Step 3: Writing
Welcome to Step 3! If you are here, you have finished Step 1 and Step 2, and you are now ready to dive into to the biggest part of this project: writing your actual essay! The great news is that if you have researched and outlined thoroughly, the writing task should be well within your reach.
The best tool you have for writing your essay is your outline. The outline is designed to lead you, step-by-step, through every part of your essay. You can, of course, expand your essay beyond the boundaries of the outline, but you can write a successful essay by working through each part of your outline and expanding your thoughts into full sentences and paragraphs.
A Quick Word About Plagiarism
As you are writing your essay, please remember that you cannot copy anyone else's work and present it as if it is something you wrote. You need to use quotes to support your argument, but your quotes must be identified as quotes and you must identify the source the quote comes from. If you copy and paste anything from the internet or any other source into your paper without properly identifying it as a quote you will receive a ZERO for this project.
Writing vs. Typing
We will be working on much of the writing process in class, and you will have a couple of different options for completing your rough draft. You can write your essay on paper if that works best for you, but you can also use the computers in class to type your rough draft. Typing will allow you to edit your rough draft much more easily as you prepare your final essay.
The computers in class do not have Microsoft Word, but you can use your AoIT Gmail account to create a Google document and type your essay there. Using Google Docs to create your essay has a number of benefits, but the best thing about using Google Docs is that your essay will be saved to your Gmail account and will be accessible from any computer connected to the internet. That means you can work on your paper on different computers in the school or at home without having to save a document on a flash drive.
To create a Google Doc, log into your AoIT Gmail account and follow these steps:
1. Click on "Drive" at the top of the page.
2. Click the red "Create" button on the left side of the page and select "Document" from the top of the list.
3. Begin typing your essay. The document will save automatically and will be available in the "Drive" section of your Gmail account.
Rubric
As you begin to write, it is important for you to keep in mind what I'll be looking for in your essay. Your outline explains all the necessary parts of the essay, but the rubric focuses on the overarching elements of argumentative writing, including: focus, research, controlling idea, development, organization, and conventions. We will examine each part of the rubric in class, but there is a copy below for you to review. You can also download a copy by clicking here.
The best tool you have for writing your essay is your outline. The outline is designed to lead you, step-by-step, through every part of your essay. You can, of course, expand your essay beyond the boundaries of the outline, but you can write a successful essay by working through each part of your outline and expanding your thoughts into full sentences and paragraphs.
A Quick Word About Plagiarism
As you are writing your essay, please remember that you cannot copy anyone else's work and present it as if it is something you wrote. You need to use quotes to support your argument, but your quotes must be identified as quotes and you must identify the source the quote comes from. If you copy and paste anything from the internet or any other source into your paper without properly identifying it as a quote you will receive a ZERO for this project.
Writing vs. Typing
We will be working on much of the writing process in class, and you will have a couple of different options for completing your rough draft. You can write your essay on paper if that works best for you, but you can also use the computers in class to type your rough draft. Typing will allow you to edit your rough draft much more easily as you prepare your final essay.
The computers in class do not have Microsoft Word, but you can use your AoIT Gmail account to create a Google document and type your essay there. Using Google Docs to create your essay has a number of benefits, but the best thing about using Google Docs is that your essay will be saved to your Gmail account and will be accessible from any computer connected to the internet. That means you can work on your paper on different computers in the school or at home without having to save a document on a flash drive.
To create a Google Doc, log into your AoIT Gmail account and follow these steps:
1. Click on "Drive" at the top of the page.
2. Click the red "Create" button on the left side of the page and select "Document" from the top of the list.
3. Begin typing your essay. The document will save automatically and will be available in the "Drive" section of your Gmail account.
Rubric
As you begin to write, it is important for you to keep in mind what I'll be looking for in your essay. Your outline explains all the necessary parts of the essay, but the rubric focuses on the overarching elements of argumentative writing, including: focus, research, controlling idea, development, organization, and conventions. We will examine each part of the rubric in class, but there is a copy below for you to review. You can also download a copy by clicking here.
Next Step - Step 4: Editing