Writing a Good Five Paragraph Essay
There are THREE parts to the essay.
Intro
What is the point that you are trying to prove? This is called your THESIS.
“Mr. Lobb is a dangerous teacher with a negative effect on the youth of today.”
“Technology is a problem and creates a number of negative effects on the youth of today.”
“Eating chocolate is a privilege, not a right. People should not be allowed to eat chocolate until they are 21 years of age.”
You need to prove ONE SIDE of the statement or the argument. Don’t try to split your argument - this is always a bad idea. Don’t try to prove MAYBE this or that. Take a side.
What goes into the intro?
An observation or hook or opening statement about the topic area.
Thesis statement.
List briefly how you will prove your thesis in three ways.
Body Paragraphs
Three body paragraphs.
RESTATE the main point of that body paragraph.
REFER to the information source that you have - an incidence, something in the story or book, could be something from the story
EXPLAIN the reasoning for your points and ideas.
LINK back to your main thesis - show how your thesis is proven by this point.
Do the above THREE times.
Conclusion
Restate your thesis statement as proven, briefly recap how you did it.
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News Story Writing
You will be given a headline and a photo.
You will marked partially on how well you combine the info in the headline with the picture.
ie staying on topic
1. First few bits - who, what, where, when.
Briefly tell the whole story in one paragraph or two with NO details.
Go on to fill in details.
Why, how and explain the events and so on.
This is the hardest part.
However, there is a pattern.
Explain the event.
Show how and why it happened.
Get interview quotations from witnesses.
Get expert quotations from experts (police, investigators, fire fighters, scientists, weather experts, etc)
Get quotations from people involved - victims, etc
Discuss the story from the perspective of analysis - think about what the effects of this COULD BE.
ie remember the article about the winter storm in Goderich (from practice lit test)
you could have described how this could impact people in the community and beyond.
3. End with some kind of CAPPER that talks about possible further effects, complications down the line, or maybe similar situations that could occur, or are occurring.
Writing a news story involves you being imaginative, looking at the photo and headline and asking yourself WHAT COULD THIS BE?
You need to find the MOST DRAMATIC story to tell. This will make your answer BIGGER and BETTER.
