Thesis
What are two types of writing that do not require thesis statements?
(narratives, letters, diaries, texts, etc.)
What should every element in a piece of writing be related to for the writing to be unified?
(thesis)
What is the best type of organization when writing a narrative?
(chronological)
What “fishing” term refers to a good beginning because it captures the reader’s attention?
(hook)
Each paragraph is like a very small, compact what?
(essay)
What are the words I suggest writing and then deleting as an effective strategy for developing a thesis statement?
(What I want to say is that...)
What is discussion or information that is not logically related to the thesis and therefore disrupts unity?
(digressions)
What is the best type of organization when describing a person, place, or thing?
(spatial)
What should a good beginning introduce, typically at its end?
(thesis)
Within an essay, what is the most important unit of thought?
(paragraph)
What is established by a series of introductory sentences that prepare the readers for a thesis statement?
(context/background)
As you draft, what is a practical two-step way to check that your essay is unified?
(underline thesis and ask how each paragraph relates to it)
Once you have a draft, what is a simple recursive way involving numbers to check its organization?
(outline)
What should a good beginning suggest or reveal about the essay to follow (besides topic)?
(structure)
A well-written paragraph is unified, coherent, and adequately developed; it is unified in that every sentence and every idea relates to the main idea stated in what?
(topic sentence)
What is the term for a claim made about a debatable issue that can be supported with evidence? A thesis is an example of a claim like this.
(assertion)
What is the subject of Verlyn Klinkenborg’s unified essay about night?
(light pollution)
What type of order can take many forms, including general-to-specific and most-familiar-to-least-familiar?
What type of beginning is the most useful in getting readers to contemplate a topic they might otherwise reject as unfamiliar or uninteresting?
(analogy or comparison)
Of what type of writing are short paragraphs typical because it has narrow columns that make paragraphs of average length appear very long?
(journalism or newspaper)
How many sentences usually make up a thesis statement?
(1-2)
What is the name of Thomas L. Friedman’s favorite journalism teacher?
(Hattie Steinberg)
Besides the writer’s subject and purpose, what should the pattern of organization in an essay be suited to?
(audience)
An effective ending might include figurative language, an overview of the argument, a prediction, a restatement of the thesis, a “full circle” reference to the beginning, a quotation, or what else?
(recommendation)
Paragraphs typically range from fifty to how many words?
(250)