1.

Go over all the reading material again.

2.

Identify the main topics covered by the arguments that you have read about your issue when preparing for your essay. This is so that you have a list of different topics for your paragraphs such as the topics in the essays on marine parks and childcare . You might also want to go back and look at the page on sorting arguments into topics and paragraphs.

3.

Now use the topics that you have identified in step 2 as your group headings for organizing your research notes (the notes from your reading):

i

keep your notes brief

ii

do not write the argument down word for word. Paraphrase it or use note form. This way you will avoid plagiarism when you come to write the actual essay.

4.

Make a decision about what your main conclusion will be.

5.

Look back at the paragraph structure for the model essays on marine parks (here and here) and childcare .

6.

Now draft a detailed plan for your essay. In this plan note down the information that you will put in each paragraph. Remember, just use note form - not complete sentences (Otherwise your plan will be nearly as big as your essay!)

7.

Begin writing a draft of the body of the body of your essay. Before you start this step you should:

a.

Look again at the model essays about marine parks and childcare.

b.

Go back and look at the work we did earlier in this unit on showing both sides of the issue.

c.

Look again at the work we studied on using problematising phrases for opposing arguments and the language summary for problematising phrases.

d.

Go back and look at the work we did on using contrasting connectives to shift from opposing arguments to supporting arguments.

e.

Look again at the work we did earlier in this unit on connectives for listing supporting arguments.

e.

Go back and look at the work we did earlier in this unit on using "In fact" and "Indeed". to link general and specific sentences that deal with the same argument.

f.

Print out a copy of the language summary for paragraph structures in the body of an essay and use it to help you write your paragraphs.

a.

Childcare

b.

The republic

c.

Another paragraph on the republic

d.

University fees

e.

Guns

8.

When you have written a draft of the body of your text check the following things:

a.

do your paragraphs present arguments which oppose your main conclusion as debatable and possibly not true?

b.

do your paragraphs present arguments which support your main conclusion as non-debatable or as facts?

c.

have you clearly marked the place where you shift from the opposing arguments to the supporting arguments with a contrasting connective (such as "however")?

d.

Have you used connectives, pronouns and referencing words (such as "this" or "these" to make your paragraph cohesive?

9.

Draft your introduction. You might want to go back and look carefully at the introduction to the essay on marine parks and the model introduction about republicanism.

10.

Draft your conclusion. You might want to go back and look carefully at the conclusion to the essay on marine parks and the model conclusion about childcare.

11.

Check your draft introduction and conclusion against the models. Redraft if necessary.

12.

Now that you have a complete draft of your essay check it again for the following things:

a.

Does it conform with the model texts?

b.

Does it provide strong support for your main conclusion?

c.

Can you make the text more cohesive?

d.

Are your verbs correct?

e.

Is every sentence a complete sentence - does it have a subject and a verb?

f.

Is your spelling correct? (Use the spelling checker on your word processing program and also read for spelling errors that the spelling checker doesn't pick up)

g.

Is your punctuation correct?

h.

Have you plagiarized? If you have plagiarized, rewrite that part of your text or indicate that you have copied from another text by using quotation marks and citing the source of the text e.g.. (Mansell, 1993)

13.

Check the final draft and write a cover sheet.