Part three for Maiodi

Grading Criteria

Maximum Points

Quality of initial posting.

· Posts a rough draft of at least eight slides, including a title slide, a slide for the thesis statement, several slides to represent the support for the thesis statement, and a concluding slide to end the work.

16

Frequency of responses to classmates.

· Provides feedback to two peers

Quality of responses to classmates:

· Appropriately uses Feedback Criteria and develops thoughtful and detailed responses

Reference to supporting readings.

· In-text citations and references are provided in rough draft and in peer review correctly and as necessary

Language and Grammar: 

· All work is appropriately edited. 

Total:

80

What you say in the introduction and conclusion of your paper gives your readers the all-important first and last impressions. A good introduction prepares the reader for an essay’s main ideas and makes the reader want to continue reading. The last impression gained through the conclusion should offer words that will make the substance of the paper stick in the reader’s mind. These two parts of your paper are very important and are not sections that should be dashed off hurriedly. Many writers wait to construct the final introduction and conclusion until after the body of the essay has been completed. Though they may create a rough draft of an introduction that includes a tentative thesis statement, it is common for serious writers to postpone a final draft of the introduction until they see exactly what is included in the body of the paper. At that point, they are much more comfortable creating an introduction that actually says what they want it to say and a conclusion that offers a good summarization that ties together the main points of the essay.

Introductions

· Make the introduction relatively short, generally no more than 150 words.

· Consider what a reader needs to know in order to understand what you are writing about and plan a way to introduce this information succinctly.

· Plan some way to capture the attention of the readers so they want to continue reading. Often this can be done by:

· Asking a question

· Relating an incident or anecdote

· Offering a vivid quote relative to your topic from a famous person

· Presenting a surprising statistic or other fact

· Giving specific details about your subject

· Making an historical comparison or contrast

· Outlining a problem or dilemma

· Stating an opinion related to the subject

One method for constructing the introduction is to consider it as something of an inverted pyramid in structure. In this format, you open with some type of broad statement relative to the subject that may present an attention-getting “hook” of some kind. This is followed by a discussion of the background and material that clarifies and limits the subject. The final part of the introduction is often the thesis statement where the subject of the essay is stated, and in some instances, some of the subtopics are mentioned. (Note: Some writers prefer to turn the pyramid over and start with the thesis statement. This is a perfectly good way to write an introduction.)

Thesis Statement

The function of the thesis statement is to:

· Narrow the subject to a single, central idea you want readers to gain from your essay

· Name the topic and say something specific and important about it

· Let readers know your purpose for writing

· Provide a preview of how ideas will be arranged in the essay

Characteristics of effective thesis statements:

· It proposes a generalization demanding proof or further development, not a fact

· It is narrow enough to be covered within the time and space allowed in your paper

· It suggests the purpose of the paper

· It makes a strong point about the topic

It is quite possible that you will create a “working thesis statement” to go along with your first draft introduction. Then, after you have written the body of the paper and are in the process of revising, you may realize the thesis statement needs alteration as well.

Conclusion

The conclusion completes the essay and allows you, the writer, one last opportunity to present your point to the readers and leave them feeling they have learned something. Without a high-quality conclusion, what was stated in the body of the paper is devalued. Therefore, a good conclusion is crucial.

Strategies for creating such a conclusion include the following:

· Summarize or tie together the main points of the essay.

· If questions or problems were posed in introduction, address them in conclusion.

· If body paragraphs led to answers or solutions, state these again.

· If questions are unanswerable or problems are insoluble, say so.

· Include restatement of the thesis in some form—don’t just rewrite what was in the introduction; reflect on its implications.

· Offer a glance at the wider implications of the issue.

· Present a quotation or anecdote.

· Recommend a course of action.

· Offer some speculation or opinion. You might include an explanation as to why this paper needed writing in the first place.

· Provide answers, solutions, or results.

· Offer a “clincher” or thought-provoking statement.

· Do not present any new evidence.

Utilize the suggestions made here as you work on these crucial components of your paper.

If you have organized your notes so they represent various sections to support the arguments you had in your working outline, you are now ready to begin the process of putting that information to work in a final sentence outline. This sentence outline will form the nucleus of your PowerPoint presentation and make the actual writing of your paper much easier. Although many of us don’t seem to like what we perceive to be the hassle of creating more formal outlines, they do serve several rather important purposes:

· They form the skeleton to the paper by providing form and direction.

· They help writers stay focused on the subject.

· They help writers develop ideas more easily and thoroughly.

· They help writers organize ideas.

· The sentence outline is more formal, offers more detail, and clarifies points as they are introduced. It also makes the full meaning of the topic’s headings and subheadings apparent to anyone reading them.

