Optional Practice Outline for a Basic Essay

Overview
To help you prepare your essay, you may choose to complete this template, which breaks-down the essay into its
component parts. If you use this, be sure to copy and paste the parts of your essay into a clean empty new
document before you submit your essay at W04 Application Activity: Basic Essay.

Instructions
Write your three-paragraph basic essay in response to the writing prompt below. First write the parts of the essay
in the appropriate order. Then paste the essay parts all together. Look at the sample at the bottom of this
document to see how this is done.

Writing Prompt
Your essay should respond to the following prompt: What is one thing you can do to overcome a specific thinking
error? Note: This should be one of the ten thinking errors from the lesson.

Step 1: Write Your Essay

Introductory Paragraph

1. Heading: Your heading should include your name, instructors name, course name and due date.
Write your heading information here.
2. Title: The title should be applicable to the topic, centered on the page, located beneath the heading but
before first paragraph.
Write your title here.
3. Hook: Draw the reader in and give adequate context to the essay topic.
Write complete sentences here.
4. Thesis Statement: Indicate the controlling idea of the essay and outline the controlling idea of the body
paragraph.
Write ONE complete sentence here.

Body Paragraph

1. Topic Sentence: This should state a single controlling idea for the whole paragraph.
Write ONE complete sentence here.
2. Supporting Detail: This should be a fact, expert testimony, statistics, or personal experience that directly
supports the topic sentence.
Write complete sentences here.
3. Concluding Sentence: This should provide closure by revisiting the supporting details shared and
reinforcing the controlling idea of the paragraph.
Write ONE complete sentence here.

Concluding Paragraph

1. Revisit/Close: Revisit the ideas/themes in the essay and provide closure.

Write complete sentences here.
Step 2: Assemble the Essay (Using the 6 Areas of Formatting from the lesson)
Copy and paste the pieces of your essay in the order you wrote them above into a three-
paragraph essay here. Don’t forget to indent each of the three paragraphs. See the sample at
the bottom of this document to see how this is done.

Begin pasting here

Sample Essay

Step 1: Write Your Essay

Introductory Paragraph

1. Heading: Your heading should include your name, instructors name, course name and due date.
John Doe
Sister Smith
PC 101 Life Skills
March 1, 2022

2. Title: The title should be applicable to the topic, centered on the page, located beneath the heading but
before first paragraph.
Thinking Errors and Growth Mindset

3. Hook: Draw the reader in and give adequate context to the essay topic.
People can make really bad decisions when they have a lot of stress. Imagine a runner
who is competing in a race with other runners. In the first kilometer, he trips on a rock
and falls. He is not injured very much, but he decides to quit the race because he is the
only runner who tripped on the rock. This runner illustrates the thinking error called
“giving up.” He gives up because he made a mistake and he figures he must not be good
enough to run the race.

4. Thesis Statement: Indicate the controlling idea of the essay and outline the controlling idea of the body
paragraph.
I struggle with giving up, and I can overcome this thinking error by having a growth
mindset when I fail.

Body Paragraph

1. Topic Sentence: This should state a single controlling idea for the whole paragraph.
 If I have a growth mindset when I fail, I will learn from my mistakes instead of using
them as an excuse to give up.
2. Supporting Detail: This should be a fact, expert testimony, statistics, or personal experience that directly
supports the topic sentence.
Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset, says that people with a fixed mindset see their
failures as a “direct measure of their competence and worth.” When I fail, I stop trying
because I feel worthless. However, Dweck says people with a growth mindset do not
label themselves when they fail. Rather, they confront challenges and keep working on
them because they want to grow in spite of the growing pains. I would rather learn than
lose the opportunity to grow.

3. Concluding Sentence: This should provide closure by revisiting the supporting details shared and
reinforcing the controlling idea of the paragraph.
Having a growth mindset like this will help me use mistakes as a path to strength instead
as a reason to give up.

Concluding Paragraph

1. Revisit/Close: Revisit the ideas/themes in the essay and provide closure.

Giving up may seem like it keeps a person from the pain of failure, but it just makes
things worse. If I have a growth mindset, I will be able to handle failure better because I
will be motivated to learn from my mistakes.

Step 2: Assemble the Essay

Copy and paste the pieces of your essay in the order you wrote it above into a three-paragraph
essay here. Don’t forget to indent each of the three paragraphs. See the sample at the bottom
of this document to see how this is done.

John Doe

Sister Smith

PC 101 Life Skills

March 1, 2022

Thinking Errors and Growth Mindset

People can make really bad decisions when they have a lot of stress. Imagine a runner

who is competing in a race with other runners. In the first kilometer, he trips on a rock and falls.
He is not injured very much, but he decides to quit the race because he is the only runner who

tripped on the rock. This runner illustrates the thinking error called “giving up.” He gives up

because he made a mistake and he figures he must not be good enough to run the race. I

struggle with giving up, and I can overcome this thinking error by having a growth mindset

when I fail.

If I have a growth mindset when I fail, I will learn from my mistakes instead of using

them as an excuse to give up. Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset, says that people with a fixed

mindset see their failures as a “direct measure of their competence and worth.” When I fail, I

stop trying because I feel worthless. However, Dweck says people with a growth mindset do not

label themselves when they fail. Rather, they confront challenges and keep working on them

because they want to grow in spite of the growing pains. I would rather learn than lose the

opportunity to grow. Having a growth mindset like this will help me use mistakes as a path to

strength instead as a reason to give up.

Giving up may seem like it keeps a person from the pain of failure, but it just makes

things worse. If I have a growth mindset, I will be able to handle failure better because I will be

motivated to learn from my mistakes.