The Essay

Showing your Thinking: The Essay

The Final Product:

● A four-five paragraph essay
● A works cited page

The Process:
● Thinking and deciding
● Planning
● Drafting
● Editing
● Final Copy and Works Cited that are in MLA layout

General Requirements:
● Remember the point/proof/analysis structure; your topic sentence needs a minimum of
two controlling ideas.
● Body paragraphs need two to three quotations (with in-text citations).
● Remember, your analysis should exceed the length of your quotation evidence.
Quotations should support analysis, not summarize.
● If you are an ELL student, you may have modified expectations to support your learning
stage.

Essay Topics Choices: Turn one of the topics into a thesis. If the topic is a question, turn it into
a statement with reasons. A thesis statement needs to have the ‘so what’ factor, not be a plot
summary.

1. How does hockey help both Saul and his classmates?

2. A repeated quotation in the novel is the idea that “They [white people] think it’s their
game” (92). To what degree is this true? You may focus only on the novel OR on the
novel and today’s society. (You may research beyond the novel for this topic).
3. How important is nature to Saul, and why?
4. The theme of “Fair is foul, foul is fair” permeates throughout Macbeth. Explain to what
degree, and in what way, this value system harms any two of the following: Lady
Macbeth, Macbeth as king, and the Macduff family.
5. From your independent novel, identify major conflict(s) that either threatens to harm or
enables the growth of the main character; personal growth or failure should result. A
lesson(s) should be learned from observing the character’s struggle. The character, and
the reader, should achieve a greater sense of self-knowledge or awareness.

Timeframe: The week of 6th June. Due date: Monday, 13th June.