The Essay Map

1. The Essay Map A brief statement in the introductory paragraph introducing the major points to be discussed in the essay.

2. The Essay Map An essay map allows the readers to know in advance where you, the writer, will be taking them in the essay. For example, Thesis The Study Skills Center is an excellent place for first-year students to receive help with basic courses. Essay Map The Center’s numerous free services, well-trained tutors, and variety of supplementary learning materials can often mean the difference between academic success and failure for many students.

3. The Essay Map Topic Poor library resources Thesis The library’s reserve facility is badly managed. Essay Map Its unpredictable hours, poor staffing, and inadequate space discourage even the most dedicated students.

4. The Essay Map After reading the introductory paragraph, the reader knows the essay will discuss the reserve facility’s problematic hours, staff, and space. In other words, the thesis statement defines the main purpose of your essay, and the essay map indicates the route you will take to accomplish that purpose.

5. The Essay Map The essay map follows the thesis, but it can also precede it. It is part of the thesis: Because of its free services, well-trained tutors, and useful learning aids, the Study Skills Center is an excellent place for students seeking academic help. For those students who need extra help with their basic courses, the Study Skills Center is one of the best resources because of its numerous free services, well-trained tutors, and variety of useful learning aids.

6. The Essay Map Unreasonable hours, poor staffing, and inadequate space make the library reserve facility difficult to use.

7. The Essay Map In addition to suggesting the main points of the essay, the map provides two other benefits: 1) A set of guidelines for organizing your essay, maintained related to essay. 2) A skeletal outline for the sequence of paragraphs in the essay, with one body paragraph devoted to each main point mentioned in your map.

8. The Essay Map Essay maps should blend in with your thesis as smoothly as possible and should not be forced.

9. Journaling Purposes: • To jot down ideas and impressions for future use • To keep daily logs or diaries of thoughts for future enjoyment or records • To help prepare for class discussions • To help with prewriting • To record responses to reading material or class discussions as well as thoughts and questions.

10. Journaling • Daybook • Learning log • Diary • Log • Writer’s Notebook • Web log (Blogs) • Dialectical • Text/Me

11. Journaling Uses: • Use especially in the first week of class to confront your fears of writing, to conquer the blank page. • Improve your powers of observation. • Save your own brilliant ideas. • Save other people’s brilliant ideas. • Be creative.

12. Journaling 6. Prepare for class. 7. Record responses to class discussions. • Focus on a problem. • Practice audience awareness. • Describe your own writing process. • Write a progress report. • Become sensitive to language. • Write your own textbook.

13. Freewrites You will have many opportunities to journal in this course. There will be times where you will come in to write but do not have to worry about how many spelling errors you have or how poorly you wrote your ideas. Freewrites will allow you to reflect and produce writing that flows from your mind to your paper. Five of these free-writes will be counted for your grade.

14. The Narrative Essay Know your purpose Present your main point clearly Follow a logical time sequence Use sensory details to hold your reader’s interest Create authentic characters Use dialogue realistically

15. The Narrative Essay • Don’t write about something you really don’t know • Don’t select a story that is too broad or long • Don’t let your story lag or wander