Theme: What Freedom Means to Me Length: 350-400 Words minimum Must have peer edited rough draft Typed final copy (12 Times New Roman) Rough draft deadline: October 8th

Final draft deadline: October 21st

Patriots Pen Essay Guidelines

Brainstorm!!!!!!!!! Bubble map Outline Free writing

How do I get started??

Need a hook???? Yes you do!!! Start off with something that grabs the attention of the reader. Ex. She slowly crept around the corner of the door ready to startle Coach Camus in his classroom when suddenly a cold clammy hand touched her ever so gently on her neck.

Rough draft guidelines

Is organization important???? Very much so.

You should establish HOW MANY main points you want to make in your paper in the beginning and include those points in your introductory paragraph. Ex. I believe what makes a good basketball player is work ethic, knowledge of the fundamentals, and athleticism.

Rough draft guidelines

Each of your points that is introduced in the opening paragraph should have its own paragraph.

EX. Paragraph 2: Work ethic EX. Paragraph 3: Knowledge of

fundamentals EX. Paragraph 4: Athleticism

Rough draft guidelines

You should have a closing paragraph which restates what was said in the opening paragraph BUT also adds another thought.

EX. Achieving success in basketball at the highest level is a challenge. However, all the top notch players have great work ethic, knowledge of the fundamentals, and are exceptional athletes.

Rough draft guidelines

Supporting details-Paint your word picture with expressive detail so that if I close my eyes I can imagine your details in front of me

Word choice-Use a variety of words and avoid using simple words such as things, nice, stuff

Voice-Who is telling this story?? I should be able to tell by your detail and the way in which you explain and describe.

Different sentence structures-Avoid ONE type of sentence; use a mixture of short, medium, and long sentences.

What else should my essay include?

You should allow SEVERAL different people to edit your paper.

The first revisions should ONLY focus on: Organization Supporting Details Voice Word Choice Sentence structure

Peer editing

ONLY when you have made the revisions you want to make will you let someone edit for:

Capitalization Punctuation Spelling Grammatical errors

Peer editing