Assignment 1.6: Write it Up
| Site: | Cowichan Valley School District - Moodle |
| Course: | English 11, CVOLC, Online, 21-22 |
| Book: | Assignment 1.6: Write it Up |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Wednesday, 5 February 2025, 12:08 PM |
1. Learning Targets
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Learning Target(s):
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2. Writing an Expository Essay
Writing an expository essay is a simple but important skill. Being able to communicate a fact to another person is fundamental.
The Writing Process (click here to read a summary)
Introduction
There are five steps in the writing process. These are five tasks that must be done if you are to write at your best.
- Prewriting: Brainstorming and Deciding on a Topic
- Prewriting: Organizing and Outlining
- First Draft: Decide on a Thesis Statement and Write
- Revising: Editing and Proofreading
- Final Draft
Prewriting
At this stage there is an emphasis on focusing your topic and selecting your content (what will be included in your writing). Writers plan and choose a topic by developing their idea. The audience (to whom the essay is aimed) is identified. Prewriting can take place in oral, pictorial, or written format. Time spent prewriting will produce a better first draft, and ultimately a better final draft.
- Think about your topic.
- Jot down words, phrases, and ideas.
- Think about purpose, audience, and attitude.
- Try mind mapping, lists, clustering, note-taking, patterns.
- Organize and outline your ideas write a thesis statement.
First Draft
- Write a thesis statement.
- Write the first draft.
Final Draft
- Proofread and edit.
- Write the final draft.
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.
2.2. First Draft
Once you have a clear thesis statement - the main idea of your essay - and you have written a plan for the essay in the form of an outline, you are prepared to write the first draft of your essay.
- Your supporting paragraphs should be in the order you determined in your plan.
- Have clear topic sentences for each paragraph.
- Use clear methods of development (chronological, step-by-step, etc.)
- Don't use first person point of view (I)
- Don't use 2nd person point of view (you)
- Use transition words to make you writing flow smoothly.
- Each paragraph should contain about 5-8 sentences.
2.3. Final Draft
REVISING
Writers revise by adding, deleting, changing, and rearranging written work. Suggestions for revision may be given by a peer or group of peers, or the teacher. As well, you as the author may often see possible changes as you look at your writing from another perspective, or on another day. The purpose of revising is to make changes to improve your writing. During revision you can:
- Take something out
- Put something new in
- Change the order
- Substitute one word for another
Editing is revision at a more detailed level. When you edit, you review your paper, looking for smaller elements than you do when you revise. Editing involves asking whether you have made mistakes that might confuse or puzzle you reader. It also means asking yourself whether you have used the best language to express your ideas and experiences. You want to ensure that your writing is logical and clear so that it is understood by your audience.
Editing is not the same as proofreading. When you proofread , you look for mechanical, grammatical, and punctuation errors. For example, pay attention to misused homonyms, such as their, there and they're.
Don't trust that your computer spell-checker will find all the mistakes – check for yourself, or ask for help! Try using an online editing site, if you're not sure.
You should self-edit first and then allow a peer, teacher, parent or caregiver check your writing activity. Practice the skills you learned in the grammar review unit.
- Use a dictionary to check your spelling.
- Make sure all sentences are complete.
- Check your capitalization and punctuation.
Review this editing checklist.
3. ASSIGNMENT 1.6
Go to "1.6 Write it Up" Assignment on the main page of the course to complete this section.
You should complete the 1.7: QUIZ: Expository Writing quiz on the main page of the course before you write the expository essay in this assignment. See the next page in this book.
4. ASSIGNMENT 1.7
Task:
Please complete the 1.7 QUIZ: Expository Writing on the main page
The quiz will assess your ability to work with infographics and respond using paragraphs. Review your notes on writing paragraphs. You will have 1 hour to complete the quiz. It is password protected, please contact your teacher for more information.
Submission:
Use the "1.7 QUIZ: Expository Writing" link on the main page of this section of the course to complete the quiz
Estimated Allotted Time: 30 min to prepare - 1 hour to complete