Writing Exercise 3

(If you're looking at this page before class begins, I'll explain in class what we're doing.)

Compose a topic sentence outline, as explained and illustrated in Writing Tip 2, addressing the topic prompt below. Make sure your central question uses key words from the most important sentence in the prompt (Writing Tip 1) and then make sure you use the key words from the central question in each topic sentence and the thesis.

Your outline should contain four separate sentences:

  1. The central question
  2. Topic sentence 1
  3. Topic sentence 2
  4. Thesis statement, combining the points in topic sentences 1 and 2.

Topic prompt: There is no truer statement than "times change," and without question, life has changed dramatically in recent decades. Various commentators have noted that life is very different for teenagers today when compared to the teenage years of their parents and grandparents. Teens today face many challenges that previous generations faced, yes, but also appreciably different challenges that earlier generations could not imagine. Construct a carefully reasoned essay explaining how life is difficult for teenagers today.