COLLEGE WRITING
 a.
Kinds of writing expected of college students:
- Short answers on tests
- Short essay writing for homework assignments
- Essays on tests
- Formal essay
- Research and report writing
b. Understanding the writing assignment:
- Research
- Compare and contrast
- Persuade
- Explain by cause and effect
- Trace
- Summarize
c. Basic writing form, from brief responses to whole reports:
- Opening thesis paragraph (going from general to specific)
- Three main points (using either direct quotations, paraphrases/summary,
statistics, and
research examples)
- Transition between points
- Closing thesis paragraph (going from specific back to general)
d. Review/practice of common grammar and writing problems:
- Word usage
- Spelling
- Grammatical forms
- Sentence structure
e. Discuss research:
- Uses
- Sources
- Examples of citation
- Plagiarism
f. Presentation of written work-format expected in college (see PC Skills)
Suggested Activities
- Review and discuss sample essays of different types and lengths.
- Review and discuss various types of written assignment tasks; ask
learners to explain how they are different and how they are alike.
- Have learners practice writing various types of written test responses.
- Have learners write several brief essays (using the Three Point Method
of Support, 200 words or less) of the various types; use peer evaluation
to judge whether the writer followed the instructions and used good
format.
- Require learners to submit all out-of-class writing assignments in
proper manuscript form using a PC.
Lesson Plans
Hands-on Paragraphs 
Persuasive Writing
Revision Checklist
Web Resources
The Writer's Complex
http://www.esc.edu/writer
This web site out of Empire State College has been designed to help students improve their grammar, write essays, as well as write research papers. It also contains links to dictionaries, thesauri, and various online encyclopedias and references.
The Basic Five Paragraph Essay
http://www.nwlincs.org/mtlincs/pilotproject/writing/fivepara.htm
This web site outlines the structure of a basic five-paragraph essay with several examples.
University of Ottawa's Hypergrammar
http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/
hypergrammar/grammar.html
This is an interactive web site that focuses on the details of writing. Included are links to parts of speech, building sentences, proper punctuation, and writing paragraphs.
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