Chapter 3

The Writing Process: Stage Two

Writing the Controlling Idea /
Organizing and Developing Support
Dening the Controlling Idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Writing the Controlling Idea as a Topic Sentence or Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Organizing Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Clustering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Outlining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Writers Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

The most important advice this book can offer you is state your controlling idea
and support it. If you have no controlling ideano topic sentence for a paragraph
or thesis for an essayyour writing will be unfocused, and your readers may be
confused or bored. But if you organize your material well, so that it supports and
develops your controlling idea, you can present your views to your readers with
interest, clarity, and persuasion.
Stating the controlling idea and organizing support can be accomplished
effectively and systematically. How? This chapter presents several uncomplicated techniques you can use in Stage Two of the writing process.

Dening the Controlling Idea

If you tell a friend you are about to write a paragraph or an essay, be prepared to
hear the question What are you writing about? If you answer, Public schools,
your friend will probably be satised with the answer but not very interested. The
problem is that the phrase public schools offers no sense of limitation or direction. It just indicates your subject, not what you are going to do with it. An
effective controlling statement, called the topic sentence for a paragraph and
the thesis for an essay, has both a subject and a focus. The subject is what you
intend to write about. The focus is what you intend to do with your subject.
40

Writing the Controlling Idea as a Topic Sentence or Thesis

41

Example: Long homework assignments for children can interrupt family life.
subject

focus

In some instances the subject will follow the focus:

The time has come for a national law legalizing
focus

physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill.

subject

In other instances the subject will divide the focus:

Four factors establish Elvis Presley as the greatest entertainer of
focus

subject

focus

the twentieth century: appearance, singing ability, style, and

inuence.

Writing the Controlling Idea as a Topic Sentence or Thesis

The effective controlling idea presents a focus that can be developed with supporting information. The ineffective one is vague, too broad, or too narrow.
Vague:

Public schools are great.

Better:

Public schools do as well academically as private schools,

subject

focus

subject

focus

according to statistics. [made more specic]

Too Broad: Public schools are too crowded.
subject

Better:

focus

Bidwell Elementary School is too crowded. [limiting the

subject

focus

subject to a particular school]

Too Narrow: American public schools were rst established in Philadelphia
subject

focus

in 1779. [only a fact]

Better:

The rst public schools in America were founded to meet certain

subject

focus

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

practical needs. [made more specic by indicating aspects]

In writing a sound controlling idea, be sure that you have included both the
subject and the focus and that the whole statement is not vague, too broad, or
too narrow. Instead, it should be phrased so that it invites development. Such
phrasing can usually be achieved by limiting time, place, or aspect. The limitation
may apply to the subject (instead of schools in general, a specic school), or it
may apply to the focus (you might compare the subject to something else, as in
do as well academically). You might limit both the subject and the focus.

EXERCISE 1

E v a l u a t i n g To p i c S e n t e n c e s
In the following controlling ideas, underline and label the subjects (S) and focus
(F). Also judge each one as effective (E) or ineffective (I).
Example:
I

Basketball is an interesting sport.

S

42

Chapter 3 The Writing Process: Stage Two

1. Students who cheat in school may be trying to relieve certain

emotional pressures.
2. Shakespeare was an Elizabethan writer.
3. The quarterback in football and the general of an army are alike in
signicant ways.
4. Animals use color chiey for protection.
5. Portland is a city in Oregon.
6. Life in the ocean has distinct realms.
7. Rome has had a glorious and tragic history.
8. Boston is the capital of Massachusetts.
9. The word macho has a special meaning to the Hispanic community.
10. The history of plastics is exciting.

E v a l u a t i n g To p i c S e n t e n c e s
In the following controlling ideas, underline and label the subjects (S)
and focus (F). Also judge each one as effective (E) or ineffective (I).
1. An experience in the rst grade taught me a valuable lesson about
honesty.
2. The Internet has changed the way many people shop.

