Anker Susan. Real Essays with Readings with 2009 MLA Update

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WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 19 • Writing under Pressure 327

PRACTICE 2 IDENTIFYING KEY WORDS

Read the following essay questions, and then circle the key words that tell what

subject to write about, how to write about it, and how many parts to write. In the

space below each item, explain what the question is asking the writer to do.

EXAMPLE: Deﬁ ne and illustrate dependency.

Give the meaning of the term dependency and give examples of it.

1. Identify three causes of the second war in Iraq.

List and explain three causes of the second war in Iraq.

2. Trace the stages of grieving.

Explain the steps in the grieving process.

3. Discuss the problem of the current energy crisis.

Identify and explain the problem of the current energy crisis.

■ TEAMWORK

This practice works well

in pairs. Have students

discuss the reasons for

their responses.

KEY WORDS WHAT’S REQUIRED SAMPLE ANSWER

“Explain the term

hyperactivity.”

Deﬁ ne and give

examples.

“Hyperactivity is a

condition charac-

terized by. . . .”

“Trace the

development

of the Industrial

Revolution.”

Explain the sequence

of steps or stages of the

subject.

“The Industrial

Revolution in the

United States

began. . . .”

“Identify and

discuss the major

causes of X. ”

List and give examples. “The major causes

of X are. . . .”

“Should sex

education be taught?”

Argue for or against

with reasons, opinions,

and evidence.

“Sex education is

essential to . . .

because. . . .”

“Summarize the

concept of equal

rights.”

Give a brief overview. “In the United

States, the concept

of equal rights

is the guarantee

that. . . .”

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WRITING ESSAYS

328 Part Three • Special College Writing Projects

4. Should drivers be banned from using handheld cell phones while driving?

Why or why not?

Argue for or against banning drivers from using handheld cell phones.

Write a Thesis Statement

Your response should include a thesis statement that is simple and clear.

In the thesis statement, you may want to preview what you plan to cover

in your answer because sometimes an instructor will give partial credit for

information contained in the thesis even if you run out of time to explain

fully.

The best way to stay on track in an essay exam is to write a thesis

statement that contains the key words from the essay question and restates

the question as a main idea. It also helps to reread your thesis statement

several times as you write your exam response.

The following are possible thesis statements for the four essay ques-

tions from Practice 2. Because the answers would depend on material

covered in a course or on particular student opinions, we have used blanks

instead of speciﬁ c answers.

Three major causes underlie the second Iraq war: ,

, and .

People normally move through stages of grieving:

, , ,

(and however many there are).

The current energy crisis is a problem because it ,

, and .

Drivers should be banned from using handheld cell phones while driving

because of and (or however

many reasons).

PRACTICE 3 WRITING THESIS STATEMENTS

Write possible thesis statements in response to the following sample essay

exam questions. Even if you do not know the answer to the question, write a

thesis statement that responds to the question and lets the reader know what

you will cover (as in the possible answers above).

■ For more on

writing a thesis

statement, see

Chapter 5.

■

TEAMWORK

This practice works well

in pairs. Have students

create at least two dif-

ferent thesis statements

for each prompt.

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WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 19 • Writing under Pressure 329

ESSAY EXAM QUESTION: Discuss the concept of First Amendment (free

speech) protection as it relates to pornography on the Internet.

POSSIBLE THESIS STATEMENT: The protection of First Amendment rights

is often cited as a reason not to ban pornography on the Internet.

1. Discuss the causes of the decline of the traditional “nuclear family” (two

married parents and their children living under the same roof, without

others).

Answers will vary.

2. Explain the effects of binge drinking.

3. Trace the development of the Industrial Revolution in Lowell,

Massachusetts.

4. Describe the atmospheric conditions that precede a thunderstorm.

5. Discuss three advantages or three disadvantages of reliance on e-mail.

Make an Outline

Make a short, informal outline to map out your answer to an essay ques-

tion or writing prompt. Include any important names, dates, or facts that

occur to you. This outline will help you stick to your main points and

remember essential details as you write.

