Transcript Writing - English 53

Writing
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Since this is an argumentative essay, it is
important that you are making an argument.
Therefore, it is important that your thesis is
something that is debatable.
Thesis Statement
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Debatable
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Because their brains are still developing,
juveniles should not be tried and sentenced as
adults unless it can be proved that their crime
was premeditated.
Not Debatable:
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Teenagers in Florida can face life in prison if
convicted of first-degree murder.
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Now it is time to actually consider how to put
your paper together, so it is a good idea to take
a look at what you have planned and decide
not only if the information you have pulled out
of the articles will work but also what order
this information will be presented in your
paper.
Getting ready to write
your draft
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There are several different ways to organize
your essay, and how you organize your essay
will depend on the argument that you are
making.
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Least to Most important
Chronological
Step by Step
Organization
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Look at your outline and consider how you
should organize the different parts of your
argument.
Label your topic sentences with a paragraph
number so you know which you want to talk
about first.
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Get into groups and discuss your papers
Does the organization you have planned make
sense to everyone else?
If you have suggestions for your class mates
help them out.
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Tone
Throughout your paper you want to maintain a
reasonable tone.
Just like a real debate, being aggressive or
snarky usually won’t win you any points.
Remember that this is an academic essay, so
you need to keep your tone reasonable and
appropriate.
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Whenever you are writing, you need to
remember to be as specific as you can.
You may have a clear idea of what you are
talking about, but you need to be able to
convey that idea to the reader in a clear, concise
way.
Clear to convey your idea but concise so that
your entire paper is not one long description.
Vague Language
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This paper is meant to be a documented
argumentative paper.
That means that you have to back up all of your
main points with actual evidence found in your
articles, so personal experience (while
acceptable in an in-class essay) is not sufficient.
Types of Evidence
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Broad generalities
Hypothetical situations
You want to have specific concrete examples that
prove your thesis statement just like you would in
a research paper; however, you will not have
examples from other peoples research.
Avoid
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Reality TV is popular.
Instead: 1 in every 3 people watch reality tv
regularly.
It is bad for society.
Instead: Reality TV inspires young adults to
live more violent lives.
Generalization
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“It is important to foster
individuality, For only the
individual can produce new
ideas.”
 -Albert Einstein
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ICE 2
“As you get older it is harder to
have heroes, but it is still
necessary.” –Ernest
Hemmingway