3. President Lincoln was assassinated at the Ford Theater.

4. The dictionary has an interesting history.

5. The world is a place of many contrasts.

6. Rap music can be classied on the basis of the intent of its writers/
composers.
7. Mumbai is one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

EXERCISE 2

Writing the Controlling Idea as a Topic Sentence or Thesis

43

8. What I have seen while working in a fast-food place has made me lose
my appetite.
9. My physical education teacher is called Coach.
10. Count Draculas reputation is based on his exploits as a nocturnal
creature.

EXERCISE 3

W r i t i n g To p i c S e n t e n c e s
Complete the following entries to make each one a solid topic sentence. Only a
subject and part of the focus are provided. The missing part may be more than
a single word.
the car they are
Example: Car salespeople behave differently, depending on _____________
selling and the kind of customer they are serving.
_________________________________________________________

1. A part-time job can offer

2. My schools athletic program should be
3. It is almost universally accepted that smoking is
4. Students caught cheating should be
5. Health care should be
6. One of the effects of the rising cost of a college education is

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

7. Offering constructive criticism to a friend who did not ask can

8. People who appear on television talk shows are frequently

9. The slang of a particular group reveals
10. Gestures and facial expressions usually communicate

EXERCISE 4

W r i t i n g To p i c S e n t e n c e s
Convert each of the following subjects into a topic sentence.
1. Bumper stickers
2. Rudeness

Chapter 3 The Writing Process: Stage Two

3. The true character of my neighbor

4. Many homeless people
5. Being able to use a computer
6. Dieting
7. The basic forms of jazz and classical music
8. Educated citizens
9. The required labeling of rock music CDs
10. Smoking

Your topic sentence or thesis can come from any of several places. You may
be able to generate it at Stage One, in your initial freewriting, brainstorming,
clustering, or gathering information, or you may be given an assigned topic. In
any case, your procedure is the same at this point. You need to work on the
statementjust that one sentenceuntil you have developed an interesting
subject and a well-dened focus. The statement may be a bit more mechanical
than the one you actually use in your paragraph or essay, but it can easily be
reworded once you reach Stage Three of the writing process: writing, revising,
and editing.
The controlling idea will probably not pop into your head fully developed. It is
more likely to be the result of repeated revisions. Even when you are revising
a paper you have written, you may go back and rephrase your topic sentence
or thesis. That is part of the back-and-forth (recursive) nature of the writing
process.
In the following example, note how Jackson reworks her controlling idea several
times before she settles on a statement that is well focused and able to be
developed.
Subject

Focus

Bad drivers
Someone

can be found everywhere. (too broad)

should do something about bad
drivers. (vague)
has existed in the United States for
more than a century. (too broad)
Id crack down on certain types of
bad drivers. (workable)

Bad driving
If I were a trafc cop

Jackson has limited the subject by reducing it to the hypothetical situation

of being a trafc cop. She has limited the focus by dealing with only certain
types of bad drivers, not all bad drivers.

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

44

Organizing Support

45

E X E R C I S E 5 W r i t i n g Yo u r To p i c S e n t e n c e
Using a topic you worked with in Chapter 1 or one from the list on page 35,
write a topic sentence or thesis. Mark the subject and focus parts.

Organizing Support
You have now studied the rst part of the seven-word sentence State your controlling idea and support it. In the rst stage of the writing process (described in
Chapter 2), you explored many ideas, experimented with them, and even developed some approaches to writing about them. You may also have gathered information through reading and note taking. The techniques of that rst stage have
already given you some initial support. The next step is to organize your ideas
and information into a paragraph or an essay that is interesting, understandable,
and compelling.
Three tools can help you organize your supporting material: listing (a form of
brainstorming), clustering, and outlining. You will probably use only one of these
organizing tools, depending on course requirements, the assignment, or individual
preference. In the continuing demonstration of Betsy Jacksons work, each tool is
shown.
LISTING

