Opinion Essays

Link to Slide (Opinion Essay)
http://www.slideshare.net/aponce4/an-opinion-essay-presentation

Tips on Writing an Opinion Essay:
http://homeworktips.about.com/od/essaywriting/a/opinion.htm

Fact vs Opinion YouTube link:

http://youtu.be/fnFnWWAnlkw

Opinion Writing
The most important way to persuade someone to agree with what you are writing is to include strong supporting facts. Your writing will always sound better when you support what you have written with evidence or good examples.

A second way to persuade someone to agree with the ideas in your writing is to include at least one sentence with an opposing opinion (an opinion that disagrees with your point of view). At first, this might not seem like a good idea, but it is common to state one point of view that disagrees with your own point of view. This is called a counterargument. This counterargument is then followed by a statement that refutes, or reduces the counterargument. This is called a refutation because you refute the counterargument.

When you acknowledge this other opinion, you should downplay, or minimize it. One way to do this is to use weak words, such as some, may, and might, as we can see in the following example:

                 Some people might say that uniforms take away personal freedom, but students still have
                 many other ways to express themselves and their individuality.

In a good opinion paragraph, the writer:

• states an opinion about a topic
• provides supporting sentences with factual information
• briefly mentions one opposing point of view (the counterargument)
• refute the counterargument in one or two sentences (refutation)
• finishes the paragraph with a concluding sentence that restates the topic sentence and / or offers a solution.

Read the paragraph above and answer the following questions:

1. What is the opinion of the writer about high school students volunteering? ___________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the counterargument sentence? ___________________________________________________________________________

3. What is the statement that refutes the counterargument?

___________________________________________________________________________

4. What are the supporting facts?

___________________________________________________________________________

5. What is the concluding sentence?

___________________________________________________________________________

Narrative Writing: Final Activity

Shake Rory’s Cubes (https://www.storycubes.com/en/) to get your prompts.
For example:

 Use the three pictures in your Narrative Essay. 

Follow these guidelines:

Photo from: https://edusson.com/blog/outline-for-narrative-essay

Narrative Writing

Picture source: http://libguides.manchester.edu/c.php?g=305609&p=2354278

A narrative paragraph tells a story or relates an event. Narratives a beginning, a middle and an end. Any time you go to a movie or read a fiction book, you are enjoying a narrative. A narrative paragraph can be fun to write because you often describe an event from your life.

A narrative paragraph:

• tells a story
• gives background information in the opening sentence or sentences
• has a clear beginning, middle and end
• entertains and informs

Every narrative paragraph has a beginning, middle and end. Read the sample paragraph:


     One afternoon when I was walking to my bus stop in front of the Walgreens on Broadway, I came face to face with death. Approaching the crosswalk from Mountain Ave., I looked both ways just as my mother taught me so many years ago. When the traffic was clear, I stepped out into the freshly painted white path only to see a large blue van begin to accelerate wildly in my direction. For some reason, all I could think of as I held my breath, preparing to die was "who is going to feed my cat." Fortunately the driver of the vehicle was only trying to frighten me. His road rage was palpable as he swerved around me, his oversized passenger mirror within inches of the brim of my hat, shouting words in my direction that I dare not repeat here. Unable to respond in kind, I simply exhaled and hurried to the sidewalk on the other side.

The Topic Sentence
The 1st sentence of the paragraph, the topic sentence, gives background information of the story. The writer introduces the main character, and prepares the readers for the action that will come.

The Beginning of the Story
The main action begins after the topic sentence. Note that not all narratives contain action. Some may be a about problem or a conflict. The action in the above paragraph began when the writer started to cross the street.

The Middle of the Story
The middle part is when the main action or problem occurs. In the paragraph, the action of crossing the street turned into a problem when the writer saw the speeding van. It continued when the writer started thinking that he might die.

The End of the Story
The end of the story gives the final action or result. If there is a problem or conflict in the story, the solution is presented here. The above paragraph had a happy ending, because the writer didn't die, in the end he was able to cross the street safely.

References:
Folse, K., et. al, Great Writing, 2014 Cengage Learning

Writing a Narrative Essay

Steps in Writing a Narrative Essay

Narrative essays are commonly assigned pieces of writing at different stages through school. Like any story, they have a plot, conflict, and characters. It can be a fun type of assignment to write, if you approach it properly. Learn how to choose a good topic, get a solid rough draft on paper, and revise your narrative essay.

In today's lesson, you will learn how to write a Narrative essay. A narrative essay tells a story, therefore it has to have a plot, conflict, and characters.

The plot of a story is the sequence of events connected to the topic. Plot is very similar to storyline.

Conflict is usually a problem, or a challenge within the story that makes the story exciting, scary, or interesting.

Characters are the people, animals, monsters, etc., involved in the story.

For a narrative to be effective, the plot, conflict and characters must be interesting, funny, or scary, depending on the kind of story you are writing.

When writing a story for the first time, there is something called a "prompt." 

A prompt is a topic or idea that provides the starting point for your narrative.

A narrative also has a definite start, middle, and end.

The start is the introduction of your story, you set the tone, introduce the characters, establish a setting.

