1

WritingforSuccess
HonorsEnglishIII
Mrs.Anderson

Thesis:Focus
1. Thethesismustbethelastlineintheintroduction
2. Thethesismustbeclearandconcise
3. Athesismustbeapersuasivestatementthatyouwillarguethroughoutthewriting
4. Avoidwordslike:this,this,andtheir.Theyarevague.

Persuasive/ArgumentativeThesisExamplethatWorks:
Atticus,fromToKillaMockingbirdbyHarperLee,isthemosthonorablecharacterinthe
novel.

Expository/InformationalThesisExamplethatWorks:
HomelessnessisaprobleminAmerica.

ResearchandQuotations:Content
1. Trytoalwayswriteresearchedevidenceinaquote.Itdrawsthereaderseyetothe
support
2. Alwaysusealeadinpriortothequote
3. Neverendaparagraphwithaquoteexpandontherelevanceofthatquotetothat
particularparagraph
4. ACEAnswer,Cite,Explain/Expandthisisgoodbodyparagraphformatanylevelof
writing
5. NOMORE5PARAGRAPHESSAYS!

Valuablereadingsonthisidea:
http://www.csulb.edu/~eguzik/fivepara.html
https://blogs.jccc.edu/pmcqueen/writingtips/documents/whynotafiveparagraphess
ay/

Style:...um.Style...
1. NEVERusethewordalsoinyourwriting
2. Avoidwordslikeveryandreallytheyaddnothing
3. Takeaside,oneside,andproveitthroughoutyourpaper
4. Seekconcisediction,avoidwordiness
5. AvoidpronounconfusionHewenttohisstoretobuyhimapresent.
6. Avoidbeginningasentencewithanyofthefollowing:also,but,and,to
7. Varyyoursentencestarters
8. Conclusionsshouldnotrepeatathesisinthesameexactwordstryendingwitha
generalthemeortheorythatyourthesis/essayproves
9. Avoidwriting:insummary,inconclusion,allinall

10. Usetransitionaltopicsandphrasestoendoneparagraphandleadintothenext
11. Avoidcliches(dontjudgeabookbyitscover)
12. Addsentencevarietycompound,complex

Valuablereadingsonthisidea:
http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/beyond.html

Grade11Nonnegotiables:Paperwillnotbeacceptedifthesearenotfulfilled0until
correctand10%foreachdaylate
1. Proofreadallwritingsandeditaccordingly.
2. Typedpapersshouldbecheckedforgrammarandspellingissues.
3. Allpapersaredueontheduedate.Noextensions.Nopassestotheprinter.Come
withyourworkinhand.
4. AlltypedworkmustbeinMLAformatandincludeproperintextcitations/WorksCited
page.
a. GoogleandbookmarkPurdueOwlsMLAwritingwebsite
5. Writeincompletesentences.Nofragments.
6. DoublespaceorskiplinesforallType25writings
7. Indentparagraphs
8. Writeinparallelstructure
9. Writewithsubjectverbagreement
10. Writewithpronounantecedentagreement
11. Noshorthand(&,ur,+)

FormalandMLAWritingStrategies:Conventions
1. Noyou,your
2. Nofirstpersonpronouns(I,me,my,us,we)
3. Titleallworkcreativelyismypreference
4. TimesNewRoman
5. 12font
6. Doublespaced
7. Indentparagraphs
8. Paragraphform
9. Runningheader(Lastnamespaceinsertpage#)
10. Properheading
11. Punctuatetitlesofnovels,poems,andarticlescorrectly

And,please,NOCRUNCHIES!!!

MyFiveParagraphThemeTheme
EdwardM.White

Sincethebeginningoftime,somecollegeteachershavemockedthefiveparagraph
theme.ButIintendtoshowthattheyhavebeenmistaken.Therearethreereasons
whyIalwayswritefiveparagraphthemes.First,itgivesmeanorganizationalscheme:
anintroduction(likethisone)settingoutthreesubtopics,threeparagraphsformy
threesubtopics,andaconcludingparagraphremindingyouwhatIhavesaid,incase
youwerentpayingattention.Second,itfocusesmytopic,soIdontjustgoonandon
whenIdonthaveanythingmuchtosay.Threeandonlythreesubtopicsforcemeto
thinkinalimitedway.Andthird,itletsmewriteprettymuchthesameessayon
anythingatall.SoIdoprettywellonessaytests.Alotofteachersactuallylikethe
fiveparagraphthemeasmuchasIdo.
ThefirstreasonIalwayswritefiveparagraphthemesisthatitgivesmean
organizationalscheme.Itdoesntmatterwhatthesubjectis,sincetherearethree
partstoeverythingyoucanthinkof.Ifyoucantthinkofmorethantwo,youjusthave
tothinkharderorcomeupwithsomethingthatmightfit.Anexamplewilloftenwork,
likethethreecausesoftheCivilWarorabortionorreasonswhytheridiculous21year
limitfordrinkingalcoholshouldbeabolished.Aworseproblemiswhenyouwindup
withmorethanthreesubtopics,sincesometimesyouwanttotalkaboutallofthem.
Butyoucant.Youhavetopickthebestthree.Thatkeepsyoufromthinkingtoo
much,whichisagreattimesaver,especiallyonanessaytest.
Thesecondreasonforthefiveparagraphthemeisthatitmakesyoufocusonasingle
topic.Somepeoplestartwritingontheusualtopic,likeTVcommercials,andthey

windupallovertheplace,talkingaboutwhereTVcamefromorcapitalismorhealth
foodsorwhatever.Butwithonlyfiveparagraphsandonetopicyourenottemptedto
getbeyondyouroriginalidea,likecommercialsareagoodsourceofinformationabout
products.Yougiveyourthreeexamplesandzap!youredone.Thisisanotherwaythe
fiveparagraphthemekeepsyoufromthinkingtoomuch.
Thelastreasontowritethiswayisthemostimportant.Onceyouhaveitdown,you
canuseitforpracticallyanything.DoesGodexist?Well,youcansayyesandgive
threereasonsornoandgivethreedifferentreasons.Itdoesntreallymatter.Youre
suretogetagoodgradewhateveryoupicktoputintotheformula.Andthatsthereal
reasonforeducation,togetthosegoodgradeswithoutthinkingtoomuchandusing
uptoomuchtime.
SoIvegivenyouthreereasonswhyIalwayswriteafiveparagraphthemeandwhyIll
keepdoingsoincollege.Itgivesmeanorganizationalschemethatlookslikean
essay,itlimitsmyfocustoonetopicandthreesubtopicssoIdontwanderabout
thinkingirrelevantthoughts,anditwillbeusefulforwhateverwritingIdoinany
subject.Idontknowwhysometeachersseemtodislikeitsomuch.Theymusthave
adifferentideaabouteducationthanIdo.

*****
WritingAssignment:
Writeareflectionontheaboveessay.Dontaskmeanyquestionsaboutit.Justwrite.You
willsubmitthisreflectiontomewhenyouhavecompletedit.