PART C Generating Ideas for the Body

The thesis statement sets forth the main idea of the entire essay, but it is the body

of the essay that must fully support and discuss that thesis statement In compos-

ing the thesis statement, the writer should already have given some thought to

what the body will contain Now he or she uses one or more prewriting methods

brainstorming, freewriting, clustering, or asking questions--to generate ideas for the body.

To get enough material to flesh out an essay, many writers brainstorm or

freewrite on paper or on the computer screen-jotting down any ideas that de-

velop the thesis statement, including main ideas, specific details, and examples,

all jumbled together. Only after creating a long list do they go back over it, drop

any ideas that do not support the thesis statement, and then group ideas that

might go together in body paragraphs.

186 UNIT 4 WRITING THE ESSAY

Suppose, for instance, that you have written this thesis statement: Although

People often react to stress in harmful ways, there are many positive ways to handle stress.

By brainstorming and then dropping ideas that do not relate, you might eventually produce a list like this:

work out

dig weeds or rake leaves

call a friend

talking out problems relieves stress

jogging

many sports ease tension

go to the beach

take a walk

taking breaks, long or short, relieves stress

talk to a shrink if the problem is really bad

escape into a hobby- photography, bird watching

go to a movie

talk to a counselor at the college

talk to a minister, priest, rabbi, etc.

many people harm themselves trying to relieve stress

they overeat or smoke

drinking too much, other addictions

do vigorous household chores scrub a floor, beat the rugs, pound pillows doing something physical relieves stress

some diseases are caused by stress

take a nap

some people blow up to help tension, but this hurts their relationships

Now read over the list, looking for groups of ideas that could become para-

graphs. Some ideas nught become topic sentences; others might be used to sup-

port a topic sentence How many possible paragraphs can you find in this list?

PRACTICE 4

Choose one of the thesis statements you wrote on page 185 and generate ideas to

develop an essay. Using your favorite prewriting method, try to fill at least a page.

If you get stuck, reread the thesis statement to focus your thoughts or switch to

another prewriting method.

page 185: Its like this

Subject:

Narrowed subject:

Controlling idea:

Thesis statement: