Paper Organization
The introductory paragraph
- Your introduction sets up your claim. You need to get your audience to care about the rest of the paper by helping them understand why your claim is worth writing about.
- Your introduction does not necessarily need to provide a roadmap of your entire paper - the reader should know from your introduction what you will be discussing.
- DON’T be general or try to make overly grand claims of relevance.
- Think of a funnel. By the end of your introduction, your reader should know exactly what claim you are making, and should see exactly how that claim answers a question that is interesting to them.
Body Paragraphs
- These paragraphs are where your evidence should live.
- Each paragraph should be organized around one central idea that acts as a support pillar for your main thesis claim.
- If your thesis claim is “What I’m arguing”…
- … Then your body paragraphs’ sub-claims are “Why you should believe me”…
- What belongs in a body paragraph is determined by what evidecnce supports that paragraph’s claim, which in turn supports the main argument.
The conclusion
- The conclusion should summarize your argument and restate your thesis claim.
- It’s a great place to broaden your scope a little bit to discuss possible implications of the argument you just made.
- Beware the simple summary: though your conclusion should summarize a bit, at this point in your writing career it should do more as well.
Explication
- You must introduce every piece of information, tying it to your argument.
- You must present your information accurately.
- You must tell your reader why that information was important.
- Explicitly tie your information to your central claim.
- It’s your job as the writer to make connections clear for your reader.
"The Quote Sandwich"
- First, introduce your quote. This sentence should give information about the quote’s source, and tie the quote to the argumentative point you’re making.
- Second, give the quote.
- Third, give a 1-2 sentence explanation of why the quote illustrates a key point, supports your argument, or proves your claim.
Formatting quotes
- Do not include block quotes (quotes longer than 3 lines)
- Punctuation from the quote itself goes inside quotation marks. Your punctuation goes outside the quotation marks.
- Include parenthetical citation at the end of the quote, after the quote’s final punctuation mark(s), before your punctuation.
Introduction to quote, “asdlkfjsladkfjlsdkj” (author page #). Explanation for 1-2 sentences
MLA Style: parenthetical in-text citation
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/
- The works cited appears at the end of every paper you ever write.
- It contains full bibliographic entries for every source that you use.
- Check it out: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
Elements of a full citation (MLA):
- Author
- Title of source
- Title of container
- Other contributors
- Version
- Number
- Publisher
- Publication date
- Location
Container in italics, subcontainer in quotations
E.g. Journal, “Articles”
Book, “Chapters”
Album, “Songs”
Artworks
Transitions: Purpose and Placement
- Transitions signal the connection between this paragraph and your central claim.
- Remind the reader of the main point of your paper
- Show how this paragraph and its evidence fit into your argument.
- Transitions signal the connections between your body paragraphs.
- Glue your paragraphs together.
How to choose words
- Be specific
- Keep it simple
- Make sure your writing makes sense if you read it aloud to yourself
- When in doubt, write out the whole idea. You can cut it down later.
- Beware of overusing your thesaurus!
Things to check before declaring a draft finished
- Is there a thesis claim? Is it strong?
- Does your paper’s organization serve to support your claim?
- Is your evidence presented well? Have you explained it?
- Are your citations correct?
- Does it flow: transitions between paragraphs? Sentences within paragraphs?
- Does it sound reasonable when read aloud?
- Is it free of spelling and grammar errors?