Sharpening Your Paper Topic

The best way to sharpen your own topic is to help your classmates sharpen theirs. For this in-class workshop, I would like you to read the topic of one other student, typing comments in the margin according to the guidelines for paper topics. This means that you will have to share your document in Google Drive using the sharing addresses in your group. When inviting others to your document, choose "can comment" instead of "can edit." Also, be sure that you share in such a way that each person in the group has a reviewer.

Comment on your classmate's document with elaborate and detailed suggestions. Do not say anything about style or grammar; focus only on the FIVE criteria below. After you have evaluated the topic of another student, please look at your own topic again and revise it by applying what you have learned.

Your own topic and the topics you look at should have these five components, in this order, in one paragraph:

1. Introduce a recent experience or problem relevant to you that you want to explore
2. State the specific idea you want to explain about this experience or problem.
3. Describe the stages that will logically develop your idea.
4. Write a thesis statement for the idea you want to explain.
5. Describe how reading your essay will help a particular audience.