Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The story of Jurassic Park is accented by a slowly unfolding chaos that Ian Malcolm refers to throughout the plot’s events.

• How are Crichton’s chosen writing style and novel structure reflective of the chaos that slowly unfolds in the story? (topic sentence)
• In the body of your essay, detail at least three stylistic or structural choices and relate them to the plot, using direct quotes to support your argument.
• In your conclusion, evaluate the effectiveness of Crichton’s writing in conveying the unpredictable nature of life.

2. John Hammond’s attempts to control and engineer nature ultimately fail and lead to several deaths, including his own, as well as the destruction of the park.

• Based on the events in the novel, should Hammond have attempted to control nature? Why or why not? (topic sentence)
• In the body of your essay, outline at least three occasions in the novel where Hammond’s goals and Malcolm’s views come into conflict with one another, and detail specific consequences of Hammond’s choices.