Today, we’re finishing off with Process Paragraphs. We’ll do some feedback on the videos, but first, there are a couple of important concepts I want to talk about with you.
I talked about a couple of important things.
- “Chunking” as an approach to organizing your material for a Process Paragraph, and how to do chunking in a Paragraph Skeleton.
- Stylistic Tips for More Effective Process Paragraphs
- (If there’s time) How Process Paragraph Mind Maps are “Different”
Here are some handouts I might have referred to:
We’ll take a short break and then you’re going to share your Process Explanation Videos with one another, giving one another peer feedback. You can talk about:
- Any questions you had after seeing the video.
- Any vocabulary or concepts you need explained.
- Any suggestions in terms of structure or “chunking” the steps of the process.
- Anything else you think would be helpful for a reader.
If there’s any time left, we’ll throw in a Template Sentence Extraction Exercise for Process Paragraphs:
Some semesters, we also add in a Template Sentence Extraction exercise, since this is the part of the exam that students seem to struggle with most. Here’s a copy of the handout I usually use for that purpose, in a couple of formats:
Editable DOCX:
PDF:
If we don’t get to this in class, try it out at home.
Non-Textbook Videos and Materials
The optional videos in the Non-Textbook Videos folder deal with the two lecture topics mentioned above. If you were in class and understood everything, you can skip them.
If you were in class, skip this section and go down to the Paragraph Blog Post section below.
Paragraph Practice
For this week’s Paragraph Practice, you should use your video, as well as the feedback other students gave you about it, to develop a Process Paragraph.
Here are some suggested steps for that process:
- Watch your video again, and take notes about the process from the way you explained it. Note any vocabulary that you will need when writing the Process Paragraph.
- Check the feedback you got on your videos from your classmates in the forum (linked above), and add this information to your notes.
- Use all your notes to build a point-by-point list of all the small steps in your chosen process.*
- “Chunk” the steps of your process, collecting them into 4–5 groups of steps.
- Write Primary Supporting Sentences for each group of steps (i.e. the “chunks”).
- Build the Secondary Supporting Sentences you need for your paragraph.
- Refine your a Topic Sentence and Concluding Sentence, making sure they are encouraging, specific about which process is being discussed, and (in the Concluding Sentence) clearly state a specific outcome.
- Fix the formatting to match normal paragraph formatting, and add a title and byline.
After your paragraph is drafted, reread it carefully, and especially look at your notes about classmate feedback. Was there any suggestion you ignored that maybe you should apply to the paragraph?
* You can also use a Mind Map to outline your Process Paragraph. See “Wait, Can I Use a Mind Map When Brainstorming for a Process Paragraph?” at the bottom of this page.
Homework: Catch-Up
There’s no textbook work for this week, so I recommend that you do the following:
- Go back and catch up on any Textbook Exercises you skipped in the last few weeks, or review any topics you had trouble with.
- Spend some time practicing using the writing process from the Midterm Exam to write a Definition or Process Paragraph. Take note of how the process, and some aspects of the paragraph’s structure and grammar, all change a little when you write one of each of these specific types of paragraph.
Basically, use this time to your advantage for the class. It’s good to pause and take a breath: next class, we’re going to start working on the most challenging type of paragraph discussed in Academic English IV, the Opinion Paragraph, so it’s a good idea to gather your strength before that.
Wait, Can I Use a Mind Map When Brainstorming for a Process Paragraph?
Short answer? Yes, but it will probably look different from a typical Mind Map.
Here’s the long answer:
You may have noticed that I didn’t include a Mind Map in the process I outlined above for building a Process Paragraph. This is because a Process Paragraph is usually very linear: you list off the steps involved in a process in chronological (time) order, so a bullet-point list works better.
However, you can build a Mind Map for a Process Paragraph, and it can be especially useful if you have a lot of clarifications, definitions, explanations, or other kinds of Secondary Supporting Sentence material that you need to organize. Just in case you want to create a Mind Map for a Process Paragraph, here’s an example of what it could look like:
The blue boxes are the Topic and Concluding Sentences. The Pink boxes on the left are the “chunked” or grouped steps (i.e what will become Primary Supporting Sentences). The green, red and yellow boxes are ideas for different groups of Secondary Supporting Sentences.
Please note that this is a rough Mind Map. Some editing change the grouping of the steps slightly, or result in more or fewer Secondary Supporting Sentences being used. This is just to give you an idea what a Mind Map for a Process Paragraph might look like in the early stages of Brainstorming. I hope that’s helpful!