1. A Crash Course in the Writing Process

2. Writing can have many different purposes. Here are just a few examples: Summarizing: Presenting the main points or essence of another text in a condensed form Arguing/Persuading: Expressing a viewpoint on an issue or topic in an effort to convince others that your viewpoint is correct Narrating: Telling a story or giving an account of events Analyzing: Breaking a topic down into its component parts in order to examine the relationships between the parts. Responding: Writing that is in a direct dialogue with another text. Examining/Investigating: Systematically questioning a topic to discover or uncover facts that are not widely known or accepted, in a way that strives to be as neutral and objective as possible. Observing: Helping the reader see and understand a person, place, object, image or event that you have directly watched or experienced through detailed sensory descriptions.

3. Let’s start from the beginning...

4. Rhetoric: A Question of Audience

5. What’s your rhetorical situation? Before you begin ask yourself these questions: Who is the audience for your writing? Do you think your audience is interested in the topic? Why should your audience be interested in this topic? What does your audience already know about this topic? What does your audience need to know about this topic? What experiences has your audience had that would influence them on this topic? What do you hope the audience will gain from your text?

6. For example, imagine that your broad topic is dorm food. Who is your audience? You could be writing to current students, prospective students, parents of students, university administrators, or nutrition experts among others. Each of these groups would have different experiences with and interests in the topic of dorm food. While students might be more concerned with the taste of the food or the hours food is available parents might be more concerned with the price.

7. Let’s try an exercise that explores the importance of rhetoric...

8. Thesis: your thesis statement is the most important sentence in your entire paper.

9. Your thesis reveals to readers exactly what your topic is and exactly how you will approach it. You must be married to your thesis throughout the process of your entire paper. No cheating!

10. Each topic sentence must support or expand upon your thesis statement. Referring back to your thesis before beginning a new paragraph is a good way to stay committed to it as your writing process continues. If you stray from your thesis, your essay’s focus becomes unclear to readers.

11. Writing a Strong Thesis

12. 1.Determine what kind of paper you are writing: An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience. An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience. An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.

13. There are other styles of writing that may allow more flexibility with the thesis statement.

14. 2. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence. 3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper. 4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

15. The Argumentative paper: Must have a debatable thesis For example: Pollution is bad for the environment. This thesis statement is not debatable. First, the word pollution means that something is bad or negative in some way. Further, all studies agree that pollution is a problem, they simply disagree on the impact it will have or the scope of the problem. No one could reasonably argue that pollution is good.

16. Example of a debatable thesis statement: At least twenty-five percent of the federal budget should be spent on limiting pollution. This is an example of a debatable thesis because reasonable people could disagree with it. Some people might think that this is how we should spend the nation's money. Others might feel that we should be spending more money on education. Still others could argue that corporations, not the government, should be paying to limit pollution.

17. The thesis needs to be narrow Although the scope of your paper might seem overwhelming at the start, generally the narrower the thesis the more effective your argument will be. Your thesis or claim must be supported by evidence. The broader your claim is, the more evidence you will need to convince readers that your position is right.

18. Example of a thesis that is too broad: Drug use is detrimental to society. There are several reasons this statement is too broad to argue. First, what is included in the category "drugs"? Is the author talking about illegal drug use, recreational drug use (which might include alcohol and cigarettes), or all uses of medication in general? Second, in what ways are drugs detrimental? Finally, what does the author mean by "society"? Is the author referring only to America or to the global population? Does the author make any distinction between the effects on children and adults? There are just too many questions that the claim leaves open. The author could not cover all of the topics listed above, yet the generality of the claim leaves all of these possibilities open to debate.

19. Example of a narrow or focused thesis: Illegal drug use is detrimental because it encourages gang violence. In this example the topic of drugs has been narrowed down to illegal drugs and the detriment has been narrowed down to gang violence. This is a much more manageable topic.

20. Let’s practice writing the thesis statement...

21. The Introductory Paragraph

22. Your introductory paragraph should begin with broad information and conclude with your thesis statement (last sentence of your first paragraph). Keeping this in mind, your introductory paragraph should grow a tiny bit more specific with each sentence. Do not begin with sweeping generalizations or fallacious statements, such as: The sweeping generalization: Since the beginning of time, mankind has wrestled with bad memories. The logical fallacy: Nobody likes to cry, and if we can abolish sadness from mankind, we should. Rather, you want to begin with a statement that reels in your reader and keeps her hooked: If bad memories could be erased with a small pill and a sip of water, who among us would not stand in line for her dose?

23. The Body Paragraph

24. Body paragraphs help to support and expand upon the central idea, or thesis statement of your essay. You can apply this information not only to the paragraph that contributes to an essay, but also to a paragraph that stands alone.

25. All paragraphs begin with a topic sentence. This is the sentence that governs the focus of the entire paragraph it begins. Readers read your topic sentence and have an expectation as to what that paragraph will be about, what areas it may explore.

26. All topic sentences must contain a main idea. The main idea is an original idea that comes from you, the writer. An idea is not a fact. Your idea must be supported with evidence from the text(s): details, examples, and quotations.

27. You want to make sure that none of the sentences in your paragraph are repetitive. For example: There are certain memories that are positive and some that are negative. Memories can be helpful or harmful. Some memories we should keep and others we should not. These three sentences essentially carry the same idea. Do not say in three sentences what you can say in one. Revision: Although some memories are painful and others are not, we should never erase any part of the life that defines who we are as individual human beings.

28. Unite your paragraphs through the use of transitional words, phrases, and sentences. (see separate powerpoint).