Session Helper: Essays

I don't understand the prompt/assignment +

Ask questions to help the student clarify their understanding

• Can you put the prompt in your own words?
• Who are we writing this paper for? What do they need to know?
• Why are we writing this paper? Explain, persuade, etc
• What are we writing about?

I don't know what to write about +

Ask questions to help the student germinate an idea

• What is your main idea here?
• What do you want to say?
• What do you believe?
• What does the research/text support?

I don't have enough words and / or evidence +

Choose how to guide them in gathering information based on the topic:

• Engage in brainstorming: Listing, answering who, what, where, when and how
• Guide Research: Brainstorm keywords, identify good sources, find evidence to support their thesis
• Facilitate Close Read: If possible, ask the student to copy and paste relevant sections of the text into the document editor, check for understanding, highlight literary devices, and have the student highlight the most relevant information or passages

I need a thesis statement +

Share what a thesis statement is: a sentence that conveys the main argument or point of the entire composition.

Ask questions to guide development of the thesis statement

• Given what we know about the topic and the purpose of this essay/assignment, what is the main point you want to make?
• What is a statement we could make that conveys the main theme we want to discuss?
• What are you trying to say about this topic?
• What main point does the evidence support?

Is my thesis statement good? +

Ask questions to help student self-evaluate their thesis

• Can you tell what the rest of the essay will be about from reading the thesis?
• Does the thesis achieve the purpose of the writing? (Answer the prompt)
• Does the thesis engage the intended audience?

If the thesis is too vauge, ask questions to refine it

• In your own words what is the prompt asking?
• Why does the reader want or need to know about your topic?
• Could we expand your thesis statement/topic sentence by adding (evidence, more detail, etc.)?

I don't know how to write this +

Ask the student if the teacher provided an outline they should follow.

If not, copy & paste our generic outline into the document editor if it fits the writing type! Or provide a relevant outline based on the type of writing.

• Introduction
  • General statement
  • Specific statement ( background information a reader needs to know to understand your thesis statement)
  • Thesis statement
• Body paragraph 1: Main idea
  • Supporting Detail
  • Supporting Detail
  • Supporting Detail
• Body paragraph 2: Main idea
  • Supporting Detail
  • Supporting Detail
  • Supporting Detail
• Body paragraph 3: Main idea
  • Supporting Detail
  • Supporting Detail
  • Supporting Detail
• Conclusion
  • Summarize main points essay
  • Restate the thesis

I don't know what points to make +

Ask questions to develop main ideas for paragraphs

• What are the 3-5 most important details?
• What should the audience know about this topic?
• What is an interesting idea but maybe not relevant for this composition/assignment?

I don't have enough details +

Ask questions to organize thoughts into relevant supporting details

• What quotes, outside information or evidence can we use to strengthen/support this idea?
• Does the reader need to know what/who/when/why/where/how to understand our main idea?

Is the organization okay? +

Ask questions to refine order

• Is anything repetitive?
• If expository essay: Is information arranged by chronological order?
• If argumentative: Is information arranged in a way that supports your argument? (Evidence to support the author's viewpoint should go last in this type of essay.)

I don't know how to start the essay (introduction) +

Provide common "formulas" for developing a strong introduction!

Example #1:

• General statement about the topic
• Specific sentence about the topic the reader needs to know to understand the thesis
• Thesis statement

Example #2:

• Hook: grabs the reader's attention
• Bridge: links the hook and the thesis while providing vital background information
• Thesis: informs the reader of the main idea of the essay

Ask questions that guide development of an introductory paragraph

• What general information should readers know about their topic?
• What is a specific statement that the audience should know to understand the thesis statement?

Is my conclusion okay? +

Ask questions that guide development of a conclusion paragraph

• How would you summarize the main points of your essay?
• How can you restate and reinforce the thesis statement?

Feel free to copy and paste our rewording worksheet in the document editor to review with your student!

