Chapter 9: Writing Essays
Chapter Summary
Key Takeaways
- Writers must put their ideas in order so the assignment makes sense. The most common orders are chronological order, spatial order, and order of importance.
- After gathering and evaluating the information you found for your essay, the next step is to write a working thesis statement.
- The working thesis statement expresses the main idea you want to develop in the entire piece of writing. It should be modified as you continue the writing process.
- Effective writers prepare an outline to organize their main ideas and supporting details in the order they will be presented.
Activities for Further Reflection
- Share an essay that you are working on with someone in the class. Your partner will edit your paper and provide feedback based on the peer feedback section of this chapter.
- Find an example of an essay online.
- Determine what type of essay is it and explain why.
- Identify the thesis of the essay.
- Identify the evidence supporting the thesis.
- Think of 3 ideas for an essay. Generate a list of potential thesis statements and main point for each of these ideas.
- Prepare a short presentation summarizing the main points of this chapter.
