help you organize your ideas. Specifically, an outline will ensure that you won’t include any irrelevant ideas, that you won’t leave out any important points, and that your supporting sentences will be in logical order. Second, learning to write an outline will help you write more quickly. It may take some practice at first, but once you become used to outlining your ideas before you start to write. Preparing an outline is 75% of the work. The actual writing becomes easier because you don’t have to worry about what you are going to say; you already have a well-organized plan to follow. Finally, your grammar will improve because you will be able to concentrate on it, not on your thoughts or organization. Improved organization, speed, and grammar make learning to outline well worth the effort.
For these three reasons—improved organization, speed, and grammar—learning to outline is well worth the effort.
Practice 7: Making Outlines Parallel
Rewrite each of these outlines to make the support part parallel in form.
1. Topic Sentence: San Francisco is famous for its tourist attractions. Evidence: A. Golden Gate Park is very famous. B. Chinatown.
C. Fisherman’s Wharf attracts hundreds of tourists. D. Riding the cable cars.
Concluding Sentence: For these four attractions alone, San Francisco is well worth a
visit.
2. Topic sentence: Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics.
Evidence: A. It is beautiful.
B. Useful to science and industry.
Concluding Sentence: In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its beauty but also for its utility.
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3. Topic sentence: Some of the world’s most successful men had trouble in school. Evidence: A. Albert Einstein failed his university entrance exams on his first
attempt.
B. William Faulkner’s F’s in English.
C. Special tutoring necessary for Winston Churchill.
Concluding Sentence: These few examples show that failure in school does not always predict failure in life.
Practice 8: Simple Paragraph Outlining I
Turn back to Practice 6A and prepare a simple outline for each paragraph. Make sure that the support parts of your outlines are parallel.
Practice 9: Simple Paragraph Outlining II
Choose any three of the topic sentences below and write a simple outline for a paragraph for each of them. Follow the outline form in the model. Your supporting ideas can be reasons, examples or simple facts.
1. Students who both work and attend school lead busy lives. 2. Technology is making people lazy.
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3. Technology is making our lives easier.
4. A good doctor(teacher, scientist, businessperson, athlete) has two(three, four, five) important qualities.
5. Pollution is a growing threat to life on earth. *******Writing Practice
A. Choose one of the suggested topics listed below and write a paragraph ten to fifteen sentences in length. Be sure your paragraph is unified.
Step 1 Write a simple outline that has all the parts (topic sentence, supporting ideas, and a concluding sentence). Make sure it is parallel in form. Step 2 Write your paragraph from your outline. Add enough sentences in the support parts to make your main points clear,
Step 3 Underline your topic sentence and your concluding sentence
Step 4 Check your paragraph before you hand it in both your outline and your paragraph.
Topic Suggestions
a. Choose a famous person whom you admire. explain why you admire that person, naming several qualities that make the individual admirable. If possible, cite instances when this person displayed these qualities.
b. The goals you will have achieved when you are forty years old. Discuss at least three
different areas (family, job, house, finances)
c. The living arrangements (a college dormitory, a room with an American family, an apartment with some friends, a room in your parents’ home) that, in your opinion, is
the best for a person in your particular position.
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B. Writing Under Pressure
Choose one of the topics from Practice 9 and write a paragraph about it. Make a quick outline before you begin.
Outlining Time--------3 minutes Writing Time----------10 minutes Checking Time---------2 minutes Total---15 minutes
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