The Illustration Essay

Topic:  Roles of Women in my Household

First, we need to remember that writing is a PROCESS…and, if we want to have a good essay, we have to follow the PROCESS.

The first step in the process is simply THINKING.  Once we have the topic, we must take some time to think about that topic...  Think about what you know.  Think about how the topic makes you feel.  Think about associated memories.     …Just THINK!

So, the topic for our paper—an “Illustration” essay—is “the role of women in our family or household.”  Before you go forward, take a few minutes to think about the roles women have played in your life.  Caregiver?  Provider?  Disciplinarian?  Cook?  Counselor?  Historian?  Household Manager?  Queen?  

Now, take a few moments to decide WHO the women are that were impactful in your life.  Your mother?  Your grandmother?  Your wife?  An aunt?  Another woman? 

Finally, you may want to decide if you different women in the greater family structure filled different roles or if one woman filled several roles.

Hopefully, you are thinking about all the things we have looked at already, and your brain is already sorting, classifying, dividing and putting things together without your even being conscious of it!  (Our brains are amazing…and they work hard, even when we’re not intentionally thinking about things…!)

Okay, now that we’ve considered the topic for a while, let’s think about the INTRODUCTION of our paper.  We have to start this paper somewhere, and the Introduction is the best place to begin.

First, let’s remember the PURPOSE of the introduction:

• Let the reader know generally what we’re talking about and where we’re going.

• Bring the reader into the writer’s world.

Now, let’s remember what we should find in the introduction:

• The topic – What are we writing about? 
• The thesis – What perspective do we have on the topic?  What more specifically are we going to do with the topic?

Our topic is:  The Role of Women in our Family/Household

So, what will our Thesis be??  What are going to say about this topic??  What roles are we going to look at?

We are going to look at TWO possible approaches to our task at hand.  Basically, I’m going to take you through the development of two thesis statements.  You’ll see as we do this that putting together the thesis statement basically forces us to develop a simple outline.  And, if we have the thesis statement and outline in hand, we almost ready to write an essay!

In the first THESIS development activity, I’m going to think about the women who have been important in my life…and the roles that women take in the family.  When I do that, I think of three very important women with three different roles:

• Grandmother – the family “historian” who made sure we all knew where we came from.

• Mom – the “switchboard” who keeps us all in touch with one another.

• Wife – the “glue” that holds my family together.

So, for this possible paper, I have THREE people and THREE roles for them.  

Now, I need to decide what order I want to present them.  I think I’m going to present them in the exact opposite order from how I wrote them down above.  So, first in my paper, I’ll talk about my wife first, then about my Mom and finally about Grandmother. 

Somehow, I need to weave all of this together into a SINGLE SENTENCE…and that single sentence will be my THESIS statement.  Since I don’t have to give ALL the information in the thesis and introduction, I’ve decided to go with their roles only in this part of the essay.  Therefore, my thesis will look something like this:

 

The women in my family have been the glue that holds us together, the connection that keeps us in each other’s lives and the link that joins us to our past.

So, we have one, single sentence here…and if you look closely, you’ll see that we already have the outline of the paper:

I. Introduction + Thesis

II. Body Paragraph I – The Glue

III. Body Paragraph II – The Connection

IV. Body Paragraph III – The History

V. Conclusion

Now, all we have to do is go back and fill in “the blanks” in the body paragraph—that is, we have to decide what anecdotes or stories we want to tell in order to show how each woman fulfilled that role in the family.

Okay, let’s think through another approach.  Perhaps we don’t want to write about three different people.  Let’s think about writing this essay about just one person who fulfilled several roles!  So, here we go….

I’ll use my wife for this one, but you could just as easily choose your mother, an aunt, a grandmother—any one person who fulfilled multiple roles.

So, thinking about my wife, what roles does she fill?

• Positive motivator
• Household manager
• Amazing cook

Now that I have the roles on paper that I want to talk about, I need to decide on the best order.  Well, a lot of folks think of a wife as being a cook, so I’ll start there.  Then, if they don’t think “household manager,” they do think “housewife”…and that’s a similar idea, so that’ll take second position.  And, finally, the role that I really want to get to is that of “positive motivator,” so I’ll save it for last.

Now that I have the topic, the person, the roles and the order, I’m ready to write a thesis statement.  How does this sound?

My wife impacts those in our family as an amazing cook, a savvy household manager and an unceasing positive motivator.

