CYCLE 7 - DAY 4 - SEM 1 - Watership Down; Prelude to a Paragraph

Today, we covered the last five words of Unit 4. Please write sentences for these on the wikispace. The quiz will be next Wednesday.

Afterward, we covered Lesson 12 in the Sentence Diagramming Workbook: nouns used as adjectives (school supplies; basketball player; county highway). They are diagrammed EXACTLY as attributive adjectives are--that is, underneath the nouns they modify.

Then, it was on to discussing Study Guide #3 for Watership Down (available on the wikispace). The class notes for the discussion are also available on the wikispace. I encourage you to take a look at different sections' notes as well.

Your homework is to write a 12-sentence paragraph answering ONE of the following questions:
A. Is Hazel a good leader?
B. Is Fiver a good team player?
C. Is Bigwig a good team player?

Your thesis will answer that question, and your paragraph will back up that thesis.
REMEMBER: A good thesis AND all claims:

• are arguable
• are focused
• are proveable with evidence from the text
• are based strictly in the text
• answer how or why

TEST YOUR THESIS AND YOUR SUB-CLAIMS AGAINST THESE TRAITS!

Wondering about how to start? Here are some suggestions about how to go about writing this paper.

1. Generate a list of all of the traits you think your character exhibits that relate to the question.
2. Pick three (e.g. if I were to write about Blackberry, I might say he's creative, modest, and good under pressure).
3. Identify the unifying concept that made you pick those particular three (e.g., solving problems matters to him more than anything else).
4. Work that larger concept into a thesis statement. (e.g. What makes Blackberry an essential member of Hazel's group is his dedication to problem solving.)
5. Use the three traits you identified as subclaims.
6. Write those up as arguable, focused, claims that answer how or why. (e.g. Blackberry's creativity stems from his constant attention to problem solving.)
7. Find evidence to back up those claims. (e.g., When others are overcome with fear, Blackberry is able to stay focused on how to get across the stream: see pages 36-39)
8. Introduce that evidence carefully (remember "dab, dollop, lotsa sauce" -- see the wikispace if you need to download any of those handouts again).
9. Explain how this evidence relates your subclaim to your thesis. (e.g. While the others are paralyzed with fear or are panicking, Blackberry's absorbtion in finding the creative solution of the raft saves the group and allows them to remain together.)
10. Do this for all three quotation sandwiches.
11. Frame introductory and concluding sentences. Your introduction to set the stage, and your conclusion should summarize why what you have argued is important.
12. PROOFREAD! Check for use of literary present tense, correct MLA punctuation (see page 4 of the MLA guide), comma usage, etc. Be sure to consult the handouts I have given to you when returning past assignments to make sure you address the issues peculiar to your writing (splices, pronoun agreement, etc.).

Questions? You know where to find me.

HOMEWORK:

1. Complete sentences on the wikispace.

2. Complete the 12-sentence paragraph (read all that's above, if you haven't. It will help).