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KELOMPOK| KOMUNIKASI
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YOUR FIRST FREE WRITING
Free writing is a
method to help you
choose a specific
topic for your essay.

YOUR FIRST FREE WRITING | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
What You Need
to Know
Building on this if we can cancel
concept, Peter This technique out our conscious
Elbow, professor acknowledges mind, we will be
and renowned the advantage of able to access all
author of several using the the wonderful
books on writing subconscious as information we
and writing theory, an aid to writing. have in our
introduced the idea subconscious
of free writing.

YOUR FIRST FREE WRITING | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
 What You Need The technique of free writing requires you to
do only three things:

to Do

START

YOUR FIRST FREE WRITING | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
 Result of Free
Writing
If you have enough time in your schedule, don’t read your writing now—
wait for a day, or at least a few hours.
Then go back and take a look at what you wrote. Ask yourself:

Is there one idea that stands out?

Is there something I want to know more about?

YOUR FIRST FREE WRITING | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
RESEARCH
The next step in the
process
Is to conduct more
research
To help your determine
your
direction
RESEARCH | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
 What You Need
to Know Following
research:
are some items to consider during your

Determine the
question identify the main Use those keywords
you will be answering concepts or keywords to search indexes of
in in your question. encyclopedias and
your essay. online resources.

RESEARCH | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS

 Record the bibliography Evaluate what you find. If
information for each you have too much
resource from which you information, you may
use information. need to narrow or even
broaden your subject.

RESEARCH | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS

What You Need
to Do

RESEARCH | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS

a wealth of research at your fingertips:

internet Online Talk to people Go to library

Encyclopedia You know and respect

RESEARCH | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS

You can also use brief source credits
within the text. Proper style for these would
be to surround quoted material in quotation
marks, followed by parentheses containing
the author’s last name and the page
number of the source that is fully
referenced in your bibliography.

For example:
“Homeowners use up to 10 times more
toxic chemicals per acre than farmers.”
(Wray, 25)
RESEARCH | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
Cluster Your
Information

RESEARCH | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS

YOUR SECOND FREE WRITING
Now it’s time to
move up the ladder
to the next step—
your second free
writing.

YOUR SECOND FREE WRITING | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
 What You Need
to Know
You have much more information now and will be able to more clearly
see, what you know. Conducting a second free writing allows you
consciously and unconsciously to incorporate:

1 2 3
Facts and impressions
What you initially knew The research you’ve gathered
you have developed
through your research

YOUR SECOND FREE WRITING | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
What You Need
to Do

YOUR SECOND FREE WRITING | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
Again, if possible, when you’re finished, let your writing
rest for a day or so. This time you’ll be amazed at how
much your ideas have developed and how much more
information-packed your second free writing is, because
of the research you did. As you sort through your ideas
in the second free writing, the direction of your essay will
become clearer.

YOUR SECOND FREE WRITING | NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
YOUR THESIS STATEMENT
What You Need
to Know It is one sentence that sets the
foundation on which you will build the
whole essay. An effective thesis
statement includes and accomplishes
two things:

It sets the controlling idea, the

It introduces the subject, position you will be taking in your
which signals the reader paper. It is an idea that needs to be
what you will be writing proved or explained.
about.

YOUR THESIS STATEMENT| NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
 What You Need
to Do
To write an effective thesis statement, keep the following in
mind:
• The thesis statement cannot be a question because then
your essay would not develop an idea but would only
answer the question.
Instead of asking, “Why is going green important?” you can change
it to, “Going green is important.” Now, this statement can and needs
to be explained.

YOUR THESIS STATEMENT| NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
• The thesis statement cannot be a fact because a fact
does not need to be explained.
The fact “Recycling saves one million dollars a month” is either true
or not, but it does not need to be explained.
Let’s say you’ve chosen to discuss how individuals can help make
our planet greener. In your thesis statement, the subject will relate
to making our planet greener, and the controlling idea is how we
can do that.

YOUR THESIS STATEMENT| NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
The better you can identify
subjects and controlling ideas in
thesis statements, the easier it
will be for you to write effective
ones.

YOUR THESIS STATEMENT| NARROW YOUR FOCUS AND DETERMINE YOUR THESIS STATEMENTS
NEXT STEP
You’ve taken the first key steps to creating a successful essay.
Now you’re ready to take
the next step of
determining your method
of development—how you
will present your ideas.