| A | B |
|---|
| title | The name of the essay; if possible, should capture audience’s interest |
| introduction | The first paragraph of an essay; includes hook, focus statement, and thesis statement |
| hook | The first sentence(s) of an essay; should grab the reader’s attention; can be a question, exclamation, or powerful statement |
| focus statement | The topic or subject of your essay in complete sentence form; must be written in the form of a statement |
| focus statement expansion | Text that expands the focus statement to make it more understandable |
| thesis statement | A fluent sentence that makes a significant, single, and supportable claim about the focus. It can be your opinion; it might be new thinking that shows your synthesis of the information related to the focus. |
| thesis support | A brief phrase that supports your thesis; used in the planning states; eventually become topic sentences for body paragraphs |
| body paragraph | A paragraph of support for the thesis; must have a topic sentence, development, and a concluding sentence |
| topic sentence | Specific support for the thesis in sentence form; the first sentence of a body paragraph; introduces the focus of the body paragraph |
| details (development) | Facts, statistics, sensory details, incidents, anecdotes, and examples that support the topic sentence of the body paragraph |
| concluding sentence | Summarizing statement; the last sentence of a body paragraph |
| conclusion | The last paragraph of an essay; includes a modified focus, modified thesis, restatement of main points, and a challenge to the reader |
| modified focus | A restated focus statement in the concluding paragraph; should remind readers of the original topic |
| modified thesis | A restated thesis statement; should remind readers the claim about the focus |
| challenge | A provocative question, quotation, vivid image, call for action, warning, or suggestion to the reader; leaves the reader thinking about your essay |
| bridge (transition) | A transition connecting paragraphs or sentences; designed to help the reader understand how ideas connect and to help the essay flow smoothly |
| audience | Reader(s) of the essay |
| formality | Determined by the audience, the level by which you choose your words for an essay |
| tone (voice) | The “attitude” indicated by the essay; determined by word choice and word arrangement |
| purpose | The reason you are writing your essay (to express yourself, to inform your readers, to entertain, to describe, to analyze, etc). |
