Name: _____________________________________

Essay Test: Night by Elie Wiesel

How does figurative language
help the reader identify the theme
of an autobiography?

Directions: Write a well-written essay that explains

autobiography, Night. Use
be figurative language.

theme & message in Elie Wiesels

strong examples of textual evidence to support your theme,

3must

Requirements:
-

Introduction: introduces the reader to the story and your identified theme/message
clearly stated (thesis)

3 Body Paragraphs: Clear transitions, accurate identification of figurative language, and

use of textual evidence to supplementing detailed descriptions
o 3 examples of figurative language documented using MLA format
o
o

3 examples of textual evidence documented using MLA format

Explain HOW the evidence (figurative language & textual evidence) help support
theme & message of Wiesels autobiography

Conclusion: Remind your reader about the theme & connect the theme to the real world.

100 pts.
Theme &
Argument
______/15
Evidence
______/15

Exceeds Expectations
(10 pts.)

Meets Expectations
(8 pts.)

Needs Improvement
(6 pts.)

The writer identifies a theme & The writer identifies a theme &
The writer identifies a weak
argument and develops a
argument and develops a
theme & argument and
strong argument that is
somewhat strong argument that
develops a strong
present throughout the
is present throughout the entirety
argument that is present
entirety of Elie Wiesels Night.
of Elie Wiesels Night.
throughout the entirety of
Elie Wiesels Night.
The writer identifies 3 strong
The writer identifies 3-4 examples
The writer identifies 1-2
examples of figurative
of evidence (figurative language
quotes to support his/her
language that support the
& textual evidence) that support
argument and theme as
thesis.
the thesis.
identified in the thesis.
OR
The writer identifies 3 strong
The writer does not identify
examples of textual evidence The writer identifies 6 quotes but
both figurative language &
the quotes do not strongly
that support the thesis.
textual evidence.
support his/her argument or
Each quotation is accurately
The quotes are not accurately
theme.
quoted with proper
quoted, use proper
punctuation and follows MLA Each quote is somewhat accurately
punctuation, or follow MLA

format.

Introduction
______/10

Body Paragraphs
______/40

Conclusion
______/10

Grammar &
Mechanics
______/10

______/100
Comments:

The writer grabs the readers

attention through a developed
& advanced attention getter
that is closely related to the
topic of the essay.
The writer provides clear and
relevant background
information/context needed to
understand the topic of the
essay.
The general information
transitions well from the
attention getter and into the
thesis.
The writer includes a clear thesis
with 3 clear & supporting
reasons.
Each paragraph is structured
well with topic sentences, fluid
transitions, and concluding
sentences.
The writer clearly connected
each piece of evidence to the
thesis by explained how the
evidence supports the
argument and theme.
The writer elaborated beyond
the text and included his/her
own commentary while
connecting to the identified
textual evidence.

quoted with proper punctuation

format.
and MLA format.
The writer grabs the readers
The writer does not include an
attention through an attention
attention getter.
The writer does not provide
getter that is related to the topic
background
of the essay, but the attention
information/context.
getter is not developed.
The writer does not include a
The writer provides background
thesis.
information/context needed to
understand the topic of the essay,
but the information is not relevant
or is too minimal.
The general information does not
transition well from the attention
getter and/or into the thesis.
The writer includes a thesis with 3
supporting reasons, but it is
unclear.

Each paragraph is structured

somewhat well because it is
missing 1 of the following: with
topic sentences, fluid transitions,
and concluding sentences.
The writer somewhat clearly
connected each piece of evidence
to the thesis by explained how the
evidence supports the argument
and theme.
The writer elaborated beyond the
text and included his/her own
commentary, but it was not clear
how his/her commentary was
clearly connected to the textual
evidence.
The writer restates the essays The writer restates the essays main
main topic while not repeating
topic but simple repeats the
the thesis.
thesis.
The writer summarizes the key The writer somewhat accurately
points in the essay.
summarizes the key points in the
The writer includes a thought
essay.
The writer includes a zinger, but it
provoking zinger.
does not encourage continued
thought by the reader.
The writer uses complete
The writer uses complete sentences
sentences to form a paragraph
to form a paragraph; however, the
with flow and no grammatical
paragraph has minimal flow and
errors. The essay is typed in
some grammatical errors. The
MLA format.
essay is somewhat typed in MLA
format.

