Lesson 4 Writing:  Writing Style

 

Selection 1: Making your writing powerful

  image of man and hourglass  

Big idea: By now, you should have completed your nonfiction research paper draft. You should have some ideas about how to fix it. Recall that you might have both higher order and lower order concerns on any paper. Higher order concerns include the thesis or main idea; the paragraph structure; and the transitions. Lower order concerns include sentence variety, clarity, and concision.

 

Look over this checklist of things it needs/ steps to take in the revision:

  • Run the paper through a grammar checker (such as grammarly.com or MSWord)

  • If possible, print the paper so that you can annotate it. If you cannot do that, make a second copy of it for your revision.

  • Evaluate your topic sentences. Do they require evidence (are assertions) or do they summarize or describe? (You want all assertions.)

  • Highlight transition words. If you don’t have them, look for where ideas need linking.

Work on your writing style

  • Change sentences so that they don’t all start the same way.

  • Make sure subjects and verbs agree.

  • Add verb variety-- create a word bank of synonyms and/or use your sentence starters from the Fences unit.

  • Make sure you have a counter claim. Use the counterclaim sentence starters.

  • Read it aloud

  

Research Paper Assignment: Finish your research paper and submit the final draft. Be sure to also post it on your GoogleSite!

Research Paper Reflection Assignment: Write a paragraph that summarizes your topic and explains your research process. Include some conclusions you made.

Add the paragraph and paper to your site. Be sure you included headlines and images to hook your reader - make them click on your links! Finish your project and be sure to post the share link in the assignment sheet.		  

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