MCAS - Essay Review

What is the first sentence in an essay?

• The Can Opener

• Attention-grabbing sentence

• The Intro Sentence

• The First Sentence

The attention-grabbing sentence should remain...

• Neutral

• Take a negative position

• Take an affirmative position

• In the first person

The Background Sentences should include...

• A short bio of the author's life

• As much information about the text as possible

• Title of the text - author - brief character & story summary - transition to the focus question

• The reason you're writing the essay

The thesis statement should be...

• Written as one sentence and include three reasons/way that answers the focus question

• The first sentence of the first body paragraph

• Underlined

• 4-6+ sentences

Each Topic Sentence should come right out of the...

• The article or text

• Concluding Sentence

• Focus Question

• Thesis Statement

What should precede the transition to your text evidence?

• One last background sentence

• The citation

• A brief description of what's happening in the story/article when the text evidence happens

• A different transition

Which text evidence is punctuated correctly?

• "Text evidence goes right here," (page 12)

• "Text evidence goes right here," (page 4).

• "Text evidence goes right here" (page12).

• "Text evidence goes right here, (page 12)"

For MCAS - how many sentences should your explanation be?

• 4-6

• 4-6+

• 6-8+

• 6-10+

Do you still need to use transitions in your explanations?

• Yes - of course

• No - not really

What's the last sentence in a Body Paragraph?

• The Forget About It Sentence

• The Closing Sentence

• The Last Sentence

• Concluding Sentence