GWAR Workshop
Jeff Eagan & Kim Collins adapted
from Woodman
Exam format
• The GWAR will present you with two quotes,
one of which you will choose. You must
complete two tasks:
– Part A: Summarize the argument in the
quote;
– Part B: Argue whether or not the argument
in the quote is valid.
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Task One: Comprehending the Quote
• The first thing to do is to focus on the
essential ideas the quote expresses.
• Don’t get distracted by examples. Some
quotes will give a number of examples for
illustration, but these examples are not the
argument itself.
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Sample Quote
• Helen Zoe Veit argues that “in the midst of
contracting school budgets and testoriented curricula, the idea of reviving
home economics as part of a broad
offensive against obesity might sound
outlandish. But teaching cooking — real
cooking — in public schools could help
address a host of problems facing
Americans today.”
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What are the quote’s essential ideas?
• Obesity is a national problem
• Reviving home economics
• Education is an appropriate
institution to address obesity
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What is the author arguing about
those ideas?
• Describe the relationship between those ideas.
– That home economics classes should be taught
again in schools, specifically cooking, in order to
address a national problem: obesity
• Preface the statement by making it specific to the
author:
– Helen Zoe Veit believes, claims, argues…
– According to Helen Zoe Veit …
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Part A: Write the summary
According
• According to Helen Zoe Veit , despite
economic limitations and emphasis
on standardized assessment, schools
should restore home economics
classes, specifically cooking, to
address the national problem of
obesity.
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Part B: Your argument
• First, you should brainstorm a list of reasons why
the author’s argument may be:
– Valid, true, strong, accurate, solid, correct.
– Or invalid, false, weak, inaccurate, flawed.
incorrect.
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Invention Strategies
• Brainstorming
• Listing
• Clustering
• Free-writing
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Reasons Veit could be right…
• Obesity is on the rise and should be tackled on every front
• Schools address problems families don’t (health education,
nutrition)
• Has other tangible benefits (responsibility, math, nutrition, job
skills)
• Educational class with less pressure from standardized
assessment
Reasons Veit could be wrong…
• Simplifies causes of obesity (genetic, family habits)
• Schools shouldn’t address problems families don’t
• A student learning to cook would translate to actually
eating healthy foods
• Harms outweigh the benefits
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Formulate your thesis
• Once you have brainstormed your list, you
need to decide your position.
• Basically, you have one of three options:
• He or she is right because…
• He or she is wrong because…
• He or she is partly right because…
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Possible Thesis Statement of
Agreement #1
• Obesity is on the rise nationally and
must be addressed on every front;
reviving a home economics class in
schools will not only tackle problems
families neglect (health, nutrition),
but also offer other collateral
benefits such as vocational and
nutritional training.
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Possible Thesis Statement of
Agreement #2
• Despite efforts to educate families
and individual of the harms
associated with obesity, it is on the
rise and therefore a school course
that addresses the issue in creative
ways is valuable and worthy of
limited resources.
Possible Thesis Statement of
Disagreement
• Veit oversimplifies the issue of obesity
and therefore offers a simplistic
solution, failing to consider negative
ramifications of implementing a home
economics course and the
ineffectiveness of past school
attempts to alleviate social ills.
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Possible Qualified Thesis Statement
Though Veit is correct by establishing that
obesity is a problem that needs to be
addressed nationally, her specific
suggestion to teach cooking in the
classroom ignores the disconnect that
exists between instruction and practice
and diminishes the negative impacts the
course may have on obese students.
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Use the Thesis as an outline for your
body paragraphs
• Veit oversimplifies the issue of obesity and
therefore offers a simplistic solution, failing
to consider negative ramifications of
implementing a home economics course
and the ineffectiveness of past school
attempts to alleviate social ills.
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An effective thesis statement will
provide the outline of its essay.
• With the previous example, we’ve created
an outline for three paragraphs:
• Veit oversimplifies the issue of obesity and therefore
offers a simplistic solution;
• failing to consider negative ramifications of
implementing a home economics course;
• the ineffectiveness of past school attempts to
alleviate social ills.
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Develop each paragraph
• Each paragraph must be developed through
explanation and examples.
• Fails to acknowledge the significance of genetics and
family dynamics in determining obesity
• Obese students are subject to bullying from their family
and peers and may be stigmatized even more which
may drive them to fail in the class and continue
unhealthy habits
• DARE programs and health education have been proven
ineffective by several studies.
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GWAR “Do”s
• Circle or underline the essential ideas and concepts from
the reading; be sure your summary and thesis address
these ideas.
• Use an invention strategy to generate ideas before you
write.
• Create a rough outline of your arguments and examples.
• Be sure to break your answer into an A and B section.
• Apply quotes and theory you have used and learned in
previous courses and readings.
• Use, but don’t overuse, the dictionary.
• Re-read your essay. If you need to cross out and make
changes, do so.
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GWAR “Don’t”s
• Don’t stray from responding to the given quote. Many essays fail
when they diverge from the specific claim or issue at hand.
• Don’t repeat the author’s argument and evidence as if it were
your own. Many essays fail when they become a rote summary of
the original quote. You need to summarize the quote, but you
should do so in a concise manner. The rest of your essay needs to
present your arguments and your evidence in response to the
quote.
• Don’t just repeat your ideas. Be sure that you have a number of
different supporting reasons for your thesis, and be sure each
paragraph presents a different reason.
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GWAR “Don’t”s
• Don’t bury your main ideas in the middle of paragraphs.
Have a clear topic sentence at the beginning of each
paragraph.
• Don’t forget to write a clear introduction and conclusion.
Many essays fail when they are missing one or the other.
• Don’t forget to follow rules of grammar and mechanics. If
there’s one error that immediately indicates a “3” score,
it’s the sentence fragment. Proofread!
• Don’t let your nerves get the best of you. Get a good
night’s sleep the night before, and take deep breaths as
you write. Many people fail tests because they have testanxiety, not because they don’t know the material.
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How to Practice for the GWAR
• Practice reading difficult texts. This will jump-start your
vocabulary and critical thinking skills.
– Op-ed pages of newspapers.
• Practice writing one-sentence summaries of arguments
and thesis statements in response to those summaries.
• Note: For more information, including sample essays,
visit the CSUB Testing Center Website:
http://www.csub.edu/testing/gwar.shtml
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