Outlining and Drafting

Drafting and Proofreading

If your thoughts and ideas are out of order, they simply confuse your audience.

The Outline
A strong outline is like a road map for your research paper. Outlining can help you maintain a clear focus in your research essay
because it helps you see your whole paper in a condensed form, which can help you create a good plan for how you’ll organize
your research and develop your ideas. An outline usually follows a sequence from your introduction through the body of your
paper to your conclusion, creating a map of the general structure of your paper.

In many of your courses, you’ll be asked to write a traditional, thesis-based research essay. In this structure, you provide a thesis
statement (located at the end of your introduction), body paragraphs that support your thesis with research, and a conclusion to
emphasize the key points of your research paper. You’ll likely encounter this type of assignment in classes in the humanities, but
you may also be asked to write a traditional research paper in business classes and some introductory courses in the sciences and
social sciences.

In the sample below, you’ll see a basic structure that can be modified to fit the length of your assignment. It’s important to note
that in shorter research essays, each point of your outline might correspond to a single paragraph, but in longer research papers,
you might develop each supporting point over several paragraphs.

ii) Supporting Example

1) Introduction b) Body Paragraph #2—Second Main Point
a) Hook Sentence i) Supporting Details
b) Thesis Statement ii) Supporting Evidence

2) Body Paragraphs
3) Conclusion
a) Body Paragraph #1—First Main Point
a) Restate Thesis Statement
i) Supporting Details
b) Concluding Sentence

Outlines come in different forms, but they all list the ideas or information you'll present in the order in which you'll present them.
The best outlines also indicate how ideas are related to one another. Regardless of their form, they all provide the writer with a
guide to follow as he or she writes.

When people object to creating an outline prior to writing, they usually argue that they can save time by skipping the outline and
just by working out their organization as they write. They may argue that it's pointless to create an outline when it never matches
the finished product. Both of these arguments, however, rest on the following myths about outlining:

Myth #1: Skipping the outlining step On the contrary, failing to outline actually adds time to a writing assignment. When you
saves time. don't spend time determining and writing down a plan of organization before you begin
writing, you force your brain to juggle two challenging mental tasks (organizing and
composing) at the same time. Because doing this is more complicated, the writing usually
takes longer. Separating the outlining stage and working out the organization of your
ideas before you begin to write can actually save you valuable time in the long run by
making the writing step easier and therefore faster.
Myth #2: An outline is useless
because the final paper rarely As you’ve already heard, the outline is like a road map of your essay’s overall structure.
matches it. However, it's not cast in stone, and you may very well find better ways to organize your
thoughts as you write. If you were following a map in the real world, you might find that
certain roads are blocked off, and you need to find a different way to get to your
destination. However, the map is still useful to help you visualize where you're going. The
same is true for an outline. Just because you alter your original plan doesn't mean it
wasn’t useful for getting you started.

Starting to Organize Ideas

In order to outline, you'll need to determine the best framework for arranging your ideas about your main point. You begin to
create this framework when you examine your thesis and your prewriting (your brainstorming, freewriting, clustering, or
whatever other type you used) and go through a three-step process to decide on what to include and how to order that
information.
1. Circle ideas and information that match your thesis and ignore or cross out ideas that seem
irrelevant.
In step 1, you look at the ideas that you collected during prewriting with your thesis in mind. You evaluate each thought or piece of
information, asking yourself if it relates to or supports the point in your thesis. You’re looking for ideas to serve as the main
points of your body paragraphs. Then you circle, highlight, or otherwise mark these relevant ideas. At the same time, you either
ignore or cross out the ideas and information that don't relate to the point in your thesis. Don't erase these ideas; you might
decide later that one or two really are useful, so you should not eliminate them for good, but develop a system for marking the
ideas that will be useful.
The number of main points you need will usually depend on the length of the assignment. For a five-paragraph essay, two or
three strong main points are usually enough. Remember that you'll need to write a body paragraph about each of these points.
When evaluating your ideas, ask yourself the following questions:
• Do I have enough main points for the length of my paper?
• Are the main points I have strong enough to build an entire paragraph around?
If the answer to either of these questions is “no,” go back to the prewriting stage, perhaps selecting another technique, and try to
think of more.
2. Group similar ideas and information together.
After you've identified relevant ideas in step 1, you're ready to go on to step 2, which involves grouping similar things
together. Similar things can be grouped in a number of different ways. Sometimes the right grouping will be apparent to you
immediately. At other times, you may have to experiment with different ways to group thoughts together. Generally speaking,
each group will serve as a body paragraph that has one main point and several supporting details, ideas, or examples.
3. Decide on the best way to put these groups of ideas in order.

