Point and Support

•An Important Difference between Writing and

Talking
• In everyday conversation, you make all kinds of points or assertions. You
say, for example, “My boss is a hard person to work for,” “It's not safe to walk
in our neighborhood after dark,” or “Poor study habits keep getting me into
trouble.”
The people you are talking with do not always challenge you to give reasons for your
statements.
They may know why you feel as you do, or they may already agree with you But the
people who read what you write may not know you, agree with you, or feel in any way
obliged to you. If you want to communicate effectively with readers, you must provide
solid evidence for any point you make. An important difference, then, between writing
and talking is this: In writing, any idea that you advance must be supported with specific
reasons or details. Think of your readers as reasonable people. They will not take your
views on faith, but they are willing to accept what you say as long as you support it.
Therefore, remember to support with specific evidence any point that you make.
Point and Support in an Essay

---- a paper of about five hundred words that typically consists of an introductory
paragraph, two to four supporting paragraphs and a concluding paragraph.

The central idea, or point, developed in any essay is called a thesis statement
(rather than, as in a paragraph, a 8 topic sentence).
The thesis appears in the introductory paragraph, and the specific support for the
thesis appears in the paragraphs that follow. The supporting paragraphs allow for a
fuller treatment of the evidence that backs up the central point than would be
possible in a single paragraph paper.
•Introductory Paragraph

The introductory paragraph of an essay should start with several sentences that
attract the reader's interest. It should then advance the central idea, or thesis,
that will be developed in the essay. The thesis often includes a plan of
development—a preview of the major points that will support the thesis. These
supporting points should be listed in the order in which they will appear in the
essay. In some cases, the plan of development is presented in a sentence
separate from the thesis; in other cases, it is omitted.

• The introductory paragraph serves as the “movie trailer”

for the actual “film.”
Body: Supporting Paragraphs
•Most essays have three supporting points, developed at length
over three separate paragraphs.

•Each of the supporting paragraphs should begin with a topic

sentence that states the point to be detailed in that paragraph. Just
as a thesis provides a focus for an entire essay, a topic sentence
provides a focus for a supporting paragraph.

•Caution: students to avoid announcing their topic.

The concluding paragraph serves
• as the “ending” to a “movie.” Unlike a movie, though, writers should
avoid cliff-hanger endings.

•The concluding paragraph often summarizes the essay by briefly

restating the thesis and, at times, the main supporting points. In addition,
the writer often presents a concluding thought about the subject of the
paper.
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 The Writing Process
• the sequence of steps in writing an effective essay

• prewriting
• revising
• editing

writing is a process that involves the following steps:

1. Discovering a thesis—often through prewriting.
2. Developing solid support for the thesis—often through more
prewriting.
3. Organizing the thesis and supporting material and writing it out
in a first draft.
4. Revising and then editing carefully to ensure an effective, error-
free essay.
five prewriting techniques that will help you think about and develop a topic and get words on
paper:

(1) freewriting, Free writing means jotting down in rough sentences or phrases everything that
comes to mind about a possible topic
(2) questioning, In questioning, you generate ideas and details by asking questions about your
subject. Such questions include why, when, where, who, and how.
(3) making a list, In making a list, also known as brainstorming, you collect ideas and details that
relate to your subject.
(4) clustering, Clustering, also known as diagramming or mapping, is another strategy that can be
used to generate material for an essay. and
(5) preparing a scratch outline. A scratch outline is an excellent sequel to the first four prewriting
techniques. A scratch outline often follows freewriting, questioning, list-making, or diagramming; or
it may gradually emerge in the midst of these strategies.
These techniques help you think about and create material, and they are a central part of the
writing process
•Writing a First Draft

When you write a first draft, be prepared to put in

additional thoughts and details that did not emerge
during prewriting.

Also, don't worry yet about grammar, punctuation, or

spelling. You don't want to take time correcting words
or sentences that you may decide to remove later.
•Revising is as much a stage in the writing process as prewriting,
outlining, and doing the first draft. Revising means rewriting an essay,
building on what has already been done, to make it stronger. One writer
has said about revision, “It's like cleaning house—getting rid of all the
junk and putting things in the right order.”

