Building on students' knowledge of paragraph structure, this PPT guides them through the process of expanding a paragraph into a multi-paragraph essay. Designed to prove to students that essay format, especially the ever-elusive thesis, is not a foreign concept, this lesson equates each component of a paragraph to its "twin" component in an essay. Includes anticipatory set and closure.

Using notecards, students take a well-developed paragraph, one with a strong topic sentence, three (or more) solid illustrations/body details, and an analytical conclusion, and expand it into the outline of an essay. The topic sentence becomes the thesis, each topic sentence serves the purpose of a topic sentence of a body paragraph to be developed, and the conclusion serves as the first sentence of the conclusion papragraph, instilling in students the need to analyze and NOT repeat.

I've have used this PPT for over five years, refining each year to help me quell the common writing mistakes of my 8th graders. This is a high-level lesson appropriate for high school students, and I have even used it to teach my Writing 102 class on occasion, especially for the purpose of illustrating the structure of an essay's conclusion, which I break into three parts: Emphasizing the Thesis (not merely repeating), Tying up Loose Ends, and the Wow! Statement. I use the PIE Paragraph structure in this lesson, but it may be adapted for use with your favorite structure.