Ch. 5: Procedures and Format of In-Class Extemporary or Impromptu Essays

(See also the Chapter "Norm's Notes on the Reading-Response Essay," particularly the material dealing with the general issues of time management, scrutinizing the wording of the assigned topic, jotting full notes, organizing, and editing.)

5.1: Scratch notes and scratch outline. (1) As indicated in Chapter 6, "Writing the Impromptu Essay on an Assigned Topic (Particularly a Regents' Exam Topic)," of this pamphlet, take some time (a good five or seven minutes) to carefully examine the language of the assigned topic, jot on a separate 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper full and expansive notes (from the left margin to the right margin, perhaps several lines for each point, including notes for specifics, details, examples that will support and explain--as well as clarify your own thinking), and make a rough or scratch outline. There is not time for a full roman numeral outline, so don't waste valuable time making one. (2) The reasons for this thoroughness in the "prewriting" stage of an impromptu essay are several. First, there is no time for a second complete draft. Second, writers need to be able to pay attention to style, grammar, and usage while writing, rather than worrying about what in the world to say in the next sentence, where to go next. The analogy is watching your step or feet (comparable to keeping an eye on style, grammar, and usage) instead of tripping while peering into the distance (comparable to trying to think what major point or illustration should come next).
 

5.2: Format. Your in-class essays should follow MLA format; that is, they should look like your out-of-class essays, except that they will not t use formal documentation and will not have a Works Cited page. Several of the following items are covered in my website handout "Using Microsoft Word." (1) Using a "header" in the word processor, put your surname and arabic page number in the upper right hand corner. (2) All the rest of your essay should be double-spaced, with no exceptions. (3) Provide your full name, my name, course name, and date in the upper lefthand corner of the first page, as per the MLA format and explained in the section on the sample research paper in the composition handbook.  (4) All essays should have a good title, placed on the first line of lined paper and formatted just as with MLA style in out-of-class essays and the composition handbook. (4b) Write your title in the appropriate place as soon as you begin to write the essay; this step should help keep you focused on the topic and help prevent drifting away from the assigned topic. (4c) Remember that all paragraphs, should be indented; use the tab key, located in the upper left side of the keyboard. (4d) For essays about Regents' Exam topics, Immediately after your title, in parentheses indicate by the initials RTP plus a number what the RTP topic number of the essay question was. Do not waste valuable time recopying the question; you will be able to look it up, by number, in the collection of RTP topics on the Freshman English site of ASU computer network.  (5) If you discover something that needs changing just before handing in your printed-out essay, use pen to make the changes or corrections (e.g., adding the name and page number if the header was not done correctly). If you need to make changes, follow the procedures for these explained in the composition handbook (including the front endpapers)--e.g., lining out, using a caret (placed appropriately) with correction or addition written above the line.

5.3: Time management on extemporary or impromptu essays.(1) Bring a watch to class on writing days, to keep track of your time portions (for fifty-minute classes, about 5 minutes for prewriting, 40 minutes for writing, 5 minutes for editing and revising; for sixty-minute classes, 7.5 minutes for prewriting, 45 minutes for writing, 7.5 minutes for editing and revising). (2) Failure to spend enough time on the prewriting and editing-revising stages causes many essays to be poorer--sometimes fatally so--than they should be. (3) A collegiate or large paperback dictionary may be used for the last fifteen minutes of the period; by all means, bring one of these. No other reference works may be used, however. (4) If you find that you are not getting any time to edit and revise at the end of the period, try doing these for each paragraph, as you complete it. Study Chapter 6, "Writing the Impromptu Essay on an Assigned Topic," in this pamphlet about ways to improve your speed and fluency in writing. (5a) Every composition handbook recommends making your own personal editing and revising checklist. Each writer does not have every possible weakness in each of the two major areas of editing and revising. From past papers in this and other writing classes, determine which four or five editing errors you need to check for most pressingly, and then carefully and slowly check for only these, line by line and sentence by sentence of your essay. Make a separate pass for each major problem. For example, if a writer had problems with apostrophes, to-too (plus their-there, affect-effect, etc.), subject-verb agreement (e.g., "they was friends of mine"), and comma splices, he or she should make four line-by-line passes through his or her paper (or each paragraph, as he or she finishes it). In the first pass, the writer should check line by line for apostrophes. In the second pass, the writer should check for to-too (etc.). In the third pass, the writer should check for subject-verb agreement. In the fourth and final pass, the writer should check for comma splices. (5b) Likewise, for revision; typically what do you, personally, usually need to add or subtract in essays? Remember to use carets, appropriate placement of additions, etc., as per the composition handbook.
 

5.4: Straight-to-the-point Vs. Funnel Organization; Overall General Thesis Sentence Vs. Overall Blueprint Thesis Sentence in the Impromptu Essay. (1) Both in-class impromptu as well as out-of-class essays may be organized with either a straight-to-the point or funnel organization. The straight-to-the point organization does not have an elaborate introductory paragraph that funnels down to the main point in its last sentence. Rather, it opens with the thesis sentence and proceeds to the first main idea or component or main point, providing adequate transition (e.g., "For example, . . . ") all in the first paragraph. Likewise, instead of a separate concluding paragraph, the straight-to-the-point format combines in the essay's last paragraph (a) the last main point with (b) a conclusion that both rounds off that point and the whole paper at the same time, usually in one sentence, or possibly two sentences. (2) In contrast, the funnel organization has both a separate introductory paragraph and separate concluding paragraph. The introductory paragraph provides some pertinent background or lead-in to the main thesis or topic sentence, which is usually placed last in the paragraph. The separate concluding funnel paragraph opens outward, adding broadening details and observations, based on (but not merely repeating) what has preceded. (3a) The overall thesis sentence in the first paragraph (and later topic sentences in later paragraphs) may be of two main kinds: general or blueprint. The general thesis sentence generally identifies the topic as well as a general thought about or approach to it (example: "Several steps need to be taken in order to reduce crime"). The general topic sentence is best used for the straight-to-the-point organization, since transition to the first main point in the first paragraph is easy (example: "Several steps need to be taken in order to reduce crime. For example, police forces need improvement." Etc.). (3b) The blueprint thesis sentence actually names a number or the specific main points (examples: "Five main steps need to be taken in order to reduce crime"; "The steps that need to be taken in order to reduce crime involve xxxxx, xxxxx, xxxxx, and xxxx"). The blueprint thesis sentence does best at the end of a funnel introductory paragraph. This kind of topic sentence is harder to use as the first sentence in a straight-to-the-point first paragraph because of greater difficulty of simple transition from the thesis sentence to the first main point. Instead, the first main point is included in the topic sentence of the next new paragraph. (4) In the topic sentences of paragraphs after the first, avoid merely repeating in identical words generalizations already made. It's time, especially in a short essay (under ten pages), to add important new information in the topic sentence of each paragraph following the first.
 

5.5 See the next chapter of this pamphlet, as well as the chapter "Norm's Notes on the Reading Response Essay" for other relevant matters about impromptu or extemporary essays