1. ENG 1010 College Writing I
Session One
Longman Writer Pages 14-90

2. Pre-Writing

3. Getting Started Through Prewriting
• Prewriting refers to the strategies you can use
to generate ideas before starting the first draft
of a paper.

4. Developing Ideas
• There are many ways to identify topics that you
might choose to develop into an essay.
• Journaling is probably the most successful
approach to this challenge.
– With this technique you simply take time at the end
of your day or an activity to summarize an event or
thought that you might expand at a later time.

5. First Steps
• As with any assignment, there are some
simple preliminary “points of information”
that you need to know:
– Identify the kind of paper the instructor has in
mind
– Identify the length of the assignment - many
instructors will say “as long as it takes”, but you
will probably given “minimums and maximums”

6. Next Steps
• After the preliminary information has been provided,
you then must determine:
– Your Purpose – what do you want the essay to accomplish?
– Your Audience – who will be reading this essay?
– Your Tone – what emotional state is to be conveyed?
– Your Point of View - what is the role of the author in the
essay (narrator, participant, observer, expert)?

7. Discover Your Essay’s Limited Subject
(Narrowing the Topic)
• After you have a grasp on the
assignment’s boundaries, you
need to focus on identifying
the topic
• The first step is to focus on a
limited subject
• This diagram illustrates this
concept (the larger rings
representing the broader topics
diminish in size until they reach
the red circle which represents
the final topic)

8. Mapping Limited Subjects
• If you start with a very general topic, suddenly your mind will go off in many
directions with ideas – your job as the writer is to “map” these idea until you
find the one fitting your needs.
Social Media (S/M)
Problems w
S/M
Benefits w S/M
Types of S/M History of S/M
S/M Predators
S/M & Identity Theft
S/M & Character Damage
Facebook
Linkedin
Christian Mingle
Keep in Contact w/ Family
Affordable Fun
Networking Tool
History of Facebook
History of Online Dating
History of Online Networking

9. Preliminary Research
• After you have an idea of your topic, you then
need to gather facts to determine whether or
not you should proceed with your writing
• This step can be done by:
– Brainstorming – jotting down all ideas that you or
your friends can provide
– Media searches – simply “Google” the possible
topic

10. Identifying a Thesis

11. What is a Thesis?
• A thesis presents your position on the subject
you have chosen.
• The thesis identifies the controlling purpose of
the essay.

12. Writing an Effective Thesis
• The effective thesis has two parts:
– One part presents your paper’s limited subject
– The second part presents your point of view or
attitude about the subject

13. Effective Thesis Examples
• Let’s look at an effective thesis:
“Monitoring children’s use of electronic devices
have had a positive impact on student outcomes.”
– Limited subject: “Monitoring children’s use of
electronic devices …”
– Point of view: “… have had a positive impact on
student outcomes.”

14. Effective Thesis Examples
• Let’s look at an another effective thesis:
“The treatment of Bell’s Palsy can be augmented
with the use of acupuncture.”
– Limited subject: “The treatment of Bell’s Palsy…”
– Point of view: “… can be augmented with the use
of acupuncture .”

15. Keys to a Strong Thesis Statement
1. Don’t write a highly opinionated statement (expressions of
greater emotion should be left for the body of the essay)
2. Don’t make an announcement (avoid using the first person
“I” or “my” in the thesis statement)
3. Don’t make a factual statement (wait until the body of the
essay so you can prove your point with evidence)
4. Don’t make a broad statement (focus on the “actual” not
the “general”)

16. Supporting the Thesis with Evidence

17. What is Evidence?
• Evidence refers to the information you present to validate your thesis
• When writing evidence can be many things:
– Reasons
– Examples
– Facts (Statistics)
– Details
– Personal observation or experiences
– Anecdotes
– Expert opinions
– Quotations

18. How Do You Find Evidence?
• Use the same tools you used to identify your
thesis – but go deeper
– Media searches
– Interviewing with documentation
– Observing with documentation

19. Characteristics of Evidence
• Make sure that your evidence is:
– Relevant and unified
– Specific in detail
– Sufficient (adequate) in quantity
– Dramatic rather than blasé
– Accurate (this is crucial!)
– Representative

20. The “Golden Rule” of Evidence
ANY information you present must be
verifiable with documentation!
You must be able to prove your sources of
information that you present in your writings.

