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Basics of Writing Course Outline

This class is designed for students who need support in getting their ideas on paper. Students will examine and practice the stages of the writing process including: organizing ideas, drafting a cohesive paragraph(s), editing and revising the draft, and publishing a final copy.

Week 1

Components of a Paragraph

• What makes a strong topic sentence?
• Sequencing ideas
• Writing a powerful conclusion
• HW: Write topic and concluding sentences for sample paragraphs

Week 2

Supporting the Main Idea

• Writing supporting details
• Using transitions
• HW: Write supporting sentences for a given topic sentence

Week 3

Elaborating Ideas

• Expanding detail sentences
• HW: Write elaborations for given detail sentences

Week 4

• Using the thesaurus
• Using descriptive language
• Using strong verbs
• HW: Make a boring paragraph better

Week 5

Pre-Writing

• Brainstorming Ideas
• Using a Graphic Organizer

• HW:  Complete a Graphic Organizer

Week 6

Writing a Rough Draft

• Revisit the entire writing process
• Examine a sample rough draft
• Use graphic organizer to write a draft
• HW:  Finish the rough draft

Week 7

Editing and Revising

• Using proofreading symbols
• Practice using symbols to edit and revise
• Edit and revise own work

Week 8

Publishing

• Produce a final copy