Create Short Reading and Pre-Writing Exercises - cont.

As your students are drafting their full assignment, make up short take-home or in-class exercises that:

• focus the essay’s argument
• signal turns in the argument for the reader
• link ideas within and between paragraphs
• build paragraphs with evidence, cited appropriately
• write compelling introductions and conclusions
• address sentence-level problems, such as grammar or tone
• deal with whatever else you notice your students need help with

(See handouts at the end of this section for examples and ideas.)