Each paragraph is not

structured well because it is
missing 2 or more of the
following: topic sentences,
fluid transitions, and/or
concluding sentences.
The writer did not clearly
connect each piece of
evidence to the thesis by
explained how the evidence
supports the argument and
theme.
The writer did not elaborate
beyond the text by
including his/her own
commentary.
The writer does not restate the
essays main topic.
The writer does not summarize
the key points in the essay.
The writer does not include a
zinger.

The writer does not use

complete sentences to form a
paragraph.
The paragraph has no flow and
has enough grammatical
errors to distract the reader.
The essay is not typed in MLA
format.

Thesis Reminders
A thesis must include:
1.
2.
3.
4.

The title(s)
The author(s)
The theme/argument
Textual evidence that supports your theme (3)
a. Events in the novel
b. Characters in the novel
c. Thoughts/Ideas in the novel

A thesis NEVER states:

1. In this essay, I will
2. I believe
3. I found the theme to be

_________________________ demonstrates how ________________________________________________

(author)
(argument)
in his memoir ________________________________ when/through _____________________________
(title)
(Evidence)
______________________________________, and _______________________________________________.
(Evidence)
(Evidence)

Example:
F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates how loneliness is a result of isolating oneself through not only
physical connections but also through emotional connections in his novel The Great Gatsby
through Gatsbys inability to make meaningful relationships, Daisys inability to commit to Tom or
Gatsby, and Nicks naivety toward Gatsby.

Introduction Outline
Attention Getter (Grab your readers attention by using a story, a quote, a question, a
connection, etc.)
________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Background (Explain the background your reader will need to know to understand your essay:
the Holocaust, WWII, Elie Wiesel, concentration camps, Night etc.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Transition (Connect your background information to your thesis.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thesis (State your thesis must be 1 sentence only!)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction Tips:
1. Keep your background information brief. Only share the most important background information
needed.
2. Connect your attention getter to your background information by focusing on the same topic.
3. Transition to your thesis by introducing the text.

Body Paragraph Outline

Topic Sentence

(x3 each evidence stated in your thesis)

___________, ____________________
__________________________________________________________________
(Transition)
(What part of your thesis is your paragraph explaining?)

Commentary (Explain in your own words how the moment in the text supports your thesis.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cite/Quote (Introduce your textual evidence.)

_____________________,
____________________________________________________________________________
(Transition)

(Paraphrase/Reference the event)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Quote supporting the event MLA format)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
.

Clarify/Explain (Explain how your evidence supports your thesis. If it is figurative language, make that
clear to your reader.)

This evidence suggests

_______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cite/Quote (Introduce your textual evidence.)

_____________________,
____________________________________________________________________________
(Transition)

(Paraphrase/Reference the event)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Quote supporting the event MLA format)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
.

Clarify/Explain (Explain how your evidence supports your thesis. If it is figurative language, make that
clear to your reader.)

This evidence suggests

_______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Concluding Statement (Parallel your topic sentence and remind your reader what the
paragraph was about.)
As one can see
_____________________________________________________________________________________.

Conclusion Outline
Restate Your Thesis (State your thesis again including all the same ideas, but in a different
way.)
________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Summary (Summarize the key points of your essay.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Real World Connection (Connect the theme of your essay to a real world situation. Explain
how your theme and your real world connection are related.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zinger (The last sentence of your essay: leave your reader still thinking but signal that your
essay is over.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Conclusion Tips:
1. Transition into your conclusion: In conclusion, Given these points, As has been noted, As was
previously stated, etc.
2. Keep your summary brief and to the point. Focus on the most important parts of your essay.
3. Zinger what was the reader suppose to learn from your essay?