<p>My teacher has her own essay rubric, so we don't have the traditional 9 point scale (but she's the best teacher ever and just about everybody passes and does well...).</p>
<p>So let me explain how she has trained us to write essays. I'll use the question "To what extent did the 1950's deserve its reputation as a decade of conformity?" as an example.</p>
<p>5 paragraphs, unless the prompt explicitly requires 4 ("Choose two of the following...")</p>
<p>*Intro: *
Go right into background info. End with a thesis that includes plan of attack that explicitly answers all parts of the question. It is best to acknowledge the other side right in the thesis. ("The decade of the 1950's certainly deserves its reputation as a decade of conformity to a great extent, but there was some evidence of rebellion and discrimination beneath the surface; this is best demonstrated socially, economically, and politically.") Answered question, included plan of attack (which can be separate sentence), acknowledged other side. The thesis statement she has told us to use if we need to is "By examining [blank, blank, and blank], it becomes apparent that [blank]" (although AP English teachers do not appreciate the dangling modifer...). Always factor if possibly (political, social, economic, diplomatic, governmental, cultural, technological, etc.) but do not try to if it explicitly states what factors to use. And in compare/contrast essays, do not do one paragraph about the first thing, another about the second, and a synthesis in the third. Compare and contrast them in each paragraph. My teacher liked us to have 3-4 sentence intros (not sure if that included thesis). I wrote about the surge of patriotism as WWII ended and how Americans had come together to support the war, as well as how the US became dominant world power.</p>
<p>*Body Paragraphs: *
Write excellent topic sentences that also explicity answer (all parts of) the prompt, and hopefully acknowledge the other side. An easy way to show evidence of analysis is to prioritize your first paragraph (but do not make it too much longer than the others) by saying "best" or "most," (or other superlatives) to show it is the most important factor. ("Best demonstrating the conformity of 1950s' America is American society, as households became very cookie-cutter.") Topic sentences must stand alone. She graded our essays by reading the thesis then the topic sentences and then going back to reading the entire essay. </p>
<p>Within body paragraphs, provide evidence to back up stance. Use DETAIL (dates, terms, events) as well as ANALYSIS.<br>
Ways to demonstrate critical thinking:
Prioritization (aforementioned superlative use)
*Acknowledging other side (trigger words: although, however, on the other hand)
*Using "perhaps"/"perhaps if" (but *never ever say "Perhaps if the Civil War never happened..." instead, say something such as "Perhaps if they had recognized the complexity of the issue, they would have acted differently" [but be specific, of course])
*Showing cause and effect ("this was a result of," "this led to")
*Connection to other events/ideas in other historical times (basically compare/contrast)
Some other notes:
*Avoid repitition of vocab words
*Use sophisticated vocab
*Vary sentence structure
*Keep order consistent
*Chronological order can be important
*Use substantial evidence in body paragraphs
*Do not worry about transition sentences... only write things that add to the essays
*If short on time, leave blank lines @ the end of paragraphs to come back to later
*Use good grammar/spelling</p>
<p>Conclusion:
Restate thesis in different words in one sentence. Then go on to develop a single new piece of analysis. This should be 4-5 sentences. I wrote about how American conformity was largely due to the Red Scare and how such fears gave rise to the Cold War.</p>
<p>I hope this helps :)
I feel like I'm forgetting some stuff though, so I'll add anything if I remember...
And sorry for any typos!</p>