Assignment 1.6: Write it Up

2.1. Prewriting

Define Your Purpose and Audience

The first thing you must do is think about the purpose of the essay you must write. Is your purpose to explain to people how to complete a particular task, to educate people about some person, place, thing or idea, or something else entirely? Obviously, for the purposes of this assignment, your goal is to explain.  Whatever topic you choose must fit that purpose.

Your audience is the person/people who will read what is written.

Brainstorm Subjects of Interest

Once you have determined the purpose of your essay, write down some subjects that interest you. No matter what the purpose of your essay is, an endless number of topics will be suitable. Brainstorm.

Organize Your Ideas

Organization is key to a successful essay. Plan your ideas into an outline which consists of the title of the topic, headings for the main ideas, and subheadings for the supporting details.

Outline in docx.

Outline in pdf.

• Begin your outline by writing your topic at the top of the page.
• Next, write the Roman numerals I, II, and III, spread apart down the left side of the page.
• Next to each Roman numeral, write the main ideas that you have about your topic, or the main points that you want to make.
  • If you are trying to explain a process, you want to write the steps that should be followed.
  • You will probably need to group these into categories.
    If you have trouble grouping the steps into categories, try using Beginning, Middle, and End.
  • If you are trying to inform, you want to write the major categories into which your information can be divided.
• Under each Roman numeral, write A, B, and C down the left side of the page.
• Next to each letter, write the facts or information that support that main idea.

Formulate a Thesis Statement

A THESIS STATEMENT is the main idea of an essay. It is stated in the opening paragraph and the topic sentences of each proceeding paragraph support the idea it expresses.

A thesis statement should be broad enough to include all the subtopics, information, or arguments in the essay. However, it should be narrow enough to allow you to deal with it thoroughly in the space available. Reminder:  a topic sentence is the main idea of a paragraph.

• It should be expressed as a statement in sentence format
• It should not be simply a self-evident fact “Many animals live in the forest” but more specific “The forest is a self-sustaining environment”.
• The thesis should not be a statement of personal preference “I like forests”.
• The thesis should state the writer’s opinion on an issue that includes more people than just the writer. “British Columbians should do more to sustain our forests”.
• Avoid using extreme terms like "never" or "always".
• Do not use an introduction that says “In the following essay” or “I will discuss” or “This essay is about”.
• You should also not be using the second person “you”.

When you have finished, you have the basic structure for your essay and are ready to continue.

Check out OWL Purdue for more tips and examples for writing thesis statements.