Monday, December 3, 2012

Assignment #8: Effective Composition Blog

Developing a Thesis and Outline

First, read pages 57-70 (Scratch Outline, Drafting a Hypothesis, Descriptive Outline, Effective Thesis, Formal Outline)

Secondly, summarize in one to two paragraphs the main points under each category.  

Next, in an additional paragraph, do the exercise on page 67.  Explain your reasons for rejecting those that are unacceptable.

Finally, for full credit, respond to at least one other student’s blog answer.

This blog is due Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 9 AM.

24 comments:

  1. A. Scratch Outline
    To make a scratch outline you need to study the information that you learned and created during the planning process. This outline will also help you figure out what order to write the body of your paper in. Take all of the information that you learned and assemble them into groups, using key words, phrases, and anything that can connect points together. Whatever information that you can’t put together “scratch” it out.

    B. Drafting a Hypothesis
    A hypothesis states the purpose for the rest of your writing. If you make a good hypothesis it will be restricted, unified, and precise. To check your hypothesis ask yourself specific questions, such as, “Why are you writing this paper.” All of these things will help you write an effective hypothesis.

    C. Descriptive Outline
    The descriptive outline helps you see what you have already done during the drafting process. The objective of this process is to make a new outline that describes your drafting. To do this take a blank sheet of paper, and number each paragraph and explain what that paragraph says and does. This will help you assess what you still need to do in order to make connections and write a good final paper.

    D. Effective Thesis
    A thesis is a main idea you will develop in your writing. To do this you need to make sure you use effective words.

    E. Formal Outline
    The formal outline will help you discover if you need more information and it helps you organize what you have already done. The format is shown in an example below.
    EX.
    TITLE
    Thesis

    I. …………….
    A. …..
    1.….


    II. ……………
    A. ….
    1.…





    Exercise On Page 67.

    1. This thesis I believe is not precise enough, and gives to much room to expand.
    2. This thesis is also not precise enough. I don’t see a topic of a specific subject that the paper will be about.
    3. This thesis is okay, but they could use a specific social historians name to make it ten times better.
    4. This is a good thesis, it gives examples and has a clear, specific topic.
    5. The thesis is okay, but they could use more specific stats to show a cause and effect.

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    Replies
    1. I found much of the same important information that you have found within the book. A restricted, unified, precise thesis is important.

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    2. We found similar things as we read through drafting. I think the scratch outline is something I will defiantly use more because it seems like it helps a lot. Also with the activity, we noticed some of the same things. Hopefully this can help us be better writers!

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  2. A scratch outline shows how you want to arrange the introduction and body of your draft. You can plan this outline by making lists then rearranging segments of your writing with marks, numbers or circling. At this point you can delete information that does not follow along with your piece. While writing your hypothesis you should ask yourself these four questions; What do I want to accomplish in this writing project? What is my attitude through the material I have gathered? What hypothesis could I prove by writing about it? What hypothesis seems most restricted, unified and precise? Then you can go onto drafting. The first draft is called the discovery draft, this is where you can discover new facts about your work and audience. The descriptive outline is the next step. This shows you what you have done in the discovery draft and what you can add or discard from the following draft. While making the descriptive outline you write down what each paragraph says and does in a brief statement, this helps make an effective piece of writing.
    A well written piece of writing always has a thesis, this is how you summarize your ideas about your subject in one sentence. Every great thesis should be restricted, unified and precise. This will make it easy to tell the readers exactly what the writing is about in a clear straight forward format. Avoid using vague words in your thesis statement. Finally the formal outline helps organize and add information for a more precise draft. Breaking the topic into major units and further diving those into smaller units help visualize the main concepts. The formal outline is not always needed, but sometimes it is very helpful.

    p.67 I would consider the first statement acceptable because it has unity, precision and restriction. In my opinion the second sentence lacks precision, therefore it is unacceptable. It could mean multiple things and its so open for interpretation, the audience will never know what the paper is about without reading it. Statement number three is unacceptable because it is restricted. In a way the information could be too broad and it could lead to different topics. Thesis four would be acceptable because again it includes all three major points. The last statement lacks unity because it talks about two different areas. It mentions Jane Fonda’s workout tape success. Then it includes information about other self-help videos being major consumer items.