So, again, we can see that the basic layout of the paper appears in the thesis.  This paper about my wife will have three body paragraphs… the first will be about how great a cook she is, the second about how clever she is as a household manager and the third will be about her work as a positive motivator in the family.

I. Introduction and Thesis

II. Body Paragraph I – My wife is an amazing cook

III. Body Paragraph II – My wife manages our household well

IV. Body Paragraph III – My wife is a source of positive motivation

V. Conclusion

I’m hoping that you can see clearly that if you put your THESIS together well, you will already have your outline for your paper!  Doing things this way requires you to remember that you are in a PROCESS…and it takes time.  You have to think, put thoughts on paper and do things well and thoughtfully from the beginning.  Just remember—better, deeper work at the beginning makes for easier, better work at the end!

Okay…one more thing to do.  We need to take those THESIS statements and work them into a good introduction paragraph.  Remember that the Intro. paragraph needs to be brief…just long enough to introduce the topic, share the thesis…all with the purpose of bringing the reader into the writer’s world!  So, let’s get these statements into some introductory paragraphs.

Remember, also, that as we looked at the elements of the essay earlier, we talked some about ways to get the reader into our world.  One way is by using the question.  Why?  When our minds hear a question, they try to answer it—whether we consciously want to or not!  So, here is one way we could write an introduction:

       Who are the women that have most impacted your life?  Through the years, my Grandmother, my Mom and my wife have all affected my life in special and different ways.  In my family, the women have been the glue that holds us together, the connection that keeps us in each other’s lives and the link that joins us to our past.

Here, I’ve used a question to bring the reader right into my direction of thought…and I’ve left just enough “unknown” in the thesis that the reader might want to read on a little more to see what I might mean by “glue,” “connection,” and “link.”

       Several different women have had a hand in making me who I am today.  However, there is only one woman who touches my life and my family’s lives day-in and day-out.  My wife impacts our lives as an amazing cook, a savvy household manager and an unceasing positive motivator.

Here, I’ve opted not to use the question, but—hopefully—I’ve again given just enough information that the reader will want to read on a little more…if for no other reason than to understand what I might mean by “positive motivator.”

Okay, I hope this has been helpful for you as you begin the practice of essay-writing.  You may find it very helpful to go back to the beginning and go through this all again before you begin your own introduction and thesis work.  Once you work through a couple of these essays with me, you’ll find that it’s not too, too difficult to set up the thesis…and if you can set up the thesis, then you have set up your essay outline…and if you have your outline, you are on the way to having your essay!

Happy Writing!

The Cause and Effect Essay

Topic: Anger--Cause and Effects

First, we need to remember that writing is a PROCESS…and, if we want to have a good essay, we have to follow the PROCESS.

The first step in the process is simply THINKING.  Once we have the topic, we must take some time to think about that topic...  Think about what you know.  Think about how the topic makes you feel.  Think about associated memories.     …Just THINK!

So, the topic for our paper—a “Cause and Effect” essay—is “Anger: Cause and Effect.”  Before you go forward, take a few minutes to think about those times in your life you have had an outburst of anger or have been with/near someone who had an outburst of anger….  (Keep a pen and paper nearby as you think…so you can write down your thoughts and ideas!) 

We want to look at three steps in the cause-and-effect process:  What brought about (caused) the outburst of anger?  How was the anger released or expressed—what did you/the person do?  And what were the results of this angry outburst (effect)—who was impacted and how? 

This is, of course, an examination of anger that we began while studying “Taming the Anger Monster” and related to “Sleeping Your Way to the Top” (noting that lack of sleep contributes to anger.)

I’d like you to remember that your classmates are probably going to be reading your essay—so you will want to avoid writing about or including details about things you don’t want others to know about.  Use good judgment.  At the same time, feel free to be honest and candid about your experiences…especially experiences that have taught you something about anger and its consequences.  In the end, the whole purpose of this writing project is to determine what we can learn about anger, ourselves and others.

Hopefully, you are thinking about all the things we have looked at already, and your brain is already sorting, classifying, dividing and putting things together without your even being conscious of it!  (Our brains are amazing…and they work hard, even when we’re not intentionally thinking about things…!)

Okay, now that we’ve considered the topic for a while, let’s think about the INTRODUCTION of our paper.  We have to start this paper somewhere, and the Introduction is the best place to begin.

First, let’s remember the PURPOSE of the introduction:

       Let the reader know generally what 

            we’re talking about and where 

            we’re going.

