CHAPTER 1
Essay Writing Basics
STEP ONE: PRE-WRITING
 Pre-writing
involves exploring a topic and
asking yourself what you need to know about it
 The
goal is to narrow the topic to express your
approach
 The
thesis statement expresses your approach
STEP ONE: PRE-WRITING
 Pre-writing




techniques
Freewriting
 Write without stopping or editing
Questioning technique
 Who, what, where, when, why, how?
Brainstorming
 Linear: listing associations
 Looking for connections
Clustering (mapping)
 Spatial
 Looking for connections
STEP TWO: FINDING SUPPORT
 Your
aim here is to backing up your thesis
(general claim)
 Support



(specific claims)
Primary sources (original texts)
Secondary sources (commentary found in
articles and books)
Facts, statistics
 You
may have to change your thesis or
adapt it to match the support
STEP THREE: ORGANIZING
 Outline

Helps to organize claims logically and
consistently
Scratch: brief list of points
 Formal: shows order of points by alternating numberletter arrangement

STEP FOUR: COMPOSING
 Composing


Record thoughts completely
Expect to revise later
STEP FIVE: REVISING AND
EDITING
 Revise
means “see again”
A
“top-down” approach considers large issues
before small ones
Check purpose, audience, structure, main
points
 Grammar, style, clarity, concision
 Proofing and mechanics

DRAFTING THE ESSAY
 An
essay has three parts: an introduction,
middle/body paragraphs, and a conclusion
WRITING AN INTRODUCTION
 The
introduction presents an essay’s purpose,
topic, approach, and organization
 Uses
persuasion to capture readers’ interest
 Establishes
author
credibility and reliability of the
THE THESIS STATEMENT
A
thesis is a general point that applies to
entire essay
A
simple thesis announces and comments
on topic
 An
expanded thesis or essay plan includes
main points
A


thesis expresses a claim
Value or policy claim made in argumentative writing
Fact-based claim made in expository writing
CREATING READER INTEREST
 Logical

opening (inverted triangle method)
Begins broad and ends specific
 Dramatic



opening
Includes personal experience, description,
narration
Asks a question
Makes an emotional appeal
WRITING MIDDLE PARAGRAPHS
 The
topic sentence states the main idea of
each paragraph
 The
topic sentence is usually the first
sentence but could be placed elsewhere in
the paragraph
 The
rest of the paragraph should support the
topic sentence
WRITING STRONG PARAGRAPHS
 Strong

Unified


Focused on one idea
Coherent


paragraphs are
Easy to follow
Well-developed

Organized with relevant support
WRITING STRONG PARAGRAPHS,
CONT’D
 Strategies
for coherent paragraphs
Use logical sentence order
 Organize by specific patterns
 Use precise language
 Use transitions to show relationships
 Rephrase to clarify difficult concepts
 Repeat key words or use synonyms
 Use balanced structures

RHETORICAL PATTERNS AND
PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT
 Rhetorical
patterns help to organize and
present information systematically
 Your
topic and approach to it will help
determine an appropriate rhetorical pattern

Common rhetorical patterns




Description
Narration
Process analysis
Definition
RHETORICAL PATTERNS AND
PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT,
CONT’D
Common rhetorical patterns, cont’d









Comparison and contrast
Chronology
Example
Cause and effect
Reasons
Classification/division
Cost–benefit analysis
Problem and solution
Analogy
KINDS OF EVIDENCE
 The
kind of evidence you need can depend on
your purpose, audience, topic, and essay type
 It
will vary according to discipline
 Hard

Facts, statistics, research findings
 Soft

evidence has authority
evidence may help explain or convince
Experts, examples, analogies, anecdotal or
personal experience
ISSUES OF CREDIBILITY
 Knowledge


Appearing well-informed
Providing strong support
 Reliability


Following conventions
Writing grammatically and clearly
 Fairness


Avoiding bias
Mentioning other sides and viewpoints
WRITING A CONCLUSION
 Circular


Reinforce the writer’s thesis
Do not repeat the thesis word for word
 Spiral


conclusions
conclusions
Suggest ideas for further exploration
Use appeal or a brief narrative