No Office Hours/Class Today, 5 Feb.

Good morning,

I'm out of commission today. I woke up before my usual 4:45 alarm not feeling well, and it's getting worst rather than better; so, I'm going to take it easy today and try to get into the doctor's office. In any event, I won't be in the office.

Spend the time revising and editing your five paragraph essay. Remember, the topic of the essay is your choice. Vary the your sentence structure in your paragraphs using the following sentence forms:

IC.
DC, IC.
IC, DC.
IC, conj IC.
IC, conj IC; conj, IC.

Remember, your essay is divided into an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each of your paragraphs should begin with a topic sentence. Your introductory paragraphs should end with a thesis sentence.

Here are links to a couple of articles on writing the five paragraph essay. The advice in these short articles should help with any questions which may have developed as you drafted your essay. Before you revise your essay, take a look at the articles, and see if you can pick up any tips which will help as you revise.

http://www.geocities.com/soho/Atrium/1437/

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/essaywriting/a/fiveparagraph.htm

http://www.bookrags.com/articles/4.html

Remember, do take the time to revise your essay. As I said in class, it's easy to think your job is done when you get a draft of your essay in the computer and printed, but this is only the start of the work you need to do to write a successful essay. [Notice the last sentence has the form: DC, IC, cong IC.]

Remember, "Good writing is rewriting." The most important stage of writing is the revision stage. Give yourself permission to revise and rewrite. Your time will be well spent, and I'm betting you'll be surprised at the results. [Notice the last sentence is of the form: IC, conj IC.]

Take care,

Steve