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Writing Guidelines
Structure:
We are writing topical essays. Your essay should have an introduction and a
conclusion. The introduction should include a thesis statement---your argument reduced
to one sentence.
The building blocks of essays are paragraphs. A paragraph represents a distinct step
within an argument. There's no rule that a topic sentences must come at the beginning of
each paragraph, but that's what readers are used to, and that's what they find easiest to
follow. In a good essay, each paragraph should have some logical connection to the one
before it.
Careful proofreading and revision are crucial parts of the process of completing any
essay.
A good reference
Wording:
Choose wording that clearly expresses your ideas. Make sure that the subject and verb
match; check number and tense.
Examples from essay 1 for in-class critique:
Thesis statements:
This paper will discuss why the fuses were blown and should be done to prevent the
costly occurrence of blowing a fuse.
When asked how to measure how much current is running through a circuit the meter
may look intimidating, but knowing what its used for, and how to use the device when
measuring current so the fuse doesn’t blow in the multimeter, should be enough
knowledge to operate the device.
A fuse should only blow if and when there is something wrong with something else; it is
extremely rare for a fuse to blow for no good reason.
Exploring the operations of a multimeter it is apparent that many people make the
mistake of measuring current with the voltage circuit of the multimeter.
The fuses in the multimeter could have blown for multiple reasons. The easiest way
would have been because the user connected the multimeter to a circuit that was missing
a source of resistance.
If an ammeter is connected to a circuit in parallel, a short in the circuit results and the
meter’s fuse will blow.
Examples of unclear/ungramatical wording:
When measuring the voltage drop across a resistor and the setting is set on current, or
amps, then the multimeter will want to have the most amount of resistance possible so
that it can measure voltage.
Especially when setting the bounds of measurement, where if you set them too low it may
cause for an overload where too many amps go through the fuse than it can handle. Yet in
series and no resistance the ammeter would have all of the current flowing through it
freely.
Because measuring in parallel measures across the circuit, again creating two points of
flow, and does not break it this would also overload and blow the fuses in the
multimeters.
By disconnecting the circuits at a certain point, measurers can only measure the point in
the circuit that needs to be measured for current.
If connected parallel, the voltage flow throughout the circuit runs through the multimeter,
which is set as an ammeter, and cause Ohm’s law to greatly multiply the amount of
current flowing through because of the miniscule resistance in the ammeter setting.
An example of a very good essay (ignore the cover sheet)