During my first semester as a writing tutor at Trinity Western University, I was struck by how effectively essay structure and higher<\/span>–<\/span>order concerns apply to writing across the curriculum.\u00a0<\/span>I\u00a0<\/span>had the opportunity to tutor<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Masters of Psychology students<\/span>\u00a0and undergraduate students taking their core English courses. Focusing on higher<\/span>-order concerns was often the best way to help students across the curriculum improve their papers’ flow and structure<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The highest order concerns for most papers across the curriculum include a specific, debatable thesis or argument and clear topic sentences that point back to the thesis. <\/span>During many sessions, I repeated<\/span>\u00a0that a thesis must be a clear and concise argument and that topic sentences are mini-theses<\/span>\u00a0or<\/span>\u00a0mini summaries of your main idea(s). Everything in the paper works to prove<\/span>\u00a0or<\/span>\u00a0illuminate the thesis (for expository papers).\u00a0<\/span>A strong thesis is the highest order concern of any essay across the curriculum.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After the thesis, specific topic sentences that focus on one main idea or sub-point from the thesis, are the next<\/span>–<\/span>highest<\/span>–<\/span>order concern. I continually encouraged students across the curriculum to rework their topic sentences. I\u00a0<\/span>often asked<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>students<\/span>\u00a0whether the<\/span>ir<\/span>\u00a0first sentence summarizes the main point of everything they\u00a0<\/span>would<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>discuss in<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the following<\/span>\u00a0section<\/span>\u00a0or body paragraph<\/span>. In training, I took the idea to heart that if a reader reads the thesis and topic sentences, the essay should make sense and follow a clear argument.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tutoring graduate students was a humbling experience. <\/span>I was frequently challenged by\u00a0<\/span>graduate\u00a0<\/span>students who were much more knowledgeable\u00a0<\/span>on the<\/span>ir respective topic<\/span>s than I was. I was completely unfamiliar with some of the language\u00a0<\/span>these\u00a0<\/span>graduate\u00a0<\/span>students used! However, regardless of a paper\u2019s topic and\u00a0<\/span>technical language<\/span>, I could determine whether\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0paper presented a clear, compelling argument that flowed through\u00a0<\/span>its<\/span>\u00a0topic sentences.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In conclusion, <\/span>I came to realize that focusing on higher<\/span>–<\/span>order concerns and structuring your paper to support your arguments clearly and consistently is not an artistic skill such as voice or narrative language<\/span>\u00a0(neither is it<\/span>\u00a0a set of arbitrary grammar rules that must be memorized\u00a0<\/span>just because<\/span><\/i>)<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Crafting a compelling essay structure is a logical technique that can be learned and applied. Across the curriculum, a compelling essay begins with clear, concise\u00a0<\/span>logic<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Elyssa’s Reflection Elyssa Campbell December 11, 2020 During my first semester as a writing tutor at Trinity Western University, I was struck by how effectively essay structure and higher–order concerns …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":5961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[77,198],"class_list":["post-5489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflection","tag-fall-2020","tag-reflection-elyssa_campbell"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pad6JM-1qx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7104,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489\/revisions\/7104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/learningcommons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}