HOW TO CREATE THE ANNOTATED PARAGRAPHS
- List 3important facts about Lee’s personal life, particularly focusing on her close childhood friend(s). How might such facts have influenced Lee in her writing? What famous author is portrayed through the character Dill?
1) How would you create a topic sentence from this question? List one below.
2) Look at the page on the Smart Board that is highlighted and the facts that were listed. Why would these facts be most helpful in answering question b?
Fact: She is descended from Robert E. Lee, Civil War commander of the Confederate Army.
Paraphrase: Lee is a relative of the Confederate Army’s Civil War commander, Robert E. Lee.
How would Lee perhaps use such information in her novel?
Fact: Lee's father had been born in Butler County, Alabama, in 1880 and moved to Monroeville in 1913. He served in the Alabama State Legislature from 1927 to 1939, and was the model for Atticus Finch, hero of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Paraphrase: Lee based many of the characters of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird on people in her real life. For example, her father was “the model for Atticus Finch,” the main protagonist of the novel. Both Lee’s father and Atticus were lawyers who “served in the AlabamaState Legislature.”
Fact:Truman Capote invited her to accompany him to Garden City, Kansas, in order to provide research for a non-fiction book involving the murder of a farm family. Lee and Capote traced their friendship back to 1928, when Capote moved to Monroeville to live with his aunts, who were the next-door-neighbors of the Lees. Lee based a character in To Kill a Mockingbird on Capote,
Paraphrase: Lee was close friends with Truman Capote since they were childhood neighbors. They met in 1928 when Capote moved to live with his aunts in Monroeville. Both became authors when they grew up, and Lee decided to base the character of Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird on her friend.
3)How would you create a clincher statement to close this paragraph? List one below.
4)What are some transitional words you will need to use in this paragraph?
5)Examine how the work done on the previous page is now transformed into a full body paragraph that includes both parenthetical and in text citations. This should serve as a model for the writing of your other required body paragraphs.
There are many important facts to know about Harper Lee’s life that helped to influence her writing. According to the article “Harper Lee” in Encyclopedia of World Biography,one important fact is that Lee is a relative of the Confederate Army’s Civil War commander, Robert E. Lee. This may mean that Lee’s novel is set in the American South with characters that have strong family traditions. Lee also based many of the characters of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird on people in her real life. For example, her father was “the model for Atticus Finch,” the main protagonist of the novel. Both Lee’s father and Atticus were lawyers who “served in the Alabama State Legislature.” In addition, Lee was close friends with Truman Capote since they were childhood neighbors. They met in 1928 when Capote moved to live with his aunts in Monroeville. Both became authors when they grew up, and Lee decided to base the character of Dill in To Kill a Mockingbirdon her friend (“Harper Lee,”Encyclopedia). It is clear that there are many biographical elements found in Lee’s famous novel.
- Underline and label the topic sentenceANDclincher statement above.
- Number the three different facts that are listed
- Circle all transitional words used.
- Note the use of the in text citation and label it
- Note the use of the parenthetical citation and label it