The following short outline is for a possible essay on the causes for the

decline of the traditional “nuclear family” (item 1 in Practice 3 above).

THESIS: Many forces have combined to cause a decline in the traditional

“nuclear family,” and they are not all negative.

CAUSE 1: High rate of divorce

% of marriages that end in divorce

CAUSE 2: Not as much social pressure to marry

Many famous couples have children without being married.

■ For more on

outlining, see

Chapter 7.

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WRITING ESSAYS

330 Part Three • Special College Writing Projects

CAUSE 3: Families are deﬁ ned in broader ways.

Blended families

Single parents

Gay parents

CONCLUSION: Many reasons: Restate causes; make an observation

(concept of “family” has evolved)

Write Your Answer

Your answer to an essay question should always be in essay form, with an

introductory paragraph, several support points, and a concluding para-

graph. It is a good idea to list all of your key points before providing

details. Some teachers give partial credit for points that reﬂ ect your un-

derstanding of the topic, even if the points haven’t been developed. At

the very least, get down the thesis statement and then the ﬁ rst sentence of

each support paragraph.

Here is an essay written by Brenda White of Quinsigamond Commu-

nity College in response to the essay prompt “Discuss your role model.”

■ For more on the

parts of an essay, see

pages 49–51 and

Chapters 7 and 8.

My role model is my best friend, Tanya, a single mother. Although

young, unmarried parents are often looked down on in our society,

Tanya has overcome many obstacles and is doing an excellent job

raising her son. I admire her patience, independence, and willingness

to work hard. With these qualities, she deﬁ es the stereotype of the

teen parent.

Tanya could have made the choice to terminate her pregnancy, but

she decided not to because she knew that she had the patience to

raise a child, even under difﬁ cult circumstances. She has incredible

patience with her son, Quentin. For example, when he’s crying — even

for a long time — she’ll just rock him until he sleeps. Tanya also has

patience with her friends. She understands that they have other

things to do and can’t always be counted on to watch Quentin. Tanya

never gets mad if we can’t help her out. She is also patient with her

mother, who is very critical. Tanya’s steady patience has gotten her

through many difﬁ cult situations.

Independence is another trait that makes Tanya a good role

model. She is raising her son without the help of her parents and

mostly without Quentin’s father. Tanya does not rely on others to

Introduction

states thesis and

previews support

points.

Support point 1

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WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 19 • Writing under Pressure 331

Reread and Revise Your Answer

After you have ﬁ nished writing your answer to an essay question, reread

it carefully. Then, revise your response to make it clearer, more precise,

and more detailed.

Teachers sometimes use a scoring rubric, which consists of the

criteria — or standards — they use to judge the quality of an essay. Al-

though scoring rubrics vary from one teacher to the next, most rubrics

used to evaluate writing include some basic elements:

• Fulﬁ lls the assignment. (Has the writer followed the assignment and

answered the question? Does the essay stay focused on the topic?)

• Contains a thesis statement. (Does the essay clearly state the topic and

the writer’s main point about it?)

• Contains accurate information. (Does the essay include correct answers

or reliable information?)

• Provides adequate support for the thesis. (Is the thesis backed by major

support points, which are in turn supported by examples and details?)

• Uses correct language and expression. (Is the essay free of major errors

in grammar, mechanics, and usage?)

care for her son or make decisions about his care; she does what

needs to be done. She is also ﬁ nancially independent. She spends

the money she earns wisely, only on things that are necessary. She

pays her own tuition, rent, and, of course, the expenses of bringing

up Quentin. Tanya has earned her independence and is wise about the

actions she takes.

Tanya is a very hard worker, pushing herself to the maximum.

She works two jobs so she can provide for her growing son. Tanya

also maintains an A average in her college courses. She has always

gone beyond the normal, everyday achievements. For example, she

graduated from high school on the honor roll while living on her own

and supporting her son. She works hard and sticks to her belief that

education is valuable. Tanya has gone beyond the traditional deﬁ nition

of hardworking.