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    Replies
    1. I agree with you on statement number three. It's unacceptable because you could easily have different topics.

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  3. We found the same key points and both put them into our blog posts. I also see that we got the same things out of the exercise on page 67.

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  4. A scratch outline is to help you start your draft which will later on lead you to your final copy. It helps your arrange your introduction, body, and conclusion. You can use bullet points, or numbers, or circles to help get you started. A hypothesis helps you to know what you are going to write about. It should state your purpose for writing and get your point across. It would help to write out questions like, what do I want? What is my attitude towards the material? What hypothesis could I prove by writing about it? Which hypothesis seems the most restricted, unified, and precise? The next step is the discovery draft. This is called a discovery draft because this is where you discover more about your subject. As you write, you begin to see more about the audience and purpose of your essay. Next is the descriptive outline. It puts in outline form, everything you have gotten done. It shows what you have done for your discovery draft and can lead you to the next part of essay writing. Composing an effective thesis is next. This is where your ideas are summarized and you can start to make your point of view. You must make it restricted, unified, and precise. These are kind of self explanatory. If it is restricted, it should stop at a certain point. If it is unified, it should only express one idea. And to be precise, it can only have one interpretation.


    P67 -> I would say the firs thesis statement is a good one because it states everything the essay is going to be about. You already have an idea about what you are going to read about. The second statement is not a good one. It's very plain and you have no idea what the essay is going to be about. It can go either way and no one will really be drawn to it. I think the third one is okay. You have an idea of what it is going to be about. At the same time, it makes you want to keep reading it because you want to know their opinions. The fourth one is very descriptive. It makes me want to keep reading because I myself believe that gorillas are chest-beating, scary animals. It draws my attention and makes me want to keep reading to see the cute side of them. The fifth one is also a good one. I think this because if someone is looking to lose weight, and read this, they would read the entire essay. It is very descriptive and puts in all the major points.

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  5. Scratch Outline: The scratch outline is important but at the same time it isn't. The main purpose of this is just to get you started on your essay/assignment.

    Drafting A Hypothesis: A hypothesis tells a purpose of your story. This is usually in the first paragraph stating the subject.

    Descriptive Outline: The description outline helps you by showing what you have and fixing what you need to fix on. For example, saying "fascinated" instead of "interested."

    Effective Thesis: A effective thesis is your main idea of the story. I think this is the most important one out of these five topics.

    Formal Outline: The formal outline is like an additional option. It can give you extra help, finding more information, and also helping you organize a final essay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with what you got out of the scratch outline. That it can be important. We got a lot of the same understanding when reading about drafting.

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  6. Scratch Outline: It is important because it helps you start out your essay it also is the information that you learned.
    Drafting a hypothesis: Most likely it is stated in the first paragraph telling the purpose of the story.
    Descriptive Outline:Helps you pretty much to braoding your grammar and other things ,helps you to know what to put and not.
    Formal Outline:Helps you find additional information organize papers ,essays etc.
    Effective thesis:Is the main idea of the story,hypothesis falls behind this.

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  7. 1.scratch outline
    first you need to studdy all the info you read.then you take all the informantion together that you read and put it all in to one or together.
    2.drafting a hypothesis
    this test evrything that you are goin to write about.to check your hypothesis you read over it and then think to yourself quistions about your paper.
    3.destrictive outline
    this helps you see evrythimg that was wrong or wat u have done.to do this you have to do it on a seperate sheet of paper and make corections to your own paper to see wats wronfg with it.
    4.efective thesis
    the efective thesis is about mostly is about the main idea.
    5.formal outline this helps u organize more and to see wats wrong with it or if you need to add more to it.

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  8. Scratch Outline- Helping to get started and arrange how you think the major portion of your draft will look. Assembling notes and making lists or using finding a pattern to help you along with your draft.

    Drafting a Hypothesis- Make your hypothesis restricted, unified, precise, and have a tentative purpose. It can answer 4 key questions: 1. What do you want to accomplish? 2. What is your attitude to the material? 3. What hypotheses could I prove by writing about it? 4. Which hypothesis seems most restricted, unified, and precise?

