Here is an example of an essay skeleton:
I.) (Introduction and thesis statement) Imagine a young wide-eyed and hopeful nine-year-old girl growing up with big dreams of becoming a marine biologist. She dreamed of swimming in oceans with dolphins and having a big wedding, and a happy family with a big house. Imagine that same little girl twenty years later tired, lonely, ill, and struggling to make ends meet. Her life just didn’t happen the way she had wanted. Instead, she is a 29-year-old single mother working as a certified nursing assistant making less than $19,000 a year. She navigates the challenges of raising an 8-year-old daughter, a 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son in poverty. Imagine an early marriage that fell apart in the wake of her husband’s drug addiction. A low-paying, physically demanding job and her own health issues have prevented her from making the life she wants for herself and her family.
Imagine this single mother unable to get a better-paying job because she has no time to go to school. Its difficult for her to get that promotion at work because she has to turn down assignments because the child has a doctors visit, or she has to attend a school meeting. She arrives to work late because her baby was up all night throwing up. It would be easy to imagine that she misses a lot of work altogether because she is sick and exhausted herself. This horrific scenario is a sad reality for many single mothers, and one of the biggest challenges they face is poverty.
In 2016, 40.6 million Americans had incomes below the governments official poverty line, which was $24,339 for a family of four, including two children. Of those below the poverty line 12.7percent of the population nearly 5 million were moms or dads heading single-parent families; 8.7 million were children under 18 in these single-parent homes (Samuelson). But what can we do to bridge that gap and secure the financial well-being of single-mothers and their families? The answer may lie in three solutions: shore up wages and employer benefits, modernize anti-poverty programs to support employment, and support paid and unpaid care work. Children who grow up with more benefits are able to contribute to a healthy society.
II.) (Topic Sentence 1) While the gap of inequality between men and women has been closing for the last two decades, one burden remains more for women than men, and that is poverty.
A.) (Details/Evidence) Definition of poverty in the U.S. — (Census.gov)
B.) (Details/Evidence) History of the rise of poverty for women. — (Under Attack, Fighting Back)
III.) (Topic Sentence 2) There are many factors that contribute to poverty amongst single-mothers.
A.) (Details/Evidence) The amount of time raising children alone vs. time raising children in a two-parent household — (“Gender Wage Gap”)
B.) (Details/ Evidence) Must pay care-takers of younger children in order to work.
Requirements:
- Introduction with an underlined thesis statement
- Topic sentence 1 that supports the thesis statement and highlights what the body paragraph will be about
- At least two Details/Evidence that support topic sentence 1
- Topic Sentence 2 that supports the thesis statement and highlights what the body paragraph will be about
- At least two Details/ Evidence that supports topic sentence 2
- Must have at least 2 outside sources listed in the outline
Testimonials
