Franklin / Green Amstud
The Paper on Getting Organized
While there are certainly several approaches and methodologies to getting organized and beginning a formal essay, below are a few suggestions, hints, and guidelines for processing your nascent ideas into a cogent, formal essay.
General Strategies
1. Establish Your Goals
§ Be sure you understand the assignment
§ Be sure you understand how to properly respond to the assignment or question.
§ Start the “mental” process of determining what you know about the assignment/topic
· Freewrite or brainstorm on paper to expose your thoughts, knowledge and ideas.
2. Select a good topic
§ Not only must your topic fit the assignment, but it also MUST be of interest to you!
· You do not have to be an “expert” in the subject matter; it merely needs to hold an interest for you. Writing about something which is of no interest is a futile exercise at best.
3. Write your Working Thesis: Clearly Stating Your Main Idea
§ Evaluate your main idea, and commit it to writing.
· Is it specific?
· Is it manageable in the length and time available?
· Is it interesting to your intended reader?
§ It may help you to draw a “family tree” to better explore the accuracy of your thesis
4. Plan Your Strategy
§ It is best to make an outline before you begin your first draft, and will give you a “schematic” to follow as you write.
§ Example:
Thesis Statement
1. First Main Idea
a. First Subordinate Idea
i. First Example or evidence
ii. Second Example…
b. Second Subordinate Idea
i. First Example or evidence
ii. Second Example…
2. Second Main Idea
§ Outlining will allow you to test the depth and/or specificity of your thesis, and subsequent support.
5. Strategies for Writing a Draft
§ Print (or write) out your outline and place it beside you. This is your road map, or prompt, as you begin.
§ Begin writing what you know best
§ If you get stuck, begin working on another section. This does NOT have to be a linear process.
§ Resist the urge to begin revising too soon. It’s best to get everything on paper and fine tune once you have put everything on paper.
§ Once you have a rough draft, I advise having someone else read it (like the Writing Center) to give you objective feedback on whether or not you have clearly and adequately expressed yourself.
Composing Paragraphs
1. Use explicit topic sentences
§ Topic sentences may be either at the beginning or end of the paragraph
§ Topic sentences point the reader in the right direction
§ Topic sentences explain the focus of the paragraph, much like the overriding thesis of the essay explains the focus of the entire paper.
2. Organize your paragraphs
§ Place your paragraphs in a logical order, building up to your conclusion
§ Logically arrange sentences within the paragraph as well.
§ Make your paragraphs coherent
§ Paragraphs should flow smoothly into one another
§ Common paragraph transitions:
a. to generalize
b. to offer an example
c. to enumerate
d. to situate in time or space
e. to conclude
f. to compare or contrast
g. to sum up
3. Introductory Paragraph
§ Capture the reader’s interest
§ Signal your level of commitment to the essay
§ Start your essay/initial paragraph on a strong note:
a. Use a question
b. Use a strong fact
c. Use a quotation
d. Use a descriptive image
e. Use a story (in a single sentence)
f. Concise and direct: there is nothing wrong with a straightforward approach!
4. Closing Paragraph
§ Conclude with Strength
a. Issue a call to action
b. Make recommendations
c. Ask a rhetorical question
d. Use a quotation
e. Speculate about the future
f. End with a story