    Effective Thesis- The thesis asserts the main idea that you will develop in your writing. Your thesis is good if it is restricted, unified, and precise. To be restricted, a thesis must limit the scope of an essay to what can be discussed in detail. To be unified, it must express only one idea but also give good detail. Finally, to be precise, it can only have one meaning or interpretation.

    Formal Outline- A formal outline breaks your topic into major parts marked by Roman numerals, and subdivides them into minor units marked by capital letters. It may not always be necessary to make a formal outline but can be a powerful tool. It helps you break down your information into smaller pieces so that you can see and understand them better.

    Page 67- 1. I do not think it is a good thesis because it is not precise enough. It is to vague.
    2. This thesis isn't very precise or unified because there really is no subject.
    3. Good thesis but a little more detail wouldn't hurt it.
    4. Good Thesis
    5. Good Thesis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agreed with your responses to the exercise on page 67 for the most part. You could of explain why you thought they were good or not then just saying they were good. I always think it is better to explain your self no matter the answer.

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  9. 1. Scratch Outline - To make a scratch outline is to make collect and organize all of the information you have learn and found thus far. This will later help you with the lay out of your paper and help keep your paper organized.

    2. Drafting a Hypothesis - Your hypothesis will say what you are stating or trying to prove for the rest of your paper. You should state it at the beginning and follow up with whether or not your hypothesis was right or not.

    3. Descriptive Outline - Your descriptive outline is setting up your final draft and figuring how everything is going to lay out and go in which order.

    4. Effective Thesis - Your effective thesis is where you will be stating what your paper will be on and telling the reader of what is ahead.

    5. Formal Outline - Your formal outline is where you will go and see what you may need to change or do to improve your final product.

    Exercises PG 67.

    1. I think that this thesis would not be an acceptable one. The reason is, it's got no detail and could mean anything. It says that a high fiber content is important to your diet, but why? It never gives any clues to why or that you will be reading more later one why is it important.

    2. This thesis to myself does not seem acceptable. It says flat out that its easy to see the beginning and hard to see the end. Beginning and end of what? No idea even to where this paper will be going. This could be on someone's life or maybe even trying to figure out the beginning and end of a sausage for all we know. Needs way more detail and a purpose to where it is heading.

    3. This thesis sound okay to me. Not great only because when it says about the historians, they could of said a name or two; or maybe even a year from when this was said to explain the old language at the end of the thesis.

    4. This thesis is thus far the best. It's uses action and attention getting words like ferocious and monsters to describe a persons point of view. I think if someone where to read this as the thesis they would want to continue reading and find out more, which is always the goal as a writer.

    5. I think this thesis was well done and right to the point just as number fours thesis. It explain about Janes work out videos and also about how well on the market they are doing today. It shows where the rest of the paper is going to lead and uses good actions words like enormous while doing so.

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    Replies
    1. I feel like you fully understood the concept of each drafting process, I would just try to elaborate a little more next time.

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    2. I like how you put each drafting process separately and put it all in an orderly way. You understood each section very well, just as I did.

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  10. The scratch outline is an important. The main purpose of this is to help get you started on your essay/assignment. The hypothesis tells the purpose of your story. This is usually in the first paragraph stating the subject. The description outline helps by showing you what you have and help fixing with what you need to fix. For example, saying "fascinated" instead of "interested." An effective thesis is your main idea of the story. This is the most important one out of these five topics. It is also found in the first paragraph. The formal outline is like an additional option. It can give you help with finding more information and help you organize a final essay.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. every guideline from Scratch out, Hypothesis, discritive outline, effective thesis you cover it by explaining what the were in what was there purpose

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  11. Scratch Outline: the scratch outline is when you brainstorm your ideas on what you wanna write about in your paper or essay.

    Drafting a Hypothesis: your hypothesis basically is like the main idea of what your paper is going to be about.

    Descriptive outline: your descriptive outline is like a prewritten of your paper but you only subsituting words increaseing the vocab of the papaer.
    Effective Thesis: the effective thesis is the important one that you should really take time and think about before written the paper.
    Formal Outline: basically give your your paper the extra help it needs.

