23. Components of the Informative Essay “Surprising Reversal
Technique” Assignment Sheet
Purpose - The purpose of your assignment is to write an essay that
educates, interests and surprises the reader about a specific place in South Florida.
Your essay should present your reader with first hand observation and description
of your location - this is known as primary research. Your essay will also require
secondary research in order to obtain background and/or historical information
about your location.
In the first essay, you were asked to explore yourself through a literacy narrative.
You used rhetorical contexts, such as audience, purpose, and genre, and rhetorical
appeals, such as ethos, pathos, and logos, to compose your essay. In the second
essay, you will be using these same contexts and appeals, but you will be writing
with the aim to inform or educate the audience on a given location.
24. Components of the Informative Essay “Surprising Reversal
Technique” Assignment Sheet
Unit Objectives
After completing this assignment, you will learn how to:
1. Effectively observe and incorporate your observation into your essay using
descriptive language
2. Compose a logically structured essay
3. Navigate successfully between open and closed forms
4. Design a surprising reversal thesis that gives shape and purpose to your
informative essay
5. Understand rhetorical contexts: audience, purpose, and genre and rhetorical
appeals: ethos, pathos and logos
6. Develop an understanding of style that is appropriate and effective in your
informative essay.
7. Understand and incorporate primary and secondary research in the essay
effectively
8. Demonstrate your writing process: drafting, revisions, editing and
proofreading
25. Components of the Informative Essay “Surprising Reversal
Technique” Assignment Sheet
Topic - A place in South Florida
Since you will be required to observe this place, the location you choose should be
accessible and close enough to visit.
Your location should be small enough for a focused essay. For example, do not
choose an entire city or large area. Your location should be specific. Some examples
of specific locations include, but are not limited to: a part of a beach, a restaurant, a
house of worship, or any other interesting and significant location. You may choose
a location at FIU, but make sure that your location is small and focused.
Audience - Your classmates and instructors, and the larger FIU community
26. Components of the Informative Essay “Surprising Reversal
Technique” Assignment Sheet
Research Requirements:
Primary research: Secondary Research
An observation log. You will use At least one secondary source. This may
your observation log to help you include but is not limited to local
record the details that you newspapers, local magazines, scholarly
observe, and to write about your journals, and books. Do not use encyclopedic
location in a descriptive, sources and only use Internet sources if they
interesting, and significant way. are credible. You will use your source to
deepen your understanding of your location.
You may discover new and surprising things
about your location through your research.
Your location may have an interesting history
or cultural significance, or you may find that an
interesting event takes place in your location
27. FOR EXAMPLE, DID YOU KNOW THAT THE COCONUT GROVE
CEMETERY IS A HISTORICAL LOCATION WHERE THE VERY
FIRST BAHAMIAN IMMIGRANTS WERE BURIED, AND THAT IT
WAS USED IN MICHAEL JACKSON‟S THRILLER?
29. Unit Assignment Activity
Discussion Points
1. Is this location specific enough for a focused essay?
Why or why not?
1. What makes this location significant and interesting?
2. Is there anything about this location that people may not
know or that may be surprising?
3. What kinds of things might I want to look up to find out
more information about this location?
31. Class 2
INFORMATIVE ESSAY & INVENTION
PURPOSE GOALS
Students will learn the conventions of an 1. Understand the
informative essay through group conventions of an
discussion and hands on activities. In informative essay
groups, students will work to brainstorm
possible topics for their essays. 2. Establish approaches
for students’ essays
3. Invent possible
topics for each
student’s essay
4. Work together to
help narrow down
possible topics to
two per student
32. Class 3
RESEARCH QUESTION & FURTHER INVENTION
PURPOSE GOALS
Through interactive class 1. Understand the uses
discussion, students will learn the of research questions
importance of research questions, as well
as, the best way to create a research 2. Establish possible
question. They will work towards research questions
creating a research question of their own.
3. Better understand
observations
techniques
33. Class 3
PAIRED FREE WRITING ACTIVITY
Students get into pairs and swap chosen places. If necessary, students
may give each other a little background information on the chosen
place. Then each student free writes on his or her partner’s chosen
place:
1. Things they suspect to be true of the place
2. How the imagine it looks, smells, sounds
3. Questions they have about the place
Students discuss their partners’ responses to their topics.
Students change partners and redo this exercise.
*These observations will be entered into the
student’s Observation Journal, column two,
“What Others Think”
34. CLASS 4
USING SECONDARY SOURCES AND
AVOIDING PLAGIARISM
Goals:
Purpose:
1. Understand three ways to use
sources in an informative essay:
• Using both class discussion and
small group work, students will quotation, paraphrase, and
work on understanding and summary.
using secondary sources 2. Clarify the difference between
effectively. these sources and identify when
• Students will also work on they can be used effectively.
using attributive tags to separate 3. Understand the difference
their own ideas from their source
between plagiarism and patch
material
writing.
