2009 December 21

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Volume 2 Month 12 Day 21- Make Essay Writing Painless

by Vishal Jain

December 21, 2009

Make Essay Writing Painless

Essays are the creative expressions of mind where the students get the opportunity to flow their ideas about a particular topic. Therefore, it is important to gain skill for better essay writing. Writing essays can be frustrating and exasperating for students, but it doesn’t have to be! If they are guided, shown to do, and understand the steps, writing can be easy and even fun! Essay writing can become easier, quicker and painless by planning, organizing and gathering of researched information. The following tools can help students who find essay writing overwhelming and difficult. It can help teachers to effectively evaluate the essay writing by using essay rubric. Follow the simple steps, use the interactive structure and watch the essay almost write itself! Essay writing tools help students to avoid frustration, negative results, uncertainty, and fear of writing essays.

Essay Writing Schedule

Decide how much time you want to spend on each stage of the work involved, arrange your personal timetable, and stick to it!

Due Date: ___________________________

Task Date of Completion Done?

Complete the planning stage	By:
Collect resources, do the Research	By:
Scan, read and examine all resources	By:
Write a Tentative Outline	By:
Plan and organize subtopics	By:
Write subtopics in point form based on researched information	By:
List subtopics in order of appearance	By:
Begin Draft Copy	By:
Write Introduction	By:
Write the body of essay using collected point form subtopics information	By:
Write the conclusion	By:
Proofread, Edit, make needed changes	By:
Hand in Final Product for evaluation	By:

My Topic is: _________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

My Temporary Thesis: ________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Length _____________________ Due Date: _________________________

Other teacher instructions about the project: _____________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I ALREADY KNOW (In point form)

· _____________________________________________________________________

· ____________________________________________________________________

· _____________________________________________________________________

MY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TOPIC (What I would like to learn)

· _____________________________________________________________________

The REASON for doing this project: ______________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

My AUDIENCE will be? ________________________________________________________

I will use this FORM of writing (essay, report, point of view, persuasive, report of information…)

___________________________________________________________________________

My SOURCES of INFORMATION:

________ books _________ magazines _________ teacher

________ films, videos _________ librarian _________ parents, friends

________ photographs _________ dictionary _________ relatives

________ newspapers _________ atlases _________ maps, charts, posters

________ catalogues _________ Internet _________an expert

_________ periodicals _________ thesaurus _________ records

_________ textbook _________ encyclopedia

Other Sources: ______________________________________________________________

Questions, difficulties, unknowns, concerns, ideas and other issues about the topic

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

THE QUICK OUTLINE

TOPIC: _____________________________________________________________________

THESIS: (the main point, tells what the essay is about, be brief, clear, concrete and specific)

Ideas for INTRODUCTION (brief, clear comment, grab the readers’ attention, introduce the issue, use a quote, write an interesting question, state an amazing fact).

BODY: Quick plan ideas (subtopics, supporting evidence)… will become a single paragraph or more in your essay.

· _____________________________________________________________________

Ideas for CONCLUSION (end with a quick wrap-up, memorable sentence, leave the reader with something to think about, ask an interesting question, challenge reader to action, sum up, and tell your feelings about the topic)

· _____________________________________________________________________

· ____________________________________________________________________

ORGANZE SUBTOPICS

Before writing any part of the essay, using “The Quick Outline” page (and any gathered information), plan, write, order and organize your subtopics, initial introduction and conclusion ideas.

Introduction Quick brief thoughts and ideas

Subtopic

Main Idea

Subtopic

Conclusion Quick brief thoughts and ideas

ESSAY WRITING CHECKLIST

Before handling in your paper, ask yourself the following questions.

Is my thesis statement brief, clear, concrete, and easy to understand? ________

Does the essay answer the question that was set? ________

Does my introduction hook/grab attention and state the thesis clearly? ________

Are my supporting arguments and examples strong, valid and clear? ________

Do they also support and prove my thesis? ________

Do my sentences vary in length? ________

Are all sentences clear, correct and easy to understand? ________

Have I avoided run-on and incomplete sentences? ________

Do paragraphs contain proper topic sentences, organized in logical order? ________

Do my topic sentences clearly prove and support the thesis statement? ________

Have I used transitions/connecting words to make ideas flow? ________

Are my quotes accurate and properly cited? ________

Is my essay free of contractions such as can’t, won’t, don’t, etc? ________

Have I avoided using first person phrases such as “I believe” and “I think”? ________

Have I made my points clear and interesting? ________

Is the writing plain and simple, without clumsy and confusing phrases? ________

Have I replaced unnecessary or repetitious words? ________

Is my argument clear and logical? Does the essay flow? ________

Have I followed my prepared outline? ________

Have I used a dictionary and thesaurus, and corrected all spellings errors? ________

Is the conclusion effective and interesting? Does it restate the thesis? ________

Are all of my sources properly cited? ________

Have I paraphrased sufficiently from my sources? ________

Does my bibliography follow the correct conventions of layout? ________

Have I provided footnotes in the correct format? ________

Have I proofread and edited the final copy of my work? ________

Have I included a title page, and does it contain all required information? ________

Have I numbered all pages correctly and used the required time spacing? ________

Is my work of the appropriate length? ________

Have I asked someone else to read my paper to help locate missed errors? ________

ESSAY RUBRIC

Student: _________________________ Topic: __________________________

Level

Letter Grade

D- D D+

C- C C+

B- B B+

A- A A+

Marks as (%)

Below 50%

50-52 53-56 57-59

60-62 63-66 67-69

70-72 73-76 77-79

80-84 85-89 90-100

Performance Level

VERY LIMITED

POOR

FAIR

GOOD

Value

EXCELLENT

THESIS

Absent, no evidence, or makes little sense

Poorly worded, very broad, difficult

Somewhat unclear, appears unoriginal and needs revision to improve clarity

Is mostly clear and well defined but may require some reworking to improve clarity.

Clearly conveys the main point, concise, creative, well defined and sophisticated.

INTRODUCTION

No evidence of introduction

Not very clear, engaging, effective and interesting.

Somewhat clear, engaging, effective and interesting.

Mostly clear, engaging, effective and interesting.

Very creative, clear, engaging and effective.

ORGANIZATION

Very poor planning, stating, ordering, relevancy and linking of ideas.

Poor planning, stating, ordering, relevancy and linking of ideas.

Fair planning, stating, ordering, relevancy, and linking of ideas.

Good planning, stating, ordering, relevancy and linking of ideas.

Ideas are well planned, stated, ordered, relevant, well linked and very convincing.

CONCLUSION

No evidence of conclusion. Essay is ended without a closing statement.

Conclusion is present but poorly written and lacks the required elements.

Conclusion is recognizable, but without much analytical depth.

Conclusion effectively wraps up and summarizes thesis and key points.

Closing statement is excellent, insightful, and memorable.

LANGUAGE

Many errors, difficult to understand and meaning is lost. Needs much work and remediation.

Spelling, grammar conventions and punctuations are poor. Sentence fluency, voice and word choice are poor.

Spelling, grammar conventions and punctuations are good. Sentence fluency, voice and word choice are good.

Spelling, grammar conventions and punctuations are superior. Sentence fluency, voice and word choice are superior.

CITATION

No evidence of any listed sources.

Few sources are listed, included and in the proper format.

Some sources are listed, included and in the proper format.

Most sources are listed, included and in the proper format.

All sources are listed with accuracy and in the proper format.

COMMENTS: Marks:

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Volume 2 Month 12 Day 21- Make Essay Writing Painless

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