In some people’s eyes, Tanya is just a single, teenage mother, a

burden on society. But to me, Tanya is a wonderful role model. She

has accomplished a lot in her young life. She has also gained control

of her life and her surroundings by being patient, independent, and

hardworking. Tanya is a single, teenage parent, but she is also a

worthy role model.

Support point 2

Support point 3

Conclusion

sums up and

strengthens

response to

essay prompt.

■ TEACHING TIP

If your department,

university, or state has

a rubric for grading

standardized essay

exams, distribute it

to the students, and

explain each point

so that students will

have a better sense

of their audience’s

expectations.

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WRITING ESSAYS

332 Part Three • Special College Writing Projects

Scoring rubrics often have points or percentages attached to each element.

A typical scoring rubric might look like this:

ELEMENT TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE STUDENT SCORE

Adherence to assignment 20 18

Thesis statement 15 15

Accurate information 30 25

Development of ideas 25 20

Language and expression 10 10

TOTAL POINTS 100 88

If your teacher provides you with a rubric, use it to set priorities as you re-

view and revise your essay. Otherwise, consider the elements in the sample

rubric as you revise your essay exam.

When you are writing by hand (rather than using a computer), revise

your essay by neatly crossing out mistakes and adding extra words or sen-

tences between the lines or in the margin, like this:

Groups of people living together have expectations about how

the group should function and how to keep order within the group.

Societies need to have rules and laws. This semester, we learned

about social deviance, which is any behavior that does not conform to

expectations of the group and which violates the group’s sense of

, those who break society’s rules,

order. For example, criminals

are social deviants. Rather than thinking

that we can or should eliminate deviant behavior altogether, I agree

with sociologist Emile Durkheim that deviance is necessary. a necessary

element of any healthy social group.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Choose one of the following topics, and write an essay on it using the strate-

gies for answering an essay question beginning on page 324. To practice with

timed writing, give yourself a 50-minute time limit.

■ RESOURCES

For advice on creat-

ing and using scoring

rubrics, see Practical

Suggestions for Teach-

ing REAL ESSAYS.

■ For more on

revising, see Chapter 9.

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WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 19 • Writing under Pressure 333

1. Write an essay agreeing or disagreeing with one of the following

statements:

Schoolchildren have too many vacations.

Most students cheat.

People should be required to retire at age sixty-seven.

People should live together before they get married.

There are no valuable lessons to be learned from studying history.

2. Deﬁ ne responsibility.

3. Propose a solution to a major problem in your town or city.

4. Discuss a person who has had great inﬂ uence on you.

5. Discuss an event that changed your life.

■ TEACHING TIP

If your department

(or university or state

testing board) has

examples of questions

from standardized

essay exams from pre-

vious semesters, get

permission to distribute

these questions to stu-

dents for practice.

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334

You Know This

You summarize

and report on all

kinds of things.

• You tell a

classmate what

happened during

a class he or she

missed.

• You tell a friend

about an episode

of a television

program he or

she missed.

Writing Summaries

and Reports

Important College Writing Tasks

Writing a Summary

A summary is a condensed version of a piece of writing, a conversation,

or an event. It presents main ideas and key support points in a brief form

and in your own words.

■ For more on citing

and documenting

sources, see Chap-

ter 21. For more on

summarizing, see

Chapters 2 and 21.

FOUR BASICS OF A GOOD SUMMARY

It clearly identiﬁ es what is being summarized and presents its

main idea.

2. It concisely identiﬁ es the key support for the main idea.

3. It includes any ﬁ nal observations or recommendations made

in the original.

4. It is written in your own words and is objective in tone,

presenting information without opinions.

If you are summarizing a piece of writing, read it carefully to make

sure you understand the main idea and key points. Then, try to write the

ﬁ rst draft of the summary without looking at the original. When you’re

done, check the summary for accuracy against the original. Note: You

must always cite and document the source, even if you do not use quota-

tions from it.

