1st Step: Write your thesis—always start with your thesis because it drives your whole essay. Make sure you have all of the parts of the thesis!

THESIS: Despite many people who think that students should not use their cell phones during school, students should be allowed to use their cell phones in school because the technology will enhance their educational experience.

2nd Step: Write your introduction:

NEVER again will you start your intro with a question. This is now a SIN!
Start with an interesting or startling statistic that is connected to your thesis.

GRABBER: In California, the high school drop-out rate is an outrageous 18%; that is almost two out of every 20 high school students. INFO ADDING SENTENCE: Most of these drop outs say that they did not want to stay in school because they found education boring. PIVOT: However, there is a way that this can be prevented. THESIS: Despite many people who think that students should not use their cell phones during school, students should be allowed to use their cell phones in school because the technology will enhance their educational experience.

3rd Step: After you have completed your research, choose your three best pieces of evidence that supports your thesis and rank them in order of strongest to weakest.

Three reasons:

Allow students to look up information immediately. (3rd strongest point)
Gives students the chance to interact with other students electronically.(1st strongest point)
Makes learning more interesting and fun. (2nd strongest point)

4th step: Now you are ready to tackle your first BP:

1st BODY PARARGRAPH:

(TS)Admittedly, cell phones can be a distraction in the classroom, but if used correctly, students can be taught how to appropriately apply the cell phone technology into a lesson and make that lesson far more engaging. (TLCD) For example, if the teacher is trying to get students to research a topic, he can ask students to look up a video that answers the student’s questions. (CM) This will not take much time and the student will be far more interested in the lesson. (CM) It could also give students a more real-world experience in how to find information using the internet. (CS) Just this one inclusion could prevent students from dropping out of high school.

2nd BODY PARAGRAPH: (3rd Strongest Point) Always put your weakest point in the middle!

3rd BODY PARAGRAPH: (1st Strongest Point): Always end with your strongest point.

Writing the Conclusion:

Two or three sentences that DO NOT repeat your thesis statement.
Emphasize the implications of your thesis-what if your argument became reality? What would happen? Or do the opposite—what if your opposing argument came true? What would happen then? Don’t do both of these!
You can also use a short anecdote to support your argument.

Every day, most adults use their cell phones to access information quickly and effectively. Being able to access information in such an interesting way, students will be far more open and willing to stay in school and lower our high school dropout rates. This will help society become stronger and increase our use of technology in education.

Now finish your introduction! Look back at your evidence and choose something that is really interesting that you have not already used in your essay. If you used up all of your information, create an anecdote or do a little more research.