Organization
After you've determined possible groupings of relevant items, step 3 involves deciding on the order in which you should present
these groups to your reader.
When you're deciding on the best order for your ideas, you'll have to decide whether to use natural organization or logical
organization. Some topics organize themselves, so they're arranged with natural organization. When you tell a story, for
instance, or write a set of directions to explain how to do something, you'll give your readers the events or the steps
chronologically, in the order in which they occur. Recall the steps in making a chocolate cake: the main points (that is, the steps
for baking the cake) should naturally organize themselves chronologically because they must be done in a specific order.
However, many more topics don't organize themselves naturally. For these topics, you'll have to use logical organization. In
other words, you'll have to evaluate the groups you created and apply logic to decide if they're related to each other in some way.
These relationships may indicate a certain order for presenting the groups. If you were to write an argument essay stating that
chocolate is the best cake flavor, there wouldn't be the same kind of natural order to your main points. Instead, you would have to
decide which are your strongest and weakest points and think about how to put them in a logical order.
One common mistake that you should avoid as you work on organizing ideas is trying to use natural organization when you
should use logical organization. It isn't usually a good idea, for example, to present your main points to the reader in the order in
which you thought of them. If you do that, you'll have completely skipped steps 1 and 2 of the organization process.
Nor do you want to try to use a story form to present information about a topic that isn't really a story. Narrative essays, which
make their main points by telling a story, are good places to use natural organization. Argument or analysis essays, which use
main points to provide logical support for a thesis statement, are not. For example, if you’re assigned to write an essay arguing
that Michael Jordan is a good role model, telling a story about the time that you actually met him while merely mentioning here
and there the things about him that you admire is probably not the best way to organize your points.

Informal Outlines
Creating an outline of your ideas before you write will help you keep the overall big picture in mind as you concentrate on the
smaller details. It will also prevent you from doing the following:
•
Straying from your main point and including information or ideas
that are irrelevant.
• Rambling or jumping from thought to thought in a manner that
confuses the reader
• Mixing different kinds of information together.
• Discussing an idea in the wrong place

If an outline isn't a requirement of your assignment, and you're creating one just as a tool for yourself, then you're free to use any
method that works for you. Informal types of outlines can take the form of brief lists of ideas in the order in which you want to
discuss them. At the very least, you want to put your main points/body paragraphs in order.
Formal Outlines
When you think of an outline, you may picture one that includes Roman numerals. A formal outline is one that uses some
combination of Roman numerals, letters, and/or Arabic numbers.
One common type of formal outline, for example, uses all three.
1. Main idea
a. Supporting detail.
i. Statistic
ii. Example
b. Supporting detail.
i. Expert opinion
ii. Data
However, creating a formal outline is worthwhile even if it isn't a required part of an assignment. This format is not
only useful for showing the order of your ideas but also serves another valuable purpose: it clearly indicates the
relationship of your ideas to one another.
Thus, as you write, one glance at this outline would help you keep in mind the overall structure of the entire paper,
allowing you to stay organized and make important connections for your reader. Obviously, it takes some time to
create a detailed outline like this, but the time and effort are worth it. The composition process is often faster, and it
yields a more successful finished product.
The ability to create a good outline is a valuable skill to master because you'll need this skill for many other personal
and professional tasks.

The following list briefly summarizes some of the many uses for outlines:
A guide for an oral presentation. Your delivery of a An agenda to use as a guide for a meeting. Effective
speech will often be much more effective if you use leaders know that an agenda in outline form can
an outline and speak naturally rather than read a help make meetings more efficient and productive.
script.
A study guide for a textbook chapter. Outlining a Taking notes on a lecture. Use an outline form for
chapter is a very effective way to comprehend and your notes to help you better understand the
recall its contents. information.
A PowerPoint presentation. One quick way to create A site map for a website. A site map is an outline of
an entire PowerPoint presentation is simply to all of the pages associated with a particular website,
outline it and let the PowerPoint program create the so you'll need outlining skills to create one.
slides.
The Writing Process
If you want to produce quality writing, you need to do it by following steps in a specific process, generally referred to as “the
writing process.” Knowing these steps and adhering to their requirements as you create your written work should help remove
some of the stress that can cause writers’ block and its accompanying frustration.
As a reminder, here are the steps in the writing process:

(1) Prewriting
(2) Outlining
(3) Drafting (or "writing a first draft")
(4) Revising
(5) Editing and Proofreading
This section will primarily cover step three, drafting. But first, here's a brief overview of steps one through four.

