Practice Forum 1

Respond by Thursday. Discuss through Saturday.

Assignment Overview

The Practice Forum is a place to practice important writing skills, and share the results and reflections within a separate forum. Practice forum topics include exercises in developing an academic voice, practicing reading and writing assignments, determining approach, and evaluating thesis statements.

Assignment Requirements

One of the most basic units of an essay is a paragraph. The structure of a paragraph is largely the same given any type of writing assignment, and it is important to be able to identify the parts of the paragraph. To complete this assignment,

1. Read carefully the OWL Purdue webpage on paragraphs (opens in a new window).
2. Select a paragraph from a book, magazine, or online resource. Make sure it is long enough to warrant analysis and critique. A paragraph with 4 or more sentences should suffice. The paragraph can be on any topic, but it should not be overly technical or in a list format. Type (or copy and paste) that paragraph into your discussion forum post.
3. Analyze the paragraph for the following concepts, and identify within the paragraph (through color-coded highlighting, a list, etc) where each of these occurs within the paragraph:
1. Topic sentence
2. Development of ideas (examples, details, etc)
3. Transitions and/or signposts
4. Review this example of how to color-code highlight the paragraph [DOWNLOAD], and replicate the color-code highlights within your own paragraph analysis. 
• To highlight in your reply, select Advanced, expand the text editor to show advanced options (1), and select the light bulb button (2) to show highlighting color options.
  
5. Once you have identified those elements within the paragraph, critique the paragraph for how well it is written, and how well it meets the criteria for a well-developed paragraph. This critique should be one paragraph and include sufficient detail and support to substantiate the critique. For instance, if you claim it is well-written, what evidence in the paragraph would support this claim?