What is the purpose of the composition? What is the topic of the composition? What are the length requirements? What is the appropriate tone or voice for the composition? Is research required? These questions are good for you to ask.
Pre-writing: gathering your thoughts or research, brainstorming, and planning the compositions Writing: actively writing your composition Editing: re-reading your paper, adding sentences, cutting unnecessary parts, and proofreading
Try a timed writing by keeping your pen moving for 10 minutes without stopping. Don’t shy away from including your opinions about a particular topic, even if your teacher has warned you from including personal opinions in your paper. This isn’t the final draft!
Write the topic in the center of the paper and draw a circle around it. Say your topic is “Romeo & Juliet” or “The Civil War”. Write the phrase on your paper and circle it. Around the center circle, write your main ideas or interests about the topic. You might be interested in “Juliet’s death,” “Mercutio’s anger,” or “family strife. " Write as many main ideas as you’re interested in. Around each main idea, write more specific points or observations about each more specific topic. Start looking for connections. Are you repeating language or ideas? Connect the bubbles with lines where you see related connections. A good composition is organized by main ideas, not organized chronologically or by plot. Use these connections to form your main ideas.
Don’t worry about coming up with a polished thesis statement or final argument now; that can come later in the process.
Your thesis statement needs to be debatable. In fact, many thesis statements are structured as the answer to a well-formulated question about the topic. “Romeo & Juliet is an interesting play written by Shakespeare in the 1500s” isn’t a thesis statement, because that’s not a debatable issue. We don’t need you to prove that to us. “Romeo & Juliet features Shakespeare’s most tragic character in Juliet” is a lot closer to a debatable point, and could be an answer to a question like, “Who is Shakespeare’s most tragic character?”[5] X Research source Your thesis statement needs to be specific. “Romeo & Juliet is a play about making bad choices” isn’t as strong a thesis statement as “Shakespeare makes the argument that the inexperience of teenage love is comic and tragic at the same time” is much stronger. A good thesis guides the essay. In your thesis, you can sometimes preview the points you’ll make in your paper, guiding yourself and the reader: “Shakespeare uses Juliet’s death, Mercutio’s rage, and the petty arguments of the two principal families to illustrate that the heart and the head are forever disconnected. "
Introduction, in which the topic is described, the issue or problem is summarized, and your argument is presented Main point paragraph 1, in which you make and support your first supporting argument Main point paragraph 2, in which you make and support your second supporting argument Main point paragraph 3, in which you make and support your final supporting argument Conclusion paragraph, in which you summarize your argument
Proof includes specific quotes from the book you’re writing about, or specific facts about the topic. If you want to talk about Mercutio’s temperamental character, you’ll need to quote from him, set the scene, and describe him in detail. This is proof that you’ll also need to unpack with logic. Logic refers to your rationale and your reasoning. Why is Mercutio like this? What are we supposed to notice about the way he talks? Explain your proof to the reader by using logic and you’ll have a solid argument with strong evidence.
Ask how. How is Juliet’s death presented to us? How do the other characters react? How is the reader supposed to feel? Ask why. Why does Shakespeare kill her? Why not let her live? Why does she have to die? Why would the story not work without her death?
Only use words and phrases that you have a good command over. Academic vocabulary might sound impressive, but if you don’t fully grasp its meaning, you might muddle the effect of your paper.
Try writing a rough draft the weekend before it’s due, and giving it to your teacher for comments several days before the due date. Take the feedback into consideration and make the necessary changes.
Moving paragraphs around to get the best possible organization of points, the best “flow” Delete whole sentences that are repetitive or that don’t work Removing any points that don’t support your argument
Think of each main point you’re making like a mountain in a mountain range that you’re flying over in a helicopter. You can stay above them and fly over them quickly, pointing out their features from far away and giving us a quick flyover tour, or you can drop us down in between them and show us up close, so we see the mountain goats and the rocks and the waterfalls. Which would be a better tour?
