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  2. History
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  5. History Online Workbook
  6. Research Essay Organization
  7. Specific to General

Specific to General

Specific to General

Here, the details appear before the more general comments. If your thesis was that the treatment of natives in residential schools amounted to cultural genocide, for example, you might begin with specific details about how native children were kept from speaking their language, practicing their faith or having contact with their families, and finish by the broader implications of this treatment. The advantage of this approach is that the generalizations seem inevitable by the time you make them; the disadvantage is that it is more difficult to maintain and control your focus if you arrange your ideas in this way. You must be sure that the specifics are directly related to the thesis, that each point builds on the previous one, and that the conclusion gains from being held in suspense.

Organizational Strategies

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      • Acknowledgements
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        • Description
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          • General to specific
          • Specific to General
          • Climax
          • Increasing Complexity
      • Writing Strong Paragraphs, Introductions and Conclusions
      • Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting
      • The Importance of Revising Your Paper
      • Footnotes and Bibliographies
      • Grammar Module One: Building Sentences
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