Lesson 102
The Writing Process: Drafting
Once you’ve gathered ideas and information in the prewriting stage, it’s
time to start
putting them on paper. This stage of the writing process is called
drafting
, and it will be
the first time that you write your ideas in paragraph form.
The first paragraph of your
draft should state the theme or the main point of your writing. This is called a
thesis
statement
. Often your purpose and audience can help you formulate your thesis
statement. Paragraphs that follow your first paragraph should
have a topic sentence that
supports the thesis statement and details to support the topic sentence. The theme,
audience, and purpose of your writing will also help you to determine the way,
or style,
in which you write. The writing style that you adopt will give the piece its tone or “feel.”
Exercise 1
Use each theme to write a complete thesis statement.
1. Theme: 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote
2. Theme: exposure to paint containing lead is harmful
3. Theme: music today is better than it used to be
4. Theme: the
role of robots in the future
5. Theme: earning money for college
6. Theme: the most difficult stage of growing up
7. Theme:
playing only to win
8. Theme: significance of the destruction of rain forests
Unit 14, Composition
311
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Composition