Prewriting
Prewriting is the first stage in the writing process and is also a great way to get past writer’s block—that period of time when you
find you have no ideas or don’t know how to put your thoughts together.

Prewriting allows you to brainstorm and outline your ideas for a paper. You're creating a list of ideas around your topic that you
can group and organize later.
There's no right or wrong way to approach prewriting, but there are some strategies that can get you thinking. These include
freewriting, mapping, and sketching. By the time you're finished with prewriting, you should have a good idea of what you want
your thesis statement to be. Remember that you can adjust it as you go along, but you want to start out with a sentence that fits
the criteria for a good thesis statement. Review Lesson 2 for a refresher on prewriting.
One effective way to map ideas is to jot them down on sticky notes and arrange them by broad topics. You can categorize further
as the flow of your paper starts to take shape.

Outlining
An outline is one of the most important tools you'll use when writing your paper. Now is the time to take the ideas from your
prewriting and organize them into a logical order. An outline usually follows a sequence from your introduction through the body
of your paper to your conclusion, creating a map of the general structure of your paper. Recall the typical outline structure from
earlier in this lesson.
The outlining process organizes the major points and lets the writer see where there are gaps in support. Does your second main
point have enough support? Do you have examples for two of your main points but not the third? The outline will help you
visualize your ideas as well as any ideas or evidence you need.
After additional research, more information can be added to the outline. Once the outline is complete, the writer will have a map
for creating a first draft. If you have areas in your outline in which you have no ideas and support, you may need to do some
further brainstorming or research to fill in the gaps.

Writing a First Draft

The writing phase of the process involves taking your outline and creating paragraphs. If your outline is a skeleton, the
paragraphs are the muscle and skin surrounding it. If you've taken the time to write a detailed outline, your paragraphs will be
easier to create because your ideas are already organized.
In your first draft, you should work at getting your ideas down on paper. There will be time for editing and revising after you have
an initial draft. You'll be able to make changes over time to make your writing more fluid.

If you struggle with putting your ideas on paper, sometimes known as writer's block, consider the following
strategies:

• Write a little bit every day. Don’t try to write your entire draft in one sitting. Break the task up into smaller chunks by
writing one or two paragraphs a day.
• If you're stuck on how to begin the introduction, skip it and write the body of the paper first. Once you have the body
paragraphs, you can go back and write an introduction by making reference to the major ideas from each paragraph.
• if you skipped the outline part of the writing process, consider creating a reverse outline. Write a draft of your paper;
then sit down with the draft and break it down into an outline format with your main points, sub points, and support.
This strategy will help you see where you have gaps in your research.
• If you're an auditory learner, talk through your paper before writing. Record yourself talking about your ideas. You
can then evaluate your verbal ideas and create a written outline or draft.
At this stage, focus on putting words on the paper or computer screen. Try not to edit as you write; just write. Editing comes after
writing.
Revising
Revision is the process of rereading and changing your work to make it more readable and logical. Revision relates only to ideas
and organization, not to punctuation and grammar. It isn't proofreading. Proofreading and editing occur once the ideas in the
paper are clear.

Follow these suggestions for revising:

• Take a step back from your draft by putting your paper away for a day or two.
• With fresh eyes, reread and criticize your entire paper. Assess the effectiveness of the thesis statement, topic sentences,
support, transitions, and the conclusions that you're making.
• Consider the appropriateness and placement of your ideas.
• You might remove entire sections that don't sufficiently support your position.
• You may move your paragraphs around to create a logical transition between your ideas.
• Revise your ideas, filling in the gaps in your logic.
• Have a partner read over your work. If you're on your own, you can use a revision checklist.

