Good work with the ultra-speedy update NB!
Just to be clear - crackers and cheese = a quotation sandwich! Use the POINT as first cracker, EVIDENCE and EXPLANATION as the delicious cheese, and the LINK back to show you are answering the question effective.
The carabiner (introduction) and string (ideas) are all about structure. Look at the 3 central points - a carabiner is a triangle. So think about 3 main things for an introduction - name the text, the author and the genre. Now see the screw-gate bit. To strengthen the lock, you give it 3 turns. To strengthen your intro, you do a 3 sentence summary of the text.
Now, you've got all your loose string, which represents your ideas. You use a looping sentence to join all your string to your carabiner, (or your introduction to your essay.) This is the bit where you outline what you are going to show, and how you are going to show it.
Finally, tie a knot in the string at the end. That's your conclusion. Tie off all the loose ends, and don't add in any new information.
Voila. Done.
