Prepare Happiness Module Definition Essay
Word:600-800
Note: please only use few high-level academic vocabularies, and request an average grade B
You have three options for your essay in this module. Each definition essay is your view on the topic you choose. Base the essay on your thoughts and opinions from the culture you grew up in and your experience in the United States. Use the articles and videos on Bb and no others for support. Remember that you can use ideas from the sources as direct support of your ideas, negation, or to show others’ beliefs that you then contrast with yours or argue against.
Here are the sources for the topic and more in the attached files (Please mention 2 sources in the article)
Sonja Lyubomirsky: What is Happiness? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HFL9MnGdrw
Sonja Lyubomirsky: What Determines Happiness? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_URP3-V1sY4
What is Happiness? Learn How to Be Happy In Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIWQeMFncm8
An Experiment in Gratitude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHv6vTKD6lg (Warning: This one may make you cry!)
Definition Essay Topics:
Choice One: Define a happy person.
Choice Two: Define a near-synonym of happiness (e.g. serenity, joy, bliss, optimism, well-being).
Choice Three: Define a unique word in your native language that is a near-synonym of happiness (Be sure to show how this idea is specific to your culture and what it reflects about your culture).
Structure Your Definition Essay to Include:
An introductory (thesis) paragraph with hook, background information, opinion statement, and personal definition as a thesis*
Several body paragraphs supporting your personal definition with different types of specific support, e.g., descriptions, examples, anecdotes, compare and contrast with a similar term, factors, causes, effects, process, research. Use several descriptive writing techniques we have practiced in this module to “show, don’t tell” the meaning of your term.
A concluding paragraph that rephrases the opinion statement, reviews the topic sentences of the body paragraphs, and ends on a strong note by answering the “super so what?” question*
*Take a look at the pre-writing worksheets in the Happiness Module on Bb.
Considerations for the Definition Essay:
Working on the Introduction Paragraph
Consider the following as you develop your definition in the introduction:
What are the key qualities that define your term? Write a formal and personal definition. Consider using a metaphor or simile and applying it a few times throughout your essay for power.
How is this word different from or similar to other related words?
How do the ideas from this module’s sources help you define your word, directly or through negation/contrast?
Starting the Body Paragraphs
To write this essay, consider writing one or more paragraphs that separately address the questions below to begin the body of your essay:
What are the components or parts of a happy person’s life/ your word? In other words, consider breaking down the concept into its parts.
Who have you met or studied that exemplifies this term? “Show, don’t tell” about several such people.
When have you truly felt this word or witnessed another person who was feeling it? Describe that moment in an anecdote—use sensory language, specific details, a metaphor or simile, and in this way, “Show, don’t tell” your reader a picture of this word.
Further Developing the Body Paragraphs
Now that you have presented a definition and a description of your term, choose from the questions below to develop a deeper definition in several paragraphs in any order you feel makes sense.
What is the same or different about your term and a similar word? Sharpen your definition by comparing and contrasting.
What are the factors, or causes, that bring this concept to one’s life? What are the factors commonly argued or supposed to bring it, and what is your view about those factors?
What is the process of becoming this type of person/achieving this feeling? Divide the process into steps, using the correct transitions.
Working on the Conclusion Paragraph
Rephrase the opinion statement, review the topic sentences of the body paragraphs, and answer the “super so what?” question
This essay should be two to four pages in length. The essay should have at least five paragraphs. You are finished when (1) you feel you have completely defined your understanding of the word and (2) you have a strong opening and concluding paragraph.
Planning My Definition Essay (Introduction Paragraph)
Hook: This is where you “catch” your reader’s attention so that he or she will want to read more. Possibilities include (choose one): a quotation from the resources you were given, a dictionary definition AND your comment about its accuracy( a dictionary definition is boring, not catchy), an anecdote, an example, a simile or metaphor… look at your models and your own written work for inspiration.
Hook: several sentences
Background Information: This is where you give necessary background information, so your reader can understand your main points. Recall that your reader may have different ideas from yours. This may be a place to politely summarize how “others” (cite them) define your term before you continue to the next part of the paragraph where you build your own definition.
Background Information: several sentences
Opinion Statement: Here is where you transition to your last sentence, which is your personal definition or thesis statement for this essay. Think of the opinion statement as a general thesis statement without its controlling ideas. For this essay this statement will probably be a statement of disagreement about others’ views on the term you are defining, but it may have other content as long as it expresses your opinion about the meaning of your term.
Opinion Statement: one sentence
Thesis Statement:
(This will be your personal definition).
Here is where you write the most important statement of your essay. Refer to the worksheet where you read about definitions of “teacher” and planned your own definition of a word connected to happiness. Be sure to include the following:
Topic word—your term
Opinion word
Controlling ideas—the defining qualities of your term in your personal definition
Thesis Statement: one very well-phrased and clear sentence
Model Opening and Closing Paragraphs
Opening paragraph of a simplified, brief essay
(Hook) It is as old as the sword, as old as the book. It has been used for warmth, to cure colds, for its delicious flavor, and most importantly, for its mysterious healing powers. (Hook and background)The Romans, the Japanese, the Spanish, and the Gypsies— in fact, almost every culture has its traditional way of preparing this broth. Even so, water, carrots, onion, garlic and the key ingredient—chicken—make up the basic ingredients to chicken soup across the globe. (Opinion statement) Chicken soup is clearly not only a soup. (Thesis statement/preview statement)Chicken soup has become a symbol of family nurturing and a pathway to good health.
Concluding paragraph
(Rephrase opinion statement) It is clear, then, that chicken soup is much more than a first course to a winter’s dinner prepared to warm up the body, (Review of topic sentences/controlling ideas) for chicken soup nourishes the entire person, not just the body. Throughout the ages and across the world chicken soup represents a warm and loving home, a tender moment between mother and child. Additionally, many cultures consider chicken soup to have almost miraculous healing powers for many emotional and physical ailments, perhaps because of the loving thoughts involved in its preparation. (Answer to the super so what question) Therefore, this almost magical broth raises our awareness to the healing powers of food prepared with focus, love, and concern. Such positive energy deserves to be recognized and nurtured in the frantic pace of our technological generation, for it would do us all good if we were to learn the lesson of a bowl of chicken soup and apply its powers to our everyday lives. Simply stated, the message of chicken soup is this: there is great power to human giving.
