, the tragic vision, they may
demonstrate a rather
simplistic understanding of it.
Typically,
these essays reveal unsophisticated thinking and /or
immature writing.
4–3
These lower-half essays reflect an
incomplete or
oversimplified understanding
of the work discussed, or they
may fail
to establish
how
the tragic figure brings about
others’ suffering
or
how that suffering contributes to the
work as a whole. They may rely on
plot summary alone
. Their
assertions may be unsupported or even irrelevant. Often
wordy, elliptical, or repetitious, these essays lack control over
the elements of college-le el composition. Essays scored a 3
exhibit more than one of the stylistic errors; they may also be
marred by
significant misinterpretation and /or poor
development.
2–1
These essays compound the weaknesses of the paper in the 4-
3 range. Often, they are unacceptably brief. They may be
poorly written on several accounts and contain distracting
errors in grammar and mechanics. The writer’s remarks are
presented with little clarity, organization, or supporting
evidence. Especially inept, vacuous, and /or undound essays
must be scored a 1.
0 These essays do no more than make a reference to the task.
— These essays either are left blank or are completely off
topic
T
HESE
ESSAYS
ALSO
DISCUSS
HOW
THAT
SUFFERING
CONTRIBUTES
TO
THE
TRAGIC
VISION
OF
THE
WORK
AS
A
WHOLE
What is that?????
W
ORK
AS
A
W
HOLE
…
It means
THEME
THEME
A generalization about life
A
THEME
WILL
:
•
Be a complete sentence.
A
THEME
WILL
NOT:
•
reference the literature, plot, or characters in any way.
•
Use first person (I, you, me, my, our, us, we)
•
Be a cliché
Time will tell
All is fair in love and war
Time heals all wounds
M
INI
-T
HEME
VS
.
T
HEME
W
ORK
AS
A
WHOLE
/T
HEME
M
INI
-T
HEME
War
W
ORK
AS
A
WHOLE
/
THEME
A person’s commitment to war
must be absolute, leaving
relationships and other aspects of
daily life to be returned to
following battle.
All’s fair in love in war.
When it comes to war, there are no
rules.
W
ORK
AS
A
WHOLE
/
THEME
M
INI
-T
HEME
LOVE
W
ORK
AS
A
WHOLE
/T
HEME
It is during times of hardship that
relationships not only test their
love, but strengthen it, as well.
Time heals all wounds.
As time passes, the inflictions
brought on by life tend to restore
back to health.
FRANKENSTEIN
The Pursuit of Knowledge (Spark)
Although
knowledge can
empower a person;
however, that same
empowerment can
prove their
destruction.
Tragic people
A person only truly
becomes tragic
when their actions
affect not only
themselves, but
more importantly,
others.
F
RANKENSTEIN
CliffNotes:
Dangerous Knowledge
(Mini-Theme)
Develop now into full theme:
Sublime Nature (Mini-Theme)
Full Theme:
Monstrosity (Mini-Theme)]
Full Theme:
P
UZZLE
P
IECES
1.
Work as a Whole
W
ORK
B
ACKWARDS
1. Read prompt ACTIVELY. Really spend time engaging in what the prompt is
asking you to do.
2. Make an outline or other organizational structure to sort out your
thoughts.
3. Come up with a work as a whole!
WAAW - F
RANKENSTEIN
4. Once you have a WAAW,
then
explain how that
Tragic figure brings about suffering to others, thus
illuminating that work as a whole.
I
NTRODUCTION
TITLE
/
AUTHOR
INTEREST
GRABBER
THESIS
According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest
points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of
the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than
a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims
of the divine lightening.” If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then
the “divine lightening” of despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva,
Switzerland. Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel
Frankenstein
showcases a man,
Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor of power and tragedy as his
selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves thus making him truly
a tragic figure. Through the horrific sufferings of Victor’s father and the
monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that
conducts and spreads despair to others in his life. It is through this tragic
figure of Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how a person
only truly becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but
more importantly, others.
I
NTEREST
GRABBER
According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in
their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about
them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than a clump of grass.
Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightening.”
If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then the “divine lightening” of
despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva, Switzerland.
Mary Shelley’s Gothic
novel
Frankenstein
showcases a man, Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor
of power and tragedy as his selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves
thus making him truly a tragic figure. Through the horrific sufferings of Victor’s father
and the monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that
conducts and spreads despair to others in his life. It is through this tragic figure of
Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how a person only truly
becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly,
others.
T
ITLE
AND
AUTHOR
According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in
their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about
them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than a clump of grass.
Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightening.”
If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then the “divine lightening” of
despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva, Switzerland.
