ANY TOPIC 

ENG 121 Module 1B Transcript

Title: Drafting the Essay

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Narrator: Welcome to this presentation that will cover drafting the essay.

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Slide Title: Drafting the Essay

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Narrator: We have already discussed prewriting to find ideas, narrowing down a topic, 

writing your thesis, and finding supporting examples. Now, we are ready to start writing 

the essay, so to begin, let’s focus on how to draft your essay.

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Slide Title: Drafting the Essay

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Repeated in narrative

Narrator: First, think of your essay as a complete piece of writing. It must introduce the 

concept, explain the concept, usually using examples, and then conclude with a 

summary.

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Slide Title: Drafting the Essay

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Narrator: It is not necessary to start writing an essay from the beginning and write 

straight through to the conclusion. It is, however, necessary to plan the entire essay 

before you start to write. A simple outline will have an introduction with several 

supporting paragraphs followed by a conclusion, so let’s look at the 12-point essay.Slide 5

Slide Title: 12-Point Essay

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Narrator: The 12-point essay is actually a miniature outline of a five-paragraph essay, 

except it only has 12 sentences. Each sentence is a small part of the overall essay.

There is one introductory sentence, one thesis statement, nine support paragraph 

sentences, and one conclusion sentence.

Slide 6

Slide Title: 12-Point Essay

Slide Content:

• Introduction 

• Thesis (contains “because” and three supports – A.B.C.)

• First support of the thesis (states A)

• First support of A

• Second support of A

• Second support of the thesis (states B)

• First support of B

• Second support of B

• Third support of thesis (states C)

• First support of C

• Second support of C

• Conclusion

Narrator: As you can see, the first sentence is the introduction. The second sentence is 

a three-pronged thesis statement. Sentences 3 through 5 are for your first support 

paragraph; sentences 6 through 8 are for your second support paragraph; and 

sentences 9 through 11 are for your third support paragraph. Sentence number 12 is 

your conclusion. Sentences 3, 6, and 9 are your topic sentences. From this short

outline, you can develop your entire essay because you now have a plan of attack.

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Slide Title: Drafting the Essay

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Repeated in narrativeNarrator: Once you have your plan, you can start writing your essay. Some students 

start with support paragraphs; some write the introduction and conclusion first. There is 

no one system. Sometimes it’s easier to write the introduction and conclusion after you 

have written your support paragraphs. Regardless of how you choose to write your 

essay, you will accrue numerous drafts.

There are several sections to your drafts: the first draft, the middle draft, and the final 

draft.

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Slide Title: Drafts

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Narrator: The purpose of the first draft is usually to get your essay on paper. Take the 

information you’ve discovered through prewriting, combine it with your outline, and put it 

in writing. Once you get the material on paper, you can start the writing on your middle 

drafts.

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Slide Title: Drafts

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Narrator: In the middle drafts, you will work on unity and coherence. You will establish 

your transitions through words, phrases, repetition, and parallel structure. Sentence 

development and variety will be created in these drafts. By the time you have completed 

the middle drafts, your essay should be almost complete.

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Slide Title: Drafts

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Narrator: The final draft consists of modifications, improvements, and proofreading.If possible, the final draft should take place at least 24 hours after the middle 

If possible, the final draft should take place at least 24 hours after the middle drafts are

completed. This way, you will look upon it with a fresh set of eyes. The final draft 

involves making changes that improve not only what your essay says, but how it says it.

Proofreading is checking for grammatical mistakes, errors in spelling, typos, and other 

superficial elements.

Hopefully, the information shared in this presentation will help you draft your first essay.

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End of presentation