Sample Essay Drafting Outline Drafting Outline Required Argument Element Example In Your Essay Thesis Statement – This single sentence contains the focus of your essay and tells your reader what the essay is going to be about. Del Mar would be a more effective learning environment if students were allowed to complete homework at school. Hook/Attention Getter – Please offer an interesting/shocking/alarming fact, anecdote (a brief and interesting story that relates to your topic), question, comparison, dilemma, or simile/metaphor that pulls your audience into the piece. Remember being a kid and coming home from school. In that one moment, life was blissfully perfect. It was warm and sunny outside, and the laughter of your friends playing echoed through your open doorway. But before you could rush outside to join them but you are crushed when your mom asks, “What do you have for homework, little Billy?” Slowly, sadly, you remember the hours of homework from each class. So you sit at your desk, alone, silently, and your dreams of daylight and fun slowly fade to fractions and fragments. Logos – This logical appeal is based on logic or reason -- using facts to introduce a general position or claim or arguing a point that you support with facts. (Please offer a quote or paraphrase a text using proper citation, one that offers convincing facts and details from reliable sources.) 3 EXAMPLES REQUIRED (In your please use one of each: Logos, Ethos, Pathos to help form your argument.) "Is Homework Harmful or Helpful?" Web Edition. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. Alfie Kohn, author of, is an outspoken critic of at-home assignments. “Homework is frequently the source of frustration, exhaustion, family conflicts, a lack of time for kids to pursue other interests and, perhaps most disturbingly, less excitement about learning,” he insists. Ethos – The ethical appeal that is based on your credibility and reliability (Why should "Down With Homework! | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. crushing
readers listen to you?) or the reliability of experts that you refer to for support. Decades ago, the American Educational Research Association released this statement: “Whenever homework crowds out social experience, outdoor recreation, and creative activities, and whenever it usurps time that should be devoted to sleep, it is not meeting the basic needs of children and adolescents.” Pathos – The emotional appeal addresses an audience’s needs, values, and emotional sensibilities (Make your readers FEEL something!). When I get on the bus, a load literally comes off of my back. As I ride down the road to my house, the stress of school melts away. But the freedom is fleeting. The burden returns the minute I step off the bus; it returns in the form of homework. Concession and Counterargument – By acknowledging a point of view that opposes your own, you can show that you are a logical and fair-minded writer and thus strengthen your argument (Using Although, Even though, Though, Whereas, and While will help you in this task…). 1 EXAMPLE REQUIED "List of Pros and Cons of Homework." OccupyTheory. N.p., 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. “In a world where more and more parents are working and spending less time bonding with their children, homework is a great way to bring the family together. Older siblings can also get involved by helping their younger brothers and sisters with their homework assignments. This can lead to far greater peace and harmony in families where there is a significant age gap between siblings.” Call to Action – Please offer ideas that urge your audience (readers/listeners/viewers) to take an immediate action and sum up your main point. So for principal Vann Gardner, the superintendent, and the RUSD School Board, my question is this: do students really need hours of homework each night? The simple answer is no. Del Mar students are some of the best, brightest, and hardest working in the nation. They live in a beautiful environment, and sadly, many children don’t get to enjoy their friends or their families due to the homework load they face on a nightly basis. So do your part. When the district examines its homework policy, vote no on homework and vote yes for families!