Sample Course Outlines
CONCEPT TO COMPLETION: WRITING A FORMAL ESSAY
*Basic Outline - Course is fully online and easily adapted for all ages and time-frames - suggested time- frame is a multi-week course.
Week 1: The Topic – How to find your topic/voice within any assignment (brainstorming fundamentals)
Week 2: The Thesis Statement – The contract to your reader and to yourself; beginning to plan (outlining techniques)
Week 3: The Introduction – How to INSTANTLY draw your reader in; introducing topic sentences
Week 4: Points of Argument – How to determine your 3-5 most effective points of argument and effectively expand on them (expansion techniques – Journalist ?'s/RENNS)
Week 5: The Conclusion – How to successfully exit your essay with impact (conclusion techniques/suggestions)
CONQUERING RESEARCH: THE BASICS
*Basic Outline -Course is fully online and easily adapted for all ages and time-frames - suggested time- frame is a multi-week course.
Week 1: The Issue; Key Words – How to find your research issue through initial research and "Googling"; How to recognize and establish key Internet research words for maximum results
Week 2: Credible Sources – How to find and identify credible sources (with emphasis on the Internet)
Week 3: Evaluating Sources – How to make the source information your own
Week 4: Developing your thesis statement and working outline
Weeks 5-8: Synthesizing Sources – MLA/APA citation; critical synthesizing of sources; in-text source lead-in/lead outs; source summaries
COMMON GRAMMAR ERRORS: RISING ABOVE THE MASSES
*Basic Outline - Course is fully online and easily adapted for all ages and time-frames - suggested time-frame is a multi-week course.
Week 1: Resisting commonly accepted "slang"
Week 2: Common errors in verb usage
Weeks 3: Adjectives vs. Adverbs
Week 4: The fall of abbreviations
Week 5: Embracing formal terms
Week 6: The art of civility
PUNCTUATION MADE EASY: THE BASICS
*Basic Outline -Course is fully online and easily adapted for all ages and time-frames - suggested time- frame is a multi-week course.
Week 1: Commas – Solving the mystery
Week 2: Colons/Semicolons – Who knows? You will.
Weeks 3: Quotation Marks – and all that that implies
Week 4: SF – FS – CS – How to avoid creating sentence fragments, fused sentences, and comma splices.
Week 5: Hyphens – A play-by-play of when to use them
Week 6: The "Nuances" – Using punctuation to create "flow"
THE ARTICULATE WRITER
*Basic Outline -Course is fully online and easily adapted for all ages and time-frames - suggested time- frame is a multi-week course.
Week 1: Identifying and Engaging the Audience – How to find the appropriate message for your audience
Week 2: Establishing your main point and supporting ideas
Weeks 3-5: Eliminating common slang
Week 6-8: Understanding Parallelism and Deliberate Repetition
THE EASE OF LITERATURE
*Basic Outline -Course is fully online and easily adapted for all ages and time-frames - suggested time- frame is a multi-week course.
Week 1: Character – Identifying a player's purpose
Week 2: Setting – Identifying the contribution to the overall story
Weeks 3: Point of View – Determining the "eyes" through which you are viewing
Week 4: Conflict – Examining the interaction of characters/plot/setting
Week 5: Tone – Evaluating the "mood" of the piece
Week 6: Theme – When all is said and done, what was the author saying?