Back to Basics 1: Improving Sentence Structure

Students who are unable to consistently perform the following skills are candidates for Back to Basics 1:

• Recognize subjects and verbs in order to avoid writing sentence fragments.
• Recognize the difference between clauses and phrases and the difference between dependent clauses and independent clauses in order to avoid writing sentence fragments.
• Recognize conjunctions that link independent clauses to other independent clauses in order to avoid run-on sentences.
• Recognize conjunctions that link independent clauses to dependent clauses in order to avoid sentence fragments and/or run-on sentences.
• Use commas properly in order to avoid run-on sentences.
• Self-edit to find and avoid the above problems.

Back to Basics 1 lasts approximately 6 weeks and costs $35.00.

Register for Back to Basics 1

Back to Basics #2: Refining Sentence Structure

Students who are unable to consistently perform the following skills are candidates for Back to Basics 2:

• Avoid sentence fragments and run-on sentences by recognizing them in own writing and revising them during the editing process.
• Use semicolons properly to avoid run-on sentences.
• Recognize how and when to use pronouns as subjects, objects, and conjunctions.
• Recognize the number of both subjects and verbs to insure that subjects and verbs agree.
• Recognize modifiers and the subjects/verbs that they modify in order to avoid dangling or misplaced modifiers.
• Self-edit to find and avoid the above problems.

Back to Basics 2 is scheduled for completion in late summer 2006.

Note: While there is some overlap in content between Back to Basics 1 and 2, the practice materials are entirely different. The overlapped material will be treated as a review in Back to Basics 2. Students who register for Back to Basics 2, but who have not taken Back to Basics #1, are assumed to have some prior knowledge of the content.

Back to Basics 3: Improving Paragraph Organization & Development

Students who are unable to consistently perform the following skills are candidates for Back to Basics 3:

• Recognize past, present, and future tenses in order to avoid improper shifts in tense.
• Organize sentences into a coherent and well-developed paragraph beginning with a strong topic sentence and ending with a concluding sentence.
• Use transitions to guide the reader through the paragraph.
• Develop one idea (topic) throughout a paragraph using examples and linking those examples back to the topic. (Learn how to explain how/why the example supports the topic.)
• Self-edit to find and avoid the above problems.

Back to Basics 3 is scheduled for completion in fall 2006.

Back to Basics 4: Refining Paragraph Organization & Development

Students who understand the concepts described below, but who have difficulty applying the concepts to their own writing, are candidates for Back to Basics 4:

• Avoid shifts in tense by recognizing and revising improper shifts in own writing.
• Organize sentences into a coherent and well-developed paragraph beginning with a strong topic sentence and ending with a concluding sentence.
• Use transitions to guide the reader through the paragraph.
• Develop one idea (topic) throughout a paragraph using examples and linking those examples back to the topic. (Learn how to explain how/why the example supports the topic.)
• Self-edit to find and avoid the above problems.

Back to Basics 4 is scheduled for completion in winter 2006.

Note: While there is some overlap in content between Back to Basics 3 and 4, the practice materials are entirely different. The overlapped material will be treated as a review in Back to Basics 4. Students who register for Back to Basics 4, but who have not taken Back to Basics #3, are assumed to have some prior knowledge of the content.