Lesson 9: Outlining Your Argument
This entire unit has been dedicated to learning about academic arguments.
Now we are three lessons into writing our own academic argument essay.
In lesson 7, we decided on a topic and found three sources from which to pull support.
In lesson 8, we created our claim and wrote the opening paragraph.
It might be a good idea to take a minute now and review the work you turned in for those assignments. Look at the assignments in your gradebook--hopefully they've been graded and have teacher comments. If not, no sweat! Just look at what you turned in to refresh your memory and get your mind in the right place for today's assignment: outlining.
OUTLINE
So what exactly is an outline? An outline is your plan for your essay. It's the framework. It's the structure of your ideas that leads your readers to a full understanding of what you are trying to communicate.
Remember, we are working on writing an argument essay. Specifically one either one of these two topic choices:
Do you think college athletes should be paid to play?
OR:
Do you think people shouldn't be allowed to read certain books?
We are learning to write an argument essay, and in this lesson, we are in the planning phase. By the end of lesson 11, you'll have a full essay. Today we are planning what each of our paragraphs will have in them, so that when we write it, we won't get 'stuck.'
An basic essay is made up of 5 paragraphs:
Intro
Body 1
Body 2
Body 3
Conclusion
(Works Cited page)
Before we ACTUALLY WRITE the essay, we should plan what we are going to write. That's where the outline comes in.
This lesson has 6 slides total that attempt to teach you how to organize your ideas in to a very detailed format.
If you'd like to spend the time following the lesson, be my guest! There is a worksheet given on slide 4 for you to fill out, as well as a decent example of what an outline may look like.
Viewing this video may be helpful as well!
Now we are three lessons into writing our own academic argument essay.
In lesson 7, we decided on a topic and found three sources from which to pull support.
In lesson 8, we created our claim and wrote the opening paragraph.
It might be a good idea to take a minute now and review the work you turned in for those assignments. Look at the assignments in your gradebook--hopefully they've been graded and have teacher comments. If not, no sweat! Just look at what you turned in to refresh your memory and get your mind in the right place for today's assignment: outlining.
OUTLINE
So what exactly is an outline? An outline is your plan for your essay. It's the framework. It's the structure of your ideas that leads your readers to a full understanding of what you are trying to communicate.
Remember, we are working on writing an argument essay. Specifically one either one of these two topic choices:
Do you think college athletes should be paid to play?
OR:
Do you think people shouldn't be allowed to read certain books?
We are learning to write an argument essay, and in this lesson, we are in the planning phase. By the end of lesson 11, you'll have a full essay. Today we are planning what each of our paragraphs will have in them, so that when we write it, we won't get 'stuck.'
An basic essay is made up of 5 paragraphs:
Intro
Body 1
Body 2
Body 3
Conclusion
(Works Cited page)
Before we ACTUALLY WRITE the essay, we should plan what we are going to write. That's where the outline comes in.
This lesson has 6 slides total that attempt to teach you how to organize your ideas in to a very detailed format.
If you'd like to spend the time following the lesson, be my guest! There is a worksheet given on slide 4 for you to fill out, as well as a decent example of what an outline may look like.
Viewing this video may be helpful as well!
assessment: portfolio
Fill out and turn in the 'Outline Planning Guide' given to you on slide 4.
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
Outlines are pretty formal, so it's good to know how to do one if a teacher ever asks you to complete one.
However, for this essay, I will accept alternative forms of pre-writing.
For example, something like this would be acceptable:
However, for this essay, I will accept alternative forms of pre-writing.
For example, something like this would be acceptable:
Notice that the alternative assignment sample does not list any sources nor provide a Works Cited page. This is fine, since I'm mostly interested in how you are going to structure your ideas right now, not so much in your sources. Also, the alternative assignment will function just as well as the graphic organizer and will probably take about a half hour less to complete.
You may upload the alternative outline into the drop box for lesson 9. Full points will be earned for listing your topic, claim, counterclaim, topic of body paragraphs and conclusion.
You may notice that there is a difference between the lesson's outline and mine. The lesson's outline only asks you to plan for two of your three body paragraphs, where as mine gives a spot for all three.
Ok, now that we have a plan in place, lets get to writing the essay!!
In the next lesson, we will be writing our body paragraphs.
You may upload the alternative outline into the drop box for lesson 9. Full points will be earned for listing your topic, claim, counterclaim, topic of body paragraphs and conclusion.
You may notice that there is a difference between the lesson's outline and mine. The lesson's outline only asks you to plan for two of your three body paragraphs, where as mine gives a spot for all three.
Ok, now that we have a plan in place, lets get to writing the essay!!
In the next lesson, we will be writing our body paragraphs.