ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Sometimes, opinions can be like farts. [Boy farts in a classroom]

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Just because you have one inside of you, doesn't mean you need to let it out.

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But sometimes, that opinion just needs to come out!

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And what better way to do that than in an opinion paragraph??

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Oh, and uh…if you could hold that gas until you're outside, that'd be grand. [Boy waits outside the door for the toilet]

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So what's the first step in writing an opinion paragraph?

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Well, it might sound a little obvious, but it's asking yourself one simple question: [Coop teaching about how to write an opinion paragraph]

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“What's my opinion?”

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Maybe you don’t like a character in a book…

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Or the metaphors in a biography…

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Or the pizza from your cafeteria… [Boy shakes a slice of pizza]

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Why is it so rubbery?

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Anyway, whatever it is, your opinion should always be the first sentence in your opinion

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paragraph.

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Step two is to give two or three reasons as to why you have that opinion. [Dino discussing how to write opinion paragraphs]

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This is pretty important.

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Sure, you can have any opinion in the world… but you need to have some reasoning behind it.

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That’s what makes you a student and not just one of those strange people yelling on

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the street.[Old man with a stick yelling on a street]

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Next up comes your explanation.

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This is when you come up with one or two examples to support your opinion.

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You could show examples of when the main character is mean to his friends, or an example of a [Football hits man in the face]

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bad metaphor, or a list of reasons why the cafeteria pizza is highly suspect....

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You can ball it up and use it in a game of kickball?

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Yup, that's a good example.

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Lastly, you need to end your paragraph by restating your opinion in order to emphasize [Dino discussing how to end a opinion paragraph]

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exactly what your point is.

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After all, people have very short attention sp…

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…ohh, a squirrel. [A squirrel appears by a tree]

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…Uh.

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Sorry, people have very short attention spans.

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And then bingo-bango!

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You're done!

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So just to recap, for any opinion paragraph, you want to state your opinion, give reasons [Coop giving a summary of opinion paragraphs]

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for your opinion, provide examples supporting that opinion, and then restate your opinion

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one more time.

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And if you're having trouble remembering that, just remember “OREO.”

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Opinion, Reason, Example, Opinion.

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OREO.

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Milk’s favorite paragraph.

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…Or…at least, that's our opinion.

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Oh.

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You can let 'er rip, by the way. [Boy farts outside of school by the bus]

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