Explanatory Writing

Explanatory Writing

Part 1: The Introduction

Part 2: The Body
Part 3: Conclusion

Open Ended

Write a hook sentence for the introduction paragraph for the following topic.

Write an essay explaining the value of high school as you prepare for graduation.

In the introduction there are 3 things:

• Hook sentence

• Background information

• Thesis

The hook:

• The hook can be an interesting fact

• a thought provoking question

• An interesting quote

• a scenario

• a definition that gives meaning to what you are writing about

Multiple Choice

What is an example of a hook?

• a 1 paragraph story

• introducing who you are

• asking a thought provoking question

• giving your 3 reasons for why you are writing.

Hooking with TORR

​The thesis statement is clear and previews the content of the essay

1 sentence using the TORR strategy/format for your thesis statement.

T • Topic Clearly stated and supported the prompt

O • Opinion is valid and supports the prompt

R • Reason is identified and allows for examples to be given in your body paragraphs. 

R • Reason is identified and allows for examples to be given in your body paragraphs.

 

Multiple Choice

Which one is NOT a part of the thesis statement?

• similar to a claim

• a broad statement that gives your reasons

• your concluding sentence

• the last sentence in the introduction paragraph

Recall Author's purpose for writing:

• To entertain

• To persuade

• To inform

Writers write certain essays for the following reasons:

1. To entertain readers they write a story (narrative)

2. To persuade readers they write an argument or persuasive essay

3. To inform readers they write an informative (explanatory essay)

Write an explantory essay by this format:

Introduction
3 body paragraphs
Conclusion paragraph

**😉With the exception of the compare and contrast essay (sometimes it's Intro , 2 body paragraphs, conclusion).

ACE Your Body

• Answer- Topic Sentence

• Cite- Give facts or research What is your proof?

• Explain- Should be at least 2-3 sentences

• Summarize Your Thoughts Introduce the information

Let's Review

• Writers write for 3 reasons, to persuade, inform, and entertain

• Informative writing also known as explanatory writing is where you give new and interesting information to your readers

• To have an effective introduction: you need a solid hook sentence, background information sentences, and a thesis statement

Multiple Choice

What are the 3 purposes for writing?

• To read, inform, and persuade

• To entertain, argue, and tell a story

• To entertain, persuade, and inform

• To compare and contrast, cite evidence, and persuade

Multiple Choice

What are the 3 parts of an introduction in informative writing?

• introduction, body and conclusion

• hook, background info, thesis statement

• hook, thesis, 3 reasons

• hook, body, conclusion

Multiple Choice

What is the basic structure of an explanatory essay?

• introduction, body, conclusion

• beginning, middle, and end

• introduction, body paragraph, counterargument, conclusion

• introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion

Body of the Essay

Open Ended

Give an example of writing evidence from an article or movie.

Multiple Choice

What is the first thing that you should have in your body paragraph?

• Evidence from the text

• A topic sentence that states your reason.

• An explanation that explains your evidence

• A quote from the article

Examples of topic sentences with Compare/Contrast Informative Writing

• The similarities between the book and the movie are quite obvious.

• There also major differences between the book and the movie.

• There were surprising differences between the book and the movie.

• It was exciting to see a major difference in how the movie ended compared to the book.

Multiple Choice

Which would not be a topic sentence for an informational essay?

• The book was good.

• The movie was better than the book because the book was boring.

• In the book and the movie, August still had a facial deformity.

• Most of the things in the movie were quite similar to the book.

Body Paragraph: After you write your topic sentence, write your first example as cited from the text or movie.

Ex. For example, in the movie August is taken on a tour of the school and the 3 students show him around. Julian asks Auggie what happened to his face. This is exactly what happened in Part 1 of the book.

The body paragraph- after you have a topic sentence and examples with evidence

• 1. Write a sentence that explains how the evidence relates to the topic

• 2. Write a concluding sentence to sum of the paragraph

Multiple Choice

What are the first 2 things that you need to do in the body paragraph?

• Give examples from the movie and explain the examples.

• Give a topic sentence. Write examples with evidence from the text or movie.

• Give supporting details and concluding sentence

• Give topic sentence and a broad example that you can recall from the book.

The Concluding Sentence in the body paragraph

The last sentence in the body paragraph needs to wrap up the whole paragraph.

Needs to state the importance of the main point/ topic sentence.

Bringing It All Together-Body Paragraph

Answer=Topic Sentence: The similarities between the book and the movie are quite obvious.

Cite= Evidence: For example, in the movie August is taken on a tour of the school and the 3 students show him around. Julian asks Auggie what happened to his face. This is exactly what happened in Part 1 of the book.

Explain = Justification:

Concluding Sentence: This shows that the movie did not change this scene in the book. This can be much appreciated because the movie brings the book to life without making any major changes to it.

Let's Review Body Paragraphs

• Have at least 3 body paragraphs in your essay

• If you are writing a compare /contrast essay, you may have 2 body paragraphs

• The first sentence is the topic sentence

• The next 2-3 sentences need to be examples from the text/movie supporting your reason

• The final sentence needs to conclude your explanation of how the examples relate to your topic and wrap up the paragraph.

Open Ended

What would be a reasonable justification sentence for this paragraph?

How Do I End My Essay?

What do I Need to close?

• restate thesis

• summarize two body paragraphs

• explain real world relevance or importance

Like the introduction paragraph, during a timed write this paragraph is a bit shorter than normal. Aim for around 4 sentences. More is okay, but less is probably too little.

Multiple Choice

True or False: Conclusions should leave readers with a good impression of what they've just read.

• True

• False

• I really do not know and will visit a live lesson

Multiple Choice

True or False: It's okay to write super long conclusions that overload the reader with information.

• True

• False

• They won't read that far, so I do not need a conclusion.

Multiple Choice

True or False: It's a good idea to introduce new information in a conclusion paragraph.

• True

• False

Next, we will discuss...

The Conclusion Paragraph