The following paragraph summarizes the reading on page 32. Read

the original piece and then the summary. The numbers in the paragraph

correspond to the four basics of a good summary.

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WRITING ESSAYS

Chapter 20 • Writing Summaries and Reports 335

1 In their book Discovering Psychology, Don H. Hockenbury and Sandra

Hockenbury explain that the way we see color is determined by properties

of light waves — hue, saturation, and brightness (94). 2 Hue is actually

color, and the way we see color is determined by the wavelength of the

light. Different wavelengths result in our seeing different colors. Satura-

tion is how pure the light wave is. The more saturation, the deeper the

color: Red is more saturated than pink, for example. Brightness is how

intense the color looks and is caused by the strength of the light wave.

3 Although most of us think that the color of an item is built into that

item — like our jeans are blue — the color is actually determined by the

“wavelength of light that the object reﬂ ects” (94). The jeans reﬂ ect the

wavelength of the blue on the spectrum of color, and dark blue jeans have

a higher saturation and brightness than light blue jeans.

There are many uses for summarizing:

COLLEGE You answer exam questions that ask you to summarize

information.

WORK You write a memo that summarizes the issues discussed

and decisions made at a meeting.

EVERYDAY You summarize for a partner your conversation with a

LIFE plumber who was at your home to ﬁ x a pipe.

Follow the steps in the Writing Guide on the next page to help you

with the summary assignments that follow it. Also, review the four basics

of a good summary on page 334. Check off each step in the guide as you

complete it.

Although this guide is geared to summaries of texts, you can also

use it when summarizing ﬁ lms, events, and other nontext sources. First,

note the key stages or details of the ﬁ lm, event, or whatever you are sum-

marizing. Next, work through this guide, beginning with the “Review”

step.

4 Summary is in

the writer’s own

words

Source and

relevant page

number are

cited.

Exact words

from original

are in quota-

tion marks.

■ TEACHING TIP

Have students write

at least three more

examples of summaries

for each category as

journal entries.

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WRITING ESSAYS

336 Part Three • Special College Writing Projects

WRITING GUIDE: SUMMARY

STEPS IN SUMMARIZING HOW TO DO THE STEPS

Focus.

■

■ As you read, think about how you will summarize the piece.

Read the selection you want

to summarize.

■

■ Highlight key points or put a check mark () next to them.

■

■ Note the title and headings, words in boldface or italics,

and boxed information or diagrams.

Review your highlighting

and make notes.

See Chapter 2 for advice on

taking notes while reading.

■

■ Note the author’s main idea and the major events or

support.

■

■ Jot down the details about the major events or support that

will explain them to your readers.

■

■ Decide whether to quote speciﬁ c parts of the original, and

note any page references.

Make an outline.

See Chapter 7 for more on

outlining.

■

■ Arrange the major events and details in a logical order.

Draft the summary.

See Chapter 8 for more on

drafting.

■

■ As you write, refer to the original, but use your own words.

■

■ Include a thesis statement that expresses the author’s main

idea, and present a condensed version of the support for

the thesis.

Revise the draft.

See Chapter 9 for more on

revising.

■

■ Read your draft.

■

■ Make sure it includes the author’s main idea and key points.

■

■ Add transitions to help your reader move smoothly from one

key point to another.

■

■ Make sure you have given enough examples so that readers

who haven’t read the piece can understand the main idea.

■

■ Make sure you have cited the source of the piece, and if you

have quoted from it, be sure to include the page reference

(if it’s a print work) and quotation marks. For more on using

quotations, see page 363.

■

■ Make sure the summary (apart from direct quotations) is in

your own words.

■

■ Check to make sure it follows the four basics of a good

summary.

Edit your work.

See Parts Four through Seven

for editing advice.

■

■ Check for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

■

■ Ask yourself: Is this the best I can do?

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