Writing Exercise 3 Compose a topic sentence outline, as explained and illustrated in Writing Tip 2, addressing the topic prompt below. Make sure your central question uses key words from the most important sentence in the prompt (Writing Tip 1) and then make sure you use the key words from the central question in each topic sentence and the thesis. Submit your outline in the Writing exercise 3 dropbox in D2L before Monday's class begins.
Your outline should contain four separate sentences:
- The central question.
- Topic sentence 1.
- Topic sentence 2.
- Thesis statement, combining the points in topic sentences 1 and 2.
For example, a topic sentence outline addressing an assignment calling for analysis of the incomparable greatness of former Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux might look like this:
1. Question: What made Greg Maddux such a great pitcher?
2. TS1: Greg Maddux was a great pitcher because he had pinpoint accuracy in locating his pitches.
3. TS2: Maddux was a great pitcher, too, because he was brilliant in outfoxing hitters, getting them to make weak contact for easy ground-ball outs.
4. Thesis: Maddux was a great pitcher because he had pinpoint accuracy and he was brilliant at outsmarting hitters.Topic prompt for the writing exercise (with the sentence highlighted that actually states the assignment task):
There is no truer statement than "times change." Certainly life has changed dramatically in the past two decades in a great many ways. Various commentators have noted that life is very different for teenagers today when compared to the teenage years of their parents and grandparents. Teens today face many challenges that previous generations faced, yes, but also appreciably different challenges that earlier generations could not imagine. Construct a carefully reasoned essay (i.e. a topic sentence outline) explaining how life is difficult for teenagers today.