Insert your compare/contrast paragraph as a comment to this post.

Writing Skills – Writing to Inform and Explain

When you write to inform or explain a process, thing, or event, you must base your writing on well-organized facts. The best way to do that is to research your topic and organize your data. First, discover the “who, what, when, where, why, and how” of a subject. Then, report your findings to the reader in a clear, organized way. For example, you might write an essay about an ancient culture. You discover that they played a kind of ball game in which the winner, not the loser, was sacrificed to the gods at the end of the game. A fascinating fact—a “what” in your

essay. But why sacrifice the winner? And what other details—all the other “Ws” and the “How” listed above—can you provide to fully inform your reader?

The next step is to organize all the facts into logical sequence. If you are writing to explain a process, such as how to play a video game, for example, be sure to include all the steps in order. Leave out one, and your reader might not get past level one!

Directions: Now practice writing to inform or explain by selecting one of the Jataka Tales to summarize on your own. Fill in the blanks below with the title of the story, purpose, (to teach a moral), and key facts. Then, write your Summary.

Story Title:

________________________

Purpose in writing (What is the moral of the story)?

________________________

Facts/details to include:

________________________

Summary

________________________

Provide your summary as a comment to this post.

Mr. B and Mrs. T

To complete portions of the Mesopotamia Activities, please use this blogsite.  The directions have been provided to you in the Mesopotamia Flash Movie.  You simply need to add a “comment” to this post in order to add your information!

-Mr. B and Ms.T

Hammurabi’s Code

Writing Assignment

“This is really a fine way of behaving! The gardeners keep breaking into the date storehouse and taking dates. You yourselves cover it up and do not report it to me! Bring these men to me – after they have paid for the dates”

- From a Mesopotamiam tablet

(History of Our World p. 46)

Write a law that applies to the gardeners who stole the dates. What do you think should happen to the people who didn’t tell about the theft?

Respond to the question by commenting to this post!

Mr. B and Mrs. T

Hi All!

Please post your views of what an Archaeologist of the Future might look like as a comment to this post!

-Mr. B and Mrs. T

• Recently Written

  • Indian Caste System
  • Hinduism Summary Writing
  • Mesopotamia Wrap Up!
  • Hammurabi’s Code
  • Archaeologists of the Future