Friday April 25th

Your purpose for writing today is to score highly on the organization trait of writing. As far as the topic goes, we're finishing up Chapter 6 in the textbook and the prompts to choose from are on page 269. You could also model after Thursday's lesson on organization and write about the good and bad sides of television. If you'd like to do something else, please let me know.

Where you should begin is with good ideas, which we worked on the last two weeks. Keep your topic narrow and manageable, choose details that support your topic, and create memorable details that move your topic or theme forward. If you have any questions on this, consult your yellow handouts or see me.

From there, I think you need to try out one of our types of leads - something that will match your topic and paper but also grab your reader's attention. Remember how the story of Aunt Marva hooked you into the television paper. Remember how Laurie Halse Anderson hooked you into the story Twisted. In your first (introduction) paragraph, you should also include a thesis - what your paper is about in one line, without giving the entire thing away.

As far as the other components of the organization trait, include transition words that help your reader navigate through your paper. This is especially important when you switch sub-topics (like between paragraphs - see the green handout for examples of this). Use phrases like "In addition to..." or "Although it may seem to have many negatives,..." Write your body paragraphs, but be careful to move at the same pace through them and guide your reader with transition words and phrases. Order your paragraphs and ideas logically, in a way that makes sense - unlike the first television paper we read.

Finally, you'll need a good conclusion. In that paragraph, wrap up your main points without repeating your introduction or thesis word for word. Then leave your reader with a clincher - some line that leaves the reader fulfilled and happy with what you've had to say and maybe hopeful for their own lives. This is kind of difficult, so see the green handout with examples and ask for help if you need it.

I've got a sample paper for you. Please be sure to take a look at it. Also, score yourself using the organization rubric and turn that in with your paper.