The following outline was developed to guide my mentee to improve the structure of his essays while transitioning more effectively between paragraphs and maintaining paragraph unity. Though the outline does not by any means reflect all of the components of an essay, it addresses the student's need to develop effective transitional topic sentences and a conclusion. This sheet could be returned to me prior to the composition of an essay so that the student can receive constructive feedback on transitional statements in order to improve his writing process.
Outline
Topic:
Thesis statement (in the form of a statement, rather
than a question):
Subject of paragraph two:
Transitional topic sentence:
Subject of paragraph two:
Transitional topic sentence:
Subject of paragraph three:
Transitional topic sentence:
Subject of paragraph four:
Transitional topic sentence:
Subject of paragraph five:
Transitional topic sentence:
Concluding statement:
Concluding paragraph (rather than merely
restating the thesis or summarizing the essay, the conclusion
elaborates on your argument, (a) connecting it to a broader question
or larger subject that might itself be worthy of development into
another essay, (b) considering the implications of the thesis and the
subjects that the essay has addressed (What does the subject of this
essay mean to a reader?), or (c) addressing a point that the
essay may have left unresolved by suggesting that it might be of
value to explore said point in greater detail in order to conduct a
complete analysis of the topic.
Suggestions
- Answer
the question "So What?"
Show your readers why this paper was important. Show them that your paper was meaningful and useful.
- Synthesize,
don't summarize
- Don't
simply repeat things that were in your paper. They have read it.
Show them how the points you made and the support and examples you
used were not random, but fit together.
- Don't
simply repeat things that were in your paper. They have read it.
Show them how the points you made and the support and examples you
used were not random, but fit together.
- Redirect
your readers
- Give
your reader something to think about, perhaps a way to use your
paper in the "real" world. If your introduction went from
general to specific, make your conclusion go from specific to
general. Think globally.
- Give
your reader something to think about, perhaps a way to use your
paper in the "real" world. If your introduction went from
general to specific, make your conclusion go from specific to
general. Think globally.
- Create
a new meaning
- You don't have to give new information to create a new meaning. By demonstrating how your ideas work together, you can create a new picture. Often the sum of the paper is worth more than its parts.
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