COMPOSITION

COMPOSITION WORKSHOP
WORKSHOP
University of the Sacred Heart
Department of Humanities

Center for Language Development Across

the Disciplines
 
LAD
 Objective

To help the student write effective

and organized essays and papers
 Choose a Topic

• Select a topic that you like or that

is familiar to you

• See if there is enough information

on your chosen topic
 Brainstorming

• Select a topic
• Write down what comes to your mind
• Group the ideas that are related
• Choose the group of ideas that
interests you and are related to the
topic
• Organize your notes into an outline
 Do Some Research…

…on the topic by asking the –wh questions:

who, what, when, why and how

…use the library, Internet, TV broadcasts,

newspapers, magazines, etc…
 Prepare an Outline
• Introduction
• Thesis statement (topic sentence)
• Body
• Main idea
• Supporting ideas (details)
• Main idea
• Supporting ideas (transition to next
paragraph)
• Conclusion
Starting
Starting Your
Your First
First
Draft
Draft
 Paper Format
Recommended font: Courier or Times New Roman

1” margins centralize
the title

double-
spaced text
indent
each
paragraph justified
margins

1” margins
 Essay Content

• Make sure to include the thesis

statement in your introduction

• Develop your ideas according to the

outline

• Close your argument with a conclusion

» Summarize information from the previous
paragraphs
» Do introduce new information in the
conclusion
Writing
Writing Techniques
Techniques
 Sentence Variety

• By using expansions (adjectives,

adverbs, verbal and prepositional
phrases and appositives)
Example: Mary has a long, red skirt.

• In structure (use of compound and

complex sentences)
Example: I went to Baskin Robbins, and
I ate a sundae. (compound sentence)
 Sentence Variety

• In structure – complex sentence

Example: I saw the woman, who was
killing the cockroach, scream crazily.

• In sentence arrangement
Example: In the middle of the
desert, Will Smith punched the alien.
 Other Techniques

• Achieve unity

• Use correct word order for emphasis

• Use occasional questions, exclamations, or

commands

• Use connectives (and, but, therefore…)

 Also Remember
• Writing purpose
– Narrate
– Describe
– Compare / Contrast
– Persuade

• The tone (sad, humorous, serious,

concerned…)

• Your audience (formal / informal)

 Avoid the Following

• Breaking one idea into short, monotonous

sentences

• Including sentences with unrelated or

illogical details

• Using too many details even though

related
 Avoid the Following
• Redundancy

• Unnecessary changes in point of view

• Run-ons (A run-on sentence has at least two

sentences. Each one should be written
separately.)
Incorrect: Do you see the man in the car
he is my father.
Correct: Do you see the man in the car?
He is my father.
 Citation

• Short quotations (three lines or less)

should be enclosed in quotation marks

Example: “Don’t ask what your

country can do for you, but ask what
you can do for your country.”

– John F. Kennedy
 Citation
• On a new line, indent longer quotations (four or more
lines), and set off in single space without quotation marks.
Return to the original margin when you finish the quote.

My country, ‘tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing:
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring.
-America, by Samuel Francis Smith

 Always identify the source using APA

or MLA style
 Plagiarism

• When you use someone’s ideas

without citing, you receive credit for
someone else’s intellectual effort

• To avoid plagiarism, make sure to

identify and document all your
quotes, cites, and reference sources
 Save Your Work

• If you use a computer or word

processor, make sure you save
your work

• Make more than one copy !

Go to the LAD Center!

• Proofread
• Check grammar
• Check work format
• Check essay outline
• Check quotations and citations
 Prepare Your Second
Draft…

 
…and go back to the LAD Center
for a
           
second opinion
Preparing Your Final Paper
Make sure to include the following:

• Cover page with your name, student number,

the title of your work, course and section,
professor’s last name, and date

• Reference list at the end of your work

• Revise quotations and citations

 References

Capital Community College Library. Available at

http://webster.commnet.edu

Purdue University Online Writing Lab.

Available at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/rese
arch/r_mla.html

The Research Paper. Available at

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/general_
handouts/research_guide.html
 Questions?

Prepared by: Thalia N. Nazario-Santiago

Coordinator for the Center for Languages and Culture

Center for Language Development Across the Disciplines (LAD)

February 2003
Revised by: Patricia Kidd
August 2004
Revised by: Prof. Delia Serrano
January 2005