Traditional Essay Structure:

The Five-Paragraph Essay
By now, you’ve learned that an essay is based on a series of ideas and assertions in the thesis and topic sentences (which are like
mini thesis statements). However, an essay is more than a series of ideas. An essay expands on its thesis and topic sentence ideas
with examples, explanations, and information. An essay also guides the reader through some background on the main idea,
supports that idea and convinces the reader of its validity, and then re-emphasizes the main idea. In other words, an essay has an
introduction, body, and a conclusion.
Although essays may vary in length and complexity, the classic academic essay is often called “the five-paragraph essay” because
it contains an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. Many types of essays can fit into this
mold, including argumentative/persuasive, informative, and process analysis essays. You may have seen a visual representation
of this simple essay format before.
Each shape in the diagram represents a paragraph. The first paragraph, the introduction, is shaped like an upside-down triangle
because a good introduction starts with general information about the topic and then narrows down to a specific thesis statement.
This thesis statement is usually the last sentence of the introductory paragraph.
If your essay is truly five paragraphs long, there will be three body paragraphs. However, for longer assignments, you can use as
many body paragraphs as you need to. The supporting points and any explanations, examples, and evidence will go here.
Finally, the bottom triangle represents the concluding paragraph. Generally, the conclusion begins with a restatement of the
thesis in slightly different wording. Think of the conclusion as a backwards introduction. This time, you will start with the very
specific point of your thesis statement and work your way back out to general information. One good way to do this is by
discussing the wider significance of your argument.

Introduction
The introduction starts in a broad way, tries to capture the reader’s interest, and then narrows down to a thesis sentence. You've
learned about hook sentences, which are used to catch the reader’s attention. Ask yourself: “If I were approaching this essay as a
reader, would the first sentence make me want to keep reading?”

After you’ve hooked your audience, you'll usually need to provide a little bit of background information for your readers. This is
where the concept of audience comes in. Even a smart, well-informed audience will usually need a bit of context to understand
your approach to your topic. Remember that your goal is to guide the reader from your hook sentence to your thesis statement.
Body
The body expands on and specifies the main idea in the thesis by creating topic sentences, each of which offers a mini-assertion
related directly to the main thesis sentence idea. Each topic sentence has its own paragraph or multiple paragraphs depending on
the amount of content. Each section, or topic sentence paragraph, should include examples, explanations, and research in that
area of focus.

The following information should go into your body paragraphs:

• A topic sentence • Any necessary explanation of the topic sentence and

how it relates to your thesis statement

• Examples that illustrate your thesis or show • If you're asked to do outside research, include
that the opposite of your thesis statement is appropriate quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing
incorrect. of your sources with citations

The following should not go into your body paragraphs:

• Background material that's too broad or too • Points that are off-topic or unproven by the
detailed. examples or evidence you're presenting.

• Opinions not based on fact

Conclusion
The conclusion restates the main thesis sentence idea and broadens back out, leaving the reader with a critical question or a vivid
image as a means of remembering the thesis sentence idea. This is the writer’s chance to sum everything up for his or her
audience and leave them convinced of the writer’s point.
Begin the conclusion by restating your thesis statement in slightly different wording. To people unfamiliar with academic writing,
this may seem a bit repetitive; however, when used carefully, repetition can drive the point home. Some people describe the
structure of academic writing by saying, “You tell the audience what you’re going to tell them, then you tell them, then you tell
them what you just told them.” Repeating the thesis statement is even more important in longer essays, but it's still important
for the five-paragraph argument essay.
Remember the “shape” of the conclusion—a triangle. This structure is the opposite of the introduction. This time, you're going to
start very specific with your thesis statement and then broaden back out on the topic. However, you aren't simply repeating what
you wrote in your introduction backwards. Remember that this paragraph is the last one that your audience will read. Remind
them why this topic is important.
A good way of emphasizing your point is by writing about the larger significance of the topic. That might mean writing about
what good things would happen if everyone in the world were convinced of your point. Conversely, you could write about the bad
things that would happen if no one was convinced of your point. Here are some other ideas for the concluding paragraph:
• Propose a solution or a course of action. Now that the reader knows about this problem, what should they do?
 • Return to a theme in the introduction.
• For historical topics, connect past events to present-day events.
• Emphasize the importance of the topic. Why should the reader care?

Writing an Essay from Start to Finish

The last section guided you through the drafting part of the writing process. In this lesson, we’ll go through the beginning stages
again—prewriting, outlining, and drafting—using a sample topic and assignment to show you how the process works. Please
note that this isn't an actual assignment that you need to complete, but merely an example to illustrate the writing process.
From the prompt, you know that this essay is an argumentative essay, your topic needs to be a subject in education, and your
thesis statement needs to take a position. However, you've been given some freedom in choosing a specific subject or skill in
education for your topic. To start narrowing this down, you can begin to prewrite.

