This is a collection (Updated in 2011)of more advanced essay and composition lessons and handouts. (I also offer a set of basic essay lessons and handouts for the new teacher to use as a writing unit.) Here you will find more expanded instruction for quotation rules, a deeper discussion of complex thesis statements, and other essay writing skills. There are no prompts in the package because the materials here are for use with any book or unit.


This unit includes the following guides, handouts, and overhead/project-able documents:

1. An overhead to guide students in writing thorough conclusion paragraphs, with examples.
2. Peer-editing documents for student use.
3. A two-page student guide to essay writing. Hand these out and have students each keep one in their binder.
4. A project-able document to facilitate a lesson on omitting personal pronouns.
5. A handout for practice eliminating personal pronouns.
6. A rhetorical analysis guide for student essays. This is a word document designed for you to insert one of your better student essays. When you’ve done this, hand out the finished document and all students annotate the essay, offering both commendations and recommendations on the essay.
7. A project-able document explaining how to quote dialogue that already contains quotations.
8. A project-able document explaining how to offset longer quotations.
9. A project-able document explaining and demonstrating increasingly complex thesis statements.
10. An activity designed to teach students to use truly concrete (not abstract) examples to support their essays’ claims.
11. More than twenty rubrics for grading essays—change the point values, weighting, and comments to meet your needs. These are word documents, so they will be easy to customize. (Note: these are the same rubrics you’ll find in the basic essay package.)
12. A project-able document explaining how to increase personal voice in academic writing.
13. A handout on the meaning of the word analysis in academic writing.
14. A project-able document illustrating three ideal ways to transition between paragraphs.
15. A master document (project-able) of basic essay rules, to discuss just before the year’s first essay.
16. An activity (project-able) on smoothly transitioning from theme to thesis statement in introductory paragraphs.
17. A project-able document explaining and demonstrating strong introductory paragraphs—with examples.


Thanks.