Michigan State University
Michigan State University: Introduction to Synthesis
Learn what synthesis is, why you might write a synthesis essay, and techniques for developing several types of synthesis essays. While this site is written for a college writing course, it is both useful and accessible for high school...
The Write Place
Literacy Education Online
Literacy Education Online (or LEO) is a great place to start if you need help with your writing. The homepage is organized around kinds of problems or questions you might have concerning your writing. Find your problem, click on the...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Is Romance Dead?
As an introduction to the medieval romances, students compare and contrast the medieval rules of courtly love to the modern "rules" of courtship and romance. Students write a compare/contrast essay after group work and class discussion.
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Critical Reading: Logic and Structure
This instructional activity focuses on structure and logic including types and purposes of essays, organizational patterns, argumentative writing, and logic and fallacies.
Other
Kim's Korner: Patterns of Organization
This resource from Kim's Korner for Teacher Talk defines various patterns of text organization and provides a brief essay example of each pattern.
Harvey Mudd College
Claremont Colleges: Writing an Argument
Brief handout describing different forms of argument for writing.
PBS
Pbs: The Roman Empire of the 1st Century: The Violence of Ancient Rome
This instructional activity focuses on the extreme violence that permeated Roman society and how that violence may have attributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire. Students will make comparisons between the violence in ancient Rome...
Georgetown University
Georgetown University:bay Psalm Book (1640) and New England Primer (1683)
Essay discussing the Bay Psalm Book (1640) and the New England Primer (1683). Topics include: Classroom Issues and Strategies; Major Themes, Historical Perspectives, and Personal Issues; Significant Form, Style, Artistic Conventions;...
Other
English Companion: Reading Expository Text
Taken from "Reading Reminders: Tools, Tips, and Techmiques," the information on this website provides advice on how to read, understand, analyze, and write expository texts.
Capital Community College Foundation
Guide to Grammar and Writing: Transitions Between Ideas
This tutorial teaches writing students how to share convincing in well-written sentences that are connected from one to the other--that is, they exhibit transition. W.9-10.1c cohesion/clarity/reason, W.9-10.2c cohesion/clarity/trans
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: The Grapes of Wrath
A Library of Congress lesson on "The Grapes of Wrath," through which students discover how cultural artifacts from the book support its themes and see connections "between the social, cultural, and literary contexts of literature."