DISTINGUISHING THE GENERAL FROM THE SPECIFIC

 7.1 INTRODUCTIONPlan a writing project. Generate ideas for a writing project. Write a clear thesis statement. Organize material in an outline. Write effective topic sentences. Write clear sentences. Write unified, well-organized, and thorough

paragraphs. Improve an essay through revision. Use proofreading strategies to remove lapses

in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics from a draft.

A. Great presentations and speeches are:well-plannedwell-researched well-thought out.Part of their greatness - specific purpose

and a central ideageneral purpose is to inform, persuade or to

entertain

B.  Each paragraph in a text:contains a main ideatopic statement - controlling idea in a

paragraph contributes to establishing a meaningful

pattern to the various pieces of information conveyed within the paragraph.

C. There are numerous ways of supporting the main idea of a paragraph with supporting information.

Definition(formal, informal, and expanded; especially in the non-

science disciplines, may involve competing definitionsClassification

(formal and informal)Description

(physical, function, and process)Cause & Effect

Comparison & check 

Expansion(may involve paraphrasing or summarizing the

evidence of other researchers on the topic)Exemplification

(may involve facts, statistics, evidence, or details that support the topic)

 

7.2 Paragraph DevelopmentExamples: Using examples to develop your paragraph

allows the writer to include specific details. Process: A process paragraph is a step-by-

step analysis of how to do something

Division and Classificationhighlight similarities and/or differences.Most effective for comparing and contrasting

Comparison and AnalogyWhen explaining difficult concepts, use

something with which the reader is likely to be familiar and compare it to the concept in question.

Cause and Effect(1) Identify the effect in the topic sentence and

write about its causes(2) write about the cause in the topic sentence

and write about its effects.

7.3  Power Tools: OrganizationContent—provides strategies for thinking of

useful content for writing projects, in other words, developing the content of a project.

Organization – provides strategies for reviewing the sequence and arrangement of the contents of a writing projects.

Transitions- provides preview strategies for checking the coherence of a writing project, in other words, the “flow” of the projects as created by the transitions.

7.4 Paragraph formatting: Topic Sentences When expressing ideas in English, the main thought

or important point generally comes first. For example, if I want to tell you what I did last

night ( and what I did was to go to a movie)……and, in the context of the conversation, the words last night indicate the time of the action and the time of the action is the most important point.

I don’t say:The movie I went to last night was very good.

I saw a very good movie last night.I say:

Last night, I went to a very good movie.***The end of the sentence – very good movie is the other important idea/participant in the sentence.

***page 4-5

Some common problems in student writing:-Too many ideas are introduced in one

paragraph.Sentences are not related closely enough to

each other.Methods of development are not clear.

***page 5

7.5 Organization of Comparison/contrast essays.

Point by Point Organization One way to organize a comparison/contrast

essay is to use point by point organization. For example, if you want to compare two jobs,

make a list of the factors that are important to you: salary, benefits, opportunities for advancement, workplace atmosphere, commuting distance from your home and so on etc.

Each factor, or point of comparison, is like a subtopic in a logical division essay.

***page 6-7

THANK YOU!!!