The middle is where you introduce the conflict. The exciting, funny, sad, or scary part of your story.

The end is the resolution. It could be a happy ending, a sad ending, or an ending that asks a question.

These are the important things to learn when writing a narrative essay.

Go to the link below for more tips on writing a Narrative Essay:

https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Narrative-Essay

Descriptive Writing Practice

Simple sentences, change into descriptive sentences:

1. The book is on the table.  ___________________________________________________
2. The boy is talking with the girl. _______________________________________________
3. The university is on a hill. ___________________________________________________
4. The car fell into the river. ___________________________________________________
5. The baby is in the the crib. __________________________________________________

Make your own simple sentences and have a classmate change it into descriptive sentences:

1. ___________________________ ________________________
2. ___________________________ ________________________
3. ___________________________ ________________________
4. ___________________________ ________________________
5. ___________________________ ________________________

Adjective Song (Descriptive Essay)

The Adjective Song - Paint The Way

https://youtu.be/5hIqdPrH--k

The Descriptive Essay

Write a Descriptive Essay

Decide on  Topic

- choose a title

- make clear descriptions

- use vocabulary that uses senses and emotions to make your descriptions clear and interesting
- the essay must have at least 3 paragraphs, each paragraph should have at least three sentences. 

You may do the printing in the classroom.

- on A4, printed

- 1.5 spaces between lines

- use Paragraph Format

- check your spelling

- do your best with grammar

Some topics to choose from:

1. Describe your university.
2. Describe your ideal bedroom.
3. Describe the house in which you grew up.
4. Describe what the first house on the moon would look like.
5. Describe some of your favorite places in your hometown.
6. Describe a peaceful place that you’ve visited.
7. Describe a photograph, but you must include the photograph in your essay.
8. Describe a friend’s or family member’s house where you enjoy spending time.
9. Describe your perfect favorite vacation destination.
10. Describe your favorite store.
11. Describe your favorite restaurant..
12. Describe a museum that you’ve visited recently.
13. Describe a place from another country that you have visited.
14. Describe a place where your pet likes spending time.
15. Describe an outdoor place that you know well.
16. Describe a concert that you went to.

Some topics were from: http://www.k12reader.com/descriptive-essay-topics/

Paragraph Writing: Topic Sentences

https://www.victoria.ac.nz/llc/llc_resources/academic-writing/

A paragraph is a group of related sentences, which develop one main idea (the topic sentence). The topic sentence tends to be a general rather than a specific idea. The main idea of the topic sentence controls the rest of the paragraph. Usually it is the first sentence in the paragraph, but not necessarily. It may come after a transition sentence; it may even come at the end of a paragraph. 

Topic sentences are not the only way to organise a paragraph, and not all paragraphs need a topic sentence. For example, paragraphs that describe, narrate, or detail the steps in an experiment do not usually need topic sentences. They are useful, however, in paragraphs that analyse and argue. They are particularly useful for writers who have difficulty developing focused, unified paragraphs (i.e. writers who tend to waffle). Topic sentences help these writers develop a main idea for their paragraphs and most importantly stay focused. Topic sentences also help guide the reader through complex arguments. 

The supporting sentences in a paragraph develop the main idea expressed in the topic sentence and provide the detail such as facts and examples. When the topic sentence comes first, the supporting sentences answer the questions the reader will develop in their minds after reading the topic sentence. In this case, the last sentence (concluding sentence) can either return the reader to the topic at the beginning of the paragraph or act as a connection to link the information with that coming up in the next paragraph. When the topic sentence comes last, the supporting sentences build up arguments and examples to make a case for the main idea contained at the end. 

Useful Tip: No writer starts with a perfect paragraph. Well formed paragraphs are the result of drafting and revising, aimed at giving the reader a coherent piece of information. There is no set length to a paragraph, but in university essays it is easier to work with paragraphs that are between four and eight sentences long.

Write about your name

1. What is your family name?
2. Do you like your family name? Explain.
3. What is your given name?
4. Do you like your given name? Explain.
5. Do you have a nickname? What is it? Do you like it?
6. Do you think that your name describes your personality? How would you describe yourself?

Before anything else, learn to describe.

A descriptive paragraph describes how something or someone looks or feels. It gives an impression of something. If, for example, you only wanted to write specific information about a certain river, you could write a paragraph filled with facts about the river. However, if you wanted to tell about the feelings you had when you sailed on a boat on the same river, you would write a descriptive paragraph.

A descriptive paragraph:

- describes

- gives impressions, not just definitions

- "shows" the readers

- creates a sensory image in the readers mind (NOTE: sensory refers to the five senses: hearing, taste, touch and smell.

In a DESCRIPTIVE paragraph/essay, a simple sentence may become longer, and more descriptive through the use of ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS, for example:

Simple sentence: The man walked into the room.

Descriptive sentence: The tall, large man swiftly and silently walked into the dark, dusty room.

Activity:

Change the simple sentences into descriptive sentences:

1. The dog crossed the street.

2. The woman is carrying her baby in the park.

3. The man is running to the train.

4. The boy is playing with his friends by the river.

5. The girl is reading a book in the library