STEP-BY-STEP ESSAY, STEP ONE

 

NOTE: YOU MAY NOT REQUEST ASSISTANCE FROM THE WRITING CENTER STAFF IN THE WRITING/REVISION OF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING STEPS.  (You may, of course, always visit the center for assistance in any area of writing causing you difficulty so that you have the opportunity to improve your step-by-step essay as a result of such assistance.  Given that self-reliance is crucial to your academic pursuits and that all Collin College English courses require a minimum of 50 percent of your graded essays be written during class, avoid having your paper in hand in the Writing Center as you work through your challenging areas.)

 

Because you will be "living with" your subject for the next few weeks, select a topic from the assigned list that will challenge rather than bore you.  (Avoid choosing abortion, capital punishment, 9/11 conspiracy theories, sexual issues, and euthanasia as your topics, please.)  Using your favorite method, start brainstorming.  You should elicit as many supporting details as you can, define the terms as you wish, and develop at least three typed pages (double-spaced) of substantial content.  Although you are only responsible for applying the class lessons thus far covered, please prepare this first draft as carefully and as thoughtfully as you can.  Suggestion: Read the Mechanics Page in your syllabus now.

 

1.  Adhere to standard usage (review the usage glossary and your quiz results if necessary).

2.  Write a substantive thesis statement that follows the three major elements of an effective thesis statement.
     Place it at the end of your introduction (in a short paper).  Highlight or underline.

3.  Write sufficiently broad topic sentences.

4.  Write in complete sentences, punctuating both compound and complex sentences correctly according to class
     instruction.

5.  Use one or more suggestions from the introduction/conclusion handout (and/or from your text).

6.  Compose a working title that hints at your subject.

7.  Beneath your title, double space before including a quotation that points to your subject in some relevant way (even though you need not refer directly to the quotation in your paper at all).  Use one of your favorite quotations unless you wish to select one from the Internet links I've provided on the Instructional Menu.  Select one of the formats below, and please remember to avoid triple-spacing and justifying your paragraphs.

8.  Place your name, section number, and date on the BACK of the essay's last page (I do not want to know whose paper I am marking).  (On subsequent drafts, put your name, date, and step number on the obverse side of the last page.)

 

 

Example follows:

 

YOUR TITLE

Two spaces follow before you type your quotation:

 

"Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration." (Thomas Edison)

Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. (Thomas Edison)

 

<>            Next, two spaces follow your quotation before the start of your introductory paragraph.
 

Examples:

"To be, or not to be: that is the question."

To be, or not to be: that is the question.

 

You are never incorrect, however, to cite a quotation and give the textual as well as the authorial source:

"To be, or not to be, that is the question."  (Shakespeare, Hamlet III.i.58)

 

To be, or not to be: that is the question.  (William Shakespeare, Hamlet III.i.58)

 

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Professor Joyce M. Miller Return to Home Page  Return to Instructional Menu