This document provides the agenda and notes for an English class discussion on writing concept essays using The Hunger Games as source material. It includes instructions for students to choose a concept from the book to analyze, provides example concepts to consider, and gives guidance on outlining what is already known about the selected concept. Students are then instructed to post a preliminary concept paragraph and find definitions for their chosen topic from different sources. The homework assignments involve continuing to develop the concept essay idea through additional reading, example analysis from the book, and a journal entry from Prim's perspective watching Katniss in the games.

1. Class 20
EWRT 1A

2. AGENDA
• 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?
oThe title—”Love: The Right Chemistry”
oThe epigraph quoting Greta Garbo’s line
from the film Ninotchka.
oThe 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
scientific aspects of
romantic love, specifically
the evolutionary biology and
neurochemistry of love
between adult human
heterosexual mates.
• By keeping to her focus,
she is able to present
information that is
unfamiliar, and therefore
interesting, to her readers.
• Because she wants to
emphasize love as a tool
to promote reproduction,
she does NOT include
same-sex love, or
nonsexual love between
friends and family
members
• She does NOT discuss
views on love by various
religions or cultures.
A logical plan

8. o Introduction of topic
o Thesis
o Forecast
o Transitions
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:
Here is her logical plan: She provides clues for the reader

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

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

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, or?
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 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.
• Post # 24 Journal: Write from the perspective of Prim watching the Hunger
Games live on her television. What does she feel, say, and experience seeing
her sister in the games.
• Study: Vocab (10-18)
• Bring: SMG to Class