English Composition

Assessment 3

 

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· Informative Writing: Prewriting and Outline

· Asssessment Instructions

The purpose of your essay is to inform the reader about a topic within your discipline. Identify and explain how a concept, a subject, or an experience within your discipline drives your academic and career interests. You can choose from the following disciplines: nursing, public health, business, information technology, or psychology. For this assessment, compose your outline for the informative essay. Find one peer-reviewed, academic article from the Capella library to use as support.

Preparation

Begin your library research by going to the  Capella University Library  and searching using the Summon search tool. Locate one article in the library that contains information about your selected topic. Remember: You will write both your informative and persuasive essays on this topic.

· Go to the  Capella University Library  and locate the Summon search box.

· Click Advanced Search.

· Enter your search term in the box. Check Items with full text online and Scholarly materials, including peer-reviewed under the "Limit to" filter. This way, you will know that your results are both in full text (so you will be able to read the entire article online), and that they meet the important requirement of being scholarly and peer reviewed by other experts in the field.

Remember that research is a skill set that, like writing, takes ongoing practice. For search word guidance, see the video  Choosing and Using Keywords  from the  General Education Information Research Skills Guide . Also, feel free to  Ask a Librarian  for help.

Remember: The purpose of an informative essay is to provide information and explain a concept. In this assessment, you are not persuading or trying to convince your reader of something. Ask yourself: What does my reader need to know?

Assessment Instructions

Complete the following:

· Create an outline for your informative essay.

· Select a scholarly library article relevant to a chosen informative essay topic.

· List the article at the end of your outline on a separate reference page.

· Credit the author of the article within the outline.

· Apply in text the standard writing conventions for the discipline, including structure, voice, person, tone, and citation formatting.

· Apply proper formatting, including a title page, correct margins, font, and spacing.

· Produce text with minimal grammar, usage, spelling, and mechanical errors.

Use the  Developing an Outline [PDF]  to guide you as you develop your outline.

Use the  Paper Formatting Example [DOCX]  to guide your writing and formatting.

Additional Requirements

Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:

· Length: Submit one double-spaced page.

· Font and font size: Use Times New Roman, 12-point font.

EXAMPLE OF HOW THE OUTLINE SHOULD LOOK:

Example of Basic/Generic Outline

I. Transforming chaos into order

A. Definitions of chaos and order

1. Etymology and historical views

B. Chaos as a social problem

1. Inner and outer chaos

2. Social problems are chaos

3. Amount and intensity of chaos is increasing

C. Transforming chaos

1. Why transformation, not destruction

a. intangible things are indestructible

b. chaos is a mind thing