COMPOSING: CREATING A TOPIC

SENTENCE AND DRAFT PARAGRAPH

DS 014 Writing

Weston

TODAY’S AGENDA Sign-In Composing Defined Developing Topic Sentences Solid Support Reader-Centered Sentences Audience Analysis Creating a Rough Draft/First Draft Evaluating a First Draft Assignment Coming Up…

WHAT IS COMPOSING? In composing, we start putting our ideas

into a form that resembles our final product.

We use the best ideas from our pre-writing and assemble them into a topic sentence, supporting ideas (body), and a conclusion.

DEVELOPING TOPIC SENTENCES The topic sentence contains the main

idea of the paragraph. Usually it comes first. To develop a topic sentence—

Clarify what is to be emphasized.Express your focus.

Successful topic sentences have…A topicThe writer’s attitude or reaction to the topic

EXAMPLES OF TOPIC SENTENCES Planning a vacation can be stressful

because there are so many things to think about.

College is difficult to adjust to but there are some key things a new college student can do to make it through the first year.

Tuna is a great food to eat while studying.

SOLID SUPPORT Support sentence make up the body of

the paragraph. These sentences illustrate or further

explain your topic. Select details that most support your

topic and approach to the topic. Use your prewriting and pick out what

would be best to use.

READER-CENTERED SENTENCES Writing “writer-centered” sentences can

be problematic because, while you (as writer) know what they mean, your reader may not understand.

To make your work “reader-centered,” you need to fully express your ideas, making sure to “flesh out” the details so that your intended reader can grasp the meaning.

AUDIENCE ANALYSIS Audience Analysis is what writers use to

better understand for whom they’re writing.

Audience Analysis questions…Who am I writing this for?What do they already know about this

topic?What do they need to know about this

topic?What would help them better understand?What kind of language should I use?

FOR OUR PARAGRAPHS Let’s take 10 minutes to quickly do an

audience analysis for our upcoming paragraphs.

Think of your audience as being your classmates and teacher.What do we know about your topic?What do you want us to know that we don’t

already?

ROUGH DRAFT/FIRST DRAFT A first draft is a complete version of

your paragraph. The rough draft is for your eyes only. Once you’ve looked it over and

corrected noticeable errors, you have an official first draft.

EVALUATING A FIRST DRAFT Look at the topic sentence—

Does it make your point clearly?How is the body organized?3 methods to organize information in a

paragraph— Chronologically—order of time Spatially—order of where things are in

relationship to each other Emphatically—order of strength or importance

ASSIGNMENT Take your topic’s prewriting from

Wednesday’s class. Write a topic sentence. Write at least three supporting

sentences (remember, you can use time, space, or importance to organize).

Let me see it before you leave.

COMING UP… Wednesday

Description

Chapter 6 in Paragraphs

Description Paragraph Assigned

Friday

Revising Chapter 4 in

Paragraphs Bring in Draft

of Paragraph

Fall Break—We won't have class Monday due to the Fall Break.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND BREAK!