Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
Exercise 2
To build your sense of appropriate paragraph length, use the Internet to find examples
of the following items. Copy them into a file, identify your sources, and present them to
your instructor with your annotations, or notes.
- A news article written in short paragraphs. Take notes on, or annotate, your selection
with your observations about the effect of combining paragraphs that develop the same
topic idea. Explain how effective those paragraphs would be. - A long paragraph from a scholarly work that you identify through an academic search
engine. Annotate it with your observations about the author’s paragraphing style.
Starting Your First Draft
Now we are finally ready to look over Mariah’s shoulder as she begins to write her essay
about digital technology and the confusing choices that consumers face. As she does,
you should have in front of you your outline, with its thesis statement and topic
sentences, and the notes you wrote earlier in this lesson on your purpose and audience.
Reviewing these will put both you and Mariah in the proper mind-set to start.
The following is Mariah’s thesis statement.