Homework tonight: Based on our conversation today, come up with a ‘free-style’ response to the prompt ‘Pi condemns “those who lack artistry and imagination, the inability to commit to a story.” How important is story-telling in the novel. The complete practice essay will be due Tuesday.
Today we looked at three sample essays and reviewed what makes a good essay. Here’s what we noticed:
- Reference to the structure of the book (part 1, part 2, part 3)
- Constant reference to point of the essay (topic) eg ‘better story’
- Reference to author
- Lots of quotes (even in intro and conclusion)
- Confidence
- Great vocab but not ‘cluttered’ or ‘over-worked’
- Don’t over-complicate things so that the message is lost
- It is easy to understand the point of each sentence
- If same quote/word is used it is used in a different way
- Quotes woven in
- Details about the plot had a point
- Points/religions associated with characters
- Constant focus on essay question, author intent and audience impact
- Don’t get tangled in TEEL…remember you are developing your own discussion based on the essay topic
- Be succinct, write naturally