Everything has a form. Think about the way the college looks. How do you know it's a college? There are signs and labels everywhere that tell you. The same is true for papers. Papers follow a simple form with a beginning middle and end. This presentation will help you figure out how to follow the formula to write papers for any class.

The first step in any paper is to brainstorm! Once you come up with ideas, you have to organize them. Not a lot of students use outlines, but it's a good skill. Think about how you make lists: you start with something general, like "Grocery List", and then you provide specifics, like "milk, cheese, or eggs". Outlines are the same way. Start with a general idea and then list your specific details. You don't need to follow a formal outline to do this! You can create headings right in your draft.

What does it mean to be specific? Specific means you clearly define or identify something. Here's an example: the sentence "Everyone uses cell phones" doesn't say anything specific about how or why the author is talking about the topic. The sentence "Texting on cell phones has changed how people communicate" provides a more specific idea. Try it!

An introduction needs a hook, some background, and a thesis. The middle is where you provide your specific ideas and the details and examples to explain them. The end is where you tell the reader what to do now they have this information.

There is no one way to write an outline. Everyone does it differently! You can start by writing your body paragraphs, then go back and finish the introduction and conclusion, or choose a pattern, such as cause and effect, to organize your ideas in your essay.

Connections are important! This is your biggest job as a writer. It's not enough just to provide information. You also have to explain how the information you are giving your reader is connected in some way. You can do this by using transitional words and phrases. Transition is just a fancy way of saying you will move from one thing to the next. You should try to use a variety of transition words!

You can use transition words to show agreement, addition, and similarity, or disagreement and contrast. Transition words are how you can identify a pattern like cause and effect or compare and contrast. These words show the relationship between ideas.

When you use information from your textbook, your own experience, or a website, you have to make sure the reader knows why you (the writer) decided to use this information. Explain what makes the information important, who or where the information is coming from, what it is saying, and how it connects to other ideas in the paper. Signal phrases can help the reader place the information in context.

If you use information from a source, you have to tell the reader the last name, the year it was published, and the page or paragraph number where they can find that information! More detailed information about the source is included at the end of the paper on the references page.

You have a lot of help for writing papers. After all, everyone now has one friend who can help them out in the writing center-- me!

For more information or questions, you can contact me, the writing center coordinator. I will make sure you get the help you need to succeed in your writing classes! But you have to make sure you go and get the help you need-- no one can learn something for you! Contact us to learn how to write for all your classes!