1. Getting into Essay Writing DS 014 Writing Weston Fall 2010

2. Today's Agenda Sign-In Paragraph vs. Essay Essay Structure Process of Essay Writing Overview  Prewriting  Composing a Thesis Introducing the Essay Map Coming Up...

3. Paragraph vs. Essay While paragraphs are great for working on writing skills, essays allow a subject to be dealt with in greater depth. The vast majority of writing in both higher education and in many careers will be essay in form.

4. Essay Structure Most essays are actually longer than five-paragraphs—the standard “five paragraph essay” is rather like a starter form.

5. Essay Writing Process--Prewriting First stage of the writing process  Freewriting--no-holds-barred  Brainstorming—list everything you can think of related to the subject  Clustering—mind-map  Branching—gridding out ideas

6. 5 Minutes We've discussed argument this week, so hopefully you have an idea of a subject about which you'd like to write. Take 5 minutes, using one of the prewriting methods mentioned, and write about a potential topic (This will count as your journal entry for this week.)

7. Essay Writing Process—Composing a Thesis Statement The thesis statement is the topic sentence that covers the entire essay, not just a single paragraph. It tells the reader what to expect in the rest of the essay. The thesis statement has two parts--  The subject.  The writer's attitude about the subject.

8. What a Thesis Statement is Not A thesis statement is not an announcement of your intent--  I plan  I intend  This paper concerns Or a statement of fact  A simple definition Or a title

9. Write Your Potential Thesis Statement You've thought about what you might write, now see if you can come up with a thesis statement. Write a sentence that explains your main subject as well as your stance/opinion. (You'll use the rest of your essay to back up/support this statement.)

10. The Essay Map ReadWriteThink is a site with multiple educational tools. Some of their most popular are their essay maps. The one for persuasive/argumentative writing can be found here- - http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/persuasion_map/ http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/persuasion_map/ Or, I'm including a blank printed one for our use.

11. Assignment Fill out the Essay Map with the main points you might be using. Let me see your work before you leave.

12. Coming Up... Monday  More on the Essay Audience Awareness Introductions and Conclusions Revision Monday after Thanksgiving  Rough Draft Due  Peer Review Wednesday  Final Draft due