CHAPTER 1 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 24 STUDENT PRACTICE SAMPLE ESSAY Return to the sample essay questions on pages 15–16. Select one. Try not to use the one on public education because you have already seen some ideas that you could repeat. It’s always better to start with a new idea. Allow two hours for the process from start to finish and see how you do. –BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ LearningExpress Skill Builders • CHAPTER 1 27 The following SAMPLE HELP PAGES will help you learn the steps to becoming a better writer.Use them as you complete a piece of writing. PEER REVIEW SHEET As mentioned earlier, having a friend or other experi- enced writer look over your work is an important part of examining the success of your rough draft. If you allow sufficient time, you can make this an important step for any writing task. But just finding someone who will tell you your work is good is not good enough. It may make you feel good, but it won’t help get you from the C to the B or the A. It certainly won’t help get you from the D or F to the C! So here’s a peer review ques- tionnaire that you should give to a friend to ask for ideas or suggestions. –IMPORTANT WRITING PRACTICE– PEER REVIEW After reading the piece of writing completely, please respond to the following questions as an active and interested peer reviewer. As a reviewer, make note of anything you do not understand or that you feel is incorrect. Peer review helps both writer and reviewer. The writer can get helpful information about which parts of the essay are well received, and the reviewer can identify strategies that might work well for him. The key to effective peer review is honesty. Please complete the following review sheet. It will help any writer make improvements. AUTHOR: ____________________________________________________________________________ REVIEWER:___________________________________________________________________________ ESSAY TOPIC:_________________________________________________________________________ 1. What is the THESIS STATEMENT? Copy it below. ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ 2. How many paragraphs are in this essay? ____ 3. Does the first paragraph adequately INTRODUCE the essay’s subject matter and approach? _____ Does the final paragraph adequately CONCLUDE the essay, reiterate the essay’s main points and wrap up loose ends? _____ Does the final paragraph introduce any new ideas? _____ If so, what are they?___________________________________________________________________ 4. Is each paragraph in the body of the writing adequately DEVELOPED using the techniques mentioned below? Are there at least 5–7 sentences for each paragraph? _____ How many pieces of evidence support whatever claim is being made in each paragraph? _____ CHAPTER 1 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 28 –BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– Do you find the evidence compelling? If so, why? _____________________________________________ Cite below at least two examples of evidence used in this piece of writing. _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Are the transitions clear? List below the transition statements that logically connect each paragraph and establish the organizational pattern in the writing. _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Which part or parts of the essay do you find most effective? _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ On the lines below, cite a specific sentence, paragraph, or example that you believe is effective, and explain why you chose it. _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ LearningExpress Skill Builders • CHAPTER 1 29 7. Which part, sentence, or paragraph do you think needs more work because it is unclear or confusing or just doesn’t sound right? Explain. _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Do you find errors in written English? ___________________________________________________ Please look for the following and give examples from the writing to help the author in the revision process. ■ sentence fragments _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ ■ comma splices _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ ■ semicolon errors _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ ■ subject-verb agreement errors _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ ■ pronoun case errors _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ –IMPORTANT WRITING PRACTICE– . 5 7 sentences for each paragraph? _____ How many pieces of evidence support whatever claim is being made in each paragraph? _____ CHAPTER 1 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 28 BASIC SKILLS FOR. PRACTICE– __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 1 • LearningExpress Skill Builders 26 BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ LearningExpress. It’s always better to start with a new idea. Allow two hours for the process from start to finish and see how you do. BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE– __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ LearningExpress