include an introductory paragraph that draws the reader in and ends with a thesis statement,

Learning Goal: I’m working on a english writing question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Why create an outline? An outline pulls out all your thoughts and highlights them in a way that you can see if you’ve signaled back to your thesis statement or if you’ve gone off track. In essence, it helps you remain focused and not drift into unrelated topics.

Click HERE for a guide from the San José State University Writing Center.

Click HERE for a worksheet that you can print; it may help you organize your thoughts.

YOUR TASK: You’ve written your thesis statement and planned out your five primary points of support. You’ve decided how you will use the sources to support your ideas. Now, it’s time to flesh out your topic sentences with supporting evidence and organize your ideas so that they flow logically for your audience. Draft out your essay by developing a formal outline that uses numbers, letters, and indentions to distinguish between your primary and secondary points.

Expectations for this assignment require you to

• include an introductory paragraph that draws the reader in and ends with a thesis statement,
• provide five primary topic sentences accompanied by secondary support (details that show, explain, or prove the controlling idea in the thesis),
• organize the supporting evidence clearly and logically (by time, space, order of importance, for example),
• include a concluding paragraph that brings the essay to a close.

Click HERE for the Scoring Guide. Use it to guide the quality of your work.

This assignment is worth 30 points.

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