There are three stages to the revising

process:
• revising content
• revising sentences
• editing
•Editing After you have revised your essay for content and style, you
are ready to edit—check for and correct—errors in grammar,
punctuation, and spelling. Students often find it hard to edit their
writing carefully.

•Outlining
It develops your ability to think clearly and logically. Outlining
provides a quick check on whether your essay will be unified. It
also suggests right at the start whether your essay will be
adequately supported. And it shows you how to plan an essay that
is well organized.
 Step 1: Begin with a Point, or Thesis
Your first step in writing is to discover what point you want to
make and to write that point out as a single sentence.

•Understanding Thesis Statements

A good thesis statement does two things.
First, it tells readers an essay's topic. Second, it presents the writer's attitude,
opinion, idea, or point about that topic. For example, look at the following
thesis statement: Owning a pet has several important benefits.
In this thesis statement, the topic is owning a pet; the writer's main point is that
owning a pet has several important benefits.
 EXAMPLES

Our company president should be fired for three

main reasons.

Our cafeteria would be greatly improved if several changes were made.

The Internet has led to new kinds of frustration in everyday life.

General subject: MARRIAGE, FAMILY

Limited subject: HONEYMOON,OLDER SISTER
Thesis: HONEYMOON IS PROBABLY THE WORST WAY TO BEGI N
A MARRIAGE , MY OLDER SISTERB HELPED ME OVERCOME MY
SHYNESS
LIST 1 LIST 2
• TEACHERS EDUCATION • BICYCLES
• MATH TEACHER • DANGERS OF BIKE RIDING
• MY HIGHSCHOOL MATH • RECREATION
TEACHER WAS INCOMPETENT • RECREATIONAL VEHICLES
• HIGH SCHOOL MATH TEACHER • BIKE RIDING IN THE CITY IS
DANGEROUS
thesis statement should have only one idea.
One mistake is to simply announce the subject rather than state a true thesis.
A second mistake is to write a thesis that is too broad, and
a third is to write a thesis that is too narrow.
A fourth error is to write a thesis containing more than one idea.

Step 2: Support the Thesis with Specific Evidence The first essential step in writing a
successful essay is to formulate a clearly stated thesis.

The second basic step is to support the thesis with specific reasons or details. Write down a
brief version of your thesis idea, and then work out and jot down the three points that will
support the thesis.
The Importance of Specific Details Just as a thesis must be developed with
three supporting points, each supporting point must be developed with specific
details.
Specific details are valuable in two key ways. First, details excite the reader's
interest. They make writing a pleasure to read, for we all enjoy learning
particulars about people, places, and things. Second, details serve to explain a
writer's points

•Adequate details
•You must provide enough specific details to fully support the point in a body paragraph of an
essay. You could not, for example, include a paragraph about a friend's unreliability and
provide only a one- or two-sentence example. You would have to extend the example or add
several other examples showing your friend as an unreliable person. Without such additional
support, your paragraph would be underdeveloped
•. Students may try to disguise unsupported paragraphs
through repetition and generalities. Do not fall into this
“wordiness trap.” Be prepared to do the plain hard
work needed to ensure that each paragraph has solid
support
•“wordiness trap.”
Group 1
T a. Reading
TH b. Parents can take steps to encourage their children to enjoy reading.
S c. The adults’ own behavior can influence children to become readers.
S d. Parents can make sure the physical environment of the home encourages
reading.

Group 2
S a. TV has forced politicians to focus more on appearance than substance.
TH b. Television has had a massive impact on politics in the United States.
S c. The expense of producing and airing ads has made politicians worry more
about fund-raising than serving their public.
T d. Television
Writing an Argument Essay:
Write an essay in which you argue for or against any one of the three comments below :
Support and defend your argument by drawing on your
reasoning ability and general experience.

Option 1: In many ways, television has proved to be one of the worst inventions of modern times. All too often,
television is harmful because of the shows it broadcasts and the way it is used in the home.