Picking a Topic
Many times, the most difficult part of an essay is picking a topic. There's no sure-fire way to do it, and there's no systematic way
to approach it. Starting without any topic at all can be difficult, even for the seasoned student. Here, you’ll look at samples of
three types of prewriting applied to the sample assignment.
Freewriting
recall from Lesson 2 that freewriting is simply writing whatever comes into your head for 5-10 minutes without paying attention
to grammar or punctuation. Here’s what freewriting on the assignment above might look like:
We are supposed to write about a subject in education that should be included or excluded in a school curriculum. If it were up to
me Id exclude chemistry cause I always hated it but I don’t think that’s a good enough reason. I’m not sure if “education” means
elementary middle or high school or even college I guess im supposed to pick one. I don’t think I know enough yet about what
should be in college so I won’t pick that, so maybe elementary or middle school. A lot of things are differend now to when I was a
little kid in elementary school caus they all have computers now. Maybe I should write something about that.
After writing for a few minutes, you can go back and look at your work to see what words or phrases seem important. It looks like
this writer has begun to focus on elementary school, and there’s the beginning of an idea about the way computer technology has
impacted the classroom. The writer might underline “elementary school” and “they all have computers now” as good places to
start.

Brainstorming
With a little more specificity in mind, the writer can choose to freewrite again or pick another type of prewriting. Perhaps he or
she would like to work in a more organized format like a brainstorming list. Here’s what that list might look like:

Computers in Elementary School

• Technology that students use.

o Tablets, phones
o Online platforms (Blackboard, D2L)
• Technology that teachers use.
o Blackboard, D2L
o Smartboards
o Grading or plagiarism-catching software
• What's different about classrooms today?
o Typing instead of handwriting
o Do schools teach handwriting anymore? Cursive or print?
o How much time is devoted to learning to type?
o I learned cursive in 4th grade—do students now?
o Students always on their phones
o How can phones be used in the classroom?
o Are there educational apps?
o Turning in homework electronically
o Taking tests on the computer

As you can see, this writer has done some questioning prewriting as well. The writer seems to
have focused in on handwriting, specifically the teaching of cursive, thus narrowing the topic
further.
Research
Now that the writer is thinking about teaching cursive in the elementary school classroom, he or she can do a little research on
the topic to help form an opinion. As a starting point, a basic Google search can be helpful, but remember that research doesn't
end with Google and Wikipedia. These are merely helpful tools to jumpstart your search and help you find more scholarly sources
to track down.

You'll study research in more depth in later lessons, but for now, pretend that the writer for the sample assignment reads several
articles from respected news publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post. From these, the writer learns that
cursive handwriting was disappearing from classrooms in the early 2010s, but lately it has been making a comeback. The writer
also learns that there are strong feelings on both sides of the debate. People who support teaching cursive handwriting in the
classroom say that it is important to help children develop fine motor skills and even increase their cognitive abilities. People who
oppose teaching cursive say that it is a waste of time and the studies that support cursive are exaggerating its importance to brain
development.

The writer has now learned enough to begin to form an opinion on the topic of cursive in the classroom, which is a necessary part
of the assignment. Keep in mind that sometimes research will change the direction of your essay.

Your topic might change halfway into your research, or even while writing up your outline—this is a natural occurrence and
reflects the fact that you've been thinking it over for a longer period of time. Even if you aren't completely sure what your final
"question" will be, don't be afraid to start doing the background research once you have a general idea of what you want your
work to be about.

Analyzing Your Audience

Who are you writing for?
You want to ask yourself that question every time you begin a writing project. You want to keep your audience in mind as you go
through the writing process because it will help you make decisions while you write. Such decisions should include what voice you
use, what words you choose, and the kind of sentence structure you use. Thinking about who your audience is and what their
expectations are will also help you decide what kind of introduction and conclusion to write.
Your instructor, of course, is your audience, but you must be careful not to assume that he or she knows more than you on the
subject of your paper. While your instructor may be well-informed on the topic, your purpose is to demonstrate your knowledge
and fully explain what you’re writing about, so the reader can see that you have a good grasp on the topic yourself. Think of your
instructor as intelligent, but not fully informed about your topic. For the example prompt, the writer can assume that the
instructor knows what cursive handwriting is, but the instructor is unlikely to be familiar with the ways that learning cursive
affects the brain.
Another approach is to think of your audience as other people who might be taking the course for which you're writing the
assignment. This is a diverse group, so it can be tough to imagine the needs of so many people. However, if you try to think about
your writing the way others from a diverse group might think about your writing, it can help make your writing stronger.
Sometimes, it’s difficult to decide how much to explain or how much detail to go into in a paper when considering your audience.
Remember that you need to explain the major concepts in your paper and provide clear, accurate information. Your reader should
be able to make the necessary connections from one thought or sentence to the next. When you aren't clear, the reader can
become confused or frustrated. Make sure you connect the dots and explain how information you present is relevant and how it
connects with other ideas you have in your paper. As you write your essay, try to imagine what information your audience will
need on your topic. You should also think about how your writing will sound to your audience.

