What Makes A Composition?

Writing academic compositions in school is not anyone's favorite activity. But most people, whether they are writing essays for school or writing memos or reports for work, find writing to be challenging. As a student, you have probably written several academic compositions. Even with this practice, it might be hard to think of something to write about, and hard to decide exactly how to begin or end a composition.

Academic compositions include answering exam questions, email, taking notes, and analyzing an academic audience. Like any other kind of academic writing, answering essay test questions requires hours of practice before it becomes easier for the student. Email is used to communicate in many settings. Efficient use of email requires a real sense of purpose of the writing, as well as a clear statement of the message. Note-taking is an integral part of learning. It is also essential for writing academic essays.

The Composition Plan
What are doing this weekend? Will you work, play a sport, or take music lesson? You've probably already made some plans for this weekend and maybe for future ones. Planned compositions, like weekends, are much better than unplanned ones.

The Main Idea
When you have a topic for your essay, think what you want to say about it. What is most important and interesting? What you wish to say about your topic is your main idea.

One writer wanted to write about competing in a skateboarding contest. He thought about the days of practicing, the new tricks, and the excitement. He finally decided to focus on how much fun the contest was. "Skateboard Contests are Fun" became his main idea.

Important: You can always change your primary plan for your composition. As you find ideas and think about your topic, you may decide that you want to say something different.

Early Plans
An initial plan sometimes called an informal outline, is a way to organize your ideas. First, put your ideas into related groups. Then, arrange the groups in an order that make sense to readers.

Grouping
Look at the information you have. Which details belong together? Do you have several notes about one part of your topic? Follow these steps to group ideas.
1. Group notes that have something in common.
2. Write a heading for each group of records.
3. Put the entry in that panel of records.
4. Set aside for later use notes that don't seem to fit.

Ordering
The order you use depends partly on your information. What should come first? What last? If your composition tells how to perform skateboarding tricks, you're writing about a step-by-step process. You should use chronological (time) order. Is your piece about a trip to see the giant redwoods? You might use spatial order and describe the trees in the order you see them.

Be sure to arrange your ideas in an order that makes sense to readers. The writer of the composition on pet pigs (below) uses logical order She groups related ideas for easier writing.The writers tell first about the benefits of having a pet pig and then tells about the drawbacks. The early plan also uses logical order.

Computer Note: You can create tables within your word-processing program and use them to organize your prewriting notes.

Topic: Pet Pigs

Benefits:
Clean
Easier than some other animals to housebreak
Don't shed or get fleas
Can communicate
Easy to train
Will play and do tricks
Easy to feed

Drawbacks:
Can get enormous
Can be lazy
Can be too playful.
Not a good watch animal

Formal Outlines
An official outline is more structured than an early plan. It uses letters and numbers to label main heading and ideas that belong below those heading. A formal framework has either topics (single words or phrases) or complete sentences.

Here's a topic outline for the essay on pet pigs. Compare it to the finished composition, below. Notice that the introduction aren't a part of the Outline.
Title: The Patter of Little Hooves

Central Idea: Pigs make excellent pets

1. Benefits
A. characteristics
1. Cleanliness
2. Ease of housebreaking
3. Lack of fur and fleas
4. Friendliness

B. Enjoyment of games
1. Fetching
2. Swimming
3.Rolling over
4. Climbing stairs

II. Drawbacks
A. Playfulness
B. Inability to protect

Here's my composition on pet pigs. The writer bases each paragraph on each part of the outline. Does every paragraph support the idea that pigs make excellent pets?

The Patter of Little Hooves

What comes to mind when you think about pigs? Many people think of words like dirty, smell, unfriendly, and even stupid. It may surprise you, but these words don't describe pigs at all. You may be even more surprised that many people think that pigs make excellent pets.

As a matter of fact, pig lovers will tell you that pigs are very pleasant. Many people say that pigs are much better pets than cats or dogs. They point out that pigs are immaculate and are more easily housebroken than most other pets. Pigs don't shed or get fleas. And they are friendly companions. They are happy to sit quietly and watch TV with you and never complain about your choice of programs.

Pigs learn quickly and enjoy playing games. Pet pigs happily fetch thrown sticks for hours at a time. They can also be taught to swim, roll over, climb stairs, or do just about any other pet trick.

On the other hand, pet pigs have their drawbacks. For one thing., they can be too playful. One pig owner found that nothing could stop her pet pig from taking the phone off the hook. He likes to hear the dial tone. Also, they won't protect you. They're more likely to smile at a burglar than to run the criminal off.

Pigs have been around for a long time. It's only recently that people have begun to use works like cuddly, sweet, and smart to describe them. The day of the pig ahs finally arrived. Who knows? Maybe someday you'll hear the patter of little hooves around your house.