Content
Review: The Writing Process
-Paragraph review
-Outlining review
-Paragraph review
-Outlining review
In general, the purpose of a paragraph is to express one main point, idea or opinion. Of course, writers may provide multiple examples to support their point. However, any supporting details should support the main idea of a paragraph.
This main idea is expressed through three sections of a paragraph:
Here is a paragraph taken from an essay on various strategies required for an overall improvement of student performance. The components of this paragraph are analyzed below:
Have you ever wondered why some students can't seem to concentrate in class? Students require more recreational time in order to better focus on lessons in class. In fact, studies have shown that students who enjoy a recess of more than 45 minutes consistently score better on tests immediately following the recess period. Clinical analysis further suggests that physical exercise greatly improves the ability to focus on academic materials. Longer periods of recess are clearly required to allow students the best possible chances of success in their studies. Clearly, physical exercise is just one of the necessary ingredients for improving student scores on standardized tests.
This main idea is expressed through three sections of a paragraph:
- Beginning - Introduce your idea with a topic sentence
- Middle - Explain your idea through supporting sentences
- End - Make your point again with a concluding sentence, and, if necessary transition to the next paragraph.
Here is a paragraph taken from an essay on various strategies required for an overall improvement of student performance. The components of this paragraph are analyzed below:
Have you ever wondered why some students can't seem to concentrate in class? Students require more recreational time in order to better focus on lessons in class. In fact, studies have shown that students who enjoy a recess of more than 45 minutes consistently score better on tests immediately following the recess period. Clinical analysis further suggests that physical exercise greatly improves the ability to focus on academic materials. Longer periods of recess are clearly required to allow students the best possible chances of success in their studies. Clearly, physical exercise is just one of the necessary ingredients for improving student scores on standardized tests.
Writing Activities
In Process Writing, we have emphasized the fact that it is very hard for the teacher to concentrate on both the grammar and the organization errors on a student paper and still not discourage the student with those red marks all over the paper. Instead, we have suggested that the students should be able to comment on and edit their own paper to a certain extent. The advantages of such an approach would be raising awareness of the student and reducing the workload of the teacher.
The exercises we have here are organized in such a way that the students will concentrate on only one thing (e.g. organization, grammar, vocabulary choice, etc.) at a time. For each type of mistake, we first repeat the information presented in detail in Paragraph Development and The Essay, and then provide a writing exercise about it. For each type, the student first sees the original writing. Then, he corrects the writing by typing in the text box provided, and then sees the teacher-corrected version. The teacher-corrected version is only a suggestion. There may be many ways to correct a mistake. The examples given here are all original beginner level papers.
Click on the link below and complete the exercises.
The exercises we have here are organized in such a way that the students will concentrate on only one thing (e.g. organization, grammar, vocabulary choice, etc.) at a time. For each type of mistake, we first repeat the information presented in detail in Paragraph Development and The Essay, and then provide a writing exercise about it. For each type, the student first sees the original writing. Then, he corrects the writing by typing in the text box provided, and then sees the teacher-corrected version. The teacher-corrected version is only a suggestion. There may be many ways to correct a mistake. The examples given here are all original beginner level papers.
Click on the link below and complete the exercises.