Essay Writing Prompt: 6/27/08

Writing Prompt: Fitzbloggers

Using my Essay formula (located on your sidebar) and this formula for writing body paragraphs, try writing some sort of extended essay (at least 750 words). It can be a personal narrative, a literary reflection, a memoir, or an expository essay of some sort. The topic, book, person, or experience you choose is completely up to you. Be sure to spell-check, proofread, punctuate, and paragraph! I would also suggest to write this with a word processor and not online.  That way there is less chance of losing your work before publishing because of an internet error.

When copying and pasting a word document into your blog, be sure to wait until the entry page is completely loaded before pasting.  Also, remember to go through your piece and reformat it using the formatting tools on your blog toolbar.

A Formula for Writing Paragraphs

    Writing paragraphs is probably the most important and useful skill any writer should master. The paragraph is the basic building block of all narrative, expository and literary writing. Knowing how to "put together" an essay means nothing if you can't "craft" an understandable and effective paragraph. When you are writing the body paragraphs of any essay (the “say what you mean" part of my essay formula) follow these guidelines. The numerous steps may seem excessive, but it works, and with a bit of practice it becomes a natural part of your writing!

    This formula will help you create the body paragraphs for any sort of essay you want or need to write, including, literary, expository, personal narrative or memoir type essays. 

    When writing analytical critiques of literature or an expository essay, you are trying to prove a point, illustrate an idea, and/or enlighten your readers.  Because you believe that what you are writing is a fact, there is no reason to use "I" in this type of writing. No "I think's." No "I feel's" No "What I find interesting's." Using “I" implies, explicitly or not, that what you are saying is merely an opinion. It also adds unnecessary words to your essay, and unnecessary words diminish the effectiveness of any writing piece. Think of these two sentences and ask yourself which is more effective at making a factual point:

1. I really think that all the pollution in the air will cause global warming someday,
2. Research by scientists at MIT’s prestigious Laboratory for Climate Studies conclusively proves that C02 levels in the atmosphere is the single direct cause of increasing global temperatures.

There is certainly a time and place for personal thoughts, even when writing an analytical or expository essay. (Though many teachers may disagree with this!)  The secret is to know when and where using "I" is a more effective writing choice.  If you are an acknowledged “expert” in the field, it is often a wise and powerful choice to write from your own point of view.  The only real rule in writing is how well a writing piece works to engage, inspire, and inform your intended audience! One of the world’s greatest literary masterpieces, “Walden,” by Henry David Thoreau, unabashedly uses the personal voice of the author.

In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.
-Chapter one, Economy, in Walden.

Obviously, when writing about personal experiences (as in a narrative essay or personal memoir) it is the strength and validity of your personal voice that will keep your reader with you the whole way through anything you write.

Fitz’s Paragraph Formula

Here is my formula for writing a great paragraph. Granted, it is a "formula," and formulas taken to the extreme can make for insipid and predictable writing; however, as formulas go, it's a pretty good one. Feel free to “tweak” this to suit the needs of your writing pieces and your sensibilities as an artist.

1. BROAD THEME: Write a short declarative statement that touches on a broad theme that all of us can relate to in some way or other.  This acts as a "hook" that will attract your reader’s attention. Despite what you might wish, no one really cares about you when they read; a reader cares primarily about himself or herself. This broad theme is a theme that almost any person can relate to on some level, and hopefully it is intriguing enough to make your reader want to read on.

For example, if you want to write about the importance of family, here is an example of a broad theme:

• It is only our immediate family that gives us unconditional love.

2. NARROW THEME: Narrow down your theme by writing a phrase or sentence that captures how your chosen theme is used in a specific way in the piece of literature you are analyzing, the facts you are going to present, or the experience you are going to convey. Make sure it is "clear, concise and memorable" because it is what you want your readers to remember "as" they read your paragraph.  (So, don't make it a long sentence—unless you are writing to very sophisticated readers!) This is the sentence that "steers" your reader in the direction you want your paragraph to go, and in that sense, it is what your paragraph is going to be about. This becomes the topic of your paragraph. If it works, try connecting these first two sentences with a semi-colon or a conjunction, or simply leave it as two sentences.

• It is our family that we turn to when there is no place left to go.

3. ONE/TWO PUNCH: Follow your topic sentence with one or two more sentences that add detail or explanation to your topic sentence. These sentences can (and maybe should) be longer sentences.

• When we are alone in the world; when nothing is going our way, we know that the door of family will always open for us and welcome us back into the arms of those people who are love us without reservations.

4. SMOKING GUN:  If you are writing about a piece of literature, write a sentence that sets up and leads clearly into a specific quote or scene from the book that "shows" how the author uses the theme of your paragraph in the writing piece. This is the "smoking gun." It proves that you know--or at least have thought about--the book in a meaningful way. In the same way, if you are writing about a personal experience, chose a specific personal experience that explicates, illustrates, and amplifies the theme of your paragraph. Finally, if you are writing an expository piece, this is the place to add your facts that supports your argument.

