PREWRITING WHAT IS PREWRITING Writing an essay A

PREWRITING

WHAT IS PREWRITING? Writing an essay A time to think critically When I should decide on my thesis

YES! WHEN YOU PREWRITE, YOU… Get your thoughts onto paper No wrong ideas at this point Give yourself AS MUCH TIME as you can for this step (you owe me 6 hours a week!) Free write sentences, thoughts, phrases Brainstorm with a group Talk out your ideas while writing them down See what other views people have about the topic (not the time for research!!!) Cluster your ideas by what they have in common

WHY DO WE PREWRITE? To THINK To find out what we think (our opinion) What other people think (oppositions and supporters) To generate ideas To ignore our inner critics

KEEP A WRITING JOURNAL/NOTEBOOK Explore your thoughts in a focused manner Writing down what you think will help you organize your essay You can see your thought process Generate as many details as you can Determine Purpose: to argue, persuade, illustrate, define, compare Audience: who will be reading? Tone: is my diction appropriate for the assignment? Return to your written ideas and explore them in detail

WHEN IS YOUR PREWRITING FINISHED? When you have devoted at least 6 hours of time to the prewriting process When you have enough information to construct several paragraphs When you have a working thesis

WHAT IS A WORKING THESIS? The argument I’ll use for my final essay My first opinion about the topic A rough draft of my controlling idea

YES! A WORKING THESIS IS… A controlling idea Keeps your paper focused Your paper’s central argument Every paragraph supports it An opinion that engages you so it will engage your reader Something you won’t necessarily be able to decide upon until you write a draft

A WORKING THESIS IS NOT… A broad and/or general statement “Everyone loves Mountain Dew. ” “All women have children. ” Generalizations have the potential to be offensive An announcement “My paper will discuss” “I believe, think, feel” “I want to/will discuss” Factual statements that cannot be refuted “The Earth has gravity. ”

TIPS FOR GETTING AT A WORKING THESIS Consider the prompt thoroughly Is there more than one prompt? Has your instructor asked you to speak with him/her about it before you write? Have you spoken to others about your ideas? Prewrite and Pre-read If you’re struggling with your opinion, you haven’t prewritten enough You may need to examine additional examples Come up with three possible thesis statements

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? CONCERNS?

DETAILS Personal knowledge or experience Especially as the part of your introduction Writing about something that interests you will interest the reader Describe with your 5 senses Definitions of key words and phrases Vision is overused, when you get “writer’s block” think how you might approach the topic if you were blind—what might you smell, hear, taste, or touch? Found in a dictionary or other credible source Research back

RESEARCH Expert opinions Recognized in their field Published on the topic Newspaper, Magazine, or Journal articles about the topic or some aspect of the topic Written by someone who has interest in the topic May provide further research opportunities in their works cited Website Surfing . gov and. edu sites are the most credible sites because they are peer reviewed Information from data bases (like Galileo) are also credible back

Wrong! back

Wrong! back