Whether the students are reading nonfiction or literature, they are constantly expected to give a response to the text. High school students need to learn how to use ace writing strategies to show a deeper understanding of the reading when responding to the text. What is the Ace writing strategy?:
Mostly students are trained to give the shortest answers possible to the text they read. They answer the question without citing the evidence and explaining it to the reader. Ace’s writing strategy helps the writer to write an effective response to the text.
If you are still asking, “What is the Ace writing strategy?” Then, here is an answer to that. Ace stands for Assertation, Citation, and Explanation. It was designed to help students organize their writing and support their thinking to form constructed responses for explanatory or informative compositions.
What is an Ace Paragraph?
It is a form of a paragraph that students use in many classes throughout their high and college school careers.
It includes
- An answer to a question in the first line of the paragraph or an assertation. That is your “topic sentence.” Your other sentences will develop this main idea, just like you illustrate an engine clause in a train sentence.
- An Ace paragraph consists of at least one quote or a citation from a text you are reading and one or more comments on what you are discussing;
- An explanation of or an elaboration on each citation or comment you have stated in paragraph two.
How Does an Ace Paragraph Look?
The Ace writing strategy is applied in three major paragraphs sectioned as follows
- Answer the question (what do you think?)
- Cite evidence (prove it)
- Explain or extend the thinking (how does the evidence support your thinking?)
That answers you ‘What is ace paragraph format?’ When you follow this format, you will learn the following:
- To smoothly move past the one-sentence response to a more in-depth response
- To give detailed and specific answers to questions related to the text
- Find evidence in the text and cite it to support your answer
- Explain how the evidence, you state supports your answer concerning your reading.
Steps to Respond to Ace Response to Text Writing
Answer the Question
That is the initial step when it comes to students responding to texts. Mostly they answer and forget to give supporting details from the text. Therefore, sometimes college students score low grades in their compositions. Restating the question asked and answer it using complete sentences is the better way to complete the first step of your response.
Here are one of the ACE writing strategy examples
I found the following question on Readworks.org (which is a great FREE resource for learners and instructors). It holds many free articles (fiction and nonfiction) with question sets. This question was extracted from the same article: “Why is the Moon so Scarred with Craters?”
Explain what the moon’s surface would look like in a million years if asteroids and meteors stopped hitting its surface. Support your answer with evidence from the text.
Here is a potential answer:
The moon’s surface will continue to look bumpy and rough for a million years, even if asteroids and meteors stop hitting its surface.
Usually, this is as far as students take responsibility. However, we need to find evidence from the text supporting this answer.
Cite Evidence
This is the second step of responding to a text. Students need to find a quote from the text that supports their answer. I encourage students to write direct quotes as they are in the text instead of giving a summary. You will summarize in the next paragraph, where you will explain.
Here is a potential citation of the evidence from the example given.
According to the text, “Pretty much any tiny dent made on the moon’s surface is going to stay there.”
Now that you have answered the question and given evidence from the text to support your claim, you need to go ahead and explain how the quote relates to the answer you gave.
Explain
Finally, it would be best if you explained and expounded on how the quote you cited supports your answer. It would be best if you combined the answers, you gave and the quote you cited to extend your piece. That is the most challenging section of the ace paragraph. It requires a lot of practice.
Using joining words such as “according to the text, for instance, for example, to illustrate, and because” in this section of your response will be an added advantage to indicate that you are explaining your answer.
Here is a potential explanation or Extension from the example
This indicates that craters will remain on the moon forever because previous collisions left permanent marks. Even if meteors and asteroids stop hitting the moon’s surface, the moon will never look smooth.
A Sample of the Response to the Text
Now that you have a short answer response to the text that shows your understanding and knowledge of the text, gives evidence, and explains the answer, the full response after adopting the ace writing strategy would be:
I think the moon’s surface will continue to look bumpy and rough in a million years, even if meteors and asteroids cease hitting its surface. The text states, “Any tiny dent made on the moon’s surface will most likely stay there.” That shows that craters will remain on the moon forever because previous collisions left permanent marks that will not disappear. Even if asteroids and meteors stop hitting the moon’s surface, the moon will never look smooth.
With practice, you will be able to improve your ace writing strategy skills in giving answers to text writing. At acemyessays.com, we offer a complete coaching pack to help you learn more about improving your response to texts.
The ACE Writing Strategy
Here is a summarized way of using the ace writing strategy.
Answer the questions asked in the text
- Give complete answers to the question
- When giving answers, use keywords from the question
- That is your claim- be specific and detailed
Cite evidence from the text
- Use clear, specific examples from the text that support your claim
- Define, describe, refer to, and provide evidence from the text
- Use quotations when citing the writer’s exact words or phrases
Explain
- Explain the connection between your claim and your evidence
- Extend and elaborate the support for the example
Things to Consider When Presenting Response in Ace writer worksheet
When using the Ace writing strategy, to present your work in an Ace writer worksheet ensure that you have answered the following questions.
- Did I write my composition like an experienced ace writer?
- Did I give complete answers to the question asked?
- Have I included the keywords from the question in my answer?
- Did I cite evidence from the text?
- Did I pick a clear, specific example from the text?
- Does this example support my claim?
- Did I use quotations when citing exact words/phrases?
- Did I explain, extend, and elaborate?
- What is the connection between my evidence and my claim?
An Easy Way to Write a Short Answer Response
That is how a presentation transcript would look on an ace writing strategy PowerPoint.
Ace’s strategy for writing a good short answer response!
Remember, your space for answering is limited, so clear, concise answers with appropriate textual evidence will receive the best scores.
Use: Answer
Cite
Begin by:
Restating and answering the question asked in the ACE writing practice prompts.
Then Cite textual evidence (return to the reading and find at least one quote, direct or indirect) which supports your answer.
Finally, Explain and Elaborate on your answer and the textual evidence you have provided.
Remember
A good answer will analyze the text carefully, present textual evidence from the pieces that directly support your response, and expound on how this evidence supports your answer.
- Direct Quote- A direct quote is a quote in which you copy a writer’s word for word. Quotation marks will mostly surround them.
- Indirect Quote – An indirect quote is a quote in which you paraphrase the author’s words and put them into your own words.
Importance of using Ace Writing Strategy
The ace writing strategy you’ve learned will help you to expand your general response to questions asked in texts you read. They help show your connection with the passage, your understanding, opinion, and prediction on future outcomes and assist you in making inferences about something that you read. They can also help you compare characters in the text and point out a cause-effect situation in the passage.
At acemyessays.com, we help students organize their writing using the ace writing strategy. We will allocate you an ace writer who will take you through learning how to organize the answers to short answer/constructed response questions. That will help you to abstain from guessing the answers. Hence, scoring high grades in your composition.
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