GED Essay

Essay - approximately 45 minutes

For the second part of the Language Art Writing
Test, you will write an essay about an issue or
subject of general interest. You will have
approximately 45 minutes to plan, write, and
revise your essay.
You will be given scratch paper on which you may
jot notes and outline your ideas. The answer
booklet has two pages of lined paper for you to
write your final essay.

Scoring of the essay (see p.100):

Two trained readers will score your essay on a 4-point
scale, and the scores will be averaged to give you a final
score. If you earn a final score of less than 2 on the essay,
you must retake both parts of the test. Your score will be
based on:

Well-focused main points
Clear organization
Specific development of your ideas
Control of sentence structure, punctuation, grammar, and
word choice

Step 1:
Read the instructions and the topic carefully
compare/contrast, agree/disagree, describe

Youll be given a topic to write on you must write on that topic
There will be two parts to the prompt topic and instructions dont ignore the
instructions

It is difficult to make changes in one's life. Do you agree with this statement?
State your view in an essay. Use your personal observations, experience, and
knowledge.

Is watching television good or bad for children? In your essay, tell whether you
think watching television is good or bad for children. Give reasons for your
opinion.

Many people say that they are under more and more stress. In your essay, explain
why people feel their amount of stress is increasing.

Which is bettera car or a sport-utility vehicle? In your essay, state which kind of
vehicle you think is better. State the advantages and disadvantages of each kind of
vehicle.


Step 2:
Figure out your thesis statement your answer to the
question

Make sure that you can support your answer. Your answer
does not have to be true or interesting or funny or be in
agreement with what the grader thinks it just has to be well
supported!

Step 3:
Write an essay map

This consists of your 3 main ideas that support
your thesis statement

Step 4:
Brainstorm
Write down thoughts on each main idea
Cross out anything that doesnt match the
topic at all, revise your main points if you
need more to work with or you find yourself
coming up with a better strategy.

Step 5:
Write your five paragraph essay using your
thesis statement and essay map as an outline.

For a 5-paragraph essay, we write three kinds
of paragraphs: introductions, development
paragraphs (also called body paragraphs), and
conclusions. Each has different goals and
requirements.

Introductory paragraph
Lead-in:
An introductory paragraph can include background
information or a "hook" that get the reader interested in
the subject of the essay. The attention-grabber you use
is up to you, but if you're not sure if your idea works, it's
okay to just leave it out.
Example lead-in: Any person could be called a friend, but
it takes a special person to be considered a good friend.
That special person has qualities other people may not
have.



Introductory Paragraph
Thesis Statement:
This is the controlling idea of the entire essay.
You can think of it as the "answer" to
whatever question was asked. It doesn't have
to be placed anywhere in particular within
your introductory paragraph, but it does have
to be there and be identifiable as the main
idea of the essay.

Introductory Paragraph
Essay Map:
An important job of the introductory paragraph is
letting the reader know what to expect. An essay map
tells, briefly, what each body paragraph will be about.
Each of the three supports or reasons that you will
write about in your essay should be introduced in your
essay map in the same order in which they will be
presented. It doesn't matter if your essay map is part of
your thesis, only one additional sentence, or several
additional sentences - but you must have an essay map
of some kind in order to demonstrate that you have an
organized plan for your writing.

Example Intro Paragraph (p.91)
"A dog is man's best friend." That common
saying may contain some truth, but dogs are
not the only animal friends whose
companionship people enjoy. For many
people, a cat is their best friend. Despite what
dog lovers may believe, cats make excellent
house pets. Cats are good companions,
civilized housemates, and undemanding pets.

Body Paragraphs
Each body paragraph should begin with a topic
sentence. A topic sentence is much like a thesis
statement for a paragraph - it lets the reader
know what idea is going to be explained or
justified in each paragraph. In writing your topic
sentences, use your essay map as a guide. The
topic sentence will introduce the single
reason/support that is talked about in each body
paragraph. You can think of the topic sentence as
answering the question: "why is this reason or
support important?".

Body Paragraphs
Unity means that everything in the paragraph supports a single idea
and purpose. To make a paragraph effective, you have to know
what point you're trying to make, make your reader see it, and
include in your paragraph only material that supports your point.
You have to exclude what doesn't support that point, even if what
you exclude is your favorite idea or specific of all time.

