+
Unit Plan
University of Sydney (Australia)

The Write Site

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This interactive home page provides improvement module links in the areas of grammar, citations, and writing. The University of Sydney's The Write Site provides online support to help students improve their writing skills.
+
Handout
University of Sydney (Australia)

The Write Site: Constructing a Working Thesis

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Students will find a thorough definition of a thesis. Non-examples of thesis statements are also provided.
+
Unit Plan
University of Sydney (Australia)

The Write Site: Summary: Planning Your Essay

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This reference provides a summary of eight steps to follow when planning to write an essay.
+
Handout
University of North Carolina

University of North Carolina: Writing Center: Introductions

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A handout to assist students with writing an effective introduction to an essay. Gives tips on common errors to avoid. Can be downloaded as a PDF file.
+
Website
Other

Mtsu: Checklist for Essay Tests

For Students 9th - 10th
This site gives a checklist to use when taking an essay test.
+
Handout
Other

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant: Occasions for Informal Essays

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
What are the occasions for informal essays? Use this informative site to learn more about when and how to write these types of informal essays.
+
Handout
Grammarly

Grammarly Handbook: Academic Writing: Specific Requirements

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This page focuses on academic writing requriements and includes links to Argumentative (Persuasive) Writing, Essay Writing, and How to Write a Research Paper.
+
Handout
Other

Odessa College: Three Part Format: Definition

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This interesting site provides information about definition essays with example formats and a model essay.
+
Activity
Other

Writing Instructions Sample: How to Raise Potatoes

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A good example of a piece of writing which instructs the reader. Good for students to use as a model for instruction-writing essays.
+
Activity
Other

Style: Cause and Effect Writing

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site provides a list of what to do and not do for writing cause and effect essays. It also contains an evaluation checklist at the end which students can use for their own writing.
+
Activity
Capital Community College Foundation

Guide to Grammar and Writing: Developing a Definition

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Not sure what a definition paper is? This is a great site from the Capital Community College to help you with developing a definition. Includes a sample essay and guiding questions.
+
Unit Plan
E Reading Worksheets

E Reading Worksheets: Essay Writing Rubrics

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of essay assessment rubrics are provide on this learning module. Several rubrics for narrative essays, persuasive essays, and research papers are provided on this site.
+
PPT
Tom Richey

Slide Share: Claim Evidence and Reasoning

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
A slideshow with twelve slides about reading or writing an argument, analyzing the claim and looking at how it is supported with observation, evidence, and reasoning.
+
PPT
Tom Richey

Slide Share: Argument and Persuasion

For Students 7th - 8th Standards
A slide show with fourteen slides with notes, tips, and examples on how to write a persuasive essay.
+
Article
Grammarly

Grammarly Blog: How to Write Better Essays: 5 Concepts You Must Master

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This blog article discusses essay writing including thesis development, strong form, style, conventions, and support and references.
+
Lesson Plan
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Colonial Williamsburg: Travel in the 18th Century

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This site has a lesson plan that contrasts the methods of travel during Colonial Times, with those of today.
+
Website
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Cause and Effect Papers: Organization

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A screencast lesson [5 mins, 53 secs] explaining how create an outline to plan the organization of a cause and effect essay. Following the lesson, a printable document provides an outline format for students to follow when writing their...
+
Unit Plan
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Conclusions

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A screencast lesson defining a conclusion and discussing how to write an effective conclusion. Students learn the traditional conclusion format as well as other formats that may better fit a writer's topic and purpose. Includes a section...
+
Lesson Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Fourth Grade: Three Lesson Unit: Compare and Contrast

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] A three-lesson plan unit on comparing and contrasting through which young scholars compare and contrast two non-fiction articles and two editorials, and write a compare and contrast essay. With free...
+
Handout
Other

Monash University: What Makes a Good Essay?

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Read this example essay with its highlighted comments and labeled parts to get a good grasp of what an effective essay does. United States students should note that the documentation style is slightly different in this example. For more...
+
Activity
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Paper Writing: Introduction, Body, Conclusion

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site shows students how to write an introduction, body, and conclusion to create a complete paper. Students see examples of two different types of introductions, get ideas for attention grabbers, gain understanding of the type of...
+
Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Organizing Structure in the Persuasive Essay (English I Writing)

For Students 9th
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Write an essay organized appropriate to purpose, audience, and context.
+
Handout
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University

Purdue University Owl: Academic Writing: Essay Writing

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
An overview of essay writing in general with additional pages discussing descriptive, narrative, expository, and argumentative essays.
+
Graphic
University of Sydney (Australia)

The Write Site: Structuring Your Individual Arguments

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A diagram is provided to help students organize an argument. Assertions, sub-assertions, evidence, and counterarguments are included. Click on page 2 at the bottom to see the functions of the above and page 3 to for a practice activity....