Writing Roundup 2.0

Introduction

text annotation indicator An illustrated cowboy spins a lasso. The cowboy is a light-skinned man with dark hair. He wears a black cowboy hat with green and yellow trim, a red bandana around his neck, a green long-sleeved shirt, a black vest, and blue jeans. He also wears brown cowboy boots and guns on his hips. After practicing MLA format and gathering proof from outside sources, the time has come to put everything together into a formal paragraph. In the later grades, writers will learn to create an entire essay with multiple paragraphs. For now, step-by-step, each writer will create a solid body paragraph with proof from one outside source. In-text citations will appear within the paragraph to show where the proof comes from, and a Works Cited will document all of the information about the source.

Essential Questions

How do I effectively brainstorm before writing an essay?
How do I effectively create a thesis statement for an essay?
How do I create a well-organized text with evidence that supports my ideas?
What is MLA Format, and how do I use MLA in my papers?
How do I use textual evidence to support my ideas in writing?
How do I create a proper Works Cited page for my paper?

Key Terms

Essay: A piece of writing on a particular subject.
Thesis statement: One sentence that summarizes the main idea of the essay.
Ideas: The opinions or thoughts of the writer.
Organization: Arranging an essay in a way that keeps similar ideas in groups known as paragraphs.
Paragraph: A group of sentences that explains the ideas of the writer.
Topic sentence: The sentence that begins each paragraph and reveals what the paragraph will be about.
Conclusion sentence: The sentence that appears at the end of each paragraph and wraps up the information from the paragraph.
Brainstorming: The way for writers to think of the ideas to include in an essay.
Support: Ideas from other people that writers use as evidence to back up and prove their own ideas.
In-text citation: The author’s last name and the page number of the source that follows the proof in an essay and leads to the Works Cited entry to reveal the publication information about the source.
MLA format: MLA stands for Modern Language Association. MLA format is the way that a writer sets up an essay: 12-point font, Times New Roman, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, header, and heading.
Sources: The various books, essays, and other places a writer finds the support for an essay.
Primary source: The main work of literature a writer focuses on and uses for an essay.
Secondary source: Various texts a writer uses to find support for an essay.
Works Cited entry: The publishing information of a certain source that is set up in a certain format to appear in the Works Cited.
Works Cited: An alphabetized list of all sources used in the essay written in MLA format.
Bibliography: An alphabetized list of all sources read that relate to a certain topic of an essay and written in MLA format.
Expository: An essay written for the purpose of informing, explaining, or describing the author’s subject matter.
Descriptive: An essay that asks a student to describe something in particular.
Narrative: An essay where the writer tells a story.
Persuasive: An essay that requires the writers to convince readers to agree with their position or opinion on a topic.

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