Introduction
Do some of your friends is pregnant and still in high school? Did she dropped out? Did she knew was she was doing? How do you feel with this kind of situations happening in your school? Well, this is your chance to express yourself about this. The time to tell the world what the community should do about Teenage Pregnancy is now. Its time to tell those young girls to get protected or get abstinence. I'm going to show how you can do this by introducing you to the art of persuading, in where you are going to learn how to write essays and change people minds.
Task
Through this WebQuest you are going to learn how to make Argumentative/Persuasive Essays, in which you are going to express yourself about Teenage Pregnancy and offer a solution to stop this. You need to keep in mind that you have to evaluate your audience, present your argument with at least three supporting points and evidences. And last but not least, you are going to publish work in a blog, so the world could read what you have to say about this situation. But the question is, how do you start?
Process
At this stage I’m going to guide you, through a Power Point Presentation (PPT), in what to consider when making your Persuasive Essay. Then, when your finish going through the PPT, you are ready to follow these steps:
Step 1: Pre-writing
What about Teenage Pregnancy?
- Ask yourself the 5 W’s (Who? When? Where? What? How?) to get to know what you want to say in your essay about the topic. While doing this you can also use the following methods:
- Brain Storming (recommended)
- Clustering
- Free Writing
- Listing
Searching
- After getting to know what you want to say about Teenage Pregnancy, you are going to Search for it. You can go to these websites listed below, that allow you to access to information believable and reliable. As well as these links you can also make your own search online, but you need to keep in mind that the resource that you’re using needs to be reliable.
Drafting
- Drafting is the part when you begin to put the paper in paragraph form. When you begin to draft your writing, you need to keep in mind five separate writing techniques that will help your reader to understand your paper:
- Thesis statement: At the end of your introduction, write a one-sentence statement that is the basis for your entire paper. A good thesis statement lets the reader know what your paper will cover.
- Topic sentences: Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that states the main idea of that paragraph. Just like the thesis statement, the topic sentence lets you know what the paragraph contains.
- Sufficient support: While your opinions thoughts are important, they cannot be the legs your paper stands on. You need to support you topic ideas by developing the paragraphs with evidence from credible sources. Support comes in many different forms: statistics, researched information, observations, descriptions, case studies, interviews, personal experience, hypothetical situations, definitions, etc. (You can cite information from the websites that you to search for your topic.)
- Coherence: This means it all comes together. If an essay is coherent, all the paragraphs relate to the one before it and all the sentences relate to the one before it. Transitional words and phrases help to create bridges between sentences, words such as: however, for example, in other words, in contrast, nevertheless, etc. You set up the key words to an essay and a paragraph within the thesis statement and the topic sentences.
**You can also see an outline by clicking here.
Revision
- Revise your essay when you finish your draft. When you are revising, you need to see if the essay responds to the thesis statement (TS), topic sentences relates to the TS, evidences, grammar and coherence.
Editing
- This part is similar as the Revision, but here you are going to edit any information of your essay. For example, change and idea, clarify, cite more evidences, etc.
Step 2: E-mail
When you’re finish through Step 1, e-mal the teacher your essay so he/she can give you feedback on it. You can also ask questions if you need more guidance.
After the teacher revised your essay, you need to make the changes that where suggested by the professor or if not, leave it as it is and go to the next step.
Step 3: Publish
Congratulations! You just go to your last step.
At this point you are ready to publish your essay at the blog English Basics. This you will do this at class, in a computer with access to the internet, when the teacher announces the date. To have a preview of the blog you can click here. http://teenagepregnancy2020.wordpress.com
Evaluation
The evaluation of the Essay will be throug a Rubric.
To access to it click here.
Conclusion
When your finish with this assingment, you will be able to write, talk, express yourself and change others peoples minds. Also, you are having the power to contribute the world of Teenage Pregnancy and help orient those in your community. If you want to search more information or help Campaigns you can have access by clicking in the names bellow.
The National Campaign|To Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy
Teenage Pregnancy Health Campaign
SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy|Healty Youth. Bright Futures. Strong Communities
Credits
Finally, I'm listing here some other resources that you could use when your writing your Essay.
Teacher Page
Is you need any help, guidance or finish your draft, e-mail me at karla.davila2@upr.edu. I will anwer you as soon as posible.