Chapter One An Introduction to Writing

Chapter OneAn Introduction to Writing College Writing Skills, 6E and College Writing Skills with Readings, 6EJohn Langan

The Process: 4 Steps in a Nutshell • Discover aclearly stated point or thesis. • Providelogical, detailed supportfor your thesis. • Organize and connectyour supporting material. • Revise and editso that your sentences are effective and error-free.

Point and Support Any idea that you advance MUST be supported withspecific reasonsor details. (What kind? How many? What did it look/feel/smell/taste/sound like?)

Point and Support in a Paragraph A paragraph usually consists of atopic sentence… Ex:Although I love the movies, I’ve found that there are drawbacks to moviegoing.

Point and Support in a Paragraph …followed by supporting sentences. Ex.:On arecent visit, teenagers were throwing popcorn and ice cubes to the left of me. The seats were torn and missing springs, and the floors sticky with spilled soda. [. . .]

Point and Support in an Essay In anessay, thethesisappears in theintroductory paragraph, andthesupportappears in theparagraphsthat follow.

Structure of the Traditional Essay Parts of an essay: • Introductoryparagraph • Body (supporting) paragraphs • Concluding paragraph

Introductory Paragraphsshould • attract the reader’sinterest; • advancethe thesis; and • previewthe major points that will support the thesis.

Body/ Supporting Paragraphsshould begin with a topicsentencethat states the point to be detailed in that paragraph.

Concluding Paragraphs The End • briefly restatethethesisand the mainsupporting points,and • presentaconcluding thoughtabout thesubject of the paper.

Benefits of the traditional essay Mastering the traditional essaywill • help make you a betterwriter, • make you a strongerthinker,and • strengthen your skills as a reader and listener.

Writing is a Skill! Writing is not atalent. It is askillthat can be mastered throughpracticeand hard work.

Writing a Journal The more youpractice writing, the better you will write.Keep awriting journal.

Some Tips on Writing with a Computer • Saveyour work frequently. • Keepabackup disk. • Printout your work at the end of every session. • Copyyour file before making major changes – you might want to go back to the original!

The Writing Process: Prewriting • Get downas manyideas and detailsas possibleabout your subject. • Deleteideas you don’t want in your paper andaddnew ideas that occur to you. • Shufflesupporting ideas around to find the best order.

The Writing Process:Writing Your First Draft • You can write out your first draftby handand then type it into the computer forrevision. • If you compose directly onto the screen, however, you can benefit from the computer’s special features:cut,pasteand copy.

The Writing Process:Revising • Substituting, adding,deleting,andrearrangingcan be done easily on the computer. • If you prefer, print out a hard copy of your file andrevise first in longhand.

The Writing Process: Editing and Proofreading Take sufficient time tocarefullyreview yourgrammar,punctuation, andspelling.

Chapter One An Introduction to Writing

Chapter One An Introduction to Writing

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