Regents English Writing and Composition 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: On the Regents English exam, the 'thesis statement' of an essay serves to:
- Summarize only the conclusion
- State the main argument or central claim the essay will support (Correct answer)
- List all evidence used in the essay
- Introduce the author of a source
Correct answer: State the main argument or central claim the essay will support
A thesis statement presents the central argument or claim of an essay and signals to the reader what the essay will argue and how.
Question 2: Which essay structure is most commonly required on the Regents English exam?
- Stream of consciousness
- Introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion (Correct answer)
- Question-and-answer format
- Bullet-point lists only
Correct answer: Introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion
The standard essay structure required on the Regents includes an introduction with thesis, developed body paragraphs with evidence, and a conclusion.
Question 3: What is the primary purpose of a 'concluding paragraph' in a Regents English essay?
- To introduce new evidence not mentioned in the body
- To restate the thesis and summarize the essay's key points (Correct answer)
- To begin a new argument
- To list all sources used
Correct answer: To restate the thesis and summarize the essay's key points
The concluding paragraph restates the thesis in new words, summarizes key arguments, and provides a sense of closure to the essay.
Question 4: On the Regents English exam, 'citing textual evidence' requires a student to:
- Paraphrase all sources without quotation
- Support claims with specific quotes or details directly from the source texts (Correct answer)
- Only mention the title of the source
- Write from memory without referring to the texts
Correct answer: Support claims with specific quotes or details directly from the source texts
Citing textual evidence means using specific quotations or details from the provided source texts to support the argument made in the essay.
Question 5: Which writing technique involves restating someone else's ideas in your own words while crediting the source?
- Plagiarism
- Paraphrasing (Correct answer)
- Summarizing the entire text
- Direct quotation
Correct answer: Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing restates another author's ideas in the writer's own words and sentence structure while still crediting the original source.
Question 6: On the Regents English writing tasks, 'coherence' in an essay refers to:
- Using very long sentences
- Ideas that flow logically and are clearly connected throughout the essay (Correct answer)
- Including as many vocabulary words as possible
- Writing only about personal experiences
Correct answer: Ideas that flow logically and are clearly connected throughout the essay
Coherence means that the ideas in an essay flow logically and are clearly connected through transitions, topic sentences, and organization.
Regents English Writing and Composition 1
On the Regents English exam, the 'thesis statement' of an essay serves to: