Organzing your information tuesday

• 1. English 99Introduction to PaperStructure and the Writing Process

2. What is the subject of your paper? Topic Make sure your topic matches what is being asked of you in your assignment. Who are you writing for? Audience Different audiences can change the way you need to convey your information to your readers. Why are you writing? To inform your readers? Persuade them?PurposeCall them to action? A combination of these things? What is the main idea of your paper, and how will you convey thatThesis Statement clearly and concisely to your specific audience? What will you use to support or prove your thesis statement isSupportlogical and correct? 3. Journalistic Questions Who, What, Where, Why & When?Cluster Maps, Mind Map, Web Visual organization of your ideas. Looks like a web!Freewriting Dumping all of your scattered thoughts onto a page, just to get them out there.List A numbered or bulleted list of all the points or ideas you have knocking around inyour head.Venn Diagram Visual representation of the similarities and differences between two or more ideasor concepts. 4. Please watch this planning video, which is aquick reminder of how you take a verybasic idea and start brainstorming:Planning your paper 5. Organizing your prewriting/planning into aOrganizing structure that makes sense for your assignment. Thesis What is the main idea of your paper, and how will you convey that clearly and concisely to yourStatements specific audience?Topic What is the main idea of this paragraph or section of thought?Sentences What will you use to support or prove your thesis Support statement is logical and correct? 6. Arrange your prewriting into mainOrganizing ideas and sub-ideas Use a graphic organizer Develop into an outline 7. The answer to the question you haveposed The resolution of a problem you haveThesisidentified A statement that takes a position on aStatement debatable topic Your first draft of a thesis is known as aworking thesis it is a very generalidea and will probably be revised later. 8. A mini thesis statementfor each of yourTopic support paragraphs.Sentences Each topic sentencemust be a sub-idea ofyour thesis statement. 9. Each topic sentence must be backed up withclear support. Support includes: Reasons your topic sentence is correct; Examples that show your topic sentence iscorrectSupport Names of authorities on the subject who backup your topic sentence Numbers (statistics, etc) that prove your topicsentence is correct Sensory details that show your topic sentencehas an impact 10. Please watch these two videos! The first goes through the parts of a basicpaper, showing you exactly what you willbe building when you organize yourinformation: Parts of an Essay The second video shows you how to takeyour prewriting from the planning stagesto a structured paper with a thesis, topicsentences and basic support:Organizingyour Information 11. A topic sentence is a mini thesis thatexplains that category youll be discussingin the paragraph.Thesis statement:The lifestyles of barn owls include hunting forinsects and animals, building nests, andraising their young.Sub-topics:Hunting for insects and animals, buildingnests, and raising their young. 12. Thesis statement:The lifestyles of barn owls include hunting for insects andanimals, building nests, and raising their young.Topic Sentence #1: Hunting for food is only one of themany activities a barn owl undertakes on a daily basis.Topic Sentence #2: In addition to hunting, barn owls alsospend much time building a sturdy, secure nest.Topic Sentence #3: Building a nest is often in preparationfor the arrival of a barn owls young, which is the mainfocus of life until the young leave the nest. 13. Thesis statement:The lifestyles of barn owls include hunting for insects andanimals, building nests, and raising their young.Topic Sentence #1: Hunting for food is only one of themany activities a barn owl undertakes on a daily basis.Topic Sentence #2: In addition to hunting, barn owls alsospend much time building a sturdy, secure nest.Topic Sentence #3: Building a nest is often in preparationfor the arrival of a barn owls young, which is the mainfocus of life until the young leave the nest. 14. Thesis statement:The lifestyles of barn owls include hunting for insectsand animals, building nests, and raising their young.Topic Sentence #1: Hunting for food is only one of themany activities a barn owl undertakes on a dailybasis.Support: A barn owl spends 60% of its waking hours huntingfor food (Numbers) Because a barn owl eats at least 30% of its bodyweight each day, they have to hunt for extendedperiods of time. (Reason) 15. Thesis statement:The lifestyles of barn owls include hunting for insects andanimals, building nests, and raising their young.Topic Sentence #2: In addition to hunting, barn owls alsospend much time building a sturdy, secure nest.Topic Sentence #3: Building a nest is often in preparationfor the arrival of a barn owls young, which is the mainfocus of life until the young leave the nest. 16. Get toOrganizing!