The Process of Writing a Process Analysis Essay
             The process of writing a process analysis essay is something that confounds many students. Weeks may be spent in a college English class discussing this one type of essay. Though writing one may seem daunting, I believe that, once informed everyone can learn to write a very good essay.
             To start with: what is a process analysis essay? Hodge's Harbrace Handbook says it is a "rhetorical strategy either to instruct the reader how to perform a procedure or to explain how something occurs" (789). What this means, basically, is a step-by-step description of an action. This can be anything from digestion to building an airplane.
             So, after figuring out what a Process Analysis is, you begin the task at hand-writing the essay. First, pick a topic that interests you or your audience (preferably both.) Say your topic is "The Process of Writing a Process Analysis Essay." You would want to go to the library and find as many books as possible relating to this subject. You may also use the World Wide Web (the Web) in gathering information. Be wary of jumping right into a Web search, however, as "researchers can be overwhelmed by the number of available sites and waste time investigating sites that prove unhelpful. [Also] a high percentage of sites lack credibility" (Hodge's 525).
             The next step is the actual writing process. Start the paper with an introductory paragraph. This will contain your "thesis statement," the most important of all literary terms (other than "foreshadowing.") Your thesis statement sums up what your paper is about. If your essay was about duck migration, your thesis statement might be, "Ducks are crazy, migrating animals." Most teachers want beginners to underline their thesis statement. (ex: "Ducks are crazy, migrating animals.")
             After your introductory paragraph, you must begin the body. This...