Students' Giving Instructions Essays to Further Clarify Organization

The "Giving Instructions" essays below were written by former Advanced Composition students. On the last day of class several semesters ago, students were asked to write letters to younger students following them into the advanced composition course, the course they had just taken. While their assignment was not necessarily to write "Giving Instructions" essays, each essay here shows the organization required when writing for a US academic audience.

Ivan's essay, A Word of Advice
Mike essay, A Message to the Newcomers
Edmundo's essay, You have Made It

After reading the above students' examples of Giving Instructions essays, answer the following questions.

1. How many paragraphs are there in each of the preceding essays?
     _______________________________________
2. What is the main idea in each of the essays?
     A. A Word of Advice
     _______________________________________
     B. A Message to the Newcomers
     _______________________________________
     C. You Have Made It
     _______________________________________
3. Outline one of the essays. First, write the title of the essay you will outline.
     _______________________________________
I. (introduction including main idea)
     _______________________________________
     A. (topic sentence)
          _______________________________________
          1. (supporting details)
          _______________________________________
          2.
          _______________________________________
     B. (topic sentence)
          _______________________________________
          1. (supporting details)
          _______________________________________
          2.
          _______________________________________
     C. (topic sentence)
          _______________________________________
          1. (supporting details)
          _______________________________________
          2.
          _______________________________________
II. (conclusion and main idea)
     _______________________________________
4. With what impression does the essay leave the reader? Support your answer.
     _______________________________________

Personally, I am always impressed by the apparent ease with which these students met the organizational requirements of a "giving instructions" essay without being asked to write a giving instructions essay. In addition, while many students do not like to adhere to this strict organizational structure because it "sounds too repetitive," none of these essays "sounds repetitive" in my view. On the contrary, when writers state the organization of their essays as clearly as these students did in these essays, readers will understand and know that these writers have something to say.

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