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Introduction

• Why Writing Matters

• Organization of This Course

Part 1: A Structured Approach to Successful Essay Writing

• Introduction

1. Why Are Writing Skills Important?

• Why Good Writers Rule the World

2. What is the Most Efficient Way to Improve My Essay Writing?

• The Craft of Writing From 20,000 Feet

• The Most Efficient Way to Dramatically Improve Your Essay Writing

• Introduction, Main Body, Conclusion: Why Are Essays Written This Way?

• How Essay Style is Related to Essay Structure

3. How Should I Approach the Writing Process?

• Writing to PRESENT vs Writing to DISCOVER

• Why Rewriting is Important (and why students don’t think so)

• How to Deal With Writer’s Anxiety and Writer’s Block

4. What is My Ideal Writing Workflow?

• The Right Way to Think About Outlining

• My Ideal Writing Workflow

• Tools for Mind-Mapping, Outlining and Drafting

• The Writing Tools I Use: A Quick Introduction to Scrivener and Evernote

5. What Does a Structured Approach to Essay Writing Look Like?

• Two Kinds of Essay Structure to Keep in Mind

• A Structured Approach to Essay Writing Using Scrivener

• A Short Essay Demo Using a Structured Essay Writing Template

6. Follow Along As I Write a Real College Essay From Start to Finish

• Writing a Real College Essay: Part 1 - The Assignment

• Writing a Real College Essay: Part 2 - Research

• Writing a Real College Essay: Part 3 - Outlining

• Writing a Real College Essay: Part 4 - Drafts

• Writing a Real College Essay: Part 5 - References

7. How Can I Improve My Writing Style?

• The #1 Misconception About Writing Style

• Oratorical Style, Prophetic Style and Romantic Style

• Practical Style, Reflexive Style and Academic Style

• Classic Style: Prose as a Window Into the World

• Classic Style as an Antidote to Bad Academic Writing

Part 2: How to Write a Good Argumentative Essay (and watch me rewrite a student essay from start to finish)

• Introduction

1. Guidelines for Structuring an Argumentative Essay

• A Minimal Five-Part Structure

• Writing the Introduction

• Writing the Conclusion

2. A Sample Essay with Some Problems (and strategies for fixing them)

• The Essay: Should Teachers Be Allowed to Ban Laptops in Classrooms?

• Analysis: The Introduction

• Analysis: Main Body: First Argument

• Analysis: Main Body: Second Argument

• Analysis: Main Body: Third Argument

• Analysis: Main Body: Evaluation and Recommendations

• Analysis: The Conclusion

• The Essay: Improved Version

• The Essay: Improved Version With Commentary

Part 3: How to Cite Sources and Avoid Plagiarism

• Introduction

1. What is Plagiarism?

• Plagiarism: The Basic Definition

• Downloading or Buying Whole Papers

• Cutting and Pasting From Several Sources

• Changing Some Words But Copying Whole Phrases

• Paraphrasing Without Attribution

• The Debate Over Patchwriting

2. How to Cite Sources

• When Should I Cite a Source?

• What Needs to be Cited?

• How to Cite: Mark the Boundaries

• Citing Exact Words

• Citing a Longer Quotation

• Citing a Source But Not Quoting

• A Comment About Common Knowledge

• Understanding Citation Styles: MLA, APA, CSE, Chicago, Turabian