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