Page 121 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade8_Flipbook

aCTIvITy 1.17
continued
expository Writing Focus: organization
Word CoNNeCTIoNS
Cognates
The English word synthesize has the same meaning as its Spanish cognate sintetizar.
my Notes
Evaluating and Revising Conclusions
6. As you read examples of a conclusion, identify which technique the writer used and how effective the conclusion is.
Sample 1
The best heroes out there are those that put others before themselves. How
do we know when someone is a hero? When they face challenges with pure determination, but don’t save or satisfy everyone in the end. It blows us away every time a hero can fix sticky situations, but it is more important to know that a hero is doing what they’re doing for the protection of everyone else. Making mistakes is what makes everything else that they do even more spectacular.
Sample 2
Heroes often look like the normal people we see walking down the street
and they might be the plainest form of normal there is. Behind that normal appearance there has been struggle and challenge that has turned into wisdom. Heroes have to not only overcome challenges, but have done it with dignity. Heroes have grown from their experiences and now put a different value on life itself. Heroes are absolutely essential to life, for without heroes we would have no one to admire or set our goals to their standards.
Check Your Understanding
Revise one of the two paragraphs above based on your evaluation and discussion of how it could benefit by additional content, reworking sentences, and using more precise or formal diction.
Writing Body Paragraphs
Body paragraphs are the meat of your essay. Outlined by the thesis, they include the reasons, plus the details and examples, that provide the support for your thesis. Part of the strength of your support is synthesizing, or pulling together, examples and details from your experiences and from texts and resources you have read or studied. As you write body paragraphs, be sure to include the following:
• A topic sentence that introduces the focus of the paragraph
• A concluding sentence that follows from the information and explanations presented
• Details and examples relevant and sufficient to make your point
• Commentary that explains why these details and examples are significant
94 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 8
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