Jane C. Schafferor

The High School Writing Process

Mission Statement

The mission of this lesson is to provide students with a writing tool. This is a technical writing tool. Its purpose is to develop a strong foundation for research driven writing.

Terminology

Thesis: a sentence with a subject and an opinion. Pre-writing: getting your ideas and concrete

details down on paper before you put your essay together in paragraph form. Graphic organizers are used at this stage.

Concrete Detail: specific details or facts. In a literary analysis quotes may be used.

Commentary: your opinion about something. Depending on what you are writing it could also be more detail to the fact.

More Terminology

Concluding Sentence: the last sentence in your body paragraphs

Shaping the essay: writing the following before you write your first draft: thesis; topic sentence for each body paragraph.

Conclusion:the last paragraph in your essay that is all commentary, does not repeat key words, and gives a finished feeling to the whole essay

Peer Response: written responses and reactions to a partner’s paper

One More Page of Terminology

Ratio: one part concrete detail (CD) to 2+ parts commentary (CM)

Word Counts: the minimum length per paragraph to earn a “C.”

In your essay keep in mind you are continually going from general to specific.

thesisTSCDCM

Thesis Statements

A thesis is a general sentence with a subject and an opinion.

Example:Australia is the best country of all for a vacation.

In this sentence Australia is the subject and is the best country of all for a vacation is the opinion.

More Thesis Statements

Tibbetts Middle School is a wonderful place to go to school.

Getting braces was one of the best things that could have happened to me.

Practice Thesis StatementsWrite the following sentences and underline

the subject once and the opinion twice:

Fishing is fun to do when I’m with my dad.English is my favorite class.

It’s exciting to go to a new school.

Tacos are my favorite food. I like radio station Star 102.9 the most.

Once you develop a thesis statement it is time to use a graphic organizer to expand your thoughts

Put your thesis in the middle bubbleBranch three other bubbles off of the center

bubble. It should look like this:

Thesis

Topic sentences are what that whole paragraph is going to be about

Branch three other bubbles off from the each topic sentence bubble.

ThesisTopic Sentence

Topic sentence

Topic Sentence

Topic sentences must relate to your thesis

Concrete details are very specific They can be a quote if you are writing a literary analysis, or factual

information if you are writing a book report

ThesisTopic Sentence

Topic sentence

Topic SentenceConcrete Detail

Concrete Detail

Concrete Detail Concrete Detail

Concrete Detail

Concrete Detail

Concrete Detail Concrete Detail

Concrete Detail

Concrete details must relate to the topic sentence

Once your bubble cluster is complete you can start creating body paragraphs

Each grouping of one TS and three CDs is a body paragraph

Topic SentenceConcrete Detail

Concrete Detail

Concrete Detail

The next step is to add two commentaries to each concrete detail - NOT IN THE BUBBLE CLUSTER

Commentary is opinion relating to the concrete detail or fact

Here is the pattern for a body paragraph:

Topic SentenceConcrete Detail

Concrete Detail

Concrete Detail

TS - topic sentenceCD - concrete detailCM - commentaryCM - commentaryCD - concrete detailCM - commentaryCM - commentaryCD - concrete detailCM - commentaryCM -commentaryCS - concluding sentence The last item added to the pattern is the

concluding sentence, which can lead the reader to the next paragraph

Once your body paragraphs are complete it is time to create an introductory paragraph

An introductory paragraph is used to catch the reader’s attention

Your thesis should be the last sentence in your introductory paragraph

There are 4 types of introductory paragraphs : Anecdote ( a little story) Dialogue (open conversation) Startling information (sometimes statistics are used) Commentary (open with an opinion)

There are other graphic organizers besides the bubble cluster

Spider diagram (like a bubble cluster except you use lines instead of bubbles)

Random outline (you just start brainstorming ideas and organize them later)

Columns outline (great for comparing two things)

Technical Writing list Literary Analysis Persuasive Essay Biographies Science Fair Papers Research Papers Comparison Contrast Essay Any type of paper in which

factual information will be used

Writing Tips

Be careful with the topic you chooseThink about why you chose that topic If it is too narrow you will get frustrated

finding information to write about If it is too broad your piece will sound

scatteredFind information that will interest your

reader