Final Paper Outline

First Paragraph:

•In (Author) (Date) (Genre) (Title),

•Short intro to Artifact (1-2 sentences, make sure your intro sets up the problem/question)

•Question/ Problem (in Artifact)

•Thesis (Hypothetical answer to question)

•Map:  A list of 3-5 points points that support the argument. Your points will become your overview of the paper's paragraphs, each with a topic sentence (make a claim), and evidence from the artifact (substantiate the claim)

All Other Paragraphs:

•Start with topic sentence: Make a claim that is in your own voice (not citing others). This claim should be one of the points in your map from the first paragraph, and should support the paper's overall thesis.

•The topic sentence is a claim. The rest of the paragraph should be used to substantiate that claim. Use SPECIFIC exampled from your artifact to prove your claim.  

•Introduce each quote: What are we supposed to be looking for?

•Analyze each quote: how does this quote support the claim in the Topic sentence and in the paper's thesis? 

Conclusion:

•How do the different claims you made in your paragraphs combine to prove the hypothetical thesis at the beginning of the paper?   

Avoid:

•"Minigraphs:" short paragraphs that have an insufficient topic sentence and/or not enough specific examples to substantiate the claim in the topic sentence. Minographs are often just homeless chunks of information.

•"Maxigraphs:" Long paragraphs that go far beyond a single, focused claim that should be made in a topic sentence. Sometimes the huge, rangy claim in the topic sentence has to be split into smaller, focused claims, and the body of the paragraph divided up so that each paragraph is focused.

•"Schizographs:"  Paragraphs that have all kinds of different information in them, not unified around a single theme. Work on the topic sentence and make it focused and limited to one claim, then throw out any examples that do not fit to that claim.  

Tips:

•Do not delete anything. When you have to cut something out, paste it on a document called "330 Final Paper archive" and keep it around.

•Instead of making yourself craft perfect prose from the beginning, just brainstorm and revise.  That reduces the pressure and shuts off the editor in your head.

•Make sure you read the paper out loud.  Do that MANY times before turning it in.  Listen for repetitions, bad logic, using words too many times, etc.