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helps you to read with this type of focus.

A note: The first two assignments on these readings (“Pollution/Los Angeles” and “Sustainable Communities”) were included to allow you to reflect on your own thoughts and feelings about the content. Now, the essay asks you to focus only on the writers’ choices and techniques, and not on the content.

Pre-writing: As you read the three articles, read closely. Notice details, and notice what you notice by keeping a . Try to “read” those details to develop an interpretation: Why did the writer make this choice, and what does this reveal about the audience, purpose, and context? The writing choices could be word choice, complexity of the vocabulary, length and complexity of sentences, types of evidence use, how the document is formatted, the length of the text, etc.

As your ideas begin to develop, work on drafting a thesis statement, and then perhaps consider the organization of your ideas by creating an outline. As you pre-write, consider how you can shape your essay around the .

Drafting: When you have a clear picture of where your essay is going, develop a first draft. To make the best use of your revision process, your draft should be as complete as possible, and over 1,000 words! The first draft is due March 25.

Revise and edit: Work on developing a that works for you, remember to both focus on the big picture and zoom in on the details. I strongly recommend that you get feedback from a as part of your revision process. When you submit your final draft, please also submit the Writing Process Reflection form. Remember that one of the SLOs I’m grading you on is about writing process; I will look at your first draft and the Reflection Form as I assess your score on the final draft.