Assignment Due: 26 February.

Reading: From Expressways, read pages 83-95. These pages talk about how to fill your body paragraphs with specific language and good supporting details. Gathering and including the right details is particularly important in writing descriptive paragraphs, like the paragraphs you'll be writing for the essay draft due this Thursday. When you create this draft, make sure to use the computer, apply what you learn from the reading, and bring a hard copy to class.


Writing: Where do you want to be in five years?

Write a *draft* of an essay in which you describe where you want your personal, professional, academic, and civic life to be in five years. Part of achieving one's goals is learning to fully visualize what it is you want to achieve. The next step is coming up with a plan which will allow you to move toward the goals you visualize, but I don't want you to write about your plan just yet; instead, I want you to concentrate on writing a fairly complete description of where you want to be.

In your description, be realistic and concrete. Provide examples and illustrations. If you say you want a spouse or significant other, what qualities do you want this person to possess? How will this person compliment you? What kind of person will they be, and how do you visualize your relationship with them? If you say you want to be finishing up your bachelors degree, tell your reader what degree you want to be working on, if you see yourself as a senior, junior, or heading toward graduate school, and what school or kind of school you'd like to be at. If you say you want to be living in a nice apartment, then describe the apartment. What town is it in? Is it near your job or school? What kind of neighborhood is it in? Do you see yourself having roommates? If you say you want a job, what kind of job is it? What kind of work do you see yourself doing? How do you see your work fitting into your other plans? How many hours per week do you see yourself working? Is it an inside, office job or are you doing landscaping outside?

In visualizing your goals, be realistic. You may see yourself as rich, but can you get there in five years? Do some of your homework. It takes most students six years to finish college, and students who work will take even longer; so, if you plan on working while getting a college degree, then you need to plan to still be in school, but working toward a career. You also may mention what limitations you may face or what you'll need to overcome to achieve your goals.


For right now, don't worry about drafting an introduction or conclusion, just draft the main sections of your essay's body.

Assignment: for 19 February

Read the class blog posts on the middle section of a good introduction and some further advice on thesis statements.

For each of your hook/thesis statement pairs, create a middle section which provides context, explains why the discussion is important, etc. For right now, only invest two to four sentences in the middle sections you develop.

Have a good weekend.

Steve

Some more formula for a thesis statment:

In doing some more research on writing thesis statements, I found the following formulas for thesis statements:

Useful Formula for Thesis Statements

If you're not sure whether you have a good thesis statement, see whether you can fit your ideas into one of these basic patterns.

• [Something] [does something] because [reason(s)].
  
• Because [reason(s)], [something] [does something].
  
• Although [opposing evidence], [reasons] show [Something] [does something].

For longer papers, thesis statements can be very complex.

While [a specific, named person] says [a direct quote or paraphrase from the source], [a different, named person] says [something else]. While the two authors disagree over [a minor point], they both share a deep concern over [the topic of your paper]. [Person one's] refusal to accept [a particular point made by person two] suggests that [person one] is [your thesis -- stating the real reason why person one won't agree with person two].

Finally, here's a set of good, three part thesis statements I found online:

THREE PART THESIS STATEMENTS

THE WHAT THESIS STATEMENT

The three drugs which cause the most serious threat to the health of Americans are alcohol, nicotine, and amphetamines.

There are three kinds of monocycle riders: weekend riders who like to take afternoon outings near home, serious riders who take long journeys alone, and macho riders who parade from one bar to another.

The three most important pieces of camping equipment are a tent, a sleeping bag, and a backpack.

Three vocational-technical programs offered at Southside Virginia Community College are automobile mechanics, electronics, and information technology.

A good English paper should have a clear thesis, be well organized, and have well developed paragraphs.

A modern American woman must play three roles: wife, homemaker, and breadwinner.

THE WHY THESIS STATEMENT

Among the many causes of the rising divorce rate are greater economic independence for women, greater sexual freedom for both men and women, and the mobility of the American people.

Family reunions are always fun because of the food, the games, and the gossip.

American automobiles are a better buy than foreign automobiles because the American cars are cheaper to buy, safer to drive, and easier to repair.

Everyone should exercise regularly because it reduces the risk of heart disease, it makes a person feel better, and it improves appearance.

Many family farms are failing because of high interest rates on loans, the low volume of farm exports, and poor business management.

More and more people are connecting to the Internet because of the entertainment it provides, the educational resources it makes available, and the convenience it offers for transacting business.

THE HOW THESIS STATEMENT

Crime in America is reduced when criminals are given stiffer prison terms, the public is educated about how to prevent crime, and law abiding citizens are permitted to carry concealed weapons.

The way to have a successful restaurant business is to offer good food, fast service, and reasonable prices.

A person can have a safe outing on a pleasure boat by carrying the proper equipment, by checking the weather forecast before leaving, and by operating the boat in a responsible way.

