This document provides an agenda for Class 20 which includes discussing the due date for Essay #2 and analyzing an essay by Toufexis. It prompts students to consider topic ideas for their own Essay #3 on a concept from The Hunger Games. Students are asked to brainstorm two topic possibilities and write a paragraph sketching out what they already know about one of the concepts. The homework outlined is to continue reading assigned texts, post a concept paragraph and definitions online, and bring course materials to the next class.

1. Class 20
EWRT 1A

2. AGENDA
• Due: Essay #2
• Discussion: Toufexis
Toufexis: Hooking the reader.
Toufexis: A focused concept, logical plan 145-48
• Writing: Consider topics for your essay from The
Hunger Games.

3. Toufexis “ Love: The Right
Chemistry

4. First, answer these questions
about Toufexis’s essay
• First, summarize the story.
• How does Toufexis “Hook the Reader”?
• How does Toufexis focus her plan?
• How does she create a logical plan?

5. Is this how you summarized it?
Hooking the reader

6. Here is how Toufexis hooks the reader:
did you identify these strategies?
o The title—”Love: The Right Chemistry”
o The epigraph quoting Greta Garbo’s line
from the film Ninotchka.
o The conversational tone of the essay
• Using “O.K.” and “Let’s” rather than
the more formal “let us.”
Focusing the Plan

7. Focusing the Plan
What She Does What She Does Not Do
• She focuses on certain • Because she wants to
scientific aspects of emphasize love as a tool
romantic love, specifically to promote reproduction,
the evolutionary biology and she does NOT include
neurochemistry of love
same-sex love, or
between adult human
nonsexual love between
heterosexual mates.
friends and family
• By keeping to her focus,
members
she is able to present
information that is • She does NOT discuss
unfamiliar, and therefore views on love by various
interesting, to her readers. religions or cultures.
A logical plan

8. Here is her logical plan: She provides clues for the reader
o Introduction of topic o Transitions
o Thesis
o Forecast
Introduction of Concept: Paragraph 1: She announces that she is writing about “romantic
love,” a concept that she will address with “scientific precision.”
Thesis: Paragraph 2: What seems on the surface to be irrational, intoxicated behavior is in
fact part of nature’s master strategy—a vital force that has helped humans survive, thrive,
and multiply through thousands of years”
Forecast: In paragraph two: “Love rests firmly on the foundations of evolution, biology, and
chemistry.”
Toufexis also uses transitions to let the readers know when she is leaving one topic and
going to another: here is the transition from biology to neurochemistry:

9. Remember your
Goal!
You will write a concept essay much like one
of these we read in class

10. Remember the assignment!
The Concept
Essay
Essay #3
• Topic: Write an essay about
750-1200 words
a concept from The Hunger
Games that interests you 125 points possible
and that you want to study MLA-style formatting and
further. When you have a citations
good understanding of the Works Cited page must
concept you have chosen, include three entries: The
Hunger Games, A
explain it to your readers,
Dictionary or other defining
considering carefully what
source, and a book or
they might already know article from a credible
about it and how your essay source.
might add to what they know.

11. Hunger, Cold, Friendship, Safety,
Justice, Fair play, Class, Game, Play,
Power, Identity, Strength,
Competition, Sacrifice, Spectacle,
Schadenfreude (happiness derived
from others’ misfortunes), Fear,
Privilege, Equality, Legal, Skill,
Remember the Topics to
Consider:

12. Try this brainstorming drill
again
• Consider topics for your essay
from The Hunger Games.
o Consider two different possibilities.
o Write a paragraph for one of them,
sketching out what you already know
about the concept.

13. Homework
• Read: HG through chapter 19; SMG 148-163
• Post #22:
o Finish and post your concept paragraph.
o Find two different definitions for your concept. One can be from a dictionary.
• Post #23: Name the two concepts about which you wrote
paragraphs (one from today and one from yesterday). Find a
few lines from The Hunger Games that illustrate each
concept. Copy them into your post, and then explain how the
example demonstrates, defines, or embodies the concept.
• Study: Vocab (10-18)
• Bring: SMG to Class