When it’s time to revise, read your drafts as a reader would, looking for what isn't well explained, clearly written, or linked to
other ideas. It might be useful to read your paper to someone who has no background in the topic you’re writing about to see if
your listener can follow your argument. As always, your job as the writer is to communicate your thinking in a clear, thoughtful,
and complete way.
Once you've chosen your topic and identified your audience, you're ready to begin writing your essay.

Developing a Strong Thesis Statement

A strong thesis statement is specific, focused, and holds tension between ideas.

Imagine you're having dinner with a few friends. Over dessert and coffee, one friend says, "Professor Ellis is my favorite." His
statement might elicit a few nods and a comment or two. Another friend takes it up a notch, saying, "I think Dr. Ellis is the best
professor at the school." With this statement, your friend has taken a stand, which can inspire some interest and debate. In
response, another friend says, "You guys seem to think that being a good professor is all about how available and nice he or she is
to the students, but I think it has a lot more to do with the professor's commitment to scholarship. In fact, I think that while Dr.
Ellis might be the most popular professor, Dr. Cassidy is, objectively speaking, actually the best." Is this last statement a little
more provocative? Might your guests pour a second cup of coffee and stay a little longer? Why?

Making a Claim
Strong academic writing takes a definitive stance on the topic it's covering. Rather than simply reporting details, academic
writing uses details to try to prove a point. As you’ve learned, this point is called your thesis statement, a sentence that expresses
your point of view on the topic, which you'll support with evidence and research. The key element of a thesis statement is that it
isn't a fact: it's a claim, something that you have to use evidence to prove. Your thesis is the backbone of your paper, and every
fact and idea you add to your paper will support it.

At the dinner party, your friend will give reason after reason why crotchety Dr. Cassidy is actually the superior professor,
supporting each reason with facts. By the end of the evening, you may go home with a new respect for Dr. Cassidy's body of
scientific research, his ability to make students strive much harder than they do in Dr. Ellis's classes, and his consistent grading
policies. If so, your friend will have changed your mind, and it all began with his provocative statement: his thesis.
Elements of a Strong Thesis Statement
A strong thesis statement has three main elements: focus, specificity, and sense of importance.

You're going to make your case within the scope of one paper, so the focus should be narrow enough for you to cover the topic
thoroughly. The writer has already completed much of this step by narrowing the topic down to the teaching of cursive
handwriting in elementary schools.

You want the reader to be drawn in immediately to the heart of the argument. That means being specific. Often this means
naming names—for example, not "One theme in Hamlet is vengeance ... ," but "In Hamlet, Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all
seek to avenge their fathers ..." For the sample prompt, this might mean specifically talking about cursive handwriting, not
handwriting in general.

Good writing makes readers care about the topic. When you set out to write and prove your thesis statement, consider the sense of
importance. Don't simply have the goal of saying, "This is my claim and here's evidence to support it." You'll want your writing
to boil down to, "This is my claim, here's why it matters, and here's evidence to support it." For the sample prompt, the writer
needs to think about why readers—in particular, the instructor and fellow students—should care about elementary school
students learning cursive.

There's more than one way to write a thesis statement for an academic paper. The most important element is that you make an
original claim and then use facts and evidence to support it. However, there are many ways to express your claim. All of these
ways engage with the currently existing body of academic writing, but add something new: your ideas, framed as a claim based on
evidence.