• At no other time in my life was this more obvious than when I returned to my family home in Concord after a three-year’s journey to the Himalayas to discover the essential truth about life. Broke, disheveled, and disenchanted, I stood on the doorstep and tentatively rapped on the door. No smile was wider than my moms; no arms were wider than my dads as they pulled me into their arms and into the living room I left so long ago.

5. HEAD & HEART: Show your reader your thoughts! Write as many more sentences as you "need" (but at least two more) to illustrate and elaborate upon whatever you introduced in your topic sentence. HINT: The more narrow and focused your topic sentence, the less you need to write to prove your point or describe your experience.

• It didn’t matter that I left home without even telling them where I was going. It didn’t matter that I had once criticized their lives as dull and meaningless, and it didn’t matter that I never called and never wrote.  It only mattered that I was home again.

6. GET OUT or GO ON! This sentence either wants to close out your thoughts or "transition" to a potential new paragraph.

• For me, it only matters that I will never turn my back on my family again because when times are tough, family is all that really matters.

    Always go back and re-read what you have written. Find three areas or sentences that you can make better. Often you can find a better topic sentence somewhere else in the paragraph. You can almost always find a more clear and effective way to write a sentence than you wrote on your first try. If you have too many short sentences, try combining sentences using conjunctions or semi colons.

Here is the complete paragraph.  At 220 words, this is what I would call a “full” paragraph.  In any essay you write, the body paragraphs should be of similar length. Otherwise, to will “look” like some of your points are more important and meaningful than other points!

It is only our immediate family that gives us unconditional love. It is our family that we turn to when there is no place left to go. When we are alone in the world; when nothing is going our way, we know that the door of family will always open for us and welcome us back into the arms of those people who are love us without reservations. At no other time in my life was this more obvious than when I returned to my family home in Concord after a three-year’s journey to the Himalayas to discover the essential truth about life. Broke, disheveled, and disenchanted, I stood on the doorstep and tentatively rapped on the door. No smile was wider than my moms; no arms were wider than my dads as they pulled me into their arms and into the living room I left so long ago. It didn’t matter that I left home without even telling them where I was going. It didn’t matter that I had once criticized their lives as dull and meaningless, and it didn’t matter that I never called and never wrote.  It only mattered that I was home again. For me, it only matters that I will never turn my back on my family again because family is all that really matters.

This paragraph might not win me a Pulitzer prize, but it does what it sets out to do, and that is the rimary aim of all writing.   Try it out and see if it works for you!

A Formula for Writing Paragraphs

    Writing paragraphs is probably the most important and useful skill any writer should master. The paragraph is the basic building block of all narrative, expository and literary writing. Knowing how to "put together" an essay means nothing if you can't "craft" an understandable and effective paragraph. When you are writing the body paragraphs of any essay (the “say what you mean" part of my essay formula) follow these guidelines. The numerous steps may seem excessive, but it works, and with a bit of practice it becomes a natural part of your writing!

    This formula will help you create the body paragraphs for any sort of essay you want or need to write, including, literary, expository, personal narrative or memoir type essays. 

    When writing analytical critiques of literature or an expository essay, you are trying to prove a point, illustrate an idea, and/or enlighten your readers.  Because you believe that what you are writing is a fact, there is no reason to use "I" in this type of writing. No "I think's." No "I feel's" No "What I find interesting's." Using “I" implies, explicitly or not, that what you are saying is merely an opinion. It also adds unnecessary words to your essay, and unnecessary words diminish the effectiveness of any writing piece. Think of these two sentences and ask yourself which is more effective at making a factual point:

1. I really think that all the pollution in the air will cause global warming someday,
2. Research by scientists at MIT’s prestigious Laboratory for Climate Studies conclusively proves that C02 levels in the atmosphere is the single direct cause of increasing global temperatures.

There is certainly a time and place for personal thoughts, even when writing an analytical or expository essay. (Though many teachers may disagree with this!)  The secret is to know when and where using "I" is a more effective writing choice.  If you are an acknowledged “expert” in the field, it is often a wise and powerful choice to write from your own point of view.  The only real rule in writing is how well a writing piece works to engage, inspire, and inform your intended audience! One of the world’s greatest literary masterpieces, “Walden,” by Henry David Thoreau, unabashedly uses the personal voice of the author.

In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.
-Chapter one, Economy, in Walden.

Obviously, when writing about personal experiences (as in a narrative essay or personal memoir) it is the strength and validity of your personal voice that will keep your reader with you the whole way through anything you write.