    ReplyDelete
  12. When writing a scratch outline, you need to study and use the information you gathered and created during the planning stage. This outline does not have to have a specific pattern, but while looking back at notes taken during the planning stage you may begin to realize your writing has already shown a pattern. You can use circles and underlining to group and separate pieces of information. Next you have to draft a hypothesis. A hypothesis states your purpose for writing and you want it to be restricted, unified, and precise. Throughout the writing process, your hypothesis may cahnge several times. The next stage is the first draft, or the discovery draft. During this draft, you compile all the information you've gathered and outlined, but sometimes your plans do not work out the way you imagined. The purpose of this draft is to discover something new about your subject, audience, and purpose. Once you're finished with the discovery draft, you should start a detailed outline. While doing this outline, you should ignor your scratch outline, so you can use your new draft to help you plan out your essay in detail. After this decriptive outline, you should prepare a formal outline where you more precisely organize your information before starting another draft. Lastly, you need a thesis. A thesis asserts the main topic you are writting about, and summarizes your ideas about the subject. Like the hypothesis, your thesis should be restricted, unified, abd precise. When writing a thesis, you should avoid using vague words and get right to the point. The thesis is the most important part to your essay.

    Exercise page 67:
    I would reject number one, because it is too vague and lacks precision. Instead, I would add something about why foods with high fiber are important to your diet.
    Number two is also very vague, with no restriction and no point of veiw.
    I believe the last three answers (3-5) are acceptable thesises.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is important to gather the information for your planning

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  13. A scratch outline is when you rearrange many different things that you have put in what you have written already. You use lots of marks and circles, bullet points etc. It's basically what you are planning before you write your final paper. Drafting a hypothesis is when you are reading through your scratch outline and writing out answers to your questions. A hypothesis is when you are letting your reader know the purpose of your writing. A discovery draft is about writing and discovering something new about the subject, audience, and purpose of your essay. While you discover, it's even better to find out negative things about the subject because it's helping you to learn more about what you want to say and how you want to say it. Your discovery draft gives you something to work with; something that you can rearrange or refine. A descriptive outline helps you assess what you have accomplished during drafting. You want to make a new outline that describes your discovery draft. Writing down on a piece of blank paper what a paragraph does and what a paragraph says in your own words. In order to make a good effective thesis it should be restricted, unified, and precise. For your thesis to be unified is if it expresses only one idea. For it to be restricted a thesis must limit the scope of the essay to what can be discussed in detail in the space available. Lastly, a thesis is precise when it can have only one interpretation. For an effective thesis also it makes a good statement about your writing. A formal outline is a writing tool that helps you look for more information and enable you to organize a more precise design before you begin another draft. You're breaking your topic down into major units with roman numerals and capital letters. There are two subdivisions; you cannot divide something into only one part; keeps you in control of your outline.



    Exercise page 67:
    The first thesis only is talking about foods with high fiber and its not precise enough. It doesn't have a lot to it.
    The second thesis is also not precise enough because it's too plain and there's nothing to it.
    The third thesis is alright, not a lot to it. We want to know what they mean when they say "its easy to see the beginning of things and harder to see the end".
    The fourth thesis is very well written because they are giving us every detail and what they are going to be writing.
    The fifth thesis is also a good one. We know exactly what that person is leading into writing.

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  14. To begin your scretch outline you have to study the information and plan. This helps you get started on the body it is important to set a hypotheses or several to see how you might start the introduction. The planning you do may create a pattern that is useful when you do your paragraph. They also give you a example of a outline. A hypothesis states what you think might happen. They also talk about a thesis which is a sentence that says what you’re going to be talking about.

    1. They have a lot of fat so it makes you gain weight.
    2. Because when it starts it starts easy, simple, and fast and when it ends it hard to see why it ended.
    3. Because it’s something that is done or would be like done.
    4. I think that any animal is nice they reason why they might seem dangerous is because they protect themselves so they react violent.

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  15. This blog assignment is now complete and closed. No late comment assignments will be accepted for this specific blog. See Mr. Dawursk for further information.

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