The 25 Minute Essay

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The SAT Writing Section

• The 25 Minute Essay

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An Eight Strategy Approach

• Strategy 1 Take a side.
• Strategy 2 Have a timing plan.
• Strategy 3 Engage your reader.
• Strategy 4 Edit using a checklist.
• Strategy 5 Support your thesis.
• Strategy 6 Sentence Variety.
• Strategy 7 Assess your writing.
• Strategy 8 Your Voice.

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Strategy 1 Take a Side.

• Be a quick decision maker.
• No time to deliberate.
• Dont try to argue both sides of the fence.

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Strategy 2 Have a timing plan.

• 3-20-2 timing plan.
• 3 minutes read assignment, brainstorm and
  outline.
• 20 minutes Write, write and write.
• 2 minutes proofread and polish.
• Know the directions.

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Strategy 3 Engage your Reader.

• Make your introductory paragraph crisp, clear and
  fairly brief.
• The last sentence in the intro paragraph is your
  thesis.

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Strategy 4 Edit Using a Checklist.

• Editing is an ongoing process.
• The Checklist
• Spelling
• Capitalization
• Punctuation
• Verb errors
• Pronoun errors
• Wordiness
• Redundancy
• Stale, repetitive language
• Lack of parallelism
• Double negatives
• Poor diction and usage
• Lack of paragraph indentation
• Lack of coherence

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Strategy 4 continued

• Clean Editing.
• the caret for inserting a letter, word or
  phrase.
• the asterisk to show where long phrases or
  sentences should be added.
• abc the clean, single-line cross-out to replace
  a word with the more effective word.
• the paragraph symbol to show where you want to
  indent.

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Strategy 5 Support Your Thesis with Examples.

• The supporting examples should be discussed in
  the body paragraphs.
• Use your hand as a good rule of thumb in
  forming body paragraphs.
• Choose your subject and become the expert.

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Strategy 6 Sentence and Vocabulary Variety.

• Keep your reader engaged by using variety in your
  sentence structure.
• Vocabulary variety is essential.

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Strategy 7 Assess what you have written.

• Reread after every few sentences.
• Frequent assessment helps eliminate wordiness.
• Give the evaluators a hearty three-course meal
• Appetizer Intro paragraph
• Entrée twothree well supported body paragraphs
• Dessert concluding paragraph

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Strategy 8 Your Voice.

• Your voice should be straightforward, reasonable,
  and persuasive.
• When in doubt, err on the side of being more
  conversational and natural, less formal.
• Avoid fluff and phrases that say nothing (in my
  opinion, I believe that, in so much as)