Fitz’s Paragraph Formula

Here is my formula for writing a great paragraph. Granted, it is a "formula," and formulas taken to the extreme can make for insipid and predictable writing; however, as formulas go, it's a pretty good one. Feel free to “tweak” this to suit the needs of your writing pieces and your sensibilities as an artist.

1. BROAD THEME: Write a short declarative statement that touches on a broad theme that all of us can relate to in some way or other.  This acts as a "hook" that will attract your reader’s attention. Despite what you might wish, no one really cares about you when they read; a reader cares primarily about himself or herself. This broad theme is a theme that almost any person can relate to on some level, and hopefully it is intriguing enough to make your reader want to read on.

For example, if you want to write about the importance of family, here is an example of a broad theme:

• It is only our immediate family that gives us unconditional love.

2. NARROW THEME: Narrow down your theme by writing a phrase or sentence that captures how your chosen theme is used in a specific way in the piece of literature you are analyzing, the facts you are going to present, or the experience you are going to convey. Make sure it is "clear, concise and memorable" because it is what you want your readers to remember "as" they read your paragraph.  (So, don't make it a long sentence—unless you are writing to very sophisticated readers!) This is the sentence that "steers" your reader in the direction you want your paragraph to go, and in that sense, it is what your paragraph is going to be about. This becomes the topic of your paragraph. If it works, try connecting these first two sentences with a semi-colon or a conjunction, or simply leave it as two sentences.

• It is our family that we turn to when there is no place left to go.

3. ONE/TWO PUNCH: Follow your topic sentence with one or two more sentences that add detail or explanation to your topic sentence. These sentences can (and maybe should) be longer sentences.

• When we are alone in the world; when nothing is going our way, we know that the door of family will always open for us and welcome us back into the arms of those people who are love us without reservations.

4. SMOKING GUN:  If you are writing about a piece of literature, write a sentence that sets up and leads clearly into a specific quote or scene from the book that "shows" how the author uses the theme of your paragraph in the writing piece. This is the "smoking gun." It proves that you know--or at least have thought about--the book in a meaningful way. In the same way, if you are writing about a personal experience, chose a specific personal experience that explicates, illustrates, and amplifies the theme of your paragraph. Finally, if you are writing an expository piece, this is the place to add your facts that supports your argument.

• At no other time in my life was this more obvious than when I returned to my family home in Concord after a three-year’s journey to the Himalayas to discover the essential truth about life. Broke, disheveled, and disenchanted, I stood on the doorstep and tentatively rapped on the door. No smile was wider than my moms; no arms were wider than my dads as they pulled me into their arms and into the living room I left so long ago.

5. HEAD & HEART: Show your reader your thoughts! Write as many more sentences as you "need" (but at least two more) to illustrate and elaborate upon whatever you introduced in your topic sentence. HINT: The more narrow and focused your topic sentence, the less you need to write to prove your point or describe your experience.

• It didn’t matter that I left home without even telling them where I was going. It didn’t matter that I had once criticized their lives as dull and meaningless, and it didn’t matter that I never called and never wrote.  It only mattered that I was home again.

6. GET OUT or GO ON! This sentence either wants to close out your thoughts or "transition" to a potential new paragraph.

• For me, it only matters that I will never turn my back on my family again because when times are tough, family is all that really matters.

    Always go back and re-read what you have written. Find three areas or sentences that you can make better. Often you can find a better topic sentence somewhere else in the paragraph. You can almost always find a more clear and effective way to write a sentence than you wrote on your first try. If you have too many short sentences, try combining sentences using conjunctions or semi colons.

Here is the complete paragraph.  At 220 words, this is what I would call a “full” paragraph.  In any essay you write, the body paragraphs should be of similar length. Otherwise, to will “look” like some of your points are more important and meaningful than other points!

It is only our immediate family that gives us unconditional love. It is our family that we turn to when there is no place left to go. When we are alone in the world; when nothing is going our way, we know that the door of family will always open for us and welcome us back into the arms of those people who are love us without reservations. At no other time in my life was this more obvious than when I returned to my family home in Concord after a three-year’s journey to the Himalayas to discover the essential truth about life. Broke, disheveled, and disenchanted, I stood on the doorstep and tentatively rapped on the door. No smile was wider than my moms; no arms were wider than my dads as they pulled me into their arms and into the living room I left so long ago. It didn’t matter that I left home without even telling them where I was going. It didn’t matter that I had once criticized their lives as dull and meaningless, and it didn’t matter that I never called and never wrote.  It only mattered that I was home again. For me, it only matters that I will never turn my back on my family again because family is all that really matters.

This paragraph might not win me a Pulitzer prize, but it does what it sets out to do, and that is the rimary aim of all writing.   Try it out and see if it works for you!

Comments

[Scott Berkley]

I'll try this out if I have time today or when I get back from camp.

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