Structuring Your Essay Introduction easier than you thinktell

Structuring Your Essay • Introduction (easier than you think!)—tell background and characteristics of time that leads into a thesis. • Thesis must be last sentence in first paragraph • Thesis must introduce a category, present analysis, and take a position. • Think of a moment in history, and take a position. For example: The Civil War happened because……… • Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence which defends your thesis and directly answers the question, and support it with as much specific factual information as you can. • Your paragraph should include pieces of SFI and IC (Interpretive Commentary)—where you prove what you know. • Show an understanding of how &why this information supports thesis! • Think of a cause of the Civil War…. Now expand on it without using your own opinion. • Conclusion—restates thesis—don’t reinvent the wheel. Intro. Thesis Topic Sent. SFI IC

Key Terms: The Industrial Revolution Creates Sectionalism (Divisions in the North and South) James Monroe Andrew Jackson Henry Clay Robert Fulton Eli Whitney Francis Lowell Samuel Slater John Quincy Adams Nat Turner Era of Good Feelings American System Adams-Onis Treaty Monroe Doctrine Industrial Revolution Missouri Compromise Gang System Election of 1824 Task System Slavery “Favorite Sons” Slave Codes Election of 1828 Second Bank of the United States With a partner… can you classify Corrupt Bargain these terms into the three PEDS Mudslinging categories? Erie Canal National Road P = Political Railroads E = Economic Steam Engine S = Social Cotton Gin Interchangeable Parts Lowell Textile Mills Planters and Plantations

Political James Monroe Andrew Jackson Henry Clay John Quincy Adams-Onis Treaty Monroe Doctrine Missouri Compromise Election of 1824 “Favorite Sons” Election of 1828 Corrupt Bargain Mudslinging Economic Robert Fulton Eli Whitney Francis Lowell Samuel Slater American System Industrial Revolution Second Bank of the United States Erie Canal National Road Railroads Steam Engine Cotton Gin Interchangeable Parts Lowell Textile Mills Planters and Plantations Social Nat Turner Era of Good Feelings Gang System Task System Slavery Slave Codes Now you have at least three paragraphs worth of information to write about and plenty of SFI (Key terms) to back up your information! Remember to add interpretive commentary (before, during, and after) if you use one of these terms in your essay!

Brainstorming is important! You have to have a plan going into an essay!

During the Cold War the U. S. tried to Does this effectively tell you what the end Communism no matter what. That is paragraph is going to be about? what is happening in the Vietnam War. Russia is trying to spread communism How many pieces of through the world. North Vietnam was SFI (Key Terms) do you count in this influenced by Russia to become a paragraph? communist nation , but the south did not want to be communist, so they went to war with the North having support from Russia and the South having support from the U. S. So the U. S. did everything they could to stop After reading this paragraph, do the spread of communism, and this meant you effectively soldiers staying over in Vietnam longer. This understand why the U. S. tried to made many Americans very upset. end communism no matter what?

1. 2. 3. 4. More Effective Topic Sentences The U. S. ’s failure to contain communism can be mostly credited by the clever hit-and-run warfare by the Vietcong. Throughout the three decades of United States involvement in Vietnam, it continued to lose its most important political asset: ethos. Containment became even more difficult when the American people began to hate the war. The U. S. thought victory in Vietnam and containment would be quick and easy, but it wasn’t; this was in part because of issues on the home front.

Throughout the three decades of United States involvement in Vietnam, it continued to lose its most important political asset: ethos. Shocking images came not only from Vietnam, where pictures of a monk selfimmolating himself in protest surfaced or when the devastating news of the U. S. My Lai massacre broke, but also from the States themselves. In 1968, as the world watched the news they saw symbols of peace and justice be destroyed when Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. They also saw videos of violent protests in Chicago and later Mississippi. To make matters worse, news of four college students at Kent State being killed by National Guard members during protests shocked the world. These civilian disasters that occurred in the United States and in Vietnam destroyed global respect for the U. S. Many people wondered why the country would continue to fight and self-destruct. The final straw came when the Pentagon Papers were released revealing that even top government officials questioned their purpose in Vietnam. The U. S. later pulled out of Vietnam when public opposition to the war reached a climax, but it did not escape with its credibility. Does this effectively tell you what the paragraph is going to be about? How many pieces of SFI (Key Terms) do you count in this paragraph? After reading this paragraph, do you effectively understand why the U. S. lost its most important political asset: ethos?

Essay A Introduction: 1. Does this topic sentence effectively explain what the paragraph will be about? If not, reword it to make it sound better. 2. Does thesis statement take a position, answer a question, or propose a solution? Paragraph 1: 1. Does this topic sentence effectively explain what the paragraph will be about? If not, reword it to make it sound better. 2. Does the paragraph include 3 -4 key terms or pieces of SFI? If not, what could they have used? Paragraph 2: 1. Does this topic sentence effectively explain what the paragraph will be about? If not, reword it to make it sound better. 2. Does the paragraph include 3 -4 key terms or pieces of SFI? If not, what could they have used? Paragraph 3 1. Does this topic sentence effectively explain what the paragraph will be about? If not, reword it to make it sound better. 2. Does the paragraph include 3 -4 key terms or pieces of SFI? If not, what could they have used? Conclusion: 1. Does the conclusion summarize what the essay was about? If not, reword a sentence or two to make it better.