Tension
One technique for writing a thesis statement is arguing against an existing view. Think of the construction as, "While ____,
actually ____." Your guiding thread through the paper will be to convince those who think the first thing that the second thing
is actually true. This is especially helpful when writing a persuasive argument essay.
The following are two examples of thesis statements with embedded tension:

1. While some educators and lawmakers think cursive handwriting is an outdated skill in the modern digital world, it still
has a place in the elementary school classroom as a way to promote motor skills and brain development.
2. While handwriting enthusiasts claim that teaching children cursive makes them smarter, the evidence is actually limited,
and cursive should be removed from elementary school education to make room for more relevant subjects.

You’ll note that these two sentences take opposite sides of the argument. However, they’re both equally acceptable as thesis
statements because they introduce the topic and make a claim about it. As long as you support the side of the issue that you pick
with explanation, examples, and evidence, your thesis statement is a good one.

For the sample prompt, however, the writer does need to pick a side. Perhaps during the research stage, the writer found the
evidence for teaching cursive more credible than the evidence against teaching cursive. In that case, the writer picks thesis
statement #1 as the basis of the essay.

Writing Body Paragraphs

The writer now has another choice—start with the essay’s introduction, or dive right into the body paragraphs (with the thesis
statement in mind, of course) and write the introduction later. For the sample assignment, the writer picks the second choice and
starts with the body paragraphs. Since this is a five-paragraph essay, the writer will need three body paragraphs, which translates
into three main points that support the thesis statement.

Structuring Body Paragraphs

The body of the paper presents your argument point by point to reveal the wisdom of your thesis. You decided on the order of
these points during the outline phase, but as you write you may choose to reorder them for maximum impact. You may also decide
to scrap points that don't have the impact you expected them to have. Flexibility is a useful quality during the drafting phase.
Each body paragraph will be organized around a claim, which you'll form into a topic sentence. You'll generally begin each
paragraph with its topic sentence, then you'll move to the evidence that led you to this claim before ending with a concluding
sentence that weaves claim and evidence together. You'll also have transition sentences that link the paragraphs together, and
they can appear at the end or beginning of each paragraph.
A sample body paragraph might take this structure:

• Topic sentence
• Evidence 1
• Evidence 2
• Evidence 3
• Concluding sentence

Here's how the body paragraph structure might look when applied to the example assignment:

Like your thesis, each topic sentence is an arguable statement, not a fact. The facts come in the form of evidence that you'll
present in the next sentences. It needs to be clear how the topic sentence relates to your thesis, and it should address only one
point.

If you're having difficulty formulating a topic sentence, you can write the following stem: "One reason I believe my thesis
statement is true is this:" and then complete the sentence. Here’s how the writer might use this technique:
One reason I believe my thesis statement is true is this: The articles I read presented many studies showing that learning
cursive helps children develop brain function better and more quickly than students who don’t learn it.

The writer can leave off the stem, clean up the structure of the sentence, and begin the paragraph. If you try this technique, check
to see whether the statement sums up one of your claims. If it doesn't, you may need to revisit your claims and rework them so
they fit your argument at this stage of the writing process. It's common for your opinions to become clearer and more
sophisticated as you spend more time with your topic, so don't be afraid to make some changes.

Check, too, to see whether the topic sentence is arguable and clear. Occasionally, it may take two or three sentences to express the
claim, and that can work, but being able to encapsulate it into one sentence means you understand what you're communicating
thoroughly enough to write concisely.
Presenting Evidence
As you approach the structure of an individual paragraph, you'll want to consider how this particular claim would be best
presented. If you’re coming up with your main points from your own knowledge and experience, they probably take the form of
examples or explanations. If you were asked to do outside research for your assignment, you probably found different types of
evidence along the way: quotes from people who've studied your topic extensively, stories or analyses from people who've had
direct experience with it, and studies that offer conclusions.

Recognize that using a series of any one of these types of evidence could become repetitive and either bore or overwhelm your
reader. Pounding statistic after statistic or study after study into a paragraph may seem convincing as you're writing, but it might
have the opposite effect and make the reader disengage.

Instead, write your topic sentence and look over the evidence you've gathered for that claim. Is there a first-hand account that
might best illustrate this point? Perhaps a quote from a well-known authority would capture your reader's respect right away. It
could be that a recent study found exactly what your topic sentence claims, and you want to lead with that.
Here’s how our writer might start the third body paragraph of the sample assignment:
Not only does cursive improve cognitive and motor skills, but it provides American schoolchildren with a link to their own past.
According to author Anne Trubek, cursive handwriting is “something that just about every American alive today was taught at
some point in their lives, and there aren’t that many things you can say that about.” George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and
Martin Luther King, Jr., all had to learn cursive in school…

Just as with the introductory paragraph, you'll need to consider that rather than simply offering proof of your opinion, you're also
keeping your reader engaged. Variety of presentation will keep a reader interested in your argument, as will the strength and
reliability of the evidence. If you're hesitating to relate a story or to cite a study, quote, or example because you're not sure
whether it's convincing, leave it out. Your reader will feel disrespected by any attempt to slip in a weaker point. There's no
advantage to bulk over strength. In other words, focus on quality over quantity.

