The Wave Newspaper Writing Assignment

In The Wave, we are told about an article that Laurie publishes in The Grapevine, the school newspaper, but we never actually get to see/read it. We are, however, given the following information about the article: [The article] condemned The Wave as a dangerous and mindless movement that suppressed freedom of speech and thought and ran against everything the country was founded on. She pointed out that The Wave had already begun to do more harm than good (even with The Wave, the Gordon High Gladiators had lost to Clarkstown 42 to 6) and warned that unless it was stopped it would do much worse (Strasser 98). If we, the readers, saw a copy of Lauries article, what would it look like? What would it say?

Assignment:
You will write your own copy of Lauries article as you imagine it to appear in The Grapevine.

Format:
Your article will take the form of a 4-paragraph essay. See the reverse side of this handout for a breakdown of each paragraph.

Layout
Be creative with the layout of your article! Perhaps you want to format it like a newspaper in a Word document or maybe you want to make a mini poster of it. The layout is up to you!

Assessment:
Article Spelling/Grammar Layout TOTAL: /40 (10 marks per paragraph) /10 /10 /60

How should I format my paragraphs?

Your article will take the form of a 4-paragraph essay. You will format your paragraphs as follows: Paragraph #1: Introductory paragraph Introduce The Wave: What is it? How did it begin? Why did it begin? What are the rules? What are the mottos? Etc Your last sentence should be your THESIS statement. o Your thesis statement should make an argument. In this case, you are arguing that The Wave needs to be stopped. o In making your argument, your thesis statement must also refer to the topics of your other 2 supporting paragraphs.

Paragraph #2: Explanation of how The Wave is a dangerous and mindless movement that suppresses freedom of speech and thought Find examples from the novel that show: how/why The Wave is dangerous; how it takes away individuality; how it takes away freedom of speech; and how it takes away freedom of thought *In other words, this paragraph will look at how The Wave has brainwashed people and how this is a dangerous thing.

Paragraph #3: Explanation of how The Wave has begun to do more harm than good Find examples in the novel that show how The Wave has begun to do harm to the school, students, staff, etc.

Paragraph #4: Conclusion The whole point to Laurie writing this article is to convince people that The Wave is dangerous and needs to be stopped. Your conclusion is the LAST thing the readers will see, so make it strong and be convincing! By the end of this paragraph, your reader should agree with you that The Wave must be stopped. This may be a good time, therefore, to explain how unless The Wave is stopped, it could possibly do much worse.