Writing Essays, 2/e

Contents:

Preface to the Second Edition

Chapter 1: Getting Started
One-minute overview • Considering your reader • Establishing your purpose • Thinking about your topic • Composing your thesis statement • A case study • Tutorial

Chapter 2: Researching Your Topic
One-minute overview • Finding the right books • Checking periodicals • Searching the Internet • Consulting your librarian • Our case study continued • Tutorial

Chapter 3: How to Make a Plan
One-minute overview • Planning an informative essay • Planning a compare/contrast essay • Planning a persuasive essay • Our case study continued • Tutorial

Chapter 4: Analysing and Interpreting Information
One-minute overview • Defining the distinguishing features of the whole • Dividing the whole into its component parts and analysing the parts • Interpreting the relationship of the parts to the whole • Learning how to analyse and interpret • Tutorial

Chapter 5: Writing a Clear and Specific Opening
One-minute overview • Sample introductory paragraph 1 • Sample introductory paragraph 2 • Sample introductory paragraph 3 • Sample introductory paragraph 4 • Sample introductory paragraph 5 • Our case study continued • Tutorial

Chapter 6: Writing Complete Body Paragraphs
One-minute overview • Composing a topic sentence • Developing your topic sentence • Maintaining paragraph unity • Sample body paragraphs • Our case study continued • Tutorial

Chapter 7: Writing an Explicit Conclusion
One-minute overview • Sample concluding paragraph 1 • Sample concluding paragraph 2 • Sample concluding paragraph 3 • Sample concluding paragraph 4 • Sample concluding paragraph 5 • Our case study continued • Tutorial

Chapter 8: Using Cohesive Ties between Sentences and Paragraphs
One-minute overview • Using transitional words and phrases • Using repetition • Using substitution • Our case study continued • Tutorial

Chapter 9: Avoiding Errors in Sentence Grammar
One-minute overview • Pronoun case • Pronoun reference • Verb tense and mood • Subject-verb agreement • Tutorial

Chapter 10: Avoiding Errors in Sentence Structure
One-minute overview • Sentence fragments • The run-on sentence • Misplaced and dangling modifiers • Faulty parallelism • Wordiness ?Tutorial

Chapter 11: Writing with Style
One-minute overview • Using subordination • Effective parallelism • Using word order effectively • Tutorial

Chapter 12: Punctuating Your Sentences Correctly
One-minute overview • Punctuation at the end of a sentence • Punctuation within a sentence • Punctuation within a word • Tutorial

Chapter 13: Choosing the Best Words
One-minute overview • Establishing context • Determining the meaning • Choosing the right voice • An example • Our case study continued • Audrey's essay • Tutorial

Chapter 14: Acknowledging Your Sources Accurately and Completely
One-minute overview • Footnotes • The References List at the end of the essay • Our case study continued • Tutorial

Websites for Student Writers • Index
 

About the Author:

Derek Soles is Director of the Freshman Writing Program at Drexel University USA. He has published widely in English education, including the Studymate Literature. In 2001 he was recognised for an outstanding contribution to the teaching of English by the American National Council for the Teaching of English.