rwinteractive

4

Drafting and Revising Paragraphs and Essays

Putting Your Ideas Together

A draft is the first whole version of all your ideas put together in a piece of writing. Do the best job you can in drafting, but know that you can make changes later.

BASICS OF A GOOD DRAFT

It has a topic sentence (for a paragraph) and a thesis statement (for an essay) that makes a clear main point.
It has a logical organization of ideas.
It has primary and secondary support that shows, explains, or proves the main point.
It has a conclusion that makes an observation about the main point.
It follows standard paragraph form or standard essay form (see “Paragraph and Essay Form” in Chapter 2).