Ch 15: Beginning the Writing Process Lesson Plans
About This Chapter
Weekly Syllabus
Below is a sample breakdown of the Beginning the Writing Process chapter into a 5-day school week. Based on the pace of your course, you may need to adapt the lesson plan to fit your needs.
Day | Topics | Key Terms and Concepts Covered |
---|---|---|
Monday | Developing an essay topic; An essay's tone, audience and purpose | How to develop a topic for an essay; How to achieve the right tone, understand the readers and define the purpose of an essay |
Tuesday | Definition of brainstorming; brainstorming techniques | What brainstorming is and how it can help with essay writing; Freewriting; Brainstorming strategies for position and synthesis papers; Techniques for timed tests |
Wednesday | Definition of a thesis statement; How to write a thesis statement | Misconceptions about thesis statements; Thesis statements for various types of essays; Tips for constructing a thesis statement; Essay prompts |
Thursday | Outlines | Why outlines are useful; Types of outlines |
Friday | Essay structure | The five-paragraph essay; Parts of an essay; Transitions |

1. Developing the Essay Topic
The backbone of any essay is a strong and engaging main idea. Learn how to turn an essay prompt into a well-developed topic by watching this video lesson.

2. Tone, Audience & Purpose in Essays
What is tone? How do you create a tone within an essay? Watch this video lesson to learn how writing with a specific audience and purpose in mind will help you to achieve an appropriate tone.

3. What Is Brainstorming?
You may have been told that it's important to brainstorm before writing an essay. This video explains why it's well worth your time to make brainstorming part of your writing routine.

4. Techniques for Brainstorming Great Ideas
Great essays are made up of great ideas. Finding those great ideas is the first critical step on the road to writing a terrific essay. Learn some popular and effective brainstorming techniques that will work whether you have an hour or two weeks to write your paper.

5. What is a Thesis Statement?
Before we can talk about how to write a great thesis statement, you need to be able to identify a great thesis when you see one. Contrary to what you may have been taught, a thesis is so much more than just the last sentence of the opening paragraph of an essay.

6. How to Write a Thesis Statement
Find yourself confounded by thesis statements? Writing an excellent thesis statement doesn't require magic or luck, but it does require a few key elements we'll lay out for you in the lesson that follows.

7. How to Write an Outline
Whether it's a doctoral thesis or high school essay, outlining is crucial to writing success. This lesson emphasizes the importance of outlines and specifically addresses the three most common outlines for writers to utilize.

8. Basic Essay Structure: The Five-Paragraph Essay
Working with an established essay structure provides writers with the necessary elements of a successful essay. In this lesson, we'll work through the drafting process for the five-paragraph essay and make note of important dos and don'ts.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the AP English Literature Syllabus Resource & Lesson Plans course
- Literary Theory Lesson Plans
- Literature Interpretation Lesson Plans
- Rhetorical Devices Lesson Plans
- Poetry Lesson Plans
- Types of Poetry Lesson Plans
- Prose Lesson Plans
- Prose Fiction Lesson Plans
- American Literary Periods Lesson Plans
- American Literary Analysis Examples Lesson Plans
- English Literary Periods Lesson Plans
- English Literary Analysis Examples Lesson Plans
- Grammar Review Lesson Plans
- Essay Types Lesson Plans
- Essay Writing Conventions Lesson Plans
- Writing & Structuring an Essay Lesson Plans
- Writing Revision & Skill Development Lesson Plans
- About the AP English Literature Test