essay

hmwkmrkblu.docx

NOTES: Blueprint and Thesis Information

A blueprint.

A Blueprint is essentially your working thesis and your brainstorming put into a detailed plan of your essay. By this point in the course you have created a working thesis you believe you can work with for your essay. The working thesis states what you want to say to your readers for your purposes. It is a unified, logical statement that limits your gathering of material, for it states what ideas you are going to develop. You have brainstormed how you will support this thesis. You will have written details that develop the working thesis. This should result in main points that will be developed in paragraphs.

Once you have your main points you may do the following:

1. Work on the order of your paragraphs.

2. Think about how you want to develop your essay - what method of development will you use?

3. Think about transitions between your paragraphs - how can you link your points to provide unity?

4. Outline your possible support

5. Keep examining your working thesis! There are three reasons why you should change it:

1. You find new information that changes your opinion

2. You discover a different approach to the topic

3. You need to redefine the 'what', the 'why' or the 'who' of the writing problem.

Remember: You are essentially producing a pre-writing plan for your essay!

At the end of this process, refine your thesis. This thesis that you submit is what you will use for your final essay. Remember that the final essay is 1500-2000 words and therefore you need a thesis statement that can support that length.

Thesis

Here is an example of a working thesis:

The Canadian fishing industry is in trouble. Inexpensive imports are reducing the demand for Canadian fish. Fewer fishermen are fishing each year, and the crops are low.

This thesis limits and directs the writer’s process. The student writer now understood what he was doing. He was going to explain his opinion that the industry is in trouble, and develop the ideas expressed by the three statements: imports are reducing demand, fewer fishermen are fishing, and the crops are low.

Remember that your thesis states what you are going to say in your essay and it controls the piece of writing. It sets your limits. It forces you to state what you are going to say in your essay. It needs to be specific and it needs to clarify your parameters. It cannot take the form of questions.

Example

Example: My car has had all scheduled maintenance and rust inspections and has been driven and used in a normal fashion, yet it is rusting away. Contributing to the body and paint job is a good advertisement for both the dealer and the rust protection company.

These four ideas have to be developed and thus, they control the writing. You would use only material that expands on these four statements.

· my car has had all scheduled maintenance and rust inspections

· my car has been driven and used in a normal fashion

· my car is rusting away

· contributing to the body and paint job is a good advertisement for both the dealer and the rust protections company

Tools Icon

Here is a similar template to the one that you used for your literary seminar. You will use this template to prepare your Blueprint for your Literary Essay.

Assignment 1

Dropbox Icon Complete the Blueprint and submit your work to the dropbox.

You must now prepare a Blueprint with a refined thesis for your literary essay. Please use the template provided. It is similar to the template you used for your literary seminar but there may be a few minor differences. The refined thesis you submit in this activity will be the one you use for your final essay. Please make sure you have gone over all the information provided to you in the content area carefully. As well, look at the rubric below to see what criteria will be used to assess your Blueprint and refined thesis.

Tips Icon

Tip: It is always best to be familiar with the criteria used to assess your assignment before starting.

Tools Icon

Here is a similar template to the one that you used for your literary seminar. You will use this template to prepare your Blueprint for your Literary Essay.

Did You Know?

Rubrics improve communication between students and teachers? Rubrics unravel the mystery of grading by laying out the specific criteria clearly and objectively. When the criteria are laid out, research shows that students perform to a higher level!

Joyce Kasman Valenza Tech.life@inquirer

Rubric

The following chart indicates the areas of achievement that will be the focus of this assignment.

Blueprint and Refined Thesis
Categories	Level 1 (50 - 59%)	Level 2 (60 - 69%)	Level 3 (70 - 79%)	Level 4 (80 - 100%)
Knowledge/ Understanding -uses the blue print and refined thesis to locate and select information to fully and effectively support ideas for writing WR1.03	-blueprint and Refined Thesis demonstrate limited understanding of criteria	-blueprint and Refined Thesis demonstrate some understanding of criteria	-blueprint and Refined Thesis demonstrate a considerable understanding of criteria	-blueprint and Refined Thesis demonstrate a high degree understanding of criteria
Thinking -blue print and refined thesis analyzes primary and secondary sources for relevant information RL1.06	-blueprint and Refined Thesis assess usefulness of primary and secondary sources with limited effectiveness	-blueprint and Refined Thesis assess usefulness of primary and secondary sources with some effectiveness	-blueprint and Refined Thesis assess usefulness of primary and secondary sources with considerable effectiveness	-blueprint and Refined Thesis assess usefulness of primary and secondary sources with a high degree of effectiveness
Communication -uses the blue print and refined thesis to identify, sort, and order main ideas and supporting details for writing tasks WR1.04	-blueprint and Refined Thesis organize ideas and information with limited effectiveness	-blueprint and Refined Thesis organize ideas and information with some effectiveness	-blueprint and Refined Thesis organize ideas and information with considerable effectiveness	-blueprint and Refined Thesis organize ideas and information with a high degree of effectiveness
Application -synthesize information from diverse sources RL1.04	-blueprint and Refined Thesis demonstrates limited synthesis of ideas and diverse sources	-blueprint and Refined Thesis demonstrates some synthesis of ideas and diverse sources	-blueprint and Refined Thesis demonstrates considerable synthesis of ideas and diverse sources	-blueprint and Refined Thesis demonstrates a high degree of synthesis of ideas and diverse sources

Note: A student whose achievement is below Level 1 (50%) has not met the expectations for this assignment or activity.