Option 2 :Many of society's worst problems with drugs

result from the fact that they are illegal. Like alcohol and tobacco, drugs should be legal in this country.
Prewriting
a. Take a few minutes to think about the three options. Which one in particular are you for or against,
and why?
b. On a sheet of paper, make a brief outline of support for your position on one of the options.
(Remember, you may choose to argue against one of the two comments, as well as for it.) Preparing
the outline will give you a chance to think further about your position. And the outline will show
whether you have enough support for your position. (If you find that you don't, choose another
position and prepare another outline.)
c. Next, decide how you will develop each of your three supporting points. Make up brief outlines of the
three supporting paragraphs. In addition to preparing brief outlines, you may want to use other
prewriting techniques. You may want to freewrite or ask questions or make up lists.
d. Decide in which order you want to present your paragraphs. Emphatic order (in which you end with
your most important reason) is often the most effective way to organize an argument. Your reader is
most likely to remember your final reason.
e. As you write, think of your audience as a jury that will ultimately believe or disbelieve your argument. Have you
presented a convincing case? Do you need more details? If you were on the jury, would you be favorably
impressed with this argument?
f. Proceed to write the first draft of your essay.

Revising
After you have completed the first draft of the essay, set it aside for a while (if possible). When you review it, ask a
friend or classmate for feedback. You should both consider the following questions:

FOUR BASES Checklist for Argument

About Unity
Does each paragraph in my essay have a clear topic sentence? Are there portions of the essay that do not support my
thesis and therefore should be eliminated or rewritten?
About Support
Have I provided persuasive details to support my argument?
Does my final supporting paragraph include a strong argument for my position?
About Coherence
Have I acknowledged the opposing point of view, showing that I am a reasonable person
willing to consider other arguments?
Have I used transition words to help readers follow my train of thought? Have I provided a
concluding paragraph to summarize my argument or add a final persuasive touch?
About Sentence Skills Is my language tactful and courteous in order to avoid insulting
anyone who doesn't agree with me? Have I used specific rather than general words? Have I
avoided wordiness and used concise wording? Are my sentences varied? Have I checked my
writing for spelling and other sentence skills, as listed on the inside back cover of the book?
As you revise your essay through added drafts, continue to refer to this list until you and your
reader can answer yes to each question.
 Essay
Argumentative Essay
 What is Essay?
• An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own
argument. OR
• An essay is a piece of writing that is written to convince someone of
something or to simply inform the reader about a particular topic.
 Types of Essay
There are Five main types of Essay
1. Argumentative Essay
2. Narrative Essay
3. Descriptive Essay
4. Expository Essay
5. Persuasive Essay
 What is an Argumentative Essay?

• Like persuasive essays and other types of essays, the point of argumentative
essays is to convince the reader of a particular point of view. What makes an
essay argumentative is the method of convincing: An argumentative essay uses
fact-based evidence and unquestionable logic to prove that its thesis is true.
• Persuasive essays do this, too, but tend to be more emotional and less formal.
Argumentative essays focus more on concrete empirical data, whereas
persuasive essays appeal more to the readers emotions .
• Likewise, it's easy to confuse argumentative essays with expository essays,
which rely heavily on fact- based evidence and copious research. The main
difference is bias: Argumentative essays presume one point of view is correct,
whereas expository essays usually present all sides of the argument and leave it
to the reader to make up their own mind.
 Basic Argumentative Essay structure

• Because your entire argumentative essay depends on how well you

present your case, your essay structure is crucial. To make matters
worse, the structure of argumentative essays is a little more involved
than those of other essay types because you also have to address
other points of view. This alone leads to even more considerations,
like whose argument to address first, and at what point to introduce
key evidence.
Let’s start with the most basic argumentative essay structure: the
simple five-paragraph format that suits most short essays.

• Your first paragraph is your introduction, which clearly presents your

thesis, sets up the rest of the essay, and maybe even adds a little
intrigue.
• Your second, third, and fourth paragraphs are your body, where you
present your arguments and evidence, as well as refute opposing
arguments. Each paragraph should focus on either showcasing one
piece of supporting evidence or disproving one contradictory opinion.
• Your fifth and final paragraph is your conclusion, where you revisit your
thesis in the context of all preceding evidence and succinctly wrap up
everything.
How to write an Argumentative Essay