Organizing the Process Analysis Essay

 One of the more difficult aspects of writing a process essay is deciding where to
divide the essay into paragraphs.
 Below are a few pointers for dividing process steps logically into paragraphs:

1. Introduction:

 Should introduce the topic

 Establish the purpose of the essay

2. Developmental paragraphs:

 The actual description of the process usually begins in the first

developmental paragraph.

 If you are describing how to do something and the process requires that the
reader obtain some items first, then you may need to point out in the first
paragraph what items are needed.

 The actual steps of the process can usually be divided into three or four
major steps. For example, if you were explaining how to change a flat tire,
the first section could deal with getting the car jacked up; the next section
could deal with removing and replacing the tire; and the last section could
deal with removing the jack. [ Each major step can be described in a
separate paragraph]

 The topic sentence in a process essay is often implied rather than stated
directly.

3. Conclusion

 Conclusion of process essay depends on the type of process being described

and the controlling idea/central idea

 Conclusion often discusses the results and re-emphasize the controlling idea

 There is no identical template, but the essay must have intro +

developmental paragraphs 9as many as needed) and a conclusion
Exercise 9: Read the Process Essay on 'Studying Math' on page 211,and answer the
questions 1 through 10 on page 212. [directional or informational]

Exercise 11: Read the Process Essay on 'Cognitive Development' on page 212,and
answer the questions 1 through 9 on page 214. [Directional or informational]

Introductory Paragraph

The Dramatic Entrance

 Funnel and Turnabout are good approaches to begin essay.

 Dramatic Entrance is another opening: A dramatic, humorous or an interesting

opening (in the broad sense) can capture the reader's attention. The type of
introduction that serves this purpose can be called dramatic entrance.

 There are several ways to make a dramatic entrance. One way is to describe a scene
that introduces your reader to the subject. See how this writer opens an article on
depression: (Page 215):

On May 16, 1898, the intrepid (brave) Arctic explorer Frederick A. Cook made the following
notation in his journal: " The winter and the darkness have slowly but steadily settled over
us…It is not difficult to read on the faces of my companions their thoughts and their moody
dispositions. The curtain of blackness which has fallen over the outer world of icy desolation
(despair) has also descended upon the inner world of our souls. Around the tables…men are
sitting about sad and dejected, lost in dreams of melancholy from which, now and then, one
arouses with an empty attempt at enthusiasm. For brief moments some try to break the spell
by jokes (end), told perhaps for the fiftieth time. Others grind out (work hard) a cheerful
philosophy, but all efforts to infuse (infuse) bright hopes fail."

We now know that the members of the Cook expedition were suffering from classic
symptom of winter depression, a condition related to a recently described psychiatric
disorder, known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.

 For a process essay, it is often useful to begin with a description of a scene that
establishes the need for a process explanation.

 Observe here how a student uses a description to set up a process paper: (page 215-16)

The rain pours down as if running from a faucet (tap), lightening the streaks (striːks/lines)
across the dark restless sky, and thunder pounds (strike repeatedly) the roof and walls of
the house. Trees sway madly back and forth, loose (movable) objects are picked and
thrown all around. The house creaks and moans (sounds of pain and grief) with every gust
(blast) of wind. Windows are broken by pieces of shingle (stones) from a neighbor's roof
or by loose objects picked up by the wind. Power lines snap like thread (break). The
 unprepared house and its occupants are in grave danger as the awesome hurricane
approaches. Had they prepared for the hurricane, they might not be in such danger.
Indeed careful preparation before a hurricane is essential to life and property.

Train students on drafting an dramatic entrance by starting an introductory paragraph

about one of the topics on page 216.

The life cycle of an insect! Mosquito

Coherence

 Because process essay is organized chronologically, like narrations, many of the

transitional devices discussed in Chapter 3 are used: Sequence words (first,
next, after that…etc.) and adverb clauses of time (as soon as, while, as,
meanwhile)

 Adverb clauses and participial phrases can be used to indicate the sequence of
actions between clauses.

 Adverbial Clauses of time: are subordinate clauses created when you combine
two independent clauses and make one subordinate to- or dependent o- the
other.

 They are used to clarify the time relationship between the actions in the two
clauses.

 Adverbial clauses of time can be reduced to participial phrases when the subject
of the adverbial clause is the same as the subject of the independent clause.

See how this works: (revisit Chapter 3 for further details)

Form Example
1. Two independent Clauses First, he typed the email. Then he sent
the message to his friend

2. Adverbial Clause + independent After he typed the email, he sent the message
Clause to his friend

Participial phrase + Independent Clause After typing the email, he sent the message to
his friend

Having typed the email, he sent the message

to his friend.
Exercise 13: Edit (on page 217) do it in classed and find required grammatical elements.

1. Adverb clauses of purpose: (e.g. so that): [wear gloves so that you will not cut your
hands]
2. Adverb clauses of cause: (e.g. since, as, because, thus, therefore, consequently, as a
result]
3. Adverb clauses reduced to participial phrase [e.g. doing, having done, having been
nominated]
4. Real conditionals [if clauses first two types]

Choose one of the topics on page 218 and write a process essay due next class.