Introductory Paragraph

There are many ways to begin a paper, some straightforward, others more creative. Papers generally need to aim for an objective
voice and stay close to the facts. However, you have a bit more freedom in the introduction, and you can take advantage of that
freedom by finding a surprising, high-impact way to highlight your issue's importance.
The following are some effective hook statements for opening a paper, as well as possible examples for the writer to use in the
sample assignment:

• A vivid description: “Elementary school students all over the country dread being forced to spend a year
mastering the loopy, elaborate handwriting style known as cursive.”
• A surprising fact or statistic: “In 2010, US Common Core educational standards dropped cursive handwriting
as a requirement, leaving only five states where school children are required to learn cursive.”
• An interesting quote: “The mathematician Euclid once said, ‘Handwriting is a spiritual designing, even
though it appears by means of a material instrument.’”
• An explanatory metaphor: “Cursive handwriting is like painting with words.”
• A challenge or problem: “As modern education moves more and more into a digital setting, there seems to be
little room left for skills that seemed so important to the traditional classroom.”

After you grab the reader's attention with the opening, make a case for the importance of your topic. The following are some
questions that may help at this stage:

• Why did you choose this topic?

• Should the general public or your academic discipline be more aware of this issue, and why?
• Are you calling attention to an underappreciated issue or evaluating a widely acknowledged issue in a new
light?
• How does the issue affect you, if at all?

A sample introductory paragraph might look like the following:

Elementary school students all over the country dread being forced to spend a year mastering the loopy, elaborate handwriting style known as
cursive. In fact, many question why they would even need this skill in a world where typing speed matters more than writing legibility.
However, removing cursive instruction from the American classroom would be a mistake, one that would separate children from their history
and stunt their cognitive growth. While some educators and lawmakers think cursive handwriting is an outdated skill in the modern digital
world, it still has a place in the elementary school classroom as a way to promote motor skills and brain development.

Saving your introductory paragraph until the end of your drafting process will put the power of your paper's argument behind you
as you create. Ask yourself these questions before you begin:

• Why is this topic interesting?

• What's the most fascinating or shocking thing I found in my research?
• What kinds of things surprised me as I read and wrote?
• How would I tell a friend about what I found?
• If I were to pick up a book to read about this topic, what would capture my imagination?

Allow yourself to enjoy the process of writing your introduction. Let your creativity run free here, within the general structure.
Take some risks! This is the place where your personality can show through, to the delight of the reader, who is undoubtedly
ready and waiting to be surprised.
Concluding Paragraph
The concluding paragraph summarizes the argument, showing how it supports the thesis. Its purpose is to leave readers with a
strong sense of the argument, thereby encouraging them to adopt the thesis as their own. One way to think of the conclusion is as
"The Tale of the Conquering Hero." The hero recounts the adventure by first telling you their accomplishment, then recounting
the steps that led to it, and finally putting it into a broader context.

There are four common formats for concluding paragraphs:

1. Revisit the thesis statement.

2. Repeat the claims, woven with transitions.
3. Make recommendations or projections.
4. Revisit the introductory paragraph.

As with introductions, there are many ways to write conclusions, but the following is one possible concluding paragraph for the
sample assignment:
Cursive handwriting, as archaic as it may seem, still has a place in the modern classroom. Not only does it sharpen students’ minds and hands,
but it also connects them to the important practices and documents of history. Elementary schools across the nation must either retain the
teaching of cursive or reinstate it to the curriculum if it has been removed. Computer screens may be everywhere, but paper and pen are
never truly going away. From the Magna Carta to the Declaration of Independence to the writing homework of a fourth grader, cursive
connects us all.
Of course, the writing process isn’t over once the first draft is finished but getting an entire draft on paper—or on your computer screen—is an
achievement to be celebrated. Once you’ve finished, give yourself a little break before coming back to revise, edit, and proofread.