Structure and Style

Goal: to structure your ideas so you may communicate them clearly
Time: 20 minutes

It is important that you learn to think of prewriting, organizing, and drafting as three different steps. Practice completing them at separate sittings so that you can truly focus on each individual task. Prewriting involves gathering and producing ideas for your topic. On the other hand, Organizing asks you to structure your ideas so that you can communicate them clearly. Finally, Drafting asks you to produce an exploratory draft of your paper that includes a title, body paragraphs, and an introduction, conclusion, transitions, and thesis statement.

Organizing before you begin writing can often help you refine your ideas so that you are ready to write. It can also add focus to your writing by helping you understand which points fit best with other points. Organizing can help you determine whether or not you need to do more prewriting to create more material for the paper. While completing this activity, keep in mind that as you organize you may need to re-think the content of your work as your ideas are refined and articulated.

Please include the following two activities in the text of your WebBoard message.

• Make a list of 8-10 short, simple sentences that explain the main points you wish to make in your paper.
• Based on the main points you plan to make in the paper, write sentence that sums up the main point of your paper.