- Form a good, strong thesis sentence.
- This is the most important part of the whole process, the foundation
upon which your whole essay is constructed, and it must be the first thing
done; until you have written the thesis sentence it is useless to try
writing anything else. Given a topic, assemble your material and review it
(mentally if in class or during an exam) until you are familiar enough with
this material to form an opinion or judgment about your topic. This opinion
or judgment is the stand you are taking on this particular topic and it will
be the conclusion which your entire essay will try to establish and support.
This is your thesis sentence; and this is why the thesis sentence has to
come first when you start to construct and essay.
- Build your argument to support this thesis sentence.
- Return to your assembled material. Go through it again, and this time
copy down every argument, every bit of evidence, or every reason you can
find in it which will support your conclusion. After you have done this you
should be able to tell whether your conclusion is valid or not. If you
cannot find enough support to convince you yourself of the validity of your
own conclusion, you should discard your thesis sentence and form a new one.
Never attempt to argue in behalf of something which you yourself do not
believe; if you do, your paper will not be any good.
- Arrange your argument to produce the maximum effect upon the reader.
- Go through the evidence or separate arguments you have copied down and
arrange them in order of their strength. Usually it is best to start with
the weakest and end with the strongest; this argument is not always
possible. But when it can be done your argument will accumulate more force
as it progresses. If this type of argument cannot be used, merely arrange
the arguments in the order in which they will appear in your paper.
- Write your outline.
- Begin with the thesis sentence.
- Always write complete sentences.
- A brief introduction is needed if any questions or terms have to be
defined before you start your argument; otherwise it is optional.
- Roman numeral I will be the first argument or reason in support of
your conclusion. Roman numeral II will be the second argument--and so on
-- as you have already arranged these arguments in order.
- Just as the Roman numeral entries must support your conclusion, so
must the sub-head entries under each Roman numeral support that particular
argument (usually by clarifying, explaining, or the citing of examples).
- Copy your thesis sentence word for word as the conclusion at the end
of your outline. (This may seem a bit of an insult to your intelligence,
but if your outline has gone astray you will find that your thesis
sentence will no longer fit in the position it was originally created to
occupy. Thus, by doing this you can sometimes save yourself time and
wasted effort.)
- Check your outline.
- Are there any self-contradictory concepts in it?
- Is any of your material irrelevant?
- Does each argument follow logically from everything preceding it?
- Are there any gaps in your reasoning?
- Are there any terms which need to be defined?
- Are there any statements which are mere platitudes?
- Have you made any domestic statements?
- Write the paper itself.
- About three fourths of your work should be done before you reach this
step. If steps I-V are done well and carefully, the writing of the paper
should be relatively easy.
- Proofread your paper.
- It is a good idea to proof-read your paper at least twice. (Never write
anything which will be read by others unless you proofread it to the best of
your ability; this is one rule that is rigidly observed by all mature
writers who have been writing for years.)
- Proofread for thought and style.
- Are there any self-contradictory passages in it?
- Is any of your material irrelevant?
- Does each argument follow logically from everything preceding it?
- Are there any gaps in your reasoning?
- Are there any terms which need to be defined?
- Are there any statements which are mere platitudes?
- Have you made and dogmatic statements? (Although you have already
checked for these fault; in your outline, you must check for them again
in the finished paper; often many faults which were not present in the
outline will appear in the finished paper.)
- Does your paper read smoothly and easily? (Read it aloud, if
possible, and you will find out.)
- Proofread for mechanical errors.
- Check all questionable spellings.
- Check for all the minimum standard requirements.
- Finally, turn in your finished paper and wait patiently for you "A".