College Writing

College Writing Study Guide Thesis: We should go to the new pizza joint. Supporting Point 1: Pizza is one of our favorite foods. Supporting Point 2: You’ve wanted to eat more healthy foods, and though pizza is not particularly healthful, the restaurant we will be going to has some excellent salads. Supporting Point 3: Every other time we’ve gone out to eat, you’ve chosen the restaurant. Letting me choose will demonstrate that what I want is important to you. Conclusion: Going to the new pizza joint will be a good night out because we’ll both get to enjoy our favorite food – and some healthy options if you’d like – and you will be showing me that you care about my interests. Even with something as low -stakes as where to eat, a well-organized Five- Paragraph Essay can build an effective argument. We have the thesis in the introduction, the strongest supporting point �irst, the weakest (including a refutation “though pizza is not particularly healthful”) second, and the most interesting point – one that contextualizes dinner in the relationship – last. The conclusion imagines what the world will be like if the thesis is agreed to (“a good night out”) as well as recaps the im- portant points throughout the paper. A Five- Paragraph Essay is the easiest -to-use organizational structure, so it is highly recommended that you use this format for the test. Even though the Five - Paragraph Essay is recommended, the re are other ways to organize your papers. Describing these other methods helps you expand your toolbox so that you are able to write in other formats, and these other organizational methods ask different questions and present different writing challenges; adapting to these challenges will help you become a more well-rounded writer. You can use the “ Five-Part Essay ,” which breaks down as follows: • Introduction – the introduction in a Five- Part Essay is narrative rather than argumentative, which means that it tells a story. A Five- Part Essay’s introduction works by describing the conditions that led to the thesis. There is still a guiding principle to the paper, but it is demon- strated more than directly stated. • Narration – the second paragraph describes the backstory. What happened before this event that leads the writer to make this argument now? • Con�irmation – the third paragraph includes all the ideas and evidence that support the writer’s opinion. For some subjects, the con�irmation might require more than one paragraph to adequately cover all of the information necessary. • Refutation – as we discussed before, the refutation is a response to opposing points of view. In order to arrive at the refutation, you should ask yourself two questions: what is the opposite of my point of view? Why is the opposing point of view wrong?

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