Collegiate Writing

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Collegiate Writing

• The Essaycontd (According to Langan)

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TITLES

• Choose a title that directly reflects the topic.
• Do not bold, underline, italicize, or put the
  title in quotation marks.
• Be sure to capitalize appropriately.
• See the Capitalization chapter in your Langan
  text for reference.

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Introduction

• Capture the readers interest.
• Give background information.
• Introduce the thesis statement.
• Establishes a pattern of development.
• This may be directly stated
• in the thesis
• or elsewhere in the introduction.
• Or, it may be implied.

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Common Methods of Introduction

• Begin with a general statement about your topic.
• Start with a contradiction (or contrasting
  statement)
• Begin by explaining the importance of your topic.
• Start with an anecdote.
• Ask questions(with the intention of answering
  them in the essay).
• Start with a quote.

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Heres to Your Health

• Which method of introduction does the author use?
• Why?
• What effect does this have on the reader?
• Why is it significant?
• What would the essay be like without it?

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Essay Body

• Remember, the essay must meet the three
  non-negotiable criteria unity, coherence,
  development.
• So, the body paragraphs of an essay must all be
• Unified (must all relate to each other)
• Coherent (must be in a logical order and use
  transitions that reflect this order pattern of
  development)
• Well-developed (must have adequate details to
  support the topic sentence and thesis statement)

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Heres to Your Health

• What is the authors thesis?
• Why does the author place it in paragraph 3?
• How does the author support the thesiswhat are
  the major details?
• Are the paragraphs unified?

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Heres to Your Health

• What is the pattern of development in the thesis
  statement?
• Do the paragraphs follow this pattern of
  development?
• Consider how each paragraph after the thesis
  statement relates to the other.
• Look at the topic sentences.
• Does the author use transitions that reflect the
  pattern of development?
• What other pattern is apparent? Explain.
• When the author does not use specific
  transitions, how does she move from paragraph to
  paragraph?

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Heres to Your Health

• Not only is it important to use transitions to
  move between paragraphs, it is also essential to
  use them to move from sentence to sentence.
• Be sure utilize transitions, but not overuse
  them otherwise, your essay may sound too
  mechanical.

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Common Methods of Concluding

• Give summary and final thoughts on topic.
• Remember, the conclusion is not for new
  information.
• Be sure to restate your thesis and major points.
• Do not use the same exact wording as in your
  introduction.
• Use a question or series of questions(with the
  intention of answering them.
• End with a prediction or recommendation.

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Heres To Your Health

• How does the author conclude?
• Why?
• What affect does this have on the reader?
• Why is it significant?
• What would the essay be like without it?

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Grammar What NOT to do in an Essay

• Do not use contractions!
• Do not use etc, so on, and much more or
  
• Do not make announcements to the reader, such as
• Let me tell you
• I am going to
• Do not start a sentence with a coordinating
  conjunction!
• If you start an independent clause with a
  transition/conjunctive adverb, use a comma after
  it!

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• Avoid using colons unless you know how to use
  them properly.
• Make sure that you are consistent with your
  pronouns in a given sentence.
• If you begin by talking about we, you must
  continue using we unless you can justify the
  switch in pronoun case.
• Make sure that your verb tenses are consistent
  throughout the essay and in a given sentence.
• If you begin in past tense, keep it in past tense
  unless you can justify the switch in verb tense.

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Essay 1

• You are to discuss the harm of certain types of
  advertising, using your visual ad as your primary
  example.
• Your paper must be at least 2 ½ pages long, and
  at least four paragraphs long.
• Do not exceed 3 ½ pages.
• It must also follow the criteria outlined in the
  Essay 1 Checklist.

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• You must use one of the common methods for
  Introduction and Conclusion as outlined by Langan
  (page 90, 93).
• You must include at least one paragraph that
  compares your view of harmful advertising to
  those made by Joan Dunayer in her essay Heres
  to Your Health.
• The rough draft is due Monday,10/13.