       Bring the reader into the writer’s world.

Now, let’s remember what we should find in the introduction:

• The topic – What are we writing about?

• The thesis – What perspective do we have on the topic? 

• What, more specifically, are we going to do with the topic?

Our topic is:  Anger: Cause and Effect

So, what will our Thesis be??  What are going to say about this topic??  What situations are we going to look at?

We are going to look at TWO possible approaches to our task at hand.  Basically, I’m going to take you through the development of two thesis statements.  You’ll see as we do this that putting together the thesis statement basically forces us to develop a simple outline.  And, if we have the thesis statement and outline in hand, we almost ready to write an essay!

In the first THESIS development activity, I’m going to think three times that I got angry, acted foolishly and had to live with the consequences.

• ·      Chased my brother with a machete around the house.

• ·      Mad at my parents and beat the dog.

• ·      Angry at my boss and talked behind his back.

So, for this possible paper, I have THREE situations from my life that I’m going to develop. 

Now, I need to decide what order I want to present them.  I think I’ll follow chronological order…so, dog then brother then boss. 

Somehow, I need to weave all of this together into a SINGLE SENTENCE…and that single sentence will be my THESIS statement.  Since I don’t have to give ALL the information in the thesis and introduction, I’ve decided to just give a hint at who they are without giving any other information.  Therefore, my thesis will look something like this:

What do a dog, a machete and slander have to do with each other?  Usually not a lot…but when you add my angry temper, these all three mean someone is going to get hurt..

So, we have one, single sentence here…and if you look closely, you’ll see that we already have the outline of the paper:

I. Introduction + Thesis

II. Body Paragraph I – Dog incident

III. Body Paragraph II – Machete incident

IV. Body Paragraph III – Boss-Slandering incident

V. Conclusion

Now, all we have to do is go back and fill in “the blanks” in the body paragraph—that is, we have to decide what anecdotes or stories we want to tell in order to show the cause(s) and effect(s) of these three angry outbursts.

Okay, let’s think through another approach.  Perhaps we don’t want to write about three events.  Instead, we may want to go deeper into one, single incident, examining each part with more depth.  So, here we go….

For this one, I can draw on my memories about when I became very angry with a girl I was dating.

So, let’s see how it all unfolded:

• I saw her talking to Bobby during break.

• I seethed with anger all last period…and exploded after  school.

• I looked the fool…and almost lost my girlfriend.

Since this is cause and effect, the best order is to simply follow the event as it happened.

Now that I have the topic, the person, and the elements in order, I’m ready to write a thesis statement.  How does this sound?

Misunderstanding what I saw led me to say things I didn’t mean and almost ended my most important friendship

So, again, we can see that the basic layout of the paper appears in the thesis.  This paper about anger will have three body paragraphs… the first will be about what I saw and misinterpreted, the second about how I reacted to what I saw and the third will be about the effects of my faulty understanding and angry outburst.

I. Introduction and Thesis

II. Body Paragraph I – Seeing What Didn’t Happen

III. Body Paragraph II – My Angry Response—Out of my Fear

IV. Body Paragraph III – The ALMOST End of it All

V. Conclusion

I’m hoping that you can see clearly that if you put your THESIS together well, you will already have your outline for your paper!  Doing things this way requires you to remember that you are in a PROCESS…and it takes time.  You have to think, put thoughts on paper and do things well and thoughtfully from the beginning.  Just remember—better, deeper work at the beginning makes for easier, better work at the end!

Okay…one more thing to do.  We need to take those THESIS statements and work them into a good introduction paragraph.  Remember that the Intro. paragraph needs to be brief…just long enough to introduce the topic, share the thesis…all with the purpose of bringing the reader into the writer’s world!  So, let’s get these statements into some introductory paragraphs.

Remember, also, that as we looked at the elements of the essay earlier, we talked some about ways to get the reader into our world.  One way is by using the question.  Why?  When our minds hear a question, they try to answer it—whether we consciously want to or not!  So, here is one way we could write an introduction:

What do a dog, a machete and slander have to do with each other?  Usually not a lot…but when you add my angry temper, these all three mean someone is going to get hurt.  We often think that our anger or our angry actions only affect us, but experience have led me to realize that my anger can have far-reaching effects.

Here, I’ve used a question to bring the reader right into my direction of thought…and I’ve left just enough “unknown” in the thesis that the reader might want to read on a little more to see what I might mean.  Also, I’ve put my THESIS towards the beginning of the paragraph rather than at the end as we usually do.  Sometimes this works, and sometimes not!

