You will write the first draft of a short essay that is inspired by a professional essay in our textbook called “The Most Hateful Words” by Amy Tanor by a student-authored essay, “From Bullet to Blue Sky,” by Yesenia De Jesus.  It is important that you read these two essays before selecting one of the following prompts. You will then be ready to generate ideas for your own writing.

Choose Prompt 1 or Prompt 2 to begin working on your essay.

Prompt 1: Argue about why granting forgiveness is (or is not) the best way to handle a situation where someone hurts us. 

Begin by reading Tan’s essay. Then, use the topic “forgiveness” to generate a thesis statement that shows your stand on this issue (i.e., you will either be for or against the idea that forgiveness is the answer to being hurt). 

Prompt 2: Write an essay that focuses on a person who has inspired you. Your essay will include examples and explanations of what that person did to inspire you and how he or she has had a positive impact on your life. 

For either Prompt 1 or Prompt 2, begin to draft the short essay by creating a one-paragraph introduction that includes your thesis statement.  Then use outlining or mapping to create the three elements of PIE (see Lecture) for a well-developed body paragraph. Finally, , wrap up everything in a one-paragraph conclusion. Your essay draft should be a total of three full paragraphs.