Patterns of Essay Development:
PART I
Assignments will be a continuation of a writing process. You will construct your essay by answering the following prompt, which will be given at the beginning of each homework assignment. This is a step-by-step process. As long as you read the textbook and all the lecture notes and complete the activities, you will not encounter much difficulty.
Prompt: Today there is an increasing amount of students enrolling in online schools and online courses than ever before. Write a cause-and-effect essay explaining the effects that online education has on students.
1. Continuing from Module 5 Homework Assignment, take out your outline and reread your topic and effects.
2.Based on your outline, write a thesis statement. Your thesis statement should state the dominant impression about your subject.
3. You will now construct an introductory paragraph by using the model below:
I. Introduction
A. Opening sentence that attracts the reader's interest
B. Supply any background information that will make the reader better understand the cause and effects
C. Thesis statement
4. You will turn in the introductory paragraph (in paragraph form, not outline form).
You have successfully written the introduction and thesis statement for your cause-and-effect essay. You are now ready to write the body of your essay.
PART II
Directions: Please read "Television Addiction" by Marie Winn on page 333 of your textbook. When you have finished reading the article, answer the following questions with at least 250 words per question.
1. Winn's thesis is not presented directly in the essay. See whether you can state it in your own words.
2. Which statement would best serve as a topic sentence for paragraph 4?
a. Addicts enjoy pleasurable experiences more than non-addicts.
b. Addicts feel that their lives are not really complete.
c. Addicts would give up their addiction if other pleasurable experiences were available.
d. Addicts need to endlessly repeat the experience on which they are dependent.
3. Which statement would best serve as a topic sentence for paragraph 7?
a. People become television addicts because they have more troubled lives than most other people.
b. Television addicts develop a distorted perception of reality and lose self-control.
c. Few experiences in life are as pleasurable as watching television.
d. Alcoholics often believe they have more control over their drinking than they really do.
4. Which paragraph fully signals the author's switch from discussing addiction in general terms to talking specifically about addiction to television?
5. What key transitional word is used twice in the essay?