21. Organizing the Evidence

22. Select an Organizational Approach
• How are you going to present your material?
– Chronological Approach – time sequence of events
– Pros: Very orderly
– Cons: Doesn’t work with everything
– Spatial Approach – taking things how they appear in
real life (the big picture approach)
– Pros: Very useful in descriptive or narrative writing
– Cons: Can become boring if it seems to be step-by-step

23. Select an Organizational Approach (cont.)
• How are you going to present your material?
– Emphatic Approach – builds to a crescendo, saving the most
compelling for last
– Pros: Works great for argumentative or persuasion
– Cons: Ineffective for most descriptive essays
– Simple-to-Complex Approach – proceeds from step one to step
to and so on
– Pros: Great for instructional essays and works for some narrative
writings
– Cons: Like the chronological and spatial, can tend to be boring without
sufficient evidence

24. Using the Outline
• Once you have
determined your
organizational
approach, a proven way
to plan your essay is to
use an outline
• An outline is simply a
step-by-step map for
you to follow when
composing your work
I. Thesis Statement
II. Point of information
a. Documented validation
III. Point of information
a. Documented validation
IV. Point of information
a. Documented validation
V. Summary/Conclusion

25. Writing the Paragraph in the First Draft

26. Going From “Outline” to “Draft”
• Here is a key suggestion for taking your
outline and converting it to your rough draft:
– Make the outline’s “main topics” (I, II, III, etc.) the
topic sentences of the essay’s supporting
paragraphs.

27. General Suggestions
• Work quickly and get your thoughts on paper
– you can revise for content and correct errors
later
• Don’t worry if you get bogged down – if one
section becomes a block, move on and come
back later

28. Things to Remember
• Make your “topic
sentences” for each
paragraph strong
statements of fact
• Give ample support and
be sure it is specific
• Use strong verbs –
don’t be afraid to show
some emotion and flair
• Make your paragraphs
coherent – use your
chosen sequence pattern
and stick to it
• Make your last sentence of
each paragraph your
strongest
• When in doubt –
DOCUMENT YOUR SOURCE

29. Writing the “Perfect 5 Sentence Paragraph”
(this is not referenced in your textbook)

30. Paragraph Basics
• Conveys a single, consistent
thought
• Has a specific flow
• Brings thought to a
conclusion
• Traditionally is no longer
than 5 sentences

31. The 5 Sentence Paragraph
• The first sentence of the
paragraph usually is the
topic sentence
• This sentence sets the
tone of the paragraph
Topic Sentence

32. The 5 Sentence Paragraph
• Sentences 2, 3 & 4
provide the context of
the paragraph
• These statements
support the Topic
Sentence
Sentence 4
Sentence 3
Sentence 2
Topic Sentence

33. The 5 Sentence Paragraph
• Sentence 5 is the
concluding sentence
• It offers closure for the
topic and often restates
the Topic Sentence in an
alternative manner
Conclusion
Sentence 4
Sentence 3
Sentence 2
Topic Sentence

34. The 5 Sentence Paragraph –
Let’s Try It
“The treatment of cancer in children can include chemotherapy,
radiation, and surgery.”
Topic Sentence
We start with our topic sentence.

35. The 5 Sentence Paragraph –
Let’s Try It
“The treatment of cancer in children can include chemotherapy, radiation, and
surgery. Chemotherapy is medication which is used as a tool to eliminate
cancer cells in the body. Radiation is the use of radiant energy to kill cancer
cells. Surgery is when cancerous cells or tumors are extracted from the body.
Sentence 4
Sentence 3
Sentence 2
Topic Sentence
We add our supportive sentences.

36. The 5 Sentence Paragraph –
Let’s Try It
“The treatment of cancer in children can include chemotherapy, radiation,
and surgery. Chemotherapy is medication which is used as a tool to eliminate
cancer cells in the body. Radiation is the use of radiant energy to kill cancer
cells). Surgery is when cancerous cells or tumors are extracted from the body.
The type of treatment needed depends on the type and severity of cancer
and the child's age.”
Conclusion
Sentence 4
Sentence 3
Sentence 2
Topic Sentence
We finish with our concluding sentence.

37. The 5 Sentence Paragraph –
Let’s Try It Again
• For this sentence let’s imagine that our topic was
professional baseball.
• We first need to narrow it:
– Baseball
– Baseball pitchers
– Left handed pitchers
– Dodger left handed pitchers
– Sandy Koufax

38. The 5 Sentence Paragraph –
Let’s Try It Again
“Sandy Koufax, who pitched for the Dodgers between the years 1955-
1966, had a career that will probably never be duplicated.”
Topic Sentence

39. The 5 Sentence Paragraph –
Let’s Try It Again
“Sandy Koufax, who pitched for the Dodgers between the years 1955-1966, had
a career that will probably never be duplicated. During his illustrious career
Koufax threw four no hitters including a perfect game. He was also a three
time Cy Young award winner. In 1972 Sandy Koufax became the youngest
player ever to be elected to the Hall of Fame.”
Sentence 4
Sentence 3
Sentence 2
Topic Sentence

40. The 5 Sentence Paragraph –
Let’s Try It Again
“Sandy Koufax, who pitched for the Dodgers between the years 1955-
1966, had a career that will probably never be duplicated. During his
illustrious career Koufax threw four no hitters including a perfect game. He
was also a three time Cy Young and one time MVP award winner. To top
his career, in 1972 Sandy Koufax became the youngest player ever to be
elected to the Hall of Fame. With these credentials, it is doubtful that
any pitcher will be able to match Koufax.”
Conclusion
Sentence 4
Sentence 3
Sentence 2
Topic Sentence