Is my essay good? Could you review my essay? +

Many times students will simply ask you to “review” their essay and make sure “it’s good” for these requests:

1. Establish a shared understanding of the topic, audience, and purpose before you read

2. Ask your student to assess their own work (copy & paste our student revision checklist into the document editor)

3. Ask yourself these questions as you read

• Thesis: Is the thesis clear and does it fulfill the writer's purpose?
• Introduction: Is the introduction brief, to the point, and interesting to the audience?
• Support: Are supporting details or evidence sufficient, relevant, and clear?
• Structure: Are the sentences and paragraphs arranged/organized appropriately?
• Coherence: Are the sentences and paragraphs logically related to one another?
• Unity: Does every sentence support the main idea of the paragraph? Does every paragraph support the main idea of the essay?
• Conclusion: Does the end of the paper summarize important points and refer to the main idea/thesis?

These are general guiding questions, however, each type of writing has a specific revision checklist! Here are some more comprehensive checklists for common essay genres.

4. Provide support on at most 2 revision topics below!

Refine the thesis +

Ask questions to refine the thesis

• In your own words what is the prompt asking?
• Why does the reader want or need to know about your topic?
• Could we expand your thesis statement/topic sentence by adding (evidence, more detail, etc.)?

Strengthen the introduction +

Provide common "formulas" for developing a strong introduction!

Example #1:

• General statement about the topic
• Specific sentence about the topic the reader needs to know to understand the thesis
• Thesis statement

Example #2:

• Hook: grabs the reader's attention
• Bridge: links the hook and the thesis while providing vital background information
• Thesis: informs the reader of the main idea of the essay

Ask questions that guide refinement of an introductory paragraph

• What general information should readers know about their topic?
• What is a specific statement that the audience should know to understand the thesis statement?
• Which details is the reader missing that they need to know to understand your thesis?
• How can we engage your reader more?

Add more supporting evidence or details +

Ask questions to elicit more details or guide information gathering

• What evidence in the text supports your claim?
• Could we provide an example of…?
• Can you provide more details about what you mean here?

Clarify or improve use of evidence/quotes +

Students may struggle because they don’t understand their claim, have difficulty distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant evidence, and/or understanding the reader’s perspective. In addition to supporting students through asking questions on the next slide, ensure students follow the formula below.

Steps to follow

• Introduce the quotation/evidence
• Quote or cite evidence properly
• Explain the quote/evidence in their own words
• Explain how the evidence furthers their claim

Sentence starters to share

• In other words, the author is saying…
• Therefore, according to the autor,...
• [Author’s name]’s point is that…

Questions to ask

• Whose words are these? (gentle reminder to cite)
• What does the quotation mean?
• How does the quote relate to your own idea/point?

Clarify structure and/or organization +

Ask questions to clarify structure

• What words will help the reader understand your organization?
• Where can we add words to signal to the reader how to react?

Copy & paste our transition word list with students during the session and have them select a few to include in their essay.

Increase coherence +

Ask questions to illuminate relationships

• How can we show the relationship between these two ideas?
• What is the connection between and ?

Increase unity +

Ask questions to iliminate irrelevant ideas and strengthen unity

• Tell me more about how this detail/statement supports your main point?

Strengthen a conclusion +

Ask questions that guide development of a conclusion paragraph

• How would you summarize the main points of your essay?
• How can you restate and reinforce the thesis statement?

Feel free to copy and paste our rewording worksheet in the document editor to review with your student!

Can you edit my paper? +

Remember you're big goal in providing editing help is to develop students' skills so that they can identify and correct their own errors.

1. Ask your student to assess their own work Copy & paste our student editing checklist into the document editor and ask the student to answer the questions!

2. Ask yourself guiding questions

• Are there any run-on sentences?
• Are there any sentence fragments?
• Are there any spelling errors?
• Is punctuation correct?
• Is capitalization correct?
• Is the tense correct and consistent?
• Is the point of view correct?
• Is the citation correct?

3. Highlight the error and ask the student to identify & correct the mistake

Examples:

• Sentence fragment: What information can we add to the highlighted sentence to make it complete?
• Comma usage error: Can you read this sentence aloud, where do you take a breath? (I know I won’t hear it ;))
• Word choice: This word means is that what you wanted to convey?

Did I cite this right +

Provide resources and talk through proper citation together!

• Modern Language Association
• Chicago Style
• American Psychological Association
• https://www.easybib.com/