Writing Development- Group Discussion

Group 7: Abdulaziz, Almoutasem, MaryJean
We will be discussing the writing development of a paper.
Basically, we are breaking it down into three important parts. They are as follows:
1. Introduction
2. Thesis Statement
3. Conclusion
These are the three most important parts when writing an essay.
Introduction:
The introduction is what captures the attention of the audience, the thesis describes what the essay is going to be about, and the conclusion sums up the essay and everything that it covered.
When writing an introduction one needs to be sure that it is going to accurately cover what is going to be discussed in the following paragraphs. The introduction can start with a broad statement or it could even ask a question about what the overall essay will be. For example, let's say you're going to be writing an essay on how to travel affordably and you want to start with a question rather than a statement, one could begin with "Has money ever stopped you from traveling to the places you've always wanted to see?".  Now let's say that you would rather start with a statement, an example of this would be "Many people today would like to travel but can't always afford it". The introduction is what is going to spike the reader's interest, whether they can relate or not. An introduction is what gets the reader's attention. It provides the core information of what your essay is about. It should be interesting enough to hook the reader and should lead them into the general thesis.
Thesis:
Which brings us to the thesis statement. The thesis is one sentence towards the end of your first paragraph and will explain what the essay is about and how it's going to cover that topic. A thesis isn't necessarily a fact or an opinion but the writer's own angle of the discussed topic. The thesis is a "road map" of what the essay will be. It is the overall interpretation of the topic discussed, not just the topic itself. Because a thesis is so crucial to an essay's construction it must be well thought out and may or may not be one of the last things you write. It needs to accurately cover all arguments written about. It is okay to change your thesis later on if your paper takes a different direction after you've written it. Make sure that your thesis doesn't leave any "open ended" questions. When writing a thesis clarity is crucial. This is an example of a thorough thesis from http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/thesis-statements/ :"While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions."  According to the same website an idea of a poor thesis on the same topic would be something like this "The North and South fought the Civil War for many reasons, some of which were the same and some different." One thesis is just a statement whereas the other is the approach to the statement.
Conclusion:
The conclusion can be found at the end of an essay. It summarizes the essay and provides the writer's final say on the issue or topic. Many feel that they don't have much more left to say by the time of their conclusion, but it is crucial to giving the final impression. The conclusion can be the most difficult part of writing a paper or essay because it can feel repetitive and can be hard to rephrase. Like the thesis it has to be interesting and well thought out. It should summarize the theme. Try to avoid cliche beginnings to your conclusion, such as "in conclusion", "concluding","in summary", etc. Avoid bringing up anything that should be in the body of the paper like evidence or citations. The conclusion should be strictly about the topics discussed.

Resources:
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Good-Topic-Sentence

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/introductions/

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/conclusions/