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Lists are the simplest and most exible of the organizing tools. Listing need be
nothing more than a column of items presenting support material in a useful
sequence (time, space, or importance). As you work with your support material,
you can cross out words or move them around on the list. By leaving vertical
space between items, you can easily insert new examples and details. Jackson
took phrases from the list she had made in Stage One and wrote them below her
topic sentence.
If I were a trafc cop, I would crack down on certain types of bad drivers.
subject

focus

drunk driversmost dangerous, top priority, off the road

tailgatershostile, hurried, cause accidents, irritating
unsafe lane changersrude, cause accidents
left-turners on redreckless, accident prone
CLUSTERING
Chains of circles radiating from a central double-bubbled circle form a cluster that
shows the relationship of ideas. In the following example, Jackson has developed
part of her Stage One cluster (a section noted by a dotted line on page 38).
If I were a trafc cop, Id crack down on certain types of bad drivers.
subject

focus

Chapter 3 The Writing Process: Stage Two

passing in
emergency lanes

freeways
only

not buckling up

tailgating
unsafe lane
changing

Violations
freeways
and surface
streets
surface
streets only

no signals
speeding
D. U. I.
too slow in
fast lanes
left turn
on red

rolling stops

not yielding to
pedestrians

OUTLINING
Outlining is the tool that most people think of in connection with organizing.
Because it is exible and widely used, it will receive the most emphasis in this
stage of the writing process. Outlining does basically the same thing that listing
and clustering do. Outlining divides the controlling idea into sections of support
material, divides those sections further, and establishes sequence.
An outline is a framework that can be used in two ways: (1) It can indicate
the plan for a paragraph or an essay you intend to write, and (2) it can show the
organization of a passage you are reading. The outline of a reading passage
and the outline as a plan for writing are identical in form. If you intend to write
a summary of a reading selection, then a single outline might be used for both
purposes.
The two main outline forms are the sentence outline (each entry is a complete
sentence) and the topic outline (each entry is a key word or phrase). The topic
outline is more common in writing paragraphs and essays.
In the following topic outline, notice rst how the parts are arranged on the
page: the indentations, the number and letter sequences, the punctuation, and
the placement of words. Then read Jacksons outline and see how the ideas in it
relate to one another.
Main Idea (will usually be the topic sentence for a paragraph or the thesis for an
essay)
I. Major support
A. Minor support
1. Explanation, detail, example
2. Explanation, detail, example
B. Minor support
1. Explanation, detail, example
2. Explanation, detail, example

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

46

Organizing Support

II. Major support

A. Minor support
1. Explanation,
2. Explanation,
B. Minor support
1. Explanation,
2. Explanation,

47

detail, example
detail, example
detail, example
detail, example

Here is Betsy Jacksons outline:

If I were a trafc cop, I would crack down on certain types of bad drivers.

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

subject

focus

I. Drunks
II. Unsafe lane changers
A. Attitude
1. Rude
2. Bullying
B. Results
1. Accidents
2. People irritated
III. Left-turners on red
A. Attitude
1. Self-centered
2. Putting self above law
B. Results
1. Bad collisions
2. Mass anger
IV. Tailgaters
A. Motives
1. Hostility
2. Rushed
3. Impatient
B. Effects
1. Accidents
2. Road ghts
The foundation of an effective outline, and, hence, of an effective paragraph or
essay, is a strong controlling idea. Always begin by writing a sound topic sentence
or thesis, one with a specic subject and a well-dened treatment. Then divide
the focus into parts. The nature of the parts will depend on what you are trying to
do in the focus. Just consider the thought process involved. What kinds of material would best support or explain that topic sentence or thesis? How should you
organize that material? Should you present a series of examples? a description of
a process? a story of human struggle? a combination of methods?
Among the most common forms of dividing and organizing ideas are the following:
Narration: division of time or incident to tell a story

48

Chapter 3 The Writing Process: Stage Two

I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

Situation
Conict
Struggle
Outcome
Meaning

Exemplication: division into several examples

I. First example
II. Second example
III. Third example
Analysis by division: division into steps telling how something is done
I. Preparation
II. Steps
A. Step 1
B. Step 2
C. Step 3
Process analysis: division of a unit into parts (for example, a pencil has an
eraser, a wooden barrel, and a lead)
I. First part
II. Second part
III. Third part
Causes and effects: division into causes or effects
I. Cause (or effect) one
II. Cause (or effect) two
III. Cause (or effect) three
These patterns and others are the subjects of individual chapters in this book.