Mary Shelley’s Gothic
novel
Frankenstein
showcases a man, Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor
of power and tragedy as his selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves
thus making him truly a tragic figure. Through the horrific sufferings of Victor’s father
and the monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that
conducts and spreads despair to others in his life. It is through this tragic figure of
Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how a person only truly
becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly,
others.
W
ORK
AS
A
WHOLE
According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in
their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about
them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than a clump of grass.
Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightening.”
If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then the “divine lightening” of
despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva, Switzerland. Mary Shelley’s Gothic
novel
Frankenstein
showcases a man, Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor
of power and tragedy as his selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves
thus making him truly a tragic figure. Through the horrific sufferings of Victor’s father
and the monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that
conducts and spreads despair to others in his life. It is through this tragic figure of
Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how
a person only truly
becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly,
others.
O
RGANIZATION
According to critic Northrop Frye, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in
their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about
them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than a clump of grass.
Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightening.”
If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then the “divine lightening” of
despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva, Switzerland. Mary Shelley’s Gothic
novel
Frankenstein
showcases a man, Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor
of power and tragedy as his selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves
thus making him truly a tragic figure.
Through the horrific sufferings of Victor’s father
and the monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that
conducts and spreads despair to others in his life.
It is through this tragic figure of
Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how a person only truly
becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly,
others.
Understanding the main components of formal essay writing is essential for English 12 students. This includes discussing content, organization, voice/style, and grammar/mechanics. The quality of the essay is crucial, with a particular focus on clarity, precision, and coherence. Emphasis is placed on logical organization, supported evidence, and effective control of language. The ability to analyze literary works with insight and understanding is key to crafting well-focused and persuasive essays. Utilizing apt textual support and addressing prompts properly are essential for success.
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Presentation Transcript
FORMAL ESSAY WRITING English 12
KWL FORMAL ESSAYS Write down everything you know about composing a formal essay.
MAIN COMPONENTS OF WRITING Content Organization Voice/Style Grammar/Mechanics
CONTENT What you are saying. Textually correct. Supported with apt & specific evidence. Responds to prompt properly. Well-focused & persuasive. Discuss literary work with significant insight and understanding. Interest Grabber.
ORGANIZATION Logical organization of thoughts. Transitions. Proper elements in appropriate paragraphs. Title/Author intro & conclusion.
VOICE/STYLE How you say it. Correct tense. No 1stperson. Formality. Effective control of language.
GRAMMAR / MECHANICS Underline/italics/quotes. Contractions. No distracting errors.
The score reflects the quality of the essay as a wholeits content, its style, its mechanics. Students are rewarded for what they do well. The score for an exceptionally well-written essay may be raised by 1 point above the otherwise appropriate score. In no case may a poorly written essay be scored higher than a 3. 9 8 These well-focused and persuasive essays identify a tragic character who functions as an instrument of others suffering. These essays also discuss how that suffering contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole. Using apt textual support, these essays not only explore the nature of the suffering, but they also analyze how that suffering contributes to the work s tragic vision. Although not without flaws, these essays exhibit the writer s ability to analyze a literary work with insight and understanding, to control a thesis, and to write with clarity, precision, coherence, and - in the case of a nine (9) with particular persuasiveness and/or stylistic flair.
7 6 These competent essays identify a tragic character in an appropriate novel or play and analyze that character s impact on others suffering. They also attempt to articulate how that suffering he or she brings on to others contributes to the work s tragic vision (Work as a Whole). Although these essays have some insight, the analysis provided by the 7 6 essays is less thorough, less perceptive, and/or less specific in supporting detail than that of the 9 -8 essays. References to the text may not be as apt or as persuasive. Essays scored a 7 will demonstrate more sophistication in both substance and in style than those scored a 6, though both 7 s and 6 s will be generally well written and free from significant or sustained misinterpretations.
5 These essays tend to be superficial in analysis even though they may respond to the assigned task and may offer a plausible interpretation of an appropriate novel or play. They often rely upon plot summary that contains some analysis, implicit or explicit. Although they may be obliquely attempt to explain the work as a whlole, the tragic vision, they may demonstrate a rather simplistic understanding of it. Typically, these essays reveal unsophisticated thinking and /or immature writing.
43 These lower-half essays reflect an incomplete or oversimplified understanding of the work discussed, or they may fail to establish how the tragic figure brings about others suffering or how that suffering contributes to the work as a whole. They may rely on plot summary alone. Their assertions may be unsupported or even irrelevant. Often wordy, elliptical, or repetitious, these essays lack control over the elements of college-le el composition. Essays scored a 3 exhibit more than one of the stylistic errors; they may also be marred by significant misinterpretation and /or poor development.