• In addition, students will discuss
plagiarism and its effect on their 4. Clarify the importance of
own writing. avoiding plagiarism and patch
writing in academic writing.
35. DIFFERENT KINDS OF SECONDARY
SOURCES
Books Internet
Newspapers Magazines and Journals
36. SECONDARY SOURCES
Discussion
The Class discusses the difference between quotation, paraphrase, and
summary.
Group Workshops
Groups use articles from their homework to discuss examples of
quotation, paraphrase, and summary and the use of attributive tags.
Presentations
Each group has an opportunity to present their group’s ideas.
37. PLAGIARISM
Journal
The class writes in their
journals, answering questions about
plagiarism.
Discussion
The class discusses plagiarism and
strategies for avoiding plagiarism.
The class discusses the differences
Is plagiarism stealing? between plagiarism and patchwriting.
38. Goal 1:
Understand how to use the double entry
notebook as a tool for finding surprising
insights and perspectives
Purpose
Goal 2:
Students will learn how to Understand how to use descriptive details that
use observations and the show rather than tell
double-entry notebook as
tools for their informative Goal 3:
essay. Analyze sample descriptive essay to practically
understand how to use good observations
40. GROUP ACTIVITY:
FEATURES OF GOOD OBSERVATION
Using “Behind Stone Walls” student essay (page 182 Ally and
Bacon), identify “show words”
• Discuss the essay with your group.
• In the group, write the “show words” down on a piece of paper
• On the board, write down the show words
• Discuss with the class how the specific words help describe the
place
• Using diagram 4.2, page 73, discuss where on the scale of
abstraction Carp’s essay fits
41. HOW DO I USE OBSERVATION TO SUPPORT MY
SURPRISING REVERSAL INFORMATIVE ESSAY?
Answer these three questions about surprising reversal on page
184, Allyn and Bacon:
1. What is the audience that Cheryl Carp imagines?
2. For this audience, what is the common view of prisoners
that Cheryl Carp attempts to reverse?
3. What is her own surprising view?
42. CLASS 6
RHETORICAL APPEALS AND STYLE
Purpose
Through class discussion and
Goals
writing, the students explore
the rhetorical appeals and
their relation to style in an 1. Understand the rhetorical
informative essay. appeals: logos, pathos and
ethos.
2. Develop an understanding
of the levels of style and
the ways style can be used
in an informative essay.
43. RHETORICAL APPEALS AND STYLE
The class discusses the rhetorical
appeals and how they are used in
an informative essay.
The class discusses the concept
of style and how it is affected by
audience, purpose and rhetorical
choices.
• Logos
• Pathos Using the essay, Behind Stone
• Ethos Walls, the students re-write a
paragraph in a different style.
44. CLASS 7
THESIS AND SURPRISING REVERSAL
Purpose Goals
Using their own surprising 1. Understand thesis and
reversal thesis ideas, students surprising reversal in
will discuss and refine their informative essays
ideas and supporting points
through class discussion and 2. Grapple with the effective
peer interaction in small and non-effective use of
groups. thesis and surprising
reversal
45. CLASS 7
THESIS AND SURPRISING REVERSAL ACTIVITY
• Students write in their
journals, answering questions about
thesis statements and surprising
reversal.
• The class discusses their answers to
their journal questions and looks at
samples of surprising reversal thesis
statements.
• The students work on their own
surprising reversal thesis statements
The Thesis Monster
in small groups.
• The groups have an opportunity to
present their statements to the class.
46. Class 8
INTRODUCTION
PURPOSE GOALS
Students will learn how to write a thesis 1. Introduce the topic in
driven introduction. Each student will an interesting way
brainstorm on: that entices the
1. What is the purpose and function of reader
an introduction, 2. Indicate how the
2. Learn the appropriate form of an topic is to be
essay in order to be able to model and developed in the
identify ways to: body paragraphs that
• Use various attention grabbers/ follow
motivators in writing an 3. Learn how to
introduction, seamlessly
• Identify sound thesis statements incorporate the thesis
and the surprising reversal statement into the
technique introduction
• Generate a blueprint for the
paper.
47. 2. Instruct students to exchange their draft#1.
• Instruct them to identify the motivator. Highlight in yellow the
motivator
• Instruct them to respond on the back of the draft they are reviewing:
1. Was the motivator effective at hooking the reader? Why or why
not?
3. Instruct them to identify the thesis statement. Underline the thesis
statement.
• Instruct them to respond on the back of the draft they are reviewing:
1. Is the thesis statement clear? What is the subject and the
opinion?
