The Body of the Paper

Today we worked on "whittling." We decided that whittling is the process of taking a big old hunk of wood, carving out lots of the extra stuff, and producing a neat, final sculpture. Writing an expository essay is kind of like that. We have a TON of researched information. We worked in class today on selecting relevant details and getting rid of the extra stuff. Tomorrow, the sculpting begins as we start to put our ideas into sentences and paragraphs.

A preview of upcoming events in the writing process (for those who like to plan ahead!):

Thurs 11/12: Work on body paragraphs. Draft an introduction.

Fri 11/13: Write a conclusion. Rough draft due. It might be weekend homework if the rough draft is not finished in class.

*A rough draft is an unpolished, unedited version of your paper. It will NOT be graded based on the finished product rubric. Students will get credit for making an effort to have it finished on time and use their research to answer all seven questions.

Mon 11/16: Self- and peer-editing and revision in class

Tues 11/17: Working on the final draft. Finishing this essay will be homework.

Wed 11/18: Final draft of expository essay due at the beginning of class.

For homework:

Students should continue to read and respond to the independent reading books according to their reading calendars.

Students who have research news reports due Friday need to work on those tonight.