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Activity
University of Washington

Guide to Writing Thesis Statements

For Students 9th - 10th
These guidelines show how to write effective thesis statements with examples of effective and ineffective statements.
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Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: Compare/contrast Essay [Pdf]

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
This PDF lesson focuses on writing a comparison/contrast essay, which is a great format for helping students think deeply about two ideas or concepts with multiple similarities and differences. This type of essay has four-parts -1) an...
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Handout
W. W. Norton

W. W. Norton & Company: Lit Web: The Research Essay

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Information about writing a research essay including: generating a topic, generating a thesis, research, and more.
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Activity
Cambridge Rindge & Latin School

Cambridge Rindge & Latin School: Writing a Statement of Purpose

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
An excellent tip sheet for creating and perfecting a statement of purpose. Also includes information about thesis statements and examples.
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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.
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Activity
Other

Writing Scientific Reports

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This tutorial site provides links to articles about writing a scientific report or essay as well as to sample essays.
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Handout
San Jose State University

San Jose State: Writing a Winning Statement of Purpose [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
How do you write a winning statement of purpose? This is a clear and comprehensive explanation of how to approach and write an essay from the San Jose State University. Practice exercises are given at the end.
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Handout
Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College: Suggestions for Organizing and Writing Papers

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This writing lab tutorial offers sound principles for writing papers, beginning with knowing your audience and objective. It covers patterns of organization, outlining, illustrations, writing, abstract, citations, and style.
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Graphic
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Essay Map

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
A fillable essay map in PDF format with boxes for an introduction, main ideas, supporting details, and a conclusion. Directions on how to use this type of graphic organizer as well as lists of teaching ideas and related resources are...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: How to Writing Motivating Students to Write for a Real Purpose

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Contains plans for five fourth grade lessons that ask students to write essays for future fourth graders about how to have successful years. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in...
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Website
Other

Grays Harbor College: Writing Essays: Four Tips

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This resource explores four tips for writers: "Center Your Thinking," "Organize Your Thinking," "Specify Your Thoughts," and "Present Your Thoughts Clearly." The information is presented in an easy-to-follow outline with examples given...
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Website
Other

Glendale College: Structure of the Five Paragraph Essay

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This website from the Glendale Community College shows the structure of five paragraph essays and the elements within the paragraphs (motivator, thesis sentence, topic sentence, specific support, reworded thesis, clincher). Gives...
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Handout
ACT360 Media

Writing Den: Essay Writing Tips

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
All you want to know about writing essays, from prewriting to editing. Click on the tip-o-matic and find tips on anything dealing with grammar or writing.
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Handout
Joe Landsberger

Study Guides and Strategies: Expository Essays

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This page has eight basic steps for writing expository essays: select topic, write the thesis, choose a method of development, organize, write topic sentences for body paragraph, write the body paragraphs, write an introduction, and...
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Lesson Plan
Varsity Tutors

Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: William Shakespeare: Richard Iii

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Delve into the world of Shakepear's history of "Richard III." The content of this site includes links to lesson plans, activities, study guides, and more.
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Activity
TES Global

Tes: Writing: For and Against

For Students 11th - 12th Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] This TES resource provides four writing prompts for argumentative essay performance assessments. Teachers can edit the prompts if they choose.
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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.
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Lesson Plan
Utah Education Network

Uen: Argumentative Writing/religions of the World Unit

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders will study the religions of the world. At the end of the unit, 6th graders will write an argumentative essay on the similarities or differences of two world religions.
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Lesson Plan
Utah Education Network

Uen: Argumentative Writing/wwi & Wwii Unit

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
In this unit, students will gain background information on historic wars. Student will compare different media forms about these events, attend to different perspectives, research the unit's essential question, and then write an...
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Lesson Plan
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Research Essay for the Turn of the Screw

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This PDF lesson plan is for young scholars to write a 5-7 page essay which uses research to support their stance on a topic. For this essay, the students will argue whether they believe the character of the Governess, from Henry James'...
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Lesson Plan
Other

Mo Dept. Of Ed.: Writing Essays (Expository) (Lesson)

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Lesson plan designed for seventh graders. Students write expository essays that include details, facts, and examples. Includes prewriting handouts, some example paragraphs, some example prompts, and a scoring guide.
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Handout
University of Victoria (Canada)

The U Vic Writer's Guide: Sample Expository Essay

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This site is an example of a well-written expository essay from the University of Victoria. Gives excellent tips for students, such as organization, paragraph development, and support. W.9-10.2a Intro/org/graphics
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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...
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Lesson Plan
Lumen Learning

Lumen: Success Skills: Writing in College

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Although this lesson focuses on college writing, it fits perfectly into the high school curriculum without being too difficult to understand. It provides types of essay writing assignments and how to handle each, strategies for writing...