Plan for a Short Theme

To the Student: The following form might be helpful to you when you are planning an

            advanced draft of an essay.  Whenever you can, record the actual topic sentence 

            of a body paragraph rather that merely the topic of that paragraph.  Be sure to make this form fit your essay (not vice versa); in other words, simply cross off the “extra” body paragraphs if you don’t need them.

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Title

Introduction (Paragraph 1)

            *Thesis Statement:

Body

            Topic Sentence of:

            *Paragraph 2:

            *Paragraph 3:

            *Paragraph 4:

            *Paragraph 5:

            *Paragraph 6:

Conclusion

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If you are using this form instead of writing the full essay, choose one of the planned paragraphs from above and write that paragraph on another sheet of paper.  Record here which paragraph you are writing:

                                                    Paragraph:_________

(Note: If you have a very special reason for doing so, you may choose to write out the Introduction or Conclusion.)