Final Examination Review English Writing Spring, 2012

Good writing will have S.P.A. Subject (What) Purpose (Why) Audience (Who)

The 3 Main Writing Purposes 3 Writing “Purposes” To Entertain To Inform To Persuade

The Writing Process 4 Steps Pre-write First Draft Revise Edit

Pre-writing techniques 1.Clustering 2.Outlining 3.Free-writing 4.Listing

Thesis statements A thesis statement is the main point of a piece of writing Should have 3 major parts Ex 1: “ In this essay, I will write About my family, my hometown, and my part time job.” Ex 2: “In this essay, I will write about my hobbies, my friends, and my personality.”

+ Thesis statements A thesis statement is a topic sentence, but it is also the most important topic sentence of the whole essay! Where does it go? The thesis statement goes at the end of the first paragraph! Three parts (5 Paragraph or Point by Point essays) “The life of the typical college student is characterized by time spent studying, attending class, and socializing with peers.”

Paragraph Structure Topic Sentence First sentence States the topic of the paragraph Support Details and examples Support the topic Closing Sentence Last sentence Summarizes the ideas of the paragraph

+ Like a hamburger, a good paragraph needs two things to hold it together.

+ Topic Sentences Example Topic: Golf Focus: why golf is difficult to play Topic sentence: “Golf is a difficult sport” Now, you try! Topic: South Korea Focus: ______________________________ Topic sentence: ___________________________ A good topic sentence states the topic of the paragraph and its focus.

+ 5 Paragraph Essay Structure

+ Writing Essays Now that you can write a paragraph, essay writing is easy! 3 main parts: Introduction Body Conclusion Like an hourglass: General Intro Specific Body General Conclusion

+ Introductions should… - Be general - Be Interesting: Quote Question Statement - State topic - Have a thesis statement Let’s look at an introduction…

+ Support paragraphs Details Examples Specifics

Conclusions Return to general Restate main points Ask a question Suggest a solution Make a recommendation or prediction

+ Autobiography = writing about one’s own self There are many different types of autobiographical writing Journals Diaries Memoirs Personal narratives

Stories Narrative Writing

+ Narrative writing = story writing The narrative is the sequence of events that tells a story Most narrative writing is written in in past tense/ third person Example: “Once upon a time, there was a little girl.”

+ Elements of a Story 1.Narrative or Plot (What) 2.Characters (Who) 3.Setting (Where) 4.Theme (Moral)

+ Reviews The 4 parts of a review: 1.Title 2.General information 3.Specific information 4.Closing statement

TO COMPARE = TO SHOW SIMILARITY TO CONTRAST = TO SHOW DIFFERENCE

Compare/ Contrast Sample thesis statements (p. 117) 1.Topic: Chinese food and Mexican food 1.Thesis statement: “There are several differences between Chinese food and Mexican food.” 2.Thesis statement: “There are several similarities between Chinese food and Mexican food.” 3.Thesis statement: “Chinese food is different from Mexican food in many ways.” 4.Thesis statement: “Chinese food and Mexican food have several things in common.” 5.Thesis statement: “A comparison between Chinese food and Mexican food reveals some surprising similarities.” Writing a thesis statement:

Compare/ Contrast Methods of Organization The Block Method P1: Introduction P2: Similarities P3: Differences P4: Conclusion Point by Point Method P1: Introduction P2: Similarities and differences of major point #1 P3: Similarities and differences of major point #2 P4: (Optional) Similarities and differences of major point #3 Concusion