When you create a sentence outline, you should observe the following rules of form:

· Place the title above the outline. It is not one of the numbered or lettered topics.

· Use the word “Thesis” and a colon. Then write the thesis statement for the paper. This thesis statement is an important part of the outline, because everything else in the outline should support it, either directly or indirectly.

· Use Roman numerals for the main topics. Subtopics are given letters and numbers as follows: capital letter, Arabic numerals, small letters, Arabic numerals in parentheses, and then small letters in parentheses.

· Indent subtopics so that all letters or numbers of the same kind will come directly under one another in a vertical line.

· Begin each topic and subtopic with a capital letter. Remember, you are creating complete sentences.

· There must never be, under any topic, a lone subtopic; there must be two or more subtopics, or none at all. Subtopics are divisions of the topic above them. A topic cannot be divided into fewer than two parts.

· As a rule, main topics should be parallel in form, and subtopics under the same topic should be parallel in form.

· Limit the number of major sections in the outline. If the list of Roman numerals seems to be getting too long, you must find some way of clustering the items into fewer major categories with more subcategories.

Your first sentence outline should resemble the following:

You should continue with main topics and subtopics until you have presented all of the material you wish to include in the final paper. Your final Roman numeral is to be followed by the word “Conclusion.” Then put any pertinent subtopic information under that final term.

In your outline, make sure that one idea makes sense following another. For example, in presenting your argument, you may want to put the argument you wish to disprove first, and then argue the other side. Also, try to keep similar ideas together. For instance, if you are talking about the problems inherent in the death penalty, don’t jump to causes of the death penalty in the next sentence, and then back to something about the problems. This destroys the continuity. Finally, if possible, save your strongest argument for last.

Please view the tutorial on creating an outline in Microsoft Word.

From your student home page go to My Academics and select Tutoring Center. You have the choice of Software Tutorials. Choose the version of Microsoft Word that you are using (2003 or 2007) and look for the tutorial on Creating an Outline.

Because the sentence outline you create should represent the plan for your research paper, it should give evidence of the kind of unity and coherence that will allow your writing to move seamlessly and forcefully.

The completed outline should be checked for the following:

· Each section must be relevant to the main idea of the essay.

· Each example or detail must support the principal idea of that section.

· The ideas follow a clear sequence.

· There seems to be a logical connection between all parts of the outline.

You can use this plan to start your outline. It will help you to make sure that your essay contains all of the usual pieces that an argumentative research essay would contain:

· Part 1: Give a general introduction to the problem, including the thesis statement that states your opinion.

· Part 2: Present the history of the problem, including, perhaps, past attempts at a solution.

· Part 3: Discuss the extent of the problem. Who is affected by it? How bad is it?

· Part 4: Indicate what will happen if the problem is not solved.

· Part 5: Connect the argument with facts that prove your points. Note the areas of objections and offer concessions if needed.

· Part 6: Provide a conclusion, including a restatement of the thesis and summary of the main ideas.

It has become commonplace for individuals to make presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint. This week, you will create such a presentation and submit it to your peers for their perusal and in the dropbox as your written assignment this week.. The basic rules for creating such presentations remain the same. As you start to think about this aspect of your final project, keep these rules in mind.
· Each slide should illustrate a single point or idea.
· Use large, legible letters—32-point font for text and 40-point for headings.
· Use all capital letters for headings only.
· Use color, spacing, and bullets to clarify and simplify.
· Do not clutter up the slide. If you have a great deal of data, divide it among several slides. It should not take more than 20 seconds for someone to read the slide.
· If you are creating a message slide, do not put more than seven lines on it with seven or fewer words per line. If you have bullets, have a maximum of three to five one-line bullets on a slide.
· If data slides are black and white, white on a black background shows up better than black on a white background does.
Simplicity is the key. Avoid using too many different colors, fonts, forms of emphasis, or animation, sounds, video or other “bells and whistles.” Anything you add should contribute to, not distract from, the message.
· Try for consistency in background, fonts, sizes, transitions, and so forth.
· Use colors effectively. Use only light colors, such as white and yellow, on a dark background.
· Do not use colors such as red and purple. Nerve-jarring color combinations are too distracting.
· Dark colors on a light background or light colors on a dark background show off the best.
· If you decide to use graphics, each graphic should have a purpose and an obvious connection to the text and should contribute to the achievement of your objectives.
· Title slides should contain five or fewer words.
· Spaces between lines should be at least the height of an uppercase letter.
· After you have put the information on the slides, proofread to ensure accuracy of content, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.