Step I – Unity

To construct a well-organize essay:

1) Discover a clearly stated point or thesis

2) Provide detailed support for thesis

3) Organize and connect your supporting material

4) Revise and edit so that your sentences are effective and error free.

Each sentence within the paragraph-unit performs one or more of the following supporting functions:

▪ Makes the point clearer with examples

▪ Offers “proof” of the truth of the point

▪ Clarifies or expands on the point with comparisons (connections)

▪ Give logical sequences resulted from the point made in the topic sentence

Thesis statement:

▪ An opinion which can be supported by arguments

▪ Can be undivided, which states only the opinion (general) or divided, which states the opinion and arguments (more specific)/

Step II – Support

Just as a thesis must be developed with three (or more) supporting points, those supporting points must be developed with specific details.

Two Key Values of Specific Details:

1) Details excite the reader’s interest

2) Details serve to explain a writer’s points

You must provide enough specific details to fully support the point in a body paragraph of the essay

Step III – Coherence

Coherence: supporting points and details are organized and connected clearly

▪ Details must cohere (stick together) so the reader will be able to move smoothly and clearly from one bit of the supporting info to the next

1) Unity- if you advance a single point and stick to that point, you will have unity in your paper

2) Support-if you support the point with specific evidence you will have support in your paper

3) Coherence-if you organize and connect the specific evidence, you will have coherence in your paper

Can connect your support details or specific evidence by the use of:

1) Transition Signals

▪ Signal the direction of a writer’s thought

▪ Transitional words, phrases, and sentences form essential parts of an essay’s logical movement from idea to idea

2) Transitional Sentences

▪ Transitional or linking sentences are used between paragraphs to help toe the supporting paragraphs

▪ May be topic sentences or final sentences which lead the reader on to the next paragraph

▪ Enables the reader to move smoothly and clearly from the idea in 1 paragraph to the idea in the next paragraph

a. Addition signals: (one, first of all, moreover…)

b. Time signals: (first, then, next, after...)

c. Space signals: (to the left, on the opposite side, next to…)

d. Change-of-direction: (but, however, in contrast, on the contrary…)

e. Illustration signals: (for example, such as, specifically…)

f. Conclusion signals: (therefore, consequently, as a result…)

3) Other connecting words

▪ Repeated Words

o Repeat key words to tie together the flow of thought in your paper

o Reminds readers of your central idea

▪ Pronouns

o Using (he she it you they) in place of other words can help you avoid needless repetition

▪ Synonyms

o Using synonyms (words alike in meaning) help move the reader clearly from one thought to the next

o Increases variety and interest by avoiding needless repetition

Common methods of Organization

1) Time or Chronological order

▪ Simple means that details are listed as they occur in time

a. (First is done, next this, then this…)

2) Emphatic Order (save the best till last)

▪ Way to put emphasis on the most interesting or important detail by placing it in the last part of a paragraph or in the final supporting paragraph of an essay

a. (Finally, last of all, and most importantly…)

Methods of Introduction:

▪ General to Narrow

▪ Starting with an opposite

▪ Stating importance of topic

▪ Incident or story

▪ Questions

▪ Quotation

Methods of Conclusion

End with a summary and final thought

▪ Tell them what you’re going to tell them

▪ Tell them

▪ Tell them what you’ve told them

Include a thought-provoking question or short series of questions

A question grabs the reader’s attention.

▪ Why the subject of you paper is important

▪ What might happen in the future

▪ What should be done about this subject

▪ Which choice should be made

End with a prediction or recommendation

Like questions, predictions and recommendations also involve your readers.

▪ A recommendation suggests what should be done about a situation or problem.

Step V – Revision

Revising Sentences using:

1) Use parallelism

2) Use consistent point of view

3) Use specific words

4) Use active verbs

5) Use concise words

6) Vary your sentences

1)By balancing items in a pair or series so that they have the same kind of structure, you will make the sentence clearer and easier to read.

Non Parallel

My job includes checking the inventory, initialing the orders, and to call the suppliers

Parallel

My job includes checking the inventory, initialing the orders, and calling the suppliers

(A balanced series of –ing words: checking, installing, calling)

2) Do not shift verb tenses unnecessarily.

An aggressive news photographer knocked a reporter to the ground as the starts arrive for the MuchMusic awards.

Correction: Change arrive to past tense: arrived.

3)you must use specific rather than general words

Several of our appliances broke down at the same time

Correction: Our washer, refrigerator, and television broke down at the same time.

4) When the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb, the verb is in the active voice. When the subject of a sentence receives the action of a verb, the verb is in passive voice.

Wrong:

The car’s air conditioner was fixed by the mechanic.

The mechanic fixed the car’s air conditioner.

5) Wordiness—using more words than necessary to express a meaning—is often a sign of lazy or careless writing.

Wrong: Short Form

At the present time now

In the event that if

Postponed until later postponed

6)vary your sentences

1) Add a second complete thought (coordination)

2) Add a dependant thought (subordination)

3) Begin with a special evening word or phrase

4) Place adjectives or verbs in a series.

Wrong:

The weather was cold and windy.

Al brought a thick blanket to the football game.

Correct:

The weather was cold and windy, so Al brought a thick blanket to the football game.

Rhetorical Devices: those devices which depend for their effect more upon the ear than on mind

▪ Alliteration

▪ Assonance

▪ Consonance

▪ Onomatopoeia

▪ Euphony

▪ Cacophony

Figurative Devices: those devices which appeal more to the mind than to the ear

▪ simile

▪ metaphor

▪ conceit

▪ personification

▪ apostrophe

▪ metonymy

▪ synecdoche

▪ hyperbole

▪ litotes

▪ euphemism

▪ antithesis

▪ epigram

▪ paradox

▪ oxymoron

▪ rhetorical question

▪ allusion

▪ irony

▪ symbolism

▪ repetition