4. Instruct them to identify the blueprint. Highlight in pink each idea
provided that
will support the thesis
• Instruct them to respond on the back of the draft they are reviewing:
1. How many ideas did the writer present? What are the possible
ideas mentioned
to support the thesis, and will form the remainder of the essay?
2. Are these ideas relevant and supportive of the thesis statement
5. Discuss ways the writer could possibly improve the introduction
6. Return reviewed draft to Writer
48. CLASS 9
STRUCTURE, BODY, AND CONCLUSION
Purpose: Goals
Students will learn how to
structure the body and 1. Understand the purpose of
the body and conclusion in
conclusion of their an essay
informative essay. 2. Understand how to use
observations and specific
examples to provide support
in the body
3. Analyze a sample student
essay on place to practically
understand how to write the
essay
49. LECTURE AND DISCUSSION
Using chapter seven, page 173, in Allyn and Bacon: Shaping, Drafting
and Revising, look at the shape of a surprising reversal essay
• An introduction that engages the reader’s interest in a place and
provides needed context and background
• A section that explains the common or popular view of this place
• A section that gives the writer’s surprising view of the place
developed with information derived from personal observations
• A conclusion that summarizes the surprising reversal and analyzes
the observations at the place
50. SPECTRUM FOR
OPEN AND CLOSED FORM
PAGE 10 AND 11
Closed Forms Open Forms
Top-down thesis- Theme-based
Delayed-thesis Thesis seeking
based prose narrative
prose prose • Often organized
• Thesis explicitly chronologically or
• Thesis appears • Essay organized
stated in introduction has story-like
near end around a question
• All parts of essay elements
• Text reads as a rather than a thesis
linked clearly to • Often used to
mystery • Essay explores the
thesis heighten or deepen a
• Reader held in problem or
• Body paragraphs problem, or show its
suspense question, looking
develop thesis human significance
• Body paragraphs at it in many ways • Often has an implicit
have topic sentences • Writer may or may theme rather than a
• Structure forecasted not arrive at thesis thesis
• Often violates rules
of closed-form
prose by using
literary techniques
51. GROUP ACTIVITY:
STUDENT SAMPLE ESSAY ON PLACE
Prompt: After reading the student sample essay, answer these eight
questions in your groups and present to the class.
• What surprising view does this essay address?
• What is the common, expected, or popular view held by the
audience?
• What examples, details, or observations support the body of the essay?
• What topic sentences does the essay use?
• How does the writer transition between ideas in the essay?
• How effective is the paper at hooking the reader’s interest in the place?
• How does the writer analyze the observations throughout the paper and in
the conclusion?
• Where on the spectrum of closed and open form does this essay fit? See page
10 and 11.
53. Class 11
PEER REVIEW
PURPOSE GOALS
1. Understand how to
Using the rubric, students will break into evaluate and judge an
groups of two and peer review each informative essay paper.
other’s papers for global issues in their
informative essay. 2. Understand the elements
of an effective
informative paper
3. Understand audience
when writing an
informative paper.
54. Class 12
CITING, EDITING, AND PROOFREADING
PURPOSE GOALS
Students will learn how to 1. Understand why we cite
efficiently and effectively edit and
proofread their paper: They will 2. Understand the importance
understand: of proofreading a paper prior
to submission
• How to incorporate sources
into their informative essay 3. Correctly use in-text citation
paper and bibliography using the
APA citation style
• How to correct errors in
spelling, mechanics, and 4. Effectively proofread a
grammar; not problems with paper as an objective reader.
organization
55. Class 12
HOMEWORK AND ACTIVITY
Homework: Online grammar excercise
Peer group procedure
Peer group activity
1. Explain the aim is to point out minor
problems not to fix them 1. Instruct students to pass their final copy
to the person to their right
2. Instruct students to mark the paper
even if they are not sure if there is an 2. Instruct students to check for first
error. The author can check it later proofreading error
3. On chalkboard/white board/projector 3. When 6 minutes has passed, pass
draw the 4 symbols that will be used in papers to the right again, this time
the activity check for next common error
1. insert a comma/use a period here, identified.
2. begin a new paragraph/ no
paragraph, 4. Continue passing papers and checking
3. spelling/capitalization, and specific aspects until the time is up and
4. delete/insert the person has once again received
their own paper.
56. 1. Syllabus for ENC 1101
2. Informative Essay Unit assignment
3. Informative Essay Grading Rubric
Includes:
4. Student schedule of events, daily learning objectives,
and homework for Informative Essay Unit
5. Instructor schedule of events and complete lesson plans
6. Suggested Reading for Instructors
57. This Presentation has been brought to you by the members of Group 4.
Sarah Cash
Amanda Hosey
Michelle Munroe
Veronica Suarez
We thank you for your time, and encourage you to take advantage
of the resources we have provided, for teaching with „best practices.‟
