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Writing the First Draft

The purpose of this assignment is three-fold.

1. First, almost every piece of writing that you complete at the college level will involve arguing for a specific viewpoint. Even essays that simply are informative are trying to convince the reader of the validity of the information. This essay will allow you to demonstrate that you understand how to compose an effective piece of persuasive writing.

2. Second, you will be required to write many research papers as you complete your academic career. This essay allows you to demonstrate that you understand how to effectively cite the information you gather from completing the research assignments that led up to writing this essay.

3. Finally, this essay gives you the chance to discuss something you believe is important, either for your own information or for the general population, and you get a guaranteed audience.

This lessons includes three sections that will walk you through writing the first draft. The first section provides general guidelines, the second section provides a step-by-step process(especially good for addressing writer's block ), and the third section provides an outline with examples. Read through all three of the sections before you start writing. Refer back to this page if you get stuck.

After reading over the three sections below, you may want to watch this video that provides the information with visuals and auditory.

General Guidelines for Writing the Essay & Tips for Putting it Together

· Write a 10-12 page essay that discusses your research topic. Begin with a catchy first sentence and interesting first paragraph that explains why you chose this topic and why someone should read about this topic. If you wrote a good story for your Research Proposal, that story can become the introduction for your research essay. (Don't use the entire proposal. Just use the sentences that explain why the topic is important to you.) You can also start with a compelling story or case study you discovered while doing research. The point is to create an emotional connection with the reader that will draw them into your topic.

· The first paragraph or two should discuss the issue, problem, or topic that you researched. It should provide any background information that is necessary for the reader to understand the essay, and it should define any unfamiliar terms. Once you introduce the topic and provide background information, then you should state your thesis and the main reasons for your thesis.

· Remember this is an essay so you should have one main point that you are trying to communicate -- the thesis statement. You may have found out many things about your topic, but based on the audience you have chosen to address decide what is the most important information. What's the best way to get that information across to your readers? Consider what information your audience will value the most. You will continually refer back to the thesis statement throughout the paper, AND everything in the paper will be connected to the thesis statement. This will help you keep your focus and go deep rather than broad into the information you gathered.

· After you have introduced your topic and stated the thesis, explain your most important reason for making that claim and support that reason with evidence from your sources. Continue explaining reasons and support for those reasons using evidence from the sources you read and annotated for the online casebook.

· As you are writing remember that each paragraph will explore one idea. Explain the idea, give examples, and provide evidence for each idea in a separate paragraph.

· Use transitions between paragraphs and ideas so that the essay flows.

· Be sure to introduce your quotes and paraphrased ideas. You might want to review the lesson from the Summary folder that discusses paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting. Do NOT just drop a quote into your paper without an introduction and discussion.

· Be sure to use ethos, pathos, and logos to strengthen your argument and appeal to your audience. Follow this link for a discussion of the rhetorical appeals and how to use them .

· Be sure to discuss alternative solutions or ideas about your topic. Demonstrate your credibility as a writer and thinker by acknowledging other solutions or ideas (follow these links for more information about counterarguments from Shoreline Community College and from Harvard college)

· The final paragraph of your essay is the conclusion. It should summarize what you discussed in the essay and restate your thesis statement (your main claim) in a little different way. Also, it is nice to frame your essay by referring to something that you mentioned in the introduction.

· Please cite at least SEVEN sources that appeared in your annotated bibliography. At least two of these have to be scholarly (i.e. from the library databases). Do not use all websites.

· Please type the essay in MLA format. Include a works cited page and cite the sources appropriately within the text. Don't forget to double space and use the hanging indent for the works cited page.

· Remember: Academic essays should be written predominantly in third person objective viewpoint. That means you should not use the pronouns "we", "you", or "I" except very sparingly. For instance, if you use the story from your Research Proposal for the introduction, you will use "I" to tell the story, and if you conclude by coming back to the story, you might use "I" in the conclusion; however, the majority of your essay should be written using third person objective point of view, i.e. using the pronouns he, she, or it. If you need to refer to the reader, use the term, "the reader" or use the pronoun "one" rather than the pronoun "you". For more information on this topic, check out Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing .

· Finally, be sure to proofread and edit carefully. In fact, it is a good idea to have someone else proofread and edit your paper as well, someone you know has a good grasp of the grammatical elements of writing.

Strategies for Writing

As mentioned before, almost every piece of writing you do in college involves convincing someone of something, even if it is just convincing your professor that you know and understand something. For this piece of writing, practice using persuasive writing strategies. Below is an outline of the basic steps for creating an effective argument.

