Julio CortazarArgumentative Take Home Benchmark 8CP

Now that you have investigated a specific event or relationship in Julio Cortazar’s life and researched evidence in his two angst-filled short stories “Night Face Up,”and “Don’t You Blame Anyone,” you are ready to write an argumentative essay to create your claim, clarify it, fortify it, negotiate it and close it. Your final essay of the year will serve as your final Trimester 3 Benchmark AND your final argumentative essay writing score. This means that this essay will account for 300 points of your grade as well as your Benchmark which accounts for 10% of your grade. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your command of literacy (100 POINTS), argumentation (100 POINTS) and grammar/word precision (100 POINTS). YOU MUST TAKE THIS TASK SERIOUSLY, WORK ON IT OVER TIME, DEMONSTRATE YOUR BEST (MOST POLISHED) ABILITY, AND TURN IT IN TYPED (NO EXCUSES) ON TIME.

Write a 3-paragraph essay (OP, BP, CP), establishing a clear argument (claim/thesis). Highlight (with a highlighter) your OP thesis, your BP claim, and your vocabulary.

Task is due: Monday, May 9

  • Typed, double-spaced, 14 font
  • Creatively titled
  • You must include 3 Unit 3 SAT Vocabulary words in your essay (Highlight them), and they may not be in your fortifying evidence.
  • Review attached rubric
  • Follow attached outline closely, and refer to your spiral for notes.
  • ASK QUESTIONS

Julio Cortazar Essay and Take-Home Benchmark

Exceeds Standard / Meets Standard / Approaching Standard / Does Not Meet Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text. (100 Points)
CCSS.ELA-
Writing 8.1:
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence; establish the context of the topic; acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims;
demonstrate an understanding of the topic and texts. (100 points)
Grammar:
Uses a variety of sentence types without run-ons or fragments, uses punctuation correctly, and has no spelling errors. Proofreading is evident.
Word Choice:
Use precise words and phrases to capture the action and convey experiences and events. (100 points)
Benchmark
An average of all four grading areas above (10% of Trimester 3 grade)

Julio Cortazar Take-Home Benchmark Argumentative Essay Directions/Outline

Directions:

Write a 3-paragraph essay (OP, BP, CP), establishing a clear argument (claim/thesis). Highlight (with a highlighter) your OP thesis, your BP claim, and your vocabulary.

  • Typed, double-spaced, 14 font
  • Creatively titled
  • You must include 3 Unit 3 SAT Vocabulary words in your essay (Highlight them), and they may not be in your fortifying evidence.
  • Review attached rubric
  • Follow this outline closely, and refer to your spiral for notes.
  • ASK QUESTIONS. Don’t wait until the last minute.
  • Task is due: Monday, May 9

Outline:

Opening paragraph:

  1. In several sentences, engage and orient the reader by introducing the relationship between authors’ lives, in general, and their works of literature, in general.
  2. In several sentences, introduce Julio Cortazar: Who is he? Why/How is he interesting?
  3. Introduce Cortazar’s story “Don’t You Blame Anyone”, and briefly tell what the story is about.
  4. Introduce “The Night Face Up,” and briefly tell what the story is about.
  5. PROMPT: (Respond with a Thesis Statement/Claim) In Julio Cortazar’s life, what experience or relationship seeps into his stories “Don’t You Blame Anyone” and “The Night Face Up” (Be brief), illustrating how literature is a mirror image of life?

Body Paragraph: (A long, thorough one! Follow this format!) Each bullet represents one sentence.

  • Create a claim: How (in what ways) does Cortazar’s experience or relationship appear in his stories? Now, be detailed.
  • Clarify
  • Transition+ Negotiate (another possible explanation for his stories that you did not research but heard about during Socratic Seminar). Tell why this is a reasonable possibility.
  • Refutation: Emphasize why your claim is more appropriate than the negotiation point and why.
  • Transition+ Build (Provide background on Julio Cortazar based on your research)
  • Clarify
  • Transition, + more information about Cortazar that will help you to move into your evidence + : + “Fortify with evidence from your online research about the author that is at least one complete detailed sentence” (citation). Your evidence may NOT say anything you have written thus far in your essay. Evidence fortifies; it never repeats.
  • Clarify
  • Transition, + story context about “Don’t You Blame Anyone” that reveals what is happening in the story just before your evidence from this story + : + “Fortify with evidence from this story that supports your claim” (citation).Your evidence may NOT say anything you have written thus far in your essay. Evidence fortifies; it never repeats.
  • Clarifyhow this evidence illustrates your claim.
  • Transition, + story context about “The Night Face Up” that reveals what is happening in the story just before your evidence from this story + : + “Fortify with evidence from this story that supports your claim” (citation).Your evidence may NOT say anything you have written thus far in your essay. Evidence fortifies; it never repeats.
  • Clarify how this evidence illustrates your claim.
  • Close: Why is seeing this connection between Cortazar and his short stories a relevant insight?

Closing Paragraph

  • In several sentences summarize your claim and your reasoning.
  • Then, in 2-3 sentences, make meaning of this investigation by answering the following question: How does literature provide insight into life, and howdoes life provide inspiration for literature. Be pretty, poetic, deep and detailed in this section. Be unique.

Title

Choose a creative title for your essay by selecting your most interesting words from the last 3 sentences of your essay and combining them in an interesting way to create a title. If you have no interesting words to choose, revise your closing.