English Essay

Exam objectives:

• Identify the steps in the writing process

• Use prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing to write formal, collegelevel essays

• Distinguish between different patterns of development

• Apply an appropriate pattern of development to a specific purpose and audience

• Write effective thesis statements

• Develop paragraphs using topic sentences, adequate detail, supporting evidence, and transitions

• Apply the conventions of standard written American English to produce correct, well-written essays

Prewriting Instructions

For your classification and division prewriting, you’ll choose one of the assigned topics and write an outline or graphic organizer to plan and develop your ideas and to help you draft your essay.

This assignment is a persuasive assignment. Your thesis statement must present a debatable claim (argument) about your categories.

Remember, your goal is to persuade your reader to agree with the argument expressed in the thesis statement. Your characteristics will have to support this argument. Since characteristics are defining qualities, they should be unique to each category.

You don’t need to use text boxes or create flowcharts for your exam.

Refer to the sample graphic organizer included in these exam instructions and type your work in a word-processed document.

Topic

Choose one of the following topics:

Music or books or fashion

Types of friends

Types of activities or hobbies

Types of food

Places you’ve lived or visited or vacationed