Help for your SotU Essays

Peer Edit a classmates work.  Turn in with Final Draft initialed and red lined by at least one classmate.

Step 1  Look for:

Check first for answering outline questions fully.  should be able to easily find them in essay and understand the answer.

Essay should flow.  Verb agreement.  Do not switch between past and present tense in the course of the essay.

Run on sentences which ramble and don't flow.  Sentence Fragments which are missing a subject, verb, or predicate.

Outline

Paragraph 1: Introduction

-        Define purpose of the State of the Union

-        What are 3 of the issues that Obama talks about in SotU?

-        Which issue/action is most important?

Paragraph 2:  Body

-        Explain how your issue/concern is more important than the other two?

-        How does the evidence supplied by the president support that action?

-        What will happen if we do not solve the issue?

-        How will it benefit the nation if the action is passed into law?

Paragraph 3:  Body/Conclusion

-        Why is  your action controversial or not?

-        What party would support your action?  Why?

-        What party would oppose?  Why?

-        How might this issue be compromised to make it more palatable to both parties?

-Conclusion

Step 2:

Use the following websites to assist in flushing out 3rd Paragraph
Remember you can use ctrl-F to search documents for keywords like your issues.

Republican Platform Website


Democrat Platform Summary Website


Difference between Platforms  NYT article