Kelly gave me Katya's essay to review during this one hour class. Katya has a good start on this type of essay writing, but it needs to be more spot-on to the prompt and the directions to score higher. I showed her how to read/use/understand the prompt very accurately, and steps to follow in showing the items required explicitly in her paragraphs. Katya learned to introduce the author using an appositive to create ethos, clarity, and credibility, as well as the rule to use only the author's last name throughout the remainder of the essay. We reviewed the eight major ways of beginning academic texts, looked for which one(s) were used in the provided text, and worked through how to write the responding introductory paragraph using one or more of these strategies. The critical thinking element "purpose" was emphasized, as it is incredibly helpful in building relevant content and getting thought deeper and more original on the paper. We also discussed using "implications" in writing about how and why the writer's argumentation worked (or did not work). I modeled sentences using the word/concept "implications" coming from the all-important thesis statement -- exactly how to do that.