Essay Planning Worksheet
A worksheet for 8th-grade students to practice essential essay planning skills, including brainstorming, outlining, and developing thesis statements.
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Essay Planning Worksheet
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Read each question carefully and provide thoughtful responses. This worksheet will help you practice essential steps in planning a well-organized essay.
1. Choose one of the following essay prompts and brainstorm at least five ideas or points you could discuss. Use bullet points or a short paragraph.
Prompt A: Should social media companies be held responsible for the spread of misinformation?
Prompt B: Discuss the impact of a significant historical event on modern society.
2. Complete the following sentences to create effective thesis statements based on your chosen prompt from Question 1.
For Prompt A, a strong thesis statement would argue that social media companies because .
For Prompt B, the historical event of significantly impacted modern society by .
3. Match each part of an essay with its primary purpose.
1. Introduction
a. Summarizes main points and restates thesis.
2. Body Paragraphs
b. Provides background and presents the thesis statement.
3. Conclusion
c. Develops arguments with evidence and explanations.
4. Create a simple outline for an essay based on the prompt you chose in Question 1. Include a thesis statement, at least three main body paragraph topics, and a concluding thought.