The Writing Process
4 Write Your First Draft
After you have formulated your outline, you are ready to write the first draft of your assignment. Remember you might want to refine your outline, even after you have written parts of your first draft.
Your task now is to transform your outline into paragraphs.
Introductory Paragraph(s)
The opening of an academic writing assignment will vary in length, proportionate to the length of the entire assignment, from one paragraph for a shorter essay, to several for a longer one. A good opening typically serves two purposes: it provides context related to the assignment topic, and it presents the main or controlling idea, the thesis.
The context will make clear the genre of the essay: argument, compare/contrast, cause/effect, process. It will usually establish the topic’s broader parameters, and it might include essential background information related to the topic. The thesis, discussed above, presents the assignment’s central focus.
In the example below, the context is presented in the first two sentences and the thesis in the third.
Shin hanga means “new prints” in Japanese, and it designates an art movement by a group of gifted Japanese woodblock artists at work in the first two decades of the twentieth century. These exquisite works of art capture the human eye and command its attention until it examines carefully each square inch of the woodblock. The subjects—especially the quietly beautiful Japanese landscapes and seascapes—the clear and bold shapes and forms, and the glorious colours, in every shade and every hue, account for the excitement and enthusiasm shin hanga generates among discriminating art lovers.
Exercise Five
Write an introductory paragraph, based upon the outline you made for Exercise Four. Consider carefully the model introductory paragraph and the instructions for writing an effective introduction.
In small groups, share your introductory paragraphs and share constructive advice about the paragraphs’ strengths and weaknesses.
Your teacher might ask you to hand in your introductory paragraph.
Revise and edit your introductory paragraph, in light of your group members’ and teacher’s advice.
Body Paragraphs
The body paragraphs of an academic writing assignment elucidate, augment, support, and develop the essay’s thesis. The body consists of at least three, and up to about a dozen or more, paragraphs, depending upon the requirements of the assignment. A minor 500-word writing assignment will typically call for three body paragraphs; a major 5000-word assignment, approximately twelve. Good body paragraphs in an academic writing assignment have three qualities: unity, coherence, and substance.
Unity refers to the relationship of the content of a paragraph to its topic sentence. The topic sentence presents the main point of the paragraph. It is to a paragraph what the thesis is to the essay as a whole. For a paragraph to have unity, its content should develop its topic sentence. It may be st