Coherence means that everything fits together smoothly.
Coherence arises in part from unity, because if every sentence
supports the paragraph's idea, then there must be some
connections there. Coherence also arises from the order of the
elements. If, for example, the sentences follow time order
(chronological order), the reader will see the underlying
connections easily.

Body Paragraphs
Adequate development means that the
paragraph provides sufficient evidence or
support to make its central idea clear and/or
convincing. Abstract and general terms offer
less effective support than concrete and
specific terms. The best way to provide
adequate development in your GED Essay
body paragraphs is to use specific examples.

Example Body Paragraph (p.91)
In the first place, people enjoy the companionship of
cats. Many cats are affectionate. They will snuggle up
and ask to be petted, or scratched under the chin. Who
can resist a purring cat? If they're not feeling
affectionate, cats are generally quite playful. They love
to chase balls and feathers, or just about anything
dangling from a string. They especially enjoy playing
when their owners are participating in the game.
Contrary to popular opinion, cats can be trained. Using
rewards and punishments, just like with a dog, a cat
can be trained to avoid unwanted behavior or perform
tricks. Cats will even fetch!

Concluding Paragraph
Use your conclusion to drive home the points you have made in the body of your
essay. In addition, your conclusion should give a sense of finality, which may be
achieved in one of several ways.

1.) The easiest way to conclude your paper is to review its major ideas. Your essay
map will be a good guide to use for this method. In a conclusion for a paper in
which the writer explains why he belongs to a book club, this type of conclusion
might include something like:
"Convenience, variety, and economy-these were my reasons for joining a book
club. I have not been disappointed."

2.) Another easy way to conclude your essay is with a restatement of the thesis,
although in different words to avoid monotony.

Forms of conclusions, like forms of introductions, vary. All conclusions, however,
should be related to what has gone before. When writing your conclusion, be sure
you don't present new or irrelevant material - material that has not been
presented in the body of the paper.

Example Conclusion (p.91)
Cats are low-maintenance, civilized
companions. People who have small living
quarters or less time for pet care should
appreciate these characteristics of cats.
However, many people who have plenty of
space and time still opt to have a cat because
they love the cat personality. In many ways,
cats are the ideal housepet.

GED Essay Format
Intro paragraph
Lead-in (optional)
Thesis Statement
Essay Map
3 Body Paragraphs
Topic Sentence
Details and Examples
Conclusion
Restate main ideas and thesis in different words
Provide a sense of finality to let the reader know youre
done.
Step 6:
Edit Your Essay:
Save ten minutes of your allotted time to revise and
edit your GED essay once you've finished writing.
Read carefully through your essay. Watch for spelling,
punctuation and grammar errors. Correct them.
Review the organization of your essay. Read it AGAIN,
making sure your key points stay in the same order
from the introduction through the conclusion.
Take a deep breath and hand it in. You've done your
best, now go home to recuperate.

Scoring of the GED Writing Test:

The score you achieve on Part 1 (editing) will be combined with the
score you receive on Part 2 (esaay). The combined score will be
reported to you. You cannot pass the GED Writing Test if you get a
score lower than a 2 on the essay.
The Essay is read and scored by two different evaluators. Each
evaluator will give you a score of 1 to 4. The two scores will be
averaged, and the average will be combined with your score from
Part 1. When you are notified, you will receive one combined score
for the GED Writing Test.
The essay will be graded holistically, which means that the two
readers will each read the essay once, quickly but thoroughly, and
give you a score based on an overall impression of effectiveness.
Your essay score represents about 40% of your total score with the
remaining 60% coming from Part 1.

Read the essays on pages 101 and 102
What scores do you think these essays
received?
The first essay positive change received a 3
The second essay friends received a 4

The GED essay does not have to be fine art.
The most important things are to answer the
question carefully, stay on topic, and be
organized!
Pages 90 - 106 in your book are about the GED
essay.

Do the coffee talk outlining activity on pages 95
99. Download the document from the link, type
in your answers and submit it to me for feedback.
Getting a good outline of your answer and three main
points, and getting it done fairly quickly, is half the
battle!
After youve received feedback about your
coffee talk assignment, move ahead to the full
length practice essay.
When youve submitted that and gotten a
chance to receive and ask questions about
your grade, use the links on BB to do both
parts of the Writing Predictor Test.
Dont forget to send me your score for the
first part and a copy of your essay for the
second part!