***Choose your POINT OF VIEW before you begin the essay:
1) FIRST PERSON POV: in your essay you discuss (almost like a narrative essay) how YOU perform the task, using the personal pronouns I, ME, MY, and MINE.
2) SECOND PERSON POV: in your essay you instruct the READER how to perform the task, using the pronouns YOU and YOUR. It is not erroneous, for the sake of clarification, to mention how you perform a particular step. That is, after you instruct the reader on a step, you then write, to clarify or illustrate, “For instance, I like to add Downey Fabric Softener because of its fresh scent.”*************
I. INTRODUCTION • Create a scenario, a situation, in which the knowledge of this process would be essential. For example, if you were to write on the process of changing a vehicle’s tire, a proper opening scenario could involve a situation in which a person is driving home alone late at night on a deserted road out of cell phone range. • Your thesis statement will include the number of steps, the difficulty level of the steps, and perhaps the total time of the process AND the purpose of the reader knowing the procedure. Please, eschew statements that announce: “In this essay I will show you how to do this.” Instead, make declarative statements, such as “If you correctly follow my easy six-step, ten-minute process for changing a tire, you will safely and quickly be back on the road.”
II. BODY • Unlike the Example Essay, the Process-Analysis Essay does not necessarily consist of 5 paragraphs. Similar to the Narrative Essay, you will group into paragraphs related information—particularly, you will group steps into phases. • Arrange your steps CHRONOLOGICALLY, so they follow a linear progression as a timeline. • Use proper transitions between steps, such as next, then, while, after, first, second, and for example. Consult the Website for a more complete list, with especial regard to the “sequence.”