Jane C. Schaffer or The High School Writing Process
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Transcript Jane C. Schaffer or The High School Writing Process
Jane C. Schaffer
or
The High School Writing Process
Mission Statement
The mission of this lesson is to provide
students with a writing tool. This is a
technical writing tool. Its purpose is to
develop a strong foundation for research
driven writing.
Terminology
Thesis: a sentence with a subject and an opinion.
Pre-writing: getting your ideas and concrete
details down on paper before you put your essay
together in paragraph form. Graphic organizers
are used at this stage.
Concrete Detail: specific details or facts. In a
literary analysis quotes may be used.
Commentary: your opinion about something.
Depending on what you are writing it could also
be more detail to the fact.
More Terminology
Concluding Sentence: the last sentence in your
body paragraphs
Shaping the essay: writing the following before
you write your first draft: thesis; topic sentence
for each body paragraph.
Conclusion:the last paragraph in your essay that
is all commentary, does not repeat key words, and
gives a finished feeling to the whole essay
Peer Response: written responses and reactions
to a partner’s paper
One More Page of
Terminology
Ratio: one part concrete detail (CD) to 2+
parts commentary (CM)
Word Counts: the minimum length per
paragraph to earn a “C.”
In your essay keep in mind
you are continually going
from general to specific.
thesis
TS
CD
CM
Thesis Statements
A thesis is a general sentence with a subject and an
opinion.
Example:
Australia is the best country of all for a vacation.
In this sentence Australia is the subject and is the
best country of all for a vacation is the opinion.
More Thesis Statements
Tibbetts Middle School is a wonderful place to go to
school.
Getting braces was one of the best things that could
have happened to me.
Practice Thesis Statements
Write the following sentences and underline
the subject once and the opinion twice:
Fishing is fun to do when I’m with my dad.
English is my favorite class.
It’s exciting to go to a new school.
Tacos are my favorite food.
I like radio station Star 102.9 the most.
Once you develop a thesis statement it is
time to use a graphic organizer to expand
your thoughts
Put your thesis in the middle bubble
Branch three other bubbles off of the center
bubble. It should look like this:
Thesis
Topic sentences must relate to
your thesis
Topic sentences are what that whole paragraph is
going to be about
Branch three other bubbles off from the each topic
sentence bubble.
Topic Sentence
Thesis
Topic sentence
Topic Sentence
Concrete details must relate to the topic
sentence
Concrete details are very specific
They can be a quote if you are writing a literary analysis, or factual
information if you are writing a book report
Concrete Detail
Concrete Detail
Concrete Detail
Concrete Detail
Topic Sentence
Thesis
Topic Sentence
Concrete Detail
Concrete Detail
Topic sentence
Concrete Detail
Concrete Detail
Concrete Detail
Once your bubble cluster is complete
you can start creating body
paragraphs
Each grouping of one TS and
Concrete Detail
three CDs is a body paragraph
Concrete Detail
Topic Sentence
Concrete Detail
The next step is to add two
commentaries to each concrete
detail - NOT IN THE BUBBLE
CLUSTER
Commentary is opinion relating to
the concrete detail or fact
Here is the pattern for a body
paragraph:
Concrete Detail
Concrete Detail
Topic Sentence
Concrete Detail
The last item added to the pattern is the
concluding sentence, which can lead the
reader to the next paragraph
TS - topic sentence
CD - concrete detail
CM - commentary
CM - commentary
CD - concrete detail
CM - commentary
CM - commentary
CD - concrete detail
CM - commentary
CM -commentary
CS - concluding sentence
Once your body paragraphs are
complete it is time to create an
introductory paragraph
An introductory paragraph is used to catch the
reader’s attention
Your thesis should be the last sentence in your
introductory paragraph
There are 4 types of introductory paragraphs :
Anecdote ( a little story)
Dialogue (open conversation)
Startling information (sometimes statistics are used)
Commentary (open with an opinion)
There are other graphic organizers
besides the bubble cluster
Spider diagram (like a bubble cluster except
you use lines instead of bubbles)
Random outline (you just start
brainstorming ideas and organize them
later)
Columns outline (great for comparing two
things)
Technical Writing list
Literary Analysis
Persuasive Essay
Biographies
Science Fair Papers
Research Papers
Comparison Contrast Essay
Any type of paper in which
factual information will be used
Writing Tips
Be careful with the topic you choose
Think about why you chose that topic
If it is too narrow you will get frustrated
finding information to write about
If it is too broad your piece will sound
scattered
Find information that will interest your
reader