TSIA2 ELAR-Essay

TSIA2 ELAR-Essay

Upward Bound Math and Science

Tips and Strategies

Understand that the essay will NOT require any outside knowledge. You are not expected to have any specific technical know-how or understanding of specific books or authors. The essay will be based off a provided prompt meant to spark your creativity. Everything you need to answer the question will be part of the prompt!

Tips and Strategies

Select one side only. Unlike real life where most of our opinions are a mix of gray, the essay requires you to take a strong stand on one side and one side ONLY of the issue. You won’t be able to adequately argue a middle-of-the-road approach, and you risk appearing indecisive and muddling your essay.

Tips and Strategies

Remember that you will not be scored on your opinion. Don’t worry if you feel you are choosing a less commonly held position on the topic. The reader will NOT give you a lower score based on personal bias.

Tips and Strategies

Don’t change your position mid-essay. Even if you feel you’re running out of steam and you’re regretting your position on the topic, stay strong and finish the essay anyway. Don’t waffle, and don’t try to take a “middle of the road” approach. You don’t have time to go back and re-write the whole thing.

Tips and Strategies

No example is “too” specific. As long as you can argue logically that it supports your thesis, no example is “too” specific. Most essays are way too general. Aim to make the reader think, “wow, what extreme detail!” as they read. If you are using an example from personal experience, using some names, dates, places, and other concrete details can go a long way. Replace abstracts with absolutes.

Tips and Strategies

Incorporate the opposing side. A great way to strengthen your own argument is to acknowledge that there is in fact complexity to the issue. However, if you bring up and describe the opposing side, make sure to criticize it effectively and reiterate that your side is the only one that is valid. This is a great tool to use in your conclusion, although many students include it in an additional body paragraph.

Tips and Strategies

Keep the introduction and conclusion brief. Don’t take forever to get to the topic. The function of an introductory paragraph is to introduce the reader to the topic in the prompt, and then to clearly and forcefully state your position on it. More than 3-4 sentences is too long. In the conclusion, 1-2 sentences is great to reiterate your position and leave the essay with a closing idea. Save your writing-time for your body paragraphs!

Tips and Strategies

Use Transition Words. Scroll down to the bottom of this article to see a good list of common transition words. Be sure to use these words as you move between paragraphs! Always make sure the reader will understand why you are moving from one paragraph to the next paragraph!

TSIA2 Essay Template

Keep in the mind the following template to fully complete the essay portion of the TSIA2.

Paragraph 1: Introduction (3-4 sentences)

- You will want to begin your essay with one of the following: a generalization about the topic, a quotation, a short anecdote to set-up the correctness of your position, a historical framework, or a piece of news illustrating the contemporariness of the issue. Admit the complexity of the issue.

- You have two goals in the beginning part of the essay: to introduce the topic, and to express your opinion on it. Be sure to place your thesis as the final sentence in your introduction.

Paragraph 2: First Example (4-6 sentences)

- Start with your most-powerful or relevant example. Be specific. Your example can be from history, science, politics, business, entertainment, pop culture, current events, personal experience, etc. Anything can be an example, but choose ONE only for each paragraph. It needs to be something you are knowledgeable about and also something that you believe strongly supports your thesis.

- You have three tasks in your body paragraphs:

Introduce your example. Describe it. Explain how it fully supports your thesis.

Paragraph 3: Second Example (4-6 sentences)

Use a transition phrase to introduce the second example. Describe it, and explain again how it fully supports your thesis. You may refer to your first example if you need to, but prioritize a focus on your new example. Don’t mention your third example until you get to the third paragraph.

Paragraph 4: Third Example (4-6 sentences)

Use a transition phrase again in the first topic sentence. Describe the example. Explain how it supports. Make sure you are elucidating for the reader how each example relates to the topic.

Paragraph 5: Conclusion (2-4 sentences)

In your conclusion, introduce the opposing side. Explain their position in general terms. Refute their position. Then reinforce the correctness of your own thesis. This takes care of having to come up with a conclusion—you’ll already know what to do! Here’s how it might look:

Although ________ is demonstrably correct, some have argued that _______, believing that ________. However, this viewpoint on the present issue is negated by ________. Rather, __________. Therefore, in the long run, ___________.

TSIA2 Essay Practice

We will be doing a writing activity now. A prompt will be shown in the next slide and you have 10-15 minutes to think about what to write on. Do not consult your phone, laptop, or the Internet on what to write about as you will not have these items accessible when you are actually writing the essay. We will touch base on what you all came up with and go from there.

Questions?

Quotation:

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

– Pablo Picasso

Assignment

- Creativity is an important part of everyone’s childhood, but should it be an important part of every child’s education? School districts across the country are facing major budgetary restrictions, leading many districts to make cuts to their art programs. Is it important that children experience art education in our public schools, or are these classes expendable luxuries?

- Plan and write a persuasive essay in which you develop your point of view on the question above. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Your essay should have 5 paragraphs and include 300–600 words.