A single sentence, usually located in the introduction, which presents a main idea.
What is a thesis statement?
100
Announces what a paragraph will be about.
What is a topic sentence?
100
Two or more independent clauses that are joined without an appropriate punctuation or conjunction.
What is a run-on sentence?
100
Lists all the sources you've used in your essay, so that readers can easily find what you've cited.
What is a reference page?
100
An understanding that achievement takes effort, intelligence is not inherent, and skills must be developed.
What is a growth-mindset?
200
Lays out the main ideas and their support, showing the relative importance of all the essay's elements.
What is an outline?
200
Allows the writer to have the final say on the issues they have raised in their paper, demonstrate the importance of their ideas, and leave the reader with a lasting impression.
What is a conclusion?
200
A grammatical construction, where the subject and action have been mistakenly flipped.
What is passive voice?
200
Immediately appears after a quote or paraphrase and indicates the source used.
What is an in-text citation?
200
An evaluation by others working in the same field.
What is peer review?
300
Gets down on paper preliminary thoughts about a topic.
What is a draft?
300
A particular attitude, perspective, or way of considering a matter.
What is point of view?
300
Connects words, phrases, and clauses (i.e. and, but, yet, nor).
What is a coordinating conjunction?
300
Restates ideas or information in your own words.
What is a paraphrase?
300
Must be determined prior to writing and influences the way in which the writer presents the information.
What is audience?
400
Arranges events in the order they occurred in time, first to last.
What is chronological order?
400
Devices that help carry a thought from one sentence to another, from one idea to another, or from one paragraph to another.
What are transitional words and phrases?
400
A punctuation mark which indicates a pause between two independent clauses; it is more pronounced than a comma.
What is a semicolon?
400
The act of inappropriately claiming another person's work as one's own.
What is plagiarism?
400
An essay with weak purpose often lacks this.
What is focus?
500
Combines outlining, diagramming, storyboarding, clustering, and mindmapping.
What is prewriting?
500
A distinct personality, style, or point of view of a piece of writing.
What is voice?
500
Punctuation marks used to mark the beginning or end of a quoted passage.
What are quotation marks?
500
Information from a database, book, or educational institution, which has been peer-reviewed and fact-checked for accuracy.
What is a credible source?
500
A phenomena in which the brain continually reorganizes itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.