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SOCC Writing Center

MODES – possible topics for different modes

Narrative
an experience that changed me
an emergency
a new job
a family incident
a move
a strange experience

Descriptive
a place
a person
a trip
lunch in the sixth grade
a river, a lake or a road
one tree

Example
bad drivers
a heroine is ____________
beauty
good or bad restaurants
fanatics
good or bad children

Comparison and Contrast
two attitudes
middle class-lower class
parents
two places
two people
two jobs

Process
how to throw a pot
how to insert an IV
steps to improve your ___
how to increase you RBI’s
how to live well on a budget
how to repair a surfboard

Division and Classification
good and bad students
kinds of relationships
good and bad doctors
kinds of discipline
kinds of friends
kinds of drivers

Cause and Effect
poverty causes _____
causes of family break-up
effects of overwork
effects of stress
poor education causes ____
results of stress

Definition
a double bind
depression
an optimist
poverty
a snob
a perfect day

Argument
draft or volunteer army
money spent on transplants
nonconformity in a town
advertising and elections
preventive health care
U.S. as world police