UNIT 4 SUMMATIVE ESSAY 

PROMPT: 
CAN WAR BE USED FOR GOOD,
OR IS IT TOO DESTRUCTIVE TO
BE POSITIVE?
DIRECTIONS​:
❏CHOOSE A SIDE (FOR OR AGAINST WAR)
❏CREATE A THESIS
❏USE THE OUTLINE TO TAKE YOU STEP BY STEP THROUGH
THE PROCESS OF WRITING
❏USE THE CHECKLIST INCLUDED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE
DOCUMENT TO ENSURE THAT YOU’VE COMPLETED ALL
THE NECESSARY STEPS
1. Plan Thesis (Topic Sentence Choices):
SIMPLE
STATEMENT

FANBOYS Some feel that war is used to save are country, but it just puts stress and causes PTSD for the
person fighting the war.

2. Organize Ideas in an outline:

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Hook “War is neither glamorous nor attractive. It is monstrous. Its very nature is one of tragedy and
suffering."
-The Dalai Lama

Background In Tim O'Brien's novel "The Things They Carried", he talks about the horror and all the
Information suffering that he and his platoon experienced.

Thesis (Claim) Some feel that war is used to save our country, but the reality is that war puts stress and causes
 PTSD for the person fighting the war.

Preview Big For a man named Rat Kiley in the novel, it depicted the mental trauma that he went through
Ideas after his best friend Curt Lemon died. While some may say that he didn't hurt himself or
anyone in his platoon that it's fine with what Kiley did. It shows how the war can make you go
crazy and make you feel different types of trauma.

Paragraph 2: Claim

Claim War is not a good thing, it causes more problems then what you're trying to fix. Thus it can't be
used for good.

Reason 1 First and foremost, war can't be used for good because it puts soldiers in stressful and traumatic
situations which can cause a person to develop PTSD.

Evidence O’Brien states that "In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what
(USE happened from what seemed to happen."
ARTICLES (O'Brien,71)
OR TTTC)

Explain The quote explains how the war was seen as fake or made them feel like it wasn't really happening
at some points in time.

Conclusion This shows how war can destroy a person's mind and potentially ruin their life.
Sentence

Paragraph 3: Counterclaim

Counterclaim Nevertheless, many may argue that war is a force used for good due to the fact that we are just
protecting our country.
+ Reason

Evidence For Tim O'Brien in his novel "The Things They Carried", he states that he "felt a certain smugness
(USE about how easily he had made the shift from war to peace."
ARTICLES
OR TTTC)

Explain This implies that if O'Brien can make the transition from war to the real world, so can others.

Conclusion This shows that not everyone experiences trauma during the war and that many can find a way to
Sentence cope with PTSD.

Paragraph 4: Rebuttal

Rebuttal On the other hand, one may feel that the soldiers that have PTSD or trauma would cut themselves
off from help because they feel like they might have to re-live the past.

Evidence The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) brought where attention to the
(USE issue of PTSD as it found that as many as 15 percents of Veterans had PTSD.
ARTICLES (https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/publications/agent-orange/agent-orange-summer-201
OR TTTC) 5/nvvls.asp)

Explain This means that when this study was conducted, 405,000 veterans never received help from a
mental health professional.

Conclusion In all, many veterans struggle with PTSD and they don't receive any help.
Sentence

Paragraph 5: Conclusion

Restate Thesis PTSD is a common side effect of war that the American public doesn't really accept as
(Claim) legitimate.

Review Big Ideas The trauma that veterans face is both unique and complex for every soldier.

Call to action The issues that veterans face are both hard and easy to deal with; for us, as a nation to help our
veterans we will need to unite, and put together a program. We should put most of the soldiers
through a rehabilitation period where they are treated and introduced to the civil world.
 Unit 4 Summative Checklist 

Directions​: Finish typing your final draft then read over it one last time and check that you have everything
you need to make an A. ​HIGHLIGHT EACH LINE WHEN IT IS COMPLETED

Essay format
❏ I have an introduction paragraph.
❏ I have a conclusion paragraph.
❏ My whole final draft is in Times New Roman 12 point font
❏ My whole final draft is double-spaced, proper MLA format.

Grammar
❏ I capitalized the first word of each sentence.
❏ I have a period at the end of every sentence.
❏ I don’t have any really long run on sentences.
❏ I used the correct words, no SDIs.
❏ There (that place), their (belong to them), they’re (they are)

Evidence
❏ I have text evidence for each reason or big idea.
❏ I introduced each quote with Source + verb +“quote.”
❏ I ended each quote with (last name or first word of (web) page title, page#).
❏ At the end of my paper I have a MLA work cited entry for each different source I quoted.

Argument
❏ I don’t switch sides during my argument.
❏ I wrote a rebuttal for every counterclaim reason.
❏ I used transitions for every counterclaim and rebuttal.
❏ I explains the why each reason is true, how the evidence proves this, and how it is connected
to my claim.

Turn it in
❏ Click the “Turn In” button on the assignment page in Google
Classroom.