Basic Elements of the Essay

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Basic Elements of the Essay
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The Introductory Paragraph

• The basic elements of the introductory paragraph
  consists of the following elements
• The wow or hook sentencethe purpose of this
  sentence is to capture the readers attention.
  There are six ways to write a hook sentence
• Rhetorical Question ?Quotation
• Analogy ?Anecdote
• Description ?Provocative assertion

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The Introductory Paragraph continued

• The thesis statementthe purpose of this
  statement is to tell the reader what they should
  expect to learn, understand, or agree with while
  reading the essay.
• The plan of actionis a brief listing of the main
  points the essay will cover. This is not the
  place to include specific details or facts.
• Transition sentenceleads the reader into the
  body of the essay.

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The Body Paragraph (the chunk of a paragraph)

• The chunk of a paragraph is a basic paragraph
  structure that is found in most essays and
  articles. This structure consists of four parts.
• The topic sentence (TS)is the main idea (or
  topic) for that particular paragraph.
• Ex The latest craze in telephone technology is
  the I-Phone.

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The Body Paragraph (the chunk of a paragraph)
cont.

• Supporting detail 1(SD-1)is one fact that is
  directly related to the topic sentence. It
  provides more detail or description about the
  topic sentence.
• Ex One of the coolest features of the I-phone is
  the way it looks.
• Example/Explanation 1 (EE-1)is comments,
  description, details, and information that adds
  to SD-1 and provides additional information about
  the topic sentence.

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The Body Paragraph (the chunk of a paragraph)
cont.

• Example/Explanation 2 (EE-2)are additional
  explanations, comments, descriptions, and
  information that adds to and provides additional
  information about the topic sentence. EE-2 also
  contains the transition sentence.
• Body paragraphs can have unlimited chunks as
  long as they are related to the topic sentence.
• Each body paragraph repeats the same chunk of a
  paragraph pattern.

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The Transition Sentence

• The transition sentence serves the purpose of
  connecting the current paragraph to the following
  paragraph.
• It does this by providing a one sentence hint as
  to the topic of the next paragraph.
• Ex In addition to having a cool look, the
  I-phone also has lightning fast Internet
  features.
• As the example topic sentence suggests, the next
  paragraph is going to explain the Internet
  features of the I-phone.

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The Transition Sentence

• A little practice---
• If the next paragraph of the I-phone essay is
  going to reveal its game features, how would you
  develop a great transition sentence?