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ELA 4: Complete Sentences
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In this lesson we'll subject you to some verbs and predicates. Each one is a necessary part of a complete breakfas—er...sentence.

ELA 4: Word Choice
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Choosing words carefully is important. You may end up vexing the assemblage of citizens you're conversing with...or you might even just plain bore...

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ELA 4: How to Outline an Essay 261 Views


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Description:

Can you name the three parts of an essay? Hint: one of them is not "Curly."

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:13

Starting an essay can be scary. [Guy looks scared sat behind a computer]

00:15

That blank white page staring back at you…

00:17

intimidating you…

00:18

All those letters on the keyboard and so many ways to combine them… [Shaking hands approach a keyboard]

00:22

Yeesh…anyone else need to sleep with the lights on tonight…? [Guy looking scared in bed]

00:24

Well, before we flip on the lights and run up our electricity bill, let's take a deep

00:29

breath….

00:30

And let's crack open our handy dandy outline, which will not only help us write a killer [Guy looks happy and puts his hands up]

00:35

essay…

00:36

…but it'll keep our electricity bill nice and low. [The lights are turned off]

00:38

An outline is basically a blueprint for your essay.

00:41

It should give you a sense of what the general structure of the essay will be before you

00:45

actually write it.

00:46

And no, you can't pass it off to a construction crew after it's done…though that would be [Man handing his outline to a construction worker]

00:50

nice.

00:51

Anyway, much like an actual essay, the outline has three main parts: the introduction, the

00:55

body, and the conclusion.

00:57

Let's take a look at each one.

00:58

The introduction needs to do a few things.

01:00

The biggest one is, y'know, introduce what the essay’s about.

01:03

Don't you love it when names make sense?

01:05

…Lookin' at you, jumbo shrimp….ain't nothin' jumbo about y'all. [Small looking shrimps on a big tray]

01:10

So in your outline, you should write out the main idea of your essay.

01:13

Say your topic is elephants and your main idea is that elephants are way smarter than [Person standing on an elephant]

01:17

people…

01:18

…both those things should be in your outline.

01:19

Next comes the body, or as we like to call it, the “bod.” [Teacher holding up a drawing of a 6 pack]

01:23

Just kidding.

01:24

That’s weird.

01:25

Don’t call it that. [Students look grossed out]

01:26

Anyway, in both your essay and your outline, the body is the most important part.

01:29

It contains all the evidence, information, and arguments you're using to back up your

01:33

main idea.

01:34

That said, your body shouldn't be one big, flabby paragraph.

01:37

In a good essay, all the little ideas that support the main idea will be organized into [Page of continous text is replaced by paragraphed text]

01:41

smaller sections of one paragraph each.

01:43

Your outline is where you figure out how you’re going to do all of that organizing.

01:47

So your essay’s sections might be: elephants have great memories, they can use tools, and

01:51

they’re great painters.

01:53

Divide those thoughts into their own neat paragraphs and your body has a sweet evidence

01:56

six-pack instead of one big, flabby evidence belly. [Drawing of an elephant with a six pack]

02:00

Finally, we have our conclusion.

02:01

This is the most fun to write… because it’s usually the easiest.

02:04

All we have to do is restate the main idea

02:07

…and summarize all the points we made in the body.

02:08

If you already outlined your essay's body – which we know you did because you’re [Student holding up their outline]

02:12

great at following directions - the conclusion is as easy as pie.

02:16

And almost as delicious.

02:17

And that’s it!

02:18

You’re done! [Guy eats ball of paper]

02:19

Well, except for the fact that you have to write an entire essay.

02:22

But, hey, your outline should make that process a lot less painful. [Girl holding onto a phone]

02:25

…Maybe look into hiring a construction crew, though… [Construction worker looks through the window]

02:29

You never know…

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