Let’s do the next one:

An angry outburst may or may not be justified.  Sometimes we react out of our sense of justice, sometimes out of fear…and sometimes out of just plain old ignorance.  That’s exactly what happened to me when misunderstanding what I saw led me to say things I didn’t mean and almost ended my most important friendship.

Here, I’ve opted not to use the question, but—hopefully—I’ve again given just enough information that the reader will want to read on a little more…if for no other reason than to find out what happened.

Okay, I hope this has been helpful for you as you begin the practice of essay-writing.  You may find it very helpful to go back to the beginning and go through this all again before you begin your own introduction and thesis work.  Once you work through a couple of these essays with me, you’ll find that it’s not too, too difficult to set up the thesis…and if you can set up the thesis, then you have set up your essay outline…and if you have your outline, you are on the way to having your essay!

Happy Writing!

The Writing Process...

Writing is a PROCESS.  Good writers, professional writers..and COLLEGE writers…go through a process in order to arrive at the finished paper. Below, you will find the "phases" of the process--they are not 'steps.'  One part of the process really flows into the other.  

1. THINKING…moving your mind in the direction of the topic.

          Take time to just think about the topic; use your imagination; think about the topic from different perspectives if you can.

2. NOTING…beginning to jot down ideas; brainstorm; make lists; make a web.

          As your thinking begins to take shape and form, as you find yourself revisiting ideas, start putting your pen to paper...begin to organize your ideas on paper through lists, webs or other means.

3. DRAFTING…getting the ideas on paper—an outline and a first draft.

          Start by putting together a thesis (see the following post for how to put this together!) and an outline.  Then, write the very best 1st draft you can.  Remember--no "rough" drafts.  The better you write at the beginning, the better it will be at the end!

4.  REVISING and EDITING…making corrections; expanding ideas; adding or removing information.

          You'll do this all through the process, but you'll also want to 'park' your paper after you have your 1st draft written...and then come back to it later to edit it and revise it.  You'll never have a perfect paper...just a better and better one!

5.  FINALIZING…typing; formatting; printing.

          This is when you decide that you've done all you can do...or when the time is up and you have to turn it in!  Make sure you format the paper correctly for college writing--we usually want to see TimesNewRoman font, 12pt type, 1" margins all the way around, and double-spacing.  Also, make sure your personal/class information is in the right place and right order.  Here's a sample:

Carla Sanchez

English 81-W04

Mr. Jon Herrin

04-October-11

Why I Want a Knife

          Make sure that your essay has a title...and that may be the very last thing you decide.  And, there you have it!  Enjoy the writing process.  Take time now to read "The EssayEssay"... and you'll see how it should all lay-out! 

REVIEWING THE ESSAY STRUCTURE...

Outline of the Essay:

                              I.            The  Introduction – Brief paragraph…with thesis

                           II.            The Body – a group of two – five paragraphs developing the thesis

                       III.             The Conclusion – Brief paragraph…arrives at a conclusion, wraps things up

The Basic Outline of an Essay

      I.            Introductory Paragraph

•         Draws the reader into the writer’s world—

       Use engaging questions or personal pronouns.

•         Contains THESIS—statement or question.

       Thesis:  debatable or uncertain idea; arguable; 

             indicates issue and position.

                   Have a PURPOSE and an AUDIENCE in mind.

•         “Filled Out” with general information or short narrative.

II. Body Paragraphs

•         2-4 paragraphs are sufficient.

•         Follow standard paragraph structure.  (See below) 

•         Include transitions from paragraph to paragraph.

Therefore…  That being said…  As a result…

Next,…  Contrary to the idea just mentioned….

•         In the Body Paragraphs, provide Specifics, Examples, and Details.

                             facts

                             examples

                             narratives

                             personal experience

The Paragraph—

A group of sentences that work together focusing on a single topic or idea.

The Paragraph usually has:

A TOPIC SENCTENCE…that guides the direction of the paragraph…

BODY SENTENCES…that contain the explanations, examples, details, narratives, or whatever is necessary to give full meaning to the TOPIC.

CLOSING or TRANSITION SENTENCE…that either ends the discussion of the topic…or moves the reader on to the next paragraph/topic/idea.

III.            Conclusion Paragraph

• You indicate whether or not you the writer have been successful in arguing, explaining or debating your thesis.

• Best if “short and to the point.”