How to Write a Good Essay. (In 50 minutes or less!)

Transcription

1 How to Write a Good Essay (In 50 minutes or less!)

2 Step 1: Have a Good Thesis Statement Sample Question: To what extent was the Civil War a revolution in American society? Step 1: Figure out what you re arguing. In this question, how are you defining Revolution?

3 Step 1: Have a Good Thesis Statement Sample Question: To what extent was the Civil War a revolution in American society? Step 2: Decide what your major sub-topics are. Most good essays will have three. These will be your body paragraphs. Example: Political: Supremacy of Republican Party for the next 50 years Social: Gain of rights for African Americans Constitutionally: Federal government more powerful that state governments

4 Step 1: Have a Good Thesis Statement Sample Question: To what extent was the Civil War a revolution in American society? Step 3: Write a clear thesis statement. Example: Thus, the Civil War did represent a political, social, and constitutional revolution.

5 NOTE - Your thesis should provide a roadmap of your essay. If you say political, social, and constitutional, THAT IS THE ORDER OR YOUR ESSAY. - Your thesis is your answer to a question. Take a side.

6 Thesis Types Simple Thesis: The Civil War was a revolution in American society. - Thesis is far too simple. - It contains no partition (different categories) or analysis. - There is no roadmap of the essay.

7 Thesis Types Complex-simple Thesis: In some respects, Americans experience profound changes during the war. After the war, it was clear that society had also been changed dramatically in a number of important areas. The Good: - It tells us that people and society changed in many ways The Less Good - There is no partition. It doesn t say how America was changed.

8 Thesis Types Simple-split Thesis: The Civil War was a revolution in America politically, socially, and constitutionally. - It provides categories BUT - It lacks an explanation of what is meant by each category.

9 You want to be at Level 3. We will get to Level 4 later in the semester

10 There were many causes of the Salem Witch Trials.

11 Religion, disease, and society caused the Salem Witch Trials.

12 The Puritan s literal interpretation of the bible, lack of understanding of medical symptoms, and distrust of women led to the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692.

13 Step 2: Let your thesis be! Do not waste time on your intro. Give a quick background and MOVE ON. Let your reader know what you re arguing and why they should care. In an at home essay, you need to care about your intro--it hooks the reader. In class, just worry about making a clear argument and putting it in its historical context.

14 Step 2: Let your thesis be! Don t try too hard to write a clever hook. If you write well, whatever you start with will be clever enough. Write your hook in your head and write what comes next as your next sentence.

15 LESS IS MORE

16 The Puritan s religious fundamentalism led to the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria. The Puritans were immigrants from England who took the bible literally. That means that they took every word exactly as it was said. The King James version of the Bible states Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live (doc. 1). This means that you should not let a witch live. Because the bible was taken literally by the Puritans, they therefore believed in witches. This means that they killed witches. They also believed in witches because Cotton Mather told them too. He said, these evil spirits are all around. This means that he said witches exist and it supports my argument because it was because of him that the Puritans believed in witches. Also, the Puritans were sexist and their dislike of women contributed to the hysteria.

17 The Puritan s religious fundamentalism contributed to the Salem Witch Trials. Since they took the Bible literally, verses such as Exodus 22:18, which stated Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, caused the Puritans to live in paranoia about the existence of witches (doc. 1). Several years before the trials, an influential Puritan minister, Cotton Mather, preached about the dangers of witches, not only demonstrating the Puritan s intense fear of witches, but also likely heightening the Puritans of Salem s fear (doc. 2). The bible and Mather s sermon both demonstrate the widespread fear of witches in 17th century New England. This fear combined with Salem s gender divisions and internal conflicts between married and unmarried women allowed the Salem Witch Trials to become as deadly as they did.

18 Conclusion It is better to have one sentence reminding the reader of your thesis and another reminding them why they should care than it is to have a full paragraph that is poorly written.