For this week's course in English 101, we were presented a video by way of youtube.com. The video was narrated by Mr. David Taylor, and is titled "How to write an effective essay: Formulas of the five-paragraph essay". Mr. Taylor's youtube.com channel is called "The Write Place" where he accepts questions from the general public, and also releases a writing related video every Sunday.
Mr. Taylor begins the video with a brief introduction on how to properly conduct an academic essay. He presents a simple application to the writing of essays, called the "1-3-1" method. He reiterates a point made in previous lessons regarding the "magic of threes". For some reason or another the mind is naturally drawn to narratives, and ideas that come in threes. Such is the point with "Goldilocks and the three Bears", "the Three little Pigs", and Charles Dickens' "a Christmas Carol" (in which he is visited by three ghosts).
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Taylor then goes on to state to begin with a topic. Once you have that, you need to conduct research on the subject. This can be accomplished via researching on the internet, in a book, or by interviewing sources that care considered subject matter experts. This is a solid foundation in which your work will be based off, so ensure it is conducted thoroughly. By doing so you lend yourself more credibility on the matter, and are taken in a more serious manner. Plus if anyone interjects with a question, or opposition, it can definitely aid in a rebuttal. Once you feel comfortable with your research comes the planning phase. You can then begin with planning the format, and presentation. When doing such, Mr. Taylor explains that it is easy to list the three main points of discussion. It is from here that you will develop your paragraphs for your essay. Make sure you include your thesis in the introduction. This can easily be obtained by listing the topic, and your position of said topic. From these two you can draw your thesis, as they