21 These essays compound the weaknesses of the paper in the 4- 3 range. Often, they are unacceptably brief. They may be poorly written on several accounts and contain distracting errors in grammar and mechanics. The writer s remarks are presented with little clarity, organization, or supporting evidence. Especially inept, vacuous, and /or undound essays must be scored a 1. 0 These essays do no more than make a reference to the task. These essays either are left blank or are completely off topic
THESEESSAYSALSODISCUSSHOW THATSUFFERINGCONTRIBUTESTOTHE TRAGICVISIONOFTHEWORKASA WHOLE What is that?????
WORKASA WHOLE It means THEME
THEME A generalization about life
A THEMEWILL: Be a complete sentence.
A THEMEWILL NOT: reference the literature, plot, or characters in any way. Use first person (I, you, me, my, our, us, we) Be a clich Time will tell All is fair in love and war Time heals all wounds
MINI-THEMEVS. THEME
WORKASAWHOLE/THEME MINI-THEME WORKASAWHOLE/THEME A person s commitment to war must be absolute, leaving relationships and other aspects of daily life to be returned to following battle. War All s fair in love in war. When it comes to war, there are no rules.
WORKASAWHOLE/THEME MINI-THEME WORKASAWHOLE/THEME It is during times of hardship that relationships not only test their love, but strengthen it, as well. LOVE Time heals all wounds. As time passes, the inflictions brought on by life tend to restore back to health.
FRANKENSTEIN The Pursuit of Knowledge (Spark) Although knowledge can empower a person; however, that same empowerment can prove their destruction. Tragic people A person only truly becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly, others.
FRANKENSTEIN CliffNotes: Sublime Nature (Mini-Theme) Dangerous Knowledge (Mini-Theme) Full Theme: Develop now into full theme: Monstrosity (Mini-Theme)] Full Theme:
PUZZLE PIECES Work as a Whole 1.
WORK BACKWARDS 1. Read prompt ACTIVELY. Really spend time engaging in what the prompt is asking you to do. 2. Make an outline or other organizational structure to sort out your thoughts. 3. Come up with a work as a whole!
WAAW - FRANKENSTEIN 4. Once you have a WAAW, then explain how that Tragic figure brings about suffering to others, thus illuminating that work as a whole.
INTRODUCTION TITLE/AUTHOR INTERESTGRABBER THESIS According to critic Northrop Frye, Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightening. If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then the divine lightening of despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva, Switzerland. Mary Shelley s Gothic novel Frankenstein showcases a man, Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor of power and tragedy as his selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves thus making him truly a tragic figure. Through the horrific sufferings of Victor s father and the monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that conducts and spreads despair to others in his life. It is through this tragic figure of Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how a person only truly becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly, others.
INTERESTGRABBER According to critic Northrop Frye, Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightening. If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then the divine lightening of despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva, Switzerland. Mary Shelley s Gothic novel Frankenstein showcases a man, Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor of power and tragedy as his selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves thus making him truly a tragic figure. Through the horrific sufferings of Victor s father and the monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that conducts and spreads despair to others in his life. It is through this tragic figure of Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how a person only truly becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly, others.
TITLEANDAUTHOR According to critic Northrop Frye, Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightening. If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then the divine lightening of despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva, Switzerland. Mary Shelley s Gothic novel Frankenstein showcases a man, Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor of power and tragedy as his selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves thus making him truly a tragic figure. Through the horrific sufferings of Victor s father and the monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that conducts and spreads despair to others in his life. It is through this tragic figure of Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how a person only truly becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly, others.
WORKASAWHOLE According to critic Northrop Frye, Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightening. If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then the divine lightening of despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva, Switzerland. Mary Shelley s Gothic novel Frankenstein showcases a man, Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor of power and tragedy as his selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves thus making him truly a tragic figure. Through the horrific sufferings of Victor s father and the monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that conducts and spreads despair to others in his life. It is through this tragic figure of Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how a person only truly becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly, others.
ORGANIZATION According to critic Northrop Frye, Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightening than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightening. If Northrop Frye is truly accurate in his account, then the divine lightening of despair strikes rampantly in the town of Geneva, Switzerland. Mary Shelley s Gothic novel Frankenstein showcases a man, Victor Frankenstein, who acts as the conductor of power and tragedy as his selfish actions end up affecting all those whom he loves thus making him truly a tragic figure. Through the horrific sufferings of Victor s father and the monster, Victor is truly not the victim of his doing but the tragic figure that conducts and spreads despair to others in his life. It is through this tragic figure of Frankenstein that Shelley is able to show her audience how a person only truly becomes tragic when their actions affect not only themselves, but more importantly, others.
