Importance

of Education Explanatory Essay Name: ________________________________________

Assignment:

Write a multi-paragraph essay answering the following question: Why was traditional and nontraditional education important
to people of color in the fight for freedom and equality? Use multiple pieces of evidence from the texts we have read in this unit
to support your response.

Texts:

Excerpts from Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petry, excerpt from The Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass, the Fugitive Slave Acts, “The People Could Fly,” “A Brief History of African Americans in West Virginia,” “A
Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long,” “Doris is Coming,” excerpt from Colored People by Henry Louis Gates, “The Most Daring of
[Our] Leaders,” John Lewis’s speech from the Democratic National Convention, and Amanda Gorman’s poetry. You may also
use the text “Women in Aviation” from earlier in the year.

Directions:

Make sure to complete the essay outline first. (You may choose to print it out and write your essay on paper. Or, you can
complete it using Google Docs.) Then, either type your essay or remove all other lettering and lines so that you can update
your paper to MLA format. (For help with MLA format in Google Docs, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1jnx7fn1V8)
Once you have completed these steps, make sure to revise and edit your essay and then turn in your outline (25 points) and
polished Google Docs essay (100 points) to this assignment in Google Classroom.

Also, use this as a guide for revising and editing. On the left, check off one item at a time, returning to your essay for each one.

Revising (Think BIG picture)
_____I have an introductory sentence that is a hook. ___/2
_____I have an introduction paragraph that provides background. ___/2
_____I have a clear and strong thesis in my introduction paragraph. ___/2
_____I have a conclusion paragraph that summarizes my main ideas and restates the thesis. ___/5
_____I have a clear and strong topic sentence for each body paragraph. ___/6
_____I have three body paragraphs. ___/3
_____I have organized my body paragraphs around 3 individual big ideas. ___/5
_____I have correctly introduced, cited, and explained each quote. ___/9
_____I provide relevant context and background information and explain thoroughly. I do not repeat. ___/9
_____I have included page numbers after my quotes: For example, “The sky is blue” (35). ___/9
_____I have appropriate and interesting transitions. ___/6
_____I have used at least one CX, CD, and CD-CX sentence in each paragraph. ___/9
Editing (Think little picture)
_____I have no spelling mistakes, and I use punctuation properly. ___/5
_____I saw the author states/explains/describes/illustrates/reveals/shows rather than it talks ___/5
_____I have no sentence fragments. ___/5
_____I have no run-on sentences. ___/5
_____I do not use any of the “boring” words, such as got/get, like, cool, stuff, thing, very, etc. ___/5
_____I have the proper MLA formatted heading at the top of my page. ___/4
_____I have a title under the heading and in the center of my page. ___/2
_____I have indented all five paragraphs, and my paper is double-spaced. ___/2

Teacher Feedback: Total: ___/100
Essay Outline

I. Introduction Paragraph

A. Hook/Introduction Sentence (Grab your reader’s attention with something other than “I am going to talk
about…”)
B. Background Information (Information relevant to the subject and found in the articles you read. Why would
people want to read this? Why is it important?)
C. Thesis (Big idea 1 + Big idea 2 + Big idea 3)

II. First Body Paragraph (My first big idea is about _________________________________________________)

A. Topic Sentence (Summarize first idea)
B. Introduce first piece of evidence
1. Cite evidence with quotation marks, quote, and page number
2. Explanation of this evidence without repeating
C. Introduce second piece of evidence
1. Cite evidence with quotation marks, quote, and page number
2. Explanation of this evidence without repeating
D. Introduce third piece of evidence
1. Cite evidence with quotation marks, quote, and page number
2. Explanation of this evidence without repeating
E. Conclusion sentence that transitions to your second body paragraph

III. Second Body Paragraph (My second big idea is about __________________________________________)

A. Topic Sentence (Summarize second idea)
B. Introduce first piece of evidence
1. Cite evidence with quotation marks, quote, and page number
2. Explanation of this evidence without repeating
C. Introduce second piece of evidence
1. Cite evidence with quotation marks, quote, and page number
2. Explanation of this evidence without repeating
D. Introduce third piece of evidence
1. Cite evidence with quotation marks, quote, and page number
2. Explanation of this evidence without repeating
E. Conclusion sentence that transitions to your third body paragraph

IV. Third Body Paragraph (My third big idea is about _______________________________________________)

A. Topic Sentence (Summarize third idea)
B. Introduce first piece of evidence
1. Cite evidence with quotation marks, quote, and page number
2. Explanation of this evidence without repeating
C. Introduce second piece of evidence
1. Cite evidence with quotation marks, quote, and page number
2. Explanation of this evidence without repeating
D. Introduce third piece of evidence
1. Cite evidence with quotation marks, quote, and page number
2. Explanation of this evidence without repeating
E. Conclusion sentence

V. Conclusion Paragraph

A. Summarize each idea
B. Restate your thesis


 Name: ________________________________________Section: ________
I. Introduction Paragraph
A. Introduction Sentence: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Background information: ____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
C. Thesis: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
II. First big idea
A. Topic Sentence (Summarize first big idea): _________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Introduce: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Cite: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
C. Introduce: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Cite: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
D. Introduce: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Cite:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
E. Conclusion Sentence: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
III. Second big idea
A. Topic Sentence (Summarize second big idea): ______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Introduce: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Cite: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
C. Introduce: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Cite: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
D. Introduce: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Cite:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
E. Conclusion Sentence: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IV. Third big idea
A. Topic Sentence (Summarize third big idea): _______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Introduce: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Cite: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 2. Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
C. Introduce: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Cite: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
D. Introduce: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Cite:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
E. Conclusion Sentence: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

V. Conclusion Paragraph
A. Summarize first, second, and third big idea (from body paragraphs): _______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Restate thesis (from introduction): _____________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________