CCNY CWE Writing Center

General Writing - These Perdue OWL resources will help you with the writing process: pre-writing (invention), developing research questions and outlines, composing thesis statements, and proofreading.

Academic Writing - These Perdue OWL will help you with the types of writing you may encounter while in college. The OWL resources range from rhetorical approaches for writing, to document organization, to sentence level work, such as clarity. For specific examples of writing assignments, please see our Common Writing Assignments area.

How To Write a Thesis Statement 1 (PDF)

How To Write a Thesis Statement 2 (PDF)

Academic Integrity - City College’s policy on academic integrity.

Plagiarism and Paraphrasing - This OWL resource offers advice on how to avoid plagiarism in your work.

Research and Citation - It is very important to know what style of writing your instructor is requesting.

16 Habits of Mind (PDF) - Habits of Mind is knowing how to behave intelligently when you DO NOT know the answer. It means having a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known: dichotomies, dilemmas, enigmas and uncertainties.

HOCs and LOCs (PDF)

High Order of Concerns and Low Order of Concerns

When you are revising your papers or the writing consult is helping you with your essay, not every element of your work should have equal priority. The most important parts of your paper, often called “Higher Order Concerns (HOCs),” are the “big picture” elements such as thesis or focus, audience and purpose, organization, and development. After you have addressed these important elements, you can then turn your attention to the “Lower Order Concerns (LOCs),” such as sentence structure and grammar.

Keep in mind, however, that moving between HOCs and LOCs might be a natural process for you. Experienced writers may begin with HOCs and dip into the LOCs as they revise. Inexperienced writers may revise systematically through the HOCs and then the LOCs. In addition, LOCs, such as punctuation and spelling, may affect HOCs. For example, if the first sentence of your introductory paragraph is riddled with punctuation and spelling errors, readers may not move far enough into your work to get to your thesis statement. In these cases, you should address LOCs first.

Some HOCs
Thesis or focus:
• Does the paper have a central thesis?
• Can you, if asked, offer a one-sentence explanation or summary of what the paper is about?
• Ask someone to read the first paragraph or two and tell you what he or she thinks the paper will discuss.

Audience and purpose:
• Do you have an appropriate audience in mind? Can you describe them?
• Do you have a clear purpose for the paper? What is it intended to do or accomplish?
• Why would someone want to read this paper?
• Does the purpose match the assignment?

Organization:
• Does the paper progress in an organized, logical way?
• Go through the paper and jot down notes on the topics of the various paragraphs. Look at this list and see if you can think of a better organization.
• Make a brief outline. Does the organization make sense? Should any part be moved to another part?
• Ask someone to read the paper. At the end of each paragraph, ask the person to forecast where the paper is headed. If the paper goes in a direction other than the one forecasted by the reader, is there a good reason, or do you need to rewrite something there?

Development:
• Are there places in the paper where more details, examples, or specifics are needed?
• Do any paragraphs seem much shorter and in need of more material than others? (For more help, see our handout on paragraphing.)
• Ask someone to read the paper and comment if something is unclear and needs more description, explanation, or support.

Some LOCs
Sentence structure, punctuation, word choice, and spelling
• Are there a few problems that frequently occur? Keep a list of problems that recur and check for those.
• Read the paper aloud watching and listening for anything that sounds incorrect.
• Ask yourself why you put punctuation marks in certain places. Do you need to check any punctuation rules? (For more help see our handouts on punctuation.)
• For possible spelling errors, proofread backwards, from the end of a line to the beginning.

Writing Dos and Don’ts - Making errors in your writing confuses the reader and distorts the message you are attempting to communicate. Use the below document as beginning list to improve your writing and your ability to communicate with your reader.

Fragments and Run-Ons 

Introduction (top of hourglass: wide to narrow = general to specific)
Give a little background info/context to lead into the specifics of the paper
Thesis statement

Body

Body Paragraph 1
P – point (topic sentence)
I – illustration (page #)
E– explanation (your analysis)
S – so what?
Link back to thesis

Body Paragraph 2
P – point (topic sentence)
I – illustration (page #)
E– explanation (your analysis)
S – so what?
Link back to thesis

Body Paragraph 3
P – point (topic sentence)
I – illustration (page #)
E– explanation (your analysis)
S – so what?
Link back to thesis

Conclusion (bottom of hourglass: narrow to wide = specific to general)

Sum up the paper.
Take it one step further: So what? Why is this significant? What does this mean for us?

Sample Outline

Introduction (top of hourglass: wide to narrow = general to specific)
Give a little background info/context to lead into the specifics of the paper: Throughout history and throughout the world, people have adopted different animals as pets. The dog, often referred to as “man’s best friend,” is one of the most popular types of pet in the United States. However, some breeds of dogs make better pets than others.
Thesis statement: Golden retrievers make good pets.

Body Paragraph 1
P– point (topic sentence): Golden retrievers are cuddly.
I – illustration: “According to a 2011 survey, 89% of participants found golden retrievers cuddly” (Diaz, 3, 2020) .
E– explanation: In other words, this survey, conducted among people who like dogs, but do not necessarily like or own golden retrievers, shows that cuddliness is an attribute commonly attributed to golden retrievers.
S – so what?: It is important that pets are cuddly. Most pet owners want to be able to cuddle with their pets.
Link back to thesis: Cuddliness is one reason why golden retrievers are good pets.

Body Paragraph 2
P: Golden retrievers are loyal.
I: According to a New York Times article by Dr. Gay, a golden retriever protected its owners from burglars. The burglars entered the Joneses’ apartment through the front door, leaving it open, and then began to harm the Joneses. Buddy, the Joneses’ golden retriever, attacked the burglars, protecting his family.
E: In other words, though Buddy was free to escape danger through the open front door, he remained faithful to his owners. This example supports the idea that golden retrievers are a loyal breed of dog.
S: Loyalty is a trait you want to surround yourself with.
Link back to thesis: Therefore, golden retrievers, like other loyal dogs, make good pets.

Body Paragraph 3
P
I
E
S
Link back to thesis

Conclusion (bottom of hourglass: narrow to wide = specific to general)
Sum up the paper: Golden retrievers have a lot of traits that make them good pets, traits like cuddliness and loyalty. It is important that pets are pleasant to hold and are true to their owners.
Take it one step further: So what? Why is this significant? What does this mean for us?: Studies have shown that having pets has benefits for families, the elderly, the depressed and the stressed. These different populations should consider adopting a golden retriever—this loyal and cuddly breed of dog could have a positive impact on their lives.
Works Cited (on its own page)

Sample MLA

APA Formatting Style | APA Thesis Preparation (PDF)

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 7^th ed APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page.

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