1. Begin by thinking about your audience. Ask yourself, Who are my readers? What is at stake for them? How can the information be presented so the readers will understand it and care about it?

2. Define the issue clearly. Remember: in order to effectively persuade a reader of anything, you must first help them understand the issue. What makes this issue important? Define the issue by discussing who is involved and how they will be affected. Even if you are writing about something that you think mainly concerns just you, explain why it is important to you and what is at stake. If the history of the issue affects your argument, be sure to include that in your discussion as well.

3. State your main idea clearly. Write a clear thesis statement. Whether or not you include a thesis statement in the essay, you should know for yourself what your main idea is. In a sentence or two, you should be able to state what you are trying to prove to your readers. Tape the thesis statement on your computer or keep it near you as you are composing your essay. This will help you stay focused.

4. Develop a convincing argument. Use sound reasoning. Avoid logical fallacies . Be sure each main idea is stated clearly, explained, and fully developed. Use credible, convincing evidence and tell the reader where you obtained your evidence. Back up all the main ideas with examples, stories, quotes from authorities, facts, or statistics. Use emotional appeal sparingly.

5. Consider opposing viewpoints. If you are writing about something that is controversial or simply has more than one viewpoint, be sure to include alternate ideas in your essay. Remember that considering other ideas will help you strengthen your own understanding of the topic or issue. Try to create common ground with your readers even if they may disagree with your conclusions.

6. Use a reasonable tone. Always treat your readers with respect. Never be condescending or assume that they feel the same way you do.

7. Use your own voice. Although academic papers must follow certain guidelines and standards, that does not mean that you cannot be yourself in your essays. You can use I -- sparingly. You can include personal stories written in the first person if they apply to the topic. Your ideas and stories can give your paper life and help keep the reader interested. Don't use stuffy language. Use your own language. It is a myth that papers with big words get better grades. That is only true if the big words are used correctly and if they fit with the ideas. Many ideas are best expressed in everyday language rather than academic jargon. For instance, everyone has heard the phrase, "To be or not to be" even if they have never seen or read Hamlet. Each of those words is three letters or less, and yet, that phrase packs a powerful punch. So be yourself in your writing.

8. Have fun. I know that sounds funny. Have fun writing a research paper??? Oh, right. But if you have chosen a topic you care about, hopefully, you will be excited to share what you have found out about it. It is much more interesting to read an essay in which the writer is enjoying the process of sharing information than to read something that is rigid and the only purpose is to get it done. So really, have fun. One way to do that is to give yourself plenty of time including time to write the essay, time to reflect on what you have written, and time to revise. In other words, don't procrastinate.

The Research Paper: A Basic Outline with Examples

Okay, you have annotated bibliographies that answer the questions you posted in your Research Proposal. Here is a summary of the steps for putting the paper together with examples.

STEP I: Determine your thesis statement and decide on an audience. Sit back and think about what you have learned by doing the research. What is the most important idea that you have obtained by completing the research? In one or two sentences, state the most important idea. This is the claim or thesis.

Here's an example:

The initial cost of setting up an organic garden is usually double that of setting up a traditional garden, but the money saved through better health more than pays for the initial start up cost.

Who do you want to share this information with? What do you know about these people? What is important to them? What kinds of information will they value? Make a list of the top three priorities for your audience. Keep these in mind as you are choosing the types of evidence that you will use to support your claims.

STEP II: OUTLINE THE MAIN IDEAS AND FILL IN THE DETAILS. If you completed the annotations correctly, this information could come straight from the annotations.

Here s an example for the organic gardening idea.

First paragraph: Intro: A story about the community garden in Dayton. Thesis statement.

Paragraph 2: Background information on the comeback of the organic garden, i.e. Michelle Obama.

Paragraph 3-5 Reason #1: Initial costs of the organic garden vs. the traditional garden. The Richardson article.

Paragraphs 5-7 Reason #2: Explain the problems with low cost seeds that cannot be retained for future seasons. Use the Smith article on seed gathering and Monsanto. Also include the story from the article on the Metroparks community gardens.

Paragraph 7-10 Reason #3 : The costs associated with the compost bin and the work factory. Advantages of composting. How the worms pay for themselves. Use the information found in the Richardson and Allen articles.

Paragraph 10-14 Additional information related to the thesis : More than cost is at stake. Discuss the problem with landfills and how the organic garden reuses everything. Evidence for this is found in the Clark and Miller articles.

Paragraph 14-16: The garden pays for itself and it promotes sustainable agriculture practices that will impact life on earth beyond today.

Paragraphs 16-18: The counterarguments . The cost is too great. Organic gardening is about more than cost.

