•Body paragraphs
•Fill-in sentences
•What does the prompt require?
•Use all of the information available
•Universal categories
•Specific categories
USE A TABLE OR CHART TO ORGANIZE
2
GROUP AND LINK DOCUMENTS
3
DEVELOP A TOPIC SENTENCE
4
DEVELOP A THESIS AND A CONCLUSION
5
DISSECT THE QUESTION OR PROMPT
1
•Links to prior knowledge
PROCEDURE
Let’s review the process. (Note to teacher: Click through each of the steps and read them to the class.)

Remember, the more we practice this process the easier it will be to focus on the important parts of the documents. It will help make your essays meaningful, effective, and enjoyable to read. This process can also be used for developing effective term papers. The major difference is that for term papers, instead of someone presenting you with a topic you will come up with a topic or thesis on your own and then go look for documents to support it. Think of each reference for a term paper as a document that can be analyzed using the same methods we discussed in this presentation. Organizing the sources for your term paper in a chart can make it easier to separate the information you have gathered from your research into its component parts: thesis, body of factual information, and conclusion.