Completing Outlines
Fill in the missing parts of the following outlines. It may be helpful to consider,
in each case, whether you are dealing with time, examples, causes, effects,
parts, or steps. The answers will vary, depending on your individual experiences
and views.
1. Borrowing is the mother of trouble.
subject

focus

I. Received ve credit cards in mail

II. Saw numerous commercials on television
A. One about
B. Another about
III. Made purchases with the credit card
IV. Two months later

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EXERCISE 6

Organizing Support

2. A successful job interview depends on several factors.

subject

focus

I. Good appearance
A.
B.
II. Behaving properly
III. Being qualied
A. Education
B.
IV. Knowing something about the employer
3. Joes drug addiction had signicant effects on his life.
subject

focus

I. Developed mental health problems

A.
B.
II. Developed
III. Lost his job
IV. Lost
4. A college education is important for several reasons.
subject

focus

I. Offers personal enrichment

II. Fullls curiosity
III. Provides contacts that may be satisfying later

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

IV.
5. An ordinary person can be an environmentalist every day.
subject

focus

I. Limit use of internal combustion engines

II. Avoid using and dumping poisonous chemicals
III.
IV.
A. Save newspapers
B. Save
C.

49

50

Chapter 3 The Writing Process: Stage Two

6. Cooking spaghetti is not difcult.

subject

focus

I. Get pan, water, and pasta

II. Boil water in pan
III.
IV. Cook pasta until
V. Remove pasta from pan and rinse the pasta in cold water
7. An excellent doctor must have three qualities.
subject

focus

I.
II.
III.
8. Some drivers break trafc laws selectively.
subject

focus

I. Make rolling stops

II.
III.

W r i t i n g Yo u r O u t l i n e
Using the subject you converted into a topic sentence or thesis (Exercise 5),
compose a topic outline.

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

EXERCISE 7

Writers Guidelines

51

WRITERS GUIDELINES: The Writing Process: Stage Two

STUDENT COMPANION SITE

For additional
practice, visit
www.cengage
.com/devenglish/
brandon/pe11e.

1. The most important advice this book can offer you is state your controlling
idea and support it. If you have no controlling ideano topic sentence for
a paragraph or thesis for an essayyour writing will be unfocused and your
readers may be confused or bored. But if you organize your material well, so
that it supports and develops your controlling idea, you can present your views
to your readers with interest, clarity, and persuasion.
2. An effective controlling statement, called the topic sentence for a paragraph
and the thesis for an essay, has both a subject and a focus. The subject is
what you intend to write about. The focus is what you intend to do with your
subject.
Example: Long homework assignments for children can interrupt family life.
subject

focus

3. Three tools can help you organize your supporting material: listing, clustering,
and outlining.
Listing presents support material as a column of items in a useful sequence
(time, space, or importance).
Clustering uses chains of circles radiating from a central double-bubbled
circle to show the relationship of ideas.
Outlining can be used in two ways: to plan the structure and content of
something you intend to write and to reveal the structure and content of
something you read.

Copyright 2011 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

A typical outline looks like this:

Main Idea (will usually be the topic sentence for the paragraph or the thesis for
the essay)
I. Major support
A. Minor support
1. Explanation, detail, example
2. Explanation, detail, example
B. Minor support
1. Explanation, detail, example
2. Explanation, detail, example
II. Major support
A. Minor support
1. Explanation, detail, example
2. Explanation, detail, example
B. Minor support
1. Explanation, detail, example
2. Explanation, detail, example