A person can have a successful camping trip by carrying the proper equipment, by going at the right time of the year, and by picking the right camp site.

Americans get most of their information from radio, television, and the newspapers.

Learning to use a computer requires patience, attention, and practice.

The Middle Section of an Introduction.

OK, we've discussed the hook, the first section of your introduction, and the thesis, the final section of your introduction. Now we need to discuss how to get between the hook and the thesis.

If you remember, the hook draws your reader into thinking about the topic of your paper. The hook interests the reader.

The middle section is where you motivate your reader, narrow your topic, and provide some very general background information and context.

Some questions you might answer in this middle section are:

• What's the general background of the problem you address?
• Who are the players or main ways of thinking about your problem/controversy.
• What problem are you working on and why is it important?
• Why is the problem/controversy/discussion of interest and importance to the larger community or to your specific reader(s)?

In short, answer some or most of the questions who, what, when, where, why and how.

All this leads into your thesis statement. Remember, in your thesis statement, you identify the specific aspect of your topic you'll consider. You make a claim about this aspect of your topic, and you provide a kind of road map to how you'll develop the remainder of your paper.

Taken together the hook, background/motivation section, and the thesis make up your introduction.

Assignment for Thursday, 14 February

Reading: Read the post on this blog on writing a good introduction.
Writing: 1) Revise and proofread each of the thesis statements you developed for 12 February.
2) Write a hook for each thesis statement.

How to Write A Good Introduction

The following post is taken verbatum from

http://matcmadison.edu/is/writingcenter/introduction_strategies.htm

Introductions

The first idea I would want to suggest about introductions is that you don’t necessarily need to write one before you write the essay. Many students will get stuck right off the bat on their papers because they are waiting for an idea for an introduction. The reason they might be stuck is because they are trying to introduce an essay they haven’t written yet. At times, it might be more efficient for you to write the body of the essay first before you write the introduction for it. Then you will know what it is that you are trying to introduce, so the idea for the introduction may come more easily.

Having said that, let me answer two questions about introductions: what is the purpose of an introduction, and how do you write a good one? Introductions are used as a way to capture the interest of your reader and to let them know what they will be reading in the body of the essay. Imagine how jarred you might feel if you began to read the bulk of a body of material right away without knowing what you might be facing within that material. You might not want to proceed. So instead of just rushing into the body of the material, most writers introduce their topic to guide their reader into the body of work that is to come. So the purpose of the introduction is to motivate your reader to read further and to alert them about what they will be reading.

To write a good introduction, you need to reflect on this purpose. So since your first purpose is to capture the attention of your reader, you would begin your introduction with a motivator. There are six techniques that many writers use to capture the attention of their readers:

	Ask a provocative question
	State an unusual fact
	Give an illustration, example, or anecdote
	Present a provocative quote
	Refer to an historic event
	Point to common relationships, beliefs, interests, or opinions

Whichever technique you decide to use in your introduction, you would want to make sure that it is relevant to your topic.

The next part of the introduction would then alert your reader about what they will be reading. So you will need to present them with some background information on your topic to give them with the big picture of your topic, so to speak. You would want this information to be more general; you do not necessarily need to suggest all the points you are going to cover in your essay. Just provide your reader with the information they might need to appreciate your points within the essay.

The last part of the introduction is the thesis statement. This statement will also satisfy the purpose of letting your reader know what they will be reading. The thesis statement is a forecasting statement that suggests the main idea that you will cover in your essay. (See The Writing Process for more information on thesis statements.) You might also want to add a blueprint to your introduction. A blueprint will alert you reader to the structure of your essay. It states the main point that you will cover in the body of your essay. The wording of the blueprint will be the wording that you will use in the topic sentences of each body paragraph. Here is an example of a thesis with a blueprint.

President Bush has already outlined three separate policies that address his campaign pledge of compassionate conservatism: an educational plan that includes accountability and vouchers, federal funds for faith-based organizations to help the poor, and an overhaul of Medicare that would help the elderly to buy prescription drugs.

What this statement does is to alert the reader that you will discuss policies that address Bush’s compassionate conservatism ideal. That part is the thesis. The next portion of the sentence names the three policies. These are the policies that you will discuss in the body of your essay. The reader will expect you to cover them in the order that you named them, which is why it is called a blueprint. It alerts the reader to the structure of your essay. You can also use the wording of the blueprint as the wording of your topic sentences to bring your reader back to the blueprint.

In conclusion, an effective introduction has three parts that should blend together smoothly: a motivator, background information, and the thesis statement.

Assignment: 7-12 Feburary.

Reading:

Read my post on thesis statements in this blog. Read 367-72 in Expressways.

Writing:

Everyday between now and Tuesday, pick your own topics and develop two strong thesis statements. When developing each statement, construct it using sentences composed of dependent and independent clauses. You can use any of the sentence forms we have discussed.