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Developing an effective essay

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Narration: Telling a story in chronological order ... Classification: Discussing a large group of items or concepts by analyzing its components ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Developing an effective essay


1
Developing an effective essay
  • Tips and techniques

2
Ways to develop your topic
  • Guidelines for a good paper
  • To generate ideas, you can use several methods
  • Keeping a journal
  • Observing your surroundings
  • Freewriting
  • Lists (Brainstorming)
  • Clustering
  • Journalists questions
  • Who? Why? What? When? Where? How?
  • Use expository techniques

3
Expository Techniques
  • Narration Telling a story in chronological
    order
  • Description Sensory details smell, taste,
    texture, sound, appearance
  • Description by examples Use of specific examples
  • Definition Dictionary or other
  • Classification Discussing a large group of
    items or concepts by analyzing its components

4
Expository Techniques, continued
  • Analysis Separating a subject into its elements
    and examining the relations between elements
  • Comparison and contrast Explain similarities and
    differences between ideas, objects, people,
    places, etc.
  • Analogy Comparison of different subjects to
    explain unfamiliar topics
  • Cause/effect analysis Why something occurred and
    the potential consequences
  • Process analysis How-to, step-by-step

5
The Thesis Statement
  • Helpful checklist
  • Does your thesis statement
  • Narrow your topic to one central idea that you
    want the reader to grasp?
  • State something specific and significant?
  • Provide a view of how you will cover the topic?

6
The Thesis Statement
  • Helpful checklist
  • Checklist for revising your thesis sentence
  • Does it make an assertion about your topic?
  • Is the assertion limited to only one idea?
  • Is the assertion specific?
  • Does the sentence convey your purpose?
  • Write more than one thesis sentence for the same
    essay to focus and improve your paper

7
Outlines
  • Helpful hints
  • Aspects of a formal outline
  • Labels and indents designate order and importance
  • Sections and subsections flow logically
  • Equally important points are placed in parallel
    headings
  • Each subsection has at least two parts
  • Headings are in the same grammatical structure
  • The thesis statement should appear above the
    first heading as a single sentence

8
Organizing the essay
  • Choose a structure for your essay
  • Introduction Body (a.k.a. Development)
    Conclusion
  • Spatial organization Front to back, top to
    bottom, geographical progress, etc.
  • Chronological order of events First, second,
    third, etc.
  • Deduction or Induction General to specific or
    specific to general
  • Problem/solution Description of issue followed
    by solution
  • Development of topic Setting out ideas from
    least to most important
  • Most familiar ideas (to readers) to least familiar

9
Drafting
  • Using the outline as a guide,
  • Rewrite your introduction and thesis statement
  • Write out sentences for each main point in the
    outline, and add supporting information, facts,
    data, reference to readings, etc., for each point
  • Begin a new paragraph with each new point, then
    add conclusions and transition to next paragraph
    or subtopic
  • Put the draft aside for a few hours or overnight
  • Rewrite the draft, changing each sentence for
    better clarity and accuracy

10
Editing
  • Not proofreading
  • Revise for
  • Content
  • Style
  • Mechanics
  • Format
  • Proofread for typos
  • Ask someone to review
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