A Long Walk to Water Essay

Introduction

     We have just finished reading A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. As a final summative assessment for this unit, you will write an analytical essay to explore some of the issues we explored during our reading of the novel. 

Task

Your task is to write a five paragrph analytical essay in response to one of the three main questions we explored during this unit. A five paragraph essay means that you should have an introduction (with a clear, concise thesis statement), three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

The three essay prompts you have to choose from are:

1. How do culture, time, and place influence the characters' development in A Long Walk to Water?

2. What are the three most essential survival skills that Salva and Nya use to survive?

3. Are people mostly good or mostly cruel?

Choose ONE of the three prompts to answer for your essay.

You MUST use evidence from A Long Walk to Water in your essay. You can also choose to use evidence from the "Xenophobia" and "Historical Context of Sudan" non-fiction articles we read to support your claims.  

Process

In order to complete this task successfully, you should use the anchor charts and graphic organizers we gave you to help you flesh out your ideas and structure your paragraphs. 

For the introduction, be sure that you include the three essential components:

1. A hook to capture your reader's attention.

2. Context/ background information so that someone unfamiliar with the novel will be able to understand what the book is about.

3. A clear, concise thesis statement that both answers the essay prompt and states your position.

For the three body paragraphs, you should have two pieces of evidence to support each of your three topic sentences. Each body paragraph should be substantial in length (8 - 10 sentences) and should have the following components: 

Topic sentence
Introduce Evidence #1 (Context)
Evidence #1 (Quote)
Explain Evidence (What does it say?)
Analyze Evidence (How does it prove my topic sentence?)
Introduce Evidence #2 (Context)
Evidence #2 (Quote)
Explain Evidence (What does it say?)
Analyze Evidence (How does it prove my topic sentence?)

For the conclusion, be sure to include the three essential components:

1. Restate your thesis (in different words).

2. Review the main points of your essay.

3. End with a powerful, final statement.

Evaluation

Your essay will be evaluated using the rubric posted below. Please refer to it when writing your essay to be sure that you have included all of the necessary components. Also, be aware that spelling, grammar, and punctuation are a factor when evaluating your essay, so whether you choose to type or hand-write your essay, be sure to proofread your work!!

A cover page for your essay is not necessary, but you may include one if you'd like. You are allowed to write your essay neatly by hand, but if you choose to type it, it should be double-spaced and you have to use 12-point, Times New Roman font. Also, typed essays should be printed and handed in as a hard copy.

I will not accept any essays through e-mail or through Google docs!

So, if you are choosing to type your essay, make arrangements to have it printed BEFORE class begins on the due date. Late essays will have 5 points deducted from it for every day that it is late.

A Long Walk to Water Essay Rubric

 

5

4

3

2

1

Introduction

 

 

Blended hook, thesis, and context into an engaging paragraph that would be interesting to someone who has read the book, and someone who hasn’t.

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

Hook, thesis, or context could have been executed more clearly, but we get a decent overall sense of the scope of the essay.

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

Is missing key elements of the introduction.  Does not do a good job explaining what essay will cover, and would be confusing if you had not read the book before.

Body Paragraphs –
Content

Included at least two pieces of evidence (and proper citations) in each paragraph.  Connected that evidence to topic sentences and overall thesis of the essay.  

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

Might be missing a piece of evidence or a proper citation in one or more body paragraphs.

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

Missing several pieces of evidence and citations.  Merely presents quotes from the book without introducing or explaining their connections to topic sentences/thesis.

Body Paragraphs – Style

Shows that the author pushed herself/himself.  Varied sentence structure, used words outside of comfort zone.  Told the story of the essay in an interesting way.

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

Repeats some of the same phrases over and over again.  Body paragraphs have a robotic feeling to them because the structure of each is almost identical.

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

Body paragraphs are so short that there is not much that can be described as ‘style’.

Conclusion -

Restated thesis in a new way, reviewed the main points of the essay and closed the essay with a powerful final statement.

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

Conclusion succeeds in wrapping up essay, but more effort could have been put in to presenting the ideas in a more exciting way.

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

Also very brief, merely restates the thesis nearly identically and does not give the reader any final statement to think about.

Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation

The essay has been thoroughly proofread and corrected, especially for capitalization, apostrophes, sentence fragments, and run-on sentences.

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

The grammar is not terrible, but there are some mistakes that could have been caught if a little more time had been taken to do a final proofread.

 

 

 

<------- In between------->

Many mistakes in areas that we have covered in class.  Little to no time has been put in to proofread the essay for these mistakes.