Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" provides middle schoolers with an opportunity to hone their close reading and literary analysis skills. After annotating their copy of the story, writer's craft an essay in which they analyze...

In an expository essay, a type of informational text, the writer clarifies or explains something by using facts, details, and examples in a clear and concise way. To write an effective expository essay, students need a basic...

If you are a teacher OR a student looking for a well-informed website on elements of the writing process, you are in luck! This site from the Capital Community College is very comprehensive and easy-to-navigate. From grammar basics to...

This lesson plan serves as an introduction to American literary non-fiction writing and focuses primarily on teaching some basic approaches to recognizing rhetorical strategies adopted for persuasive effect in essays and non-fiction. The...

This site has a great unit that leads students all the way through the writing process while composing a persuasive paper. Includes a teacher guide, mini-lessons, assessment rubric, and worksheets to help out at each step of the way.

This reference provides a summary of eight steps to follow when planning to write an essay.

This resource explains how to write an essay. Provides information regarding length, order, and opening strategies. W.9-10.1a claims/intro/org

Resources for helping students to write historical essays. Includes a movie trailer to demonstrate the traits of a good introduction, tips for writing a paragraph, tips for formal writing, and guidelines for citing sources.

Students listen to NPR weekly podcasts of "This I Believe" and "Science Friday." Then students will be asked to choose a scientific topic in which they believe they can make a difference. Finally, students will write an essay following...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Learn to write an expository essay by providing evidence that supports a thesis, articulating concepts and information correctly and concisely, understanding the...

In this unit, middle schoolers will gain background information on historic wars. Student will compare different media forms about these events, attend to different perspectives, research the unit's essential question, and then write an...

This lesson plan teaches students that writing a persuasive or argumentative essay for class is the same as writing an opinion article for their local newspaper. The lesson plan includes showing students examples of opinion writings and...

A fillable essay map in PDF format with boxes for an introduction, main ideas, supporting details, and a conclusion. Directions on how to use this type of graphic organizer as well as lists of teaching ideas and related resources are...

Key elements to consider in writing an essay. The process, time saving strategies, revising and proofreading are outlined and discussed.

Students will write a three-paragraph essay explaining the steps necessary to follow a recipe and then present and serve the recipe to their classmates.

Contains plans for nine lessons that ask young scholars to write autobiographies before creating multimedia presentations for them. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the...

This helpful resource details the process of writing, including how to plan, write, and revise. Content also includes the different types or genres of writing, and exercises in grammar and mechanics.

In this self-directed study involving research, composition, and presentation, learners analyze Chaucer's characters of The Canterbury Tales as presented in the Prologue. Each student casts a modern personality in the role of one of the...

This infographic is provided to help students with proofreading essays. Students will learn common essay writing mistakes and how to fix them. Students will also find fast and easy essay writing tips. Students will learn how to quickly...

This Indiana University of Pennsylvania Writing Center site provides tips to writing a strong conclusion to an essay. The article discusses incorporating an anecdote, a basic summary, a startling summary, famous ideas, and/or hints to...

A collection of assignments related to persuasive writing are provided on this site. Scaffolded assignments related to writing an effective introduction and identifying both sides of an issue are included. Exemplar persuasive essays with...

Argument essay terms are included in this review exercise. Interactive vocabulary flashcards are provided for the following words: argument, claim, support, reasons, evidence, and counterargument.

This site provides a brief overview of introductions, exploring what they are supposed to mean for an essay in writing.

An overview of essay writing in general with additional pages discussing descriptive, narrative, expository, and argumentative essays.