EQ: How Do I Compose My First Draft of the Essay?

What do I do with all those notes I took? With your copies of the articles, your notes, annotated article, quick writes, writing plans, thinking maps, and other materials close at hand, begin writing your first draft. You will revise this draft later, so at this point don’t worry too much about spelling, grammar, or punctuation. Concentrate on getting your ideas written down.

Step 1 State your opinion on your topic in your thesis statement. (Hint: Make sure that your thesis is something that can be debated).

Step 2 Choose evidence that supports your thesis statement. (Hint: Go through your notes, quick writes, and annotations to see what you can use. At this point, just go through the materials and make checkmarks, highlight, or circle relevant parts).

Step 3 Anticipate opposing points of view. (Hint: Who is your opposition? What arguments are they likely to make)?

Step 4 Find some common ground. (Hint: We all want to communicate with friends. We all want to keep teens safe. We all want to give our children as much freedom as they can handle responsibly).

Step 5 Establish some common ground. (Hint: We all want to communicate with friends. We all want to keep teens safe. We all want to give our children as much freedom as they can handle responsibly).

Step 6 Maintain a reasonable tone. (Hint: what words that you use sound reasonable? What words sound unreasonable?)

Step 7 Organize your essay so that it presents your position as effectively as possible. (Hint: What might be a good lead-in, or “hook”? What arguments should come first? What arguments should come last?)