Writer's Resources: From Paragraph to Essay Book

Part I: GETTING STARTED. 1. Finding Your Voice. Why Write? Spotlight on People. Voice. Meet the Peers. 2. Using Journals. What Is a Writer's Journal? Related Readings. Professional Journals. Suggested Journal Topics. What is a Reader's Journal? Part II: THE WRITING PROCESS. 3. First Steps. Understanding the Assignment. Narrowing the Topic. Determining the Writing Context. Formulating a Main Idea. Generating Supporting Ideas. 4. Writing a Paragraph. Stating the Main Idea. Turning a Discussion Question into a Topic Sentence. Organizing Supporting Ideas. Drafting. Revising. Editing. Getting the Paragraph Back. 5. Writing an Essay. Stating the Main Idea. Outlining the Essay. Drafting. Revising. Editing. Getting the Essay Back. Part III: THE STRUCTURE OF THE PARAGRAPH. 6. The Paragraph. The Paragraph's Structure. The Topic Sentence. Support. The Conclusion. The Title. Part IV: THE STRUCTURE OF THE ESSAY. 7. The Essay. From Paragraph to Essay. The Introduction. Thesis. Body Paragraphs. Conclusion. The Title. Part V: RHETORICAL PATTERNS. 8. Description. Examples of Description. How Is a Description Organized? Sample Thesis Statements for Description. Transitional Devises for Description. Tips on Planning a Description. 9. Narration. Examples of Narration. How Is Narration Organized? Sample Thesis Statement for Narration. Transitions. Tips on Planning a Narration. 10. Illustration or Example. Examples of Illustration or Example. How Is Example Organized? Sample Thesis Statements for Example or Illustration. Transitions. Tips on Planning an Example or Illustration. 11. Process Analysis. Examples of Process Analysis. How Is Process Analysis Organized? Sample Thesis Statements. Transitions. Tips for Planning a Process Analysis. 12. Cause and Effect. Examples of Cause and Effect. How Is Cause and Effect Organized? Sample Thesis Statements for Cause and Effect. Transitions. Tips for Planning Cause and Effect. 13. Comparison and Contrast. Examples of Comparison/Contrast. How Is Comparison/Contrast Organized? Sample Thesis Statements. Transitions Devises for Comparison/Contrast. Tips for Planning Comparison/Contrast. 14. Definition. Examples of Definition. How Is Definition Organized? Sample Thesis Statements for Definition. Transitions. Tips for Planning a Definition. 15. Classification. Examples of Classification. How Is Classification Organized? Sample Thesis Statements for Classification. Transitions. Tips on Planning Classification. 16. Summary. Examples of Summary. How Is a Summary Organized? Sample Thesis Statements for Summary. Common Transitions for Summary. Tips on Planning a Summary. 17. Analysis and Division. Examples of Analysis and Division. How Are Analysis and Division Organized? Sample Thesis Statement for Analysis and Division. Transitions. Tips on Analysis and Division. 18. Persuasion. Examples of Persuasion. How Is Persuasion Organized? Sample Thesis Statements for Persuasion. Transitions. Tips on Planning Persuasion. Part VI: WRITING ELEMENTS & SKILLS. 19. Parts of Speech. Nouns. Pronouns. Verbs. Prepositions. Adjectives. Adverbs. Conjunctions. Interjections. 20. Spelling. Common Rules for Spelling. Frequently Misspelled Words. Some Other Easy Ways to Improve Your Spelling. 21. Problem Words. List 1. List 2. 22. Capitalization. Sentence Beginnings. Proper Nouns. People. Places. Things. Quotes. 23. Word Choice. Clear Language. Writing Style. 24. Identifying Subjects and Verbs. Subjects. Verbs. 25. Subject-Verb Agreement. Subject-Verb Agreement Rules. Problem Subjects. Problem Verbs. Problem Sentence Structures. 26. Verb Tenses. Forming the Past Tense and Past Participle. Using the Past Participle. The Passive Voice. Using the Past Participle as an Adjective. Avoiding Shifts in Tense. 27. Sentence Types. Clauses. Phrases. 28. Sentence Fragments. Missing-Subject Fragments. Missing-Verb Fragments. Missing-Subject-and-Verb Fragments. Dependent-Clause Fragments. Finding Fragments. 29. Run-ons. Types of Run-ons. Ways to Correct Run-ons. 30. Sentence Combining. Coordination. Subordination Strategies. Using Coordination or Subordination. 31. Sentence Variety. Vary Sentence Beginnings. Vary Sentence Length. Vary the Placement of Important Information. Vary the Sentence Structure. 32. Commas. Dates & Addresses. Series. Compound Sentences. Introductory Elements. Interrupters. 33. Apostrophes. Contractions. Possession. 34. Pronoun Agreement. Antecedents. Avoiding Sexist Language. Agreement Errors. Problem Antecedents. Avoiding Shifts in Number. Avoiding Shifts in Person. Limiting Use of the Second Person. Related Agreement Errors. 35. Pronouns/Reference andCase. Pronoun Reference. Pronoun Case. 36. Semicolons and Colons. Semicolons. Colons. 37. Modifiers. Misplaced Modifiers. Limiting Modifiers. Squinting Modifiers. Split Infinitives. Dangling Modifiers. 38. Parallelism. Items in a Series. Pairs. Comparisons. Phrases and Clauses. Parallel Words. 39. Editing for English Errors. The Art of Editing. Basic Editing Practice. Advanced Editing. Part VII: READINGS. Grace Bennett, Why White Lies Hurt. Edwin Dobb, Not in Our Town. Daniel Foster, Friends and Healers. Jeff Galloway, Growing Through a Phase. Daniel Goleman, What's Your Emotional IQ? Bob Greene, Jordan Is Never Afraid of Failure. Martin Luther King, Jr., Pilgrimage to Nonviolence. Patrick Mazza, Invisible Hand. John Obedzinski, Why Happy Families Are Different. Ponchitta Pierce, Who Are Our Heroes? Rita Rooney, Helping Children Through Divorce. Mike Rose, excerpt from I Just Want to Be Average. Michael Ryan, Do Valedictorians Succeed Big in Life? Michael Ryan, Who Is Great? Brent Staples, A Brother's Murder. Jack E. White, Martin Luther King. Appendix: Rules and Tools. Capitalization. Subject-Verb Agreement. Fragments. Run-ons. Commas. Apostrophes. Pronoun Agreement. Pronoun Reference. Semicolons and Colons. Modifiers. Parallelism. Error List.