The first body paragraph should be an introduction with a ‘hook’ for the first sentence/s.The first sentence should engage the reader’s attention and draw them into the paper that you have written.The introduction should include a topic sentence that includes the information about the event you attended (the name of the event, main participant/s, and date).It may be necessary to include more information about the event.For instance, if the event is a discussion about the common reading book, then you would provide this elaboration.The last sentence needs to be your thesis statement.The thesis statement contains your topic (what the paper is about), your opinion (your position on the topic), your specific points (main ideas that will be covered) and a ‘so what’ (what is the point of your response).The thesis statement should be arguable.The paper is from your opinion and contains your discoveries and thoughts; it makes sense, that someone else who viewed the event would formulate separate discoveries and thoughts with differing opinions.The thesis should be clear and focused; the arguing is done in the main paragraphs, so you should not be providing detailed evidence or support within the thesis.Many successful thesis statements are carefully constructed and go through several evolutions.Often, it is helpful to write with a thesaurus, so that the words chosen are appropriate for the meaning of the sentence.Lastly, the thesis should be a summary of the paper’s argument and main points.One should always check that the thesis statement matches the subjects of all points in the paper.If a point is not referenced in the thesis, then the paragraph may need to be removed, or the thesis needs to be tweaked.
The body paragraphs should contain your main points.The paragraphs will reflect on your experience of the event: what you have learned, been introduced to, formed an opinion about, or reacted to.Again, your experience of the event will be different from someone else’s.You will respond differently to the event due to your own experiences and knowledge base.You may pick up on certain moments that someone else might not consider as deeply.This helps to construct your opinion about what you found interesting.For some students, it is helpful to contain a paragraph that offers a summary of the event.The paragraph should still contain your opinion as it is from your own personal response.The summary might contain information about the event’s main points or any arguments of the speaker that you address in the thesis and body paragraphs. Other students like to weave the summary into their main paragraphs, this is perfectly fine too.In this case, the main paragraphs should provide your response to the event’s ‘chapters’ and it should be clear that you have formulated an opinion about the information in the event.Either way, it is important to double-check that the paper reveals your supporting evidence as mentioned in the thesis.A paper that simply contains a play-by-play of the event will receive 0 points.It needs to contain your carefully formulated thoughts.
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