Outline Sample:

•Prompt: Write an essay about an unusual food you have eaten. Explain what makes it so unusual.

Brainstorming (unusual food I’ve eaten):

  • Sushi
  • Calamari
  • Poutine
  • Snapper soup
  • Pork knuckle

Brainstorming (explain why Poutine is unusal):

  • It’s french fries covered in gravy, duck, and cheese curds
  • It’s generally found in Canada, but not the United States
  • The texture is very slimy
  • It looks pretty gross

Thesis statement:

The most unusual food I’ve ever eaten is duck poutine because it is a brown and slimy dish, full of ingredients most Americans wouldn’t put together as it is mostly served in Canada.

Hook:

I used to have a reputation for ordering a bacon cheeseburger at every single restaurant—I always knew I would like it, and wanted to be safe. My sister would sneer at me over her fancy salads and daring seafood dishes, but I never minded. I knew what I wanted. So I suppose it must have been surprising when, on our trip to Canada, the rest of my family ordered my usual and I chose an` item that looked, essentially, like a very messy pile of dog’s droppings.

Body Paragraphs:

  1. What poutine is, and how Americans see that combination of ingredients as unusual
  2. It’s an appetizer that comes in several varieties, served over fries.
  3. Gravy—not usually something you put on fries. We prefer it on mashed potatoes.
  4. Cheese curds—I had never tried these before, and honestly the name is a little too close to “turds” if you ask me.
  5. Duck—not a meat served in most restaurants, unless they are French.
  6. Where poutine is served.
  7. Canada—it was on every menu there in tons of varieties. It was like their cheese fries.
  8. Not the United States—I have never seen it on a single menu and even pronounced it incorrectly when ordering it
  9. What Poutine looks, feels, and tastes like.
  10. It looks horrible—brown and slimy looking and covered in white chunks (the cheese curds)
  11. It feels slimey—you have to eat it with a knife and fork even though it’s an appetizer and duck is a really greasy meat, so the oils from the duck and the gravy made it especially slimy.
  12. It tastes awesome—it is all savory (like cheese fries are) instead of ketchup or honey mustard, which are slightly sweet dipping sauces. It also felt more like a full meal and less than an appetizer.

Homework:

Practice: Pretend that you were just assigned this timed writing prompt.

•Prompt: The school is debating whether it wants to keep class sizes as they are (20-30 students per class), or reduce the average class size to 10-12 students per class. Do you think this is a wise decision? Defend your argument.

•Do Now: think about how you would answer the prompt and generate an outline or plan for your hypothetical paper that contains:

•Hook

•Thesis statement

•Three main points