Thesis and introduction help needed

by Eloise Gay
(Cincinnati, Ohio )

I need essay help with my introductory paragraph, including my thesis sentence. I don't know what to write. My story is about prepare for old man winter.

Linda responds: Preparing for winter is a subject you know about if you live in Cincinnati, Ohio. What you don't know is how to write about what you know.

What you will write is an essay, not what you called a "storie." An essay is a piece of nonfiction. Most essays are developed in what I call thesis + support fashion.

Your teacher has given you a cutsy title, but the topic might be better stated as preparations for winter or winter preparedness. The implication is that you are to discuss how to prepare for something that is unpleasant, difficult, and possibly dangerous.

To write an essay, begin by building some possible thesis statements. You do that by combining your topic with assertions about the topic so that the combined topic and assertion read as a complete sentence.

You didn't say whether the teacher specified whether this is supposed to be a particular type of essay, such as a how-to essay or a persuasive essay; I'll give ideas for both types.

Thesis statements for how-to essays:
Thesis statement #1: Prepare your home for winter.
Thesis statement #2: Prepare your car for winter.
Thesis statement #3: Prepare your body for winter.
Thesis statement #4: Prepare your school backpack for winter.

Thesis statements for persuasive essays:
Thesis statement #1: You should prepare your home for winter.
Thesis statement #2: You should prepare your car for winter.
Thesis statement #3: You should prepare your body for winter.
Thesis statement #4: You should prepare your school backpack for winter.

Once you have chosen a thesis statement, your next step is to decide on three or more points you can use to develop the thesis. For a persuasive essay, you can use the standard writing skeleton™ formula. For a how-to, change the because to by and fill in the blank, like this: Prepare your body for winter by getting a flu shot.
After that, you will need to add your specific evidence.

Please don't forget to check your work before you turn it in to your teacher, Eloise. I cleaned up the errors in your submission to the forum so displaying your submission wouldn't embarrass me. However, the text you submitted had five of the 22 words misspelled, you didn't write in complete sentences, and you didn't follow the rules for capitalization you should have learned by third grade. That level of work is unacceptable.