IE3 Writing: Lesson 10

Hi everyone,

Wow! We were sure busy in today's lesson. We had a lot to cover, but we got through everything. We'll have a short review of paraphrasing in next week's lesson to reinforce this new writing skill.

Body Paragraphs:
We had a short review of how to organize your ideas in your body paragraphs. Once again, you will need to use funnel organization.  This means that information is arranged in this way:
a.  general --> topic sentence with subtopic
b.  less general --> supporting ideas
c.  specific --> details

We also reviewed the different types of details that you can use in your body paragraph:
a.  expert opinions
b.  statistics
c.  descriptions
d.  facts

Keep in mind that descriptions and facts over overlap with each other.  Many writers often use facts in their descriptions.  

Paraphrasing:
We also learned about paraphrasing in today's class.  This is another way we can include information into our research papers from our sources.  When you paraphrase, you put the author’s ideas into your own words.   Even if you want to use general facts from your source, you still have to paraphrase this information.

Remember that some paraphrases need in-text citation and some paraphrases do not require it.

1. general facts do NOT need in-text citation
2. opinions, statistics and information that is not common knowledge NEED in-text citation

Before you paraphrase, you have to identify shared language (= words that you cannot change) and find synonyms for words that you can change.  This is the most important step in writing a good paraphrase.

This is a difficult skill to master and it often takes a long time to paraphrase information.  I even have trouble paraphrasing when I have to prepare research papers, too.  Be patient and don’t give up!

Outlines:
We also looked at how to prepare an outline.  For your outlines, you need to include:
a.  Topic sentences (in sentence-form)
b:  supporting ideas (two for each body paragraph)
c.  details (2 details for each supporting idea).

Remember that you can use note-form for your supporting ideas and details.  You don't have to use sentence-form.

For your outlines, you need to download the "Outline Template" from the Writing-->Persuasion Essay section on the website.  It has also been uploaded in a file at the end of today's lesson summary. 

Homework:
1.  Blog Comment #8
2.  Complete Outline

• due Monday, June 22 before 12:00 noon
• download the Outline template to prepare your outline
  

3.  Complete Bibliography

• due Tuesday, June 23 before 12:00 noon.
  
  

Blog Question #8:

Read through your feedback on your introduction. The blue comments/corrections are for content/structure; and the red comments are for grammar.

Which three comments/corrections are the most important for you to help you write your body paragraphs? Why?

*Write 8-10 sentences.
*Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly.
*Submit by Tuesday, June 22 by 6:00pm.