Paragraphs

These paragraph assignments are designed to help you learn the basic unit of an essay. Once you achieve paragraph organization, you will be more comfortable with organizing an essay.

Instructions

1. Each paragraph must be 12 lines long using 12 pt. Times New Roman and 1" margins in your Google Drive document.
2. You will work on these paragraphs over the first few weeks to help you prepare to write your essays (check the calendar). You can work ahead if you are trying to finish the course early.
3. You will be writing different kinds of paragraphs, so the instructions for each one are slightly different.

Paragraph Assignment 1
Identify ONE situation in your life right now, outside of school, that is a source of stress or concern. How does this situation potentially pose a problem for your academic success this term? Explain with examples of how your goal of academic success could be hurt by this burden.

Paragraph Assignment 2
Think about the situation you discussed for the first paragraph assignment. Do you have any control over the stress caused by that burden? What steps can you take to ease the burden of that situation in a way that would make your academic success this term easier to attain? How would this strategy help you deal with the situation so that it's less distracting.

Paragraph Assignment 3
Think about the situation you discussed for the first and second paragraph assignments. Now I want you to contrast that stress with the stress caused by school. What is the main difference between the stress caused by your burden outside school and the burden that school places on you? Explain where you think this difference comes from.

Paragraph Assignment 4
Think about how you might extend your topic for "Paragraph Assignment 1" into an essay. Now, write the beginning paragraph for that essay. You'll need to think of a way to engage your reader in your topic, lay out the stages of thought, and provide a thesis.

Paragraph Assignment 5
Based on the same essay topic you further developed for "Paragraph Assignment 4," write an ending paragraph. You may not repeat any information from the beginning paragraph. Instead, describe how your thesis is worth thinking about, assuming it is true. Offer some new information that extends interest in your topic, and the finish with a thought-provoking idea.

Grading

When you are done with each paragraph in Google Drive, I will read it to make sure that it is a unified paragraph. If there is a problem with content or organization, I will let you revise it you have successfully written a unified paragraph.