You Can Write: A Step-By-Step Guide for Writing a Strong Essay

Does learning to write essays seem like a daunting task? Does your learner want to prepare for college-level essays? Or maybe your student would just like more writing practice? This 12-week class will give insider tips on the basics of essay writing. We will learn step-by-step instructions for building a great essay. We begin with writing! The first class will start right in to get creative ideas flowing and thoughts put down on paper. We next focus on excellent sentences which then build strong paragraphs. A great paragraph needs thoughtful support and must be coherent. The student will then be ready to support the full essay! The class will also give instruction on outlining, formatting, revising, drafting, and using outside sources. By the end of class, the student will have a foundation in English writing and will be prepared for a college-level English course. Some of the class will be instructional with activities incorporated into the lesson to apply concepts discussed. There will be one or two outside assignments per week. These assignments will include practice activities or formal written work. A rubric will be provided for formal work to give students guidance. An overall grade will be given for students at the end of the course for completed work. Below is a timeline for what the class covers:

Lesson One: The Process of Writing (Prewriting, Drafting, Revising)
Lesson Two and Three: Topic Sentences, Support, Unity, Coherence, Punctuation
Lesson Four: Narrative Paragraphs
Lesson Five: Descriptive Paragraphs
Lesson Six: Expository Paragraphs
Lesson Seven and Eight: Intro to the Essay (Thesis Statements, Introductory Paragraphs, Developmental Paragraphs, Conclusions, Outlines)
Lesson Nine and Ten: The Compare and Contrast Essay
Lesson Eleven and Twelve: The Argumentative Essay, Citations, Avoiding Plagiarism