Conclusion: Return to the story or idea from the first paragraph. This is called framing the essay . The story of the garden and restate thesis.

REMEMBER: Everything in the paper needs to be related to the thesis statement. The number of paragraphs are just SUGGESTIONS. You may have more or less depending on the number of reasons you are explaining and how many paragraphs are needed to explain each reason.

REMEMBER: Every paragraph is like a mini-essay . Each paragraph has a main idea and then five to ten supporting sentences that develop the main idea. The support may be examples or evidence or both.

STEP III: Take a look at what you have and determine whether or not you need to do any additional research. Also think about the rhetorical strategies that you will use. Have you made a logical appeal? Have you made an ethical appeal? Have you made an emotional appeal? If you are missing any of the appeals, try to fill in the empty spaces. Complete any additional research.

STEP IV: Write the first draft by writing your own ideas about the topic following the rough outline you created while working through the steps listed above. Then look at your annotations and use that information to support what you are saying or as jumping off places for discussion. If you have completed the annotations correctly, you can often cut and paste parts of the annotations into the paper; however, you must use transitional phrases between ideas and also analyze what you add and develop and share your own ideas. THIS IS A CONVERSATION. What you have to say will be added to the ideas of the information you discovered through research. Write the introduction and conclusion. Take a break. Drink some water. Have a chat with your friend. Reread what you have and decide if anything needs to be reorganized. Check the transitions between the paragraphs and between ideas in the paragraphs.

STEP V: Add citations if you haven't already. Make sure all the quotes are introduced and then explained. Cut and paste the bibliographic information from the casebook into a works cited page. Only sources you cite in the paper are included on the works cited page. That's it for today. Now take another break and set the paper aside. Come back to it the next day and read for clarity. Ask someone else to read it and listen to the questions they have. This will give you an idea of what needs to be revised. Do they give you any additional counterarguments that need to be addressed?

STEP VI: Edit and proofread carefully. Have someone else edit and proofread for you.

STEP VII: Submit the paper to the discussion forum for peer feedback.

STEP VIII: Revise based on peer feedback.

STEP IX: Review the formatting guidelines. Here is an example of a paper in MLA format with explanations of the formatting guidelines. Submit the rough draft in the dropbox if your instructor requires it (most do not) or contact your instructor for additional feedback.

STEP X: Complete one last revision that includes adding a visual component (don't forget to label the visual with a caption and citation), checking for logical fallacies, and completing a good editing and proofreading session before you submit the paper for a final grade.

*** IMPORTANT NOTE: Plagiarism from source materials or another student's work or submission of a purchased paper will result in a grade of 0 and course failure. Your paper may be checked with plagiarism detection software. ***

This week there are two purposes for the discussion forum.

1. Use the forum to post questions to your group about any problems you are having with your paper. Also help out your group members by answering their appeals for help whenever you can.

2. Use the forum to post your rough draft to get feedback from you group. You may want to include questions or indicate what kind of response you would like from your group. DO NOT COMMENT ON GRAMMAR.

Posting your own draft ON TIME is worth 30 points and a substantial reply to a draft is worth 10 points. You may reply to as many as 2 papers for credit. This assignment is worth 50 points.

3. You MUST answer the following questions for the drafts to receive full credit.

· Does the paper meet requirements? Are there enough sources listed? Does it meet the minimum page requirements? Are the sources cited correctly?

· Does the paper open smoothly (i.e. with a series of rhetorical questions, a compelling short story, shocking statistic) and in a way that makes you want to read more? If yes, what do you find especially effective? If not, suggest a way this author could start the paper.

· Is there a clear thesis statement? Do you find this claim to be clear? Interesting? Innovative? What do you especially find compelling about the thesis? What needs work?

· Do all the points in the paper relate to the thesis statement? If not, explain where the writer loses focus or gets off track.

· Is the paper well organized? Can you follow it easily? Does the organization make sense in light of the overall argument?

· Is the argument situated/analyzed within appropriate socio-economic, political, cultural and historical contexts? What do you need to know more about in order to appreciate the paper's thesis? Where do you need more background information? Be specific.

· Are sources appropriately integrated, introduced, and cited?

· Does the writer acknowledge and address various viewpoints?

· Does the paper include a visual? Does it help to support the claims being made? Why or why not?

· Suggest at least two specific ways this person could improve the paper.

· Be sure to respond to the author's specific questions.

This is a post first discussion. You must post your work before you can see other postings. You must post first in order to receive credit for the assignment.

This assignment is worth up to 50 points. You will receive up to 30 points for posting a complete draft and up to 10 points each for complete responses written in full sentences to your peers drafts (up to two).