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1 Dr. Nelson’s 1B Essay Helper Generating the Outline: for this exercise,
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Dr. Nelson’s 1B Essay Helper
Generating the Outline: for this exercise, you need to fill in the blank lines (which can serve as an outline for your essay). Your outline should map each paragraph and should determine both the material each paragraph will cover and the order you will present the material in. step c and d of each paragraph have no blank lines, so you will not include it in the outline. You make your first attempts at those steps in your first draft.
Introduction: Here you (first) introduce your author(s) and text(s) then (second) offer a brief summary of the story(s) your essay will discuss (5-7 sentences) and finally your thesis statement. In this particular instance your thesis statement will be a claim about the text’s meaning based on its symbolism. Frequently, a thesis statement will include a map (a list of the 3-4 body paragraph topics/claims). A thesis is your argument about the story(s) you discuss.
Here, write your thesis and a map statement (when you write your draft, you’ll need to write an introduction and summary of the story too) Key here are two things: 1. What are the symbols you will be using? 2. What is your claim about how it/they create meaning in the story? _______________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Body Paragraph 1:
Topic sentence (paragraph topic and claim): The author uses ______ symbol in order to show/demonstrate what meaning?___(ex. Gillman uses the symbol of the wallpaper to show how women are trapped at home) _____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Transition/contextualization_______________________________
______________________________________________________
Quote you will use to support the above.__________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interpretation of quote – (“in other words” write out in first draft)_____________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
Explication (how interpretation supports claim – often CS too) (write out in first draft). ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion sentence ___________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
Body Paragraph 2:
Topic sentence (paragraph topic and claim): The author uses ______ symbol in order to show/demonstrate what meaning?_______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Transition/contextualization_______________________________
______________________________________________________
Quote you will use to support the above.__________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interpretation of quote – (write out in first draft)_____________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
Explication (how interpretation supports claim – often CS too) (write out in first draft). ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion sentence ___________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
Body Paragraph 3:
Topic sentence (paragraph topic and claim) The author uses ______ symbol in order to show/demonstrate what meaning?________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Transition/contextualization_______________________________
______________________________________________________
Quote you will use to support the above.__________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interpretation of quote – (write out in first draft)_____________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
Explication (how interpretation supports claim – often CS too) (write out in first draft). ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion sentence ___________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
Body Paragraph 4:
Topic sentence (paragraph topic and claim): The author uses ______ symbol in order to show/demonstrate what meaning? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Transition/contextualization_______________________________
______________________________________________________
Quote you will use to support the above.__________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interpretation of quote – (write out in first draft)_____________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________
Explication (how interpretation supports claim – often CS too) (write out in first draft). ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion sentence ___________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
Conclusion: a statement about how you will summarize and synthesize your 3 paragraph claims and an augmentation step that will link it to a bigger frame (this section too is best done in your first draft).