September 30

Today we read our independent books and then talked about how to figure out and write about theme in literature. We used the following worksheet as a template.

Outline for discussing the theme of a book

Remember: The theme is the message of the book.

First: Brainstorm three or four possible themes.

1.       ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.       ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.       ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now pick one that you think you could find some proof from the book to back up your reasoning.

Theme: ______________________________________________________________________________

  _____________________________________________________________________________________

Proof from the book (what are some things that happened in the book that prove this is the theme):

1.       ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.       ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.       ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Outline of your paper

Introduction:

Grabber sentence (begin your paper in an interesting way that grabs the reader’s attention)

Thesis statement (a clearly written statement explaining your position)

______________________________________________________________________________

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Body paragraphs :

Here is where you write your claims and use information from the book to back them up

Proof from the book: ____________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

How this supports your thesis statement: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­____________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Proof from the book: ____________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

How this supports your thesis statement: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­____________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Conclusion:

Remind the reader what your position is: ____________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

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Kicker-an interesting way to end your paper (or a “so what” finish) _______________________

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