Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to hone their close reading and literary analysis skills. After annotating their copy of the story, writer's craft an essay in which they analyze...

In an expository essay, a type of informational text, the writer clarifies or explains something by using facts, details, and examples in a clear and concise way. To write an effective expository essay, students need a basic...

This website provides tips to writing which develops an argument. When writing an essay, show that the writer can construct a coherent argument and employ critical thinking skills, as well as support an argument with evidence.

If you are a teacher OR a student looking for a well-informed website on elements of the writing process, you are in luck! This site from the Capital Community College is very comprehensive and easy-to-navigate. From grammar basics to...

Lists the proper way to develop an outline before writing a paper or an essay.

This lesson plan serves as an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing and focuses primarily on teaching some basic approaches to recognizing rhetorical strategies adopted for persuasive effect in essays and non-fiction. The...

This site has a great unit that leads students all the way through the writing process while composing a persuasive paper. Includes a teacher guide, mini-lessons, assessment rubric, and worksheets to help out at each step of the way.

A printable graphic organizer for students to use when writing on opinion or persuasive essay. Directions on how to use this type of graphic organizer as well as lists of teaching ideas, lesson plans, and other resources are also...

This resource explains how to write an essay. Provides information regarding length, order, and opening strategies. W.9-10.1a claims/intro/org

Resources for helping students to write historical essays. Includes a movie trailer to demonstrate the traits of a good introduction, tips for writing a paragraph, tips for formal writing, and guidelines for citing sources.

This writing assignments asks students to assume the voice of a person from history they have researched. Focusing on a topic or belief the person showed passion about as history unfolded, the students write an essay modeled after NPR's...

This writing assignments asks learners to assume the voice of a character from a novel they are reading. Focusing on a topic or belief the character shows passion about in the novel, the students write an essay modeled after NPR's "This...

Young scholars listen to NPR weekly podcasts of "This I Believe" and "Science Friday." Then students will be asked to choose a scientific topic in which they believe they can make a difference. Finally, young scholars will write an essay...

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...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Learn to write an expository essay by providing evidence that supports a thesis, articulating concepts and information correctly and concisely, understanding the...

A professor's excellent explanation of how to write a professional sounding essay. Covers all aspects of an essay, and detailed examples give information on exactly how to write the essay.

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...

This lesson plan teaches students that writing a persuasive or argumentative essay for class is the same as writing an opinion article for their local newspaper. The lesson plan includes showing students examples of opinion writings and...

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...

Tips on organizing and writing an argumentative essay.

Key elements to consider in writing an essay. The process, time saving strategies, revising and proofreading are outlined and discussed.

Students will write a three-paragraph essay explaining the steps necessary to follow a recipe and then present and serve the recipe to their classmates.

Contains plans for nine lessons that ask students to write autobiographies before creating multimedia presentations for them. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as...

This resource provides good insight on how to structure a well organized effective persuasive essay.