OUTLINE

Students,

I want to make sure everybody knows what he/she is doing regarding your outline. Here's a sample.

THESIS: Students should practice being safe online because the threat of sexual predators is real, identity theft is becoming more common among teenagers, and the anonymity of the Internet is misleading.

Now that I have my thesis statement, I will see if it's going to work or not by creating an outline of my three points. For your outline, each main point must have at least two subpoints. Each subpoint should have at least two points. This gives me a great head start on the first draft of my paper.

I. The threat of sexual predators is real.
A. Studies have shown that sexual predators abound on the Internet.
1. The Internet can be as dark as any back alley.
2. Predators can frequent teen hotspots like myspace and create a youthful identity.
B. A teen can be easily duped into believing a "friend" he/she meets is whoever that person claims to be.
1. Girls are easily deceived by a smooth-talking guy whom they think is their age.
2. Guys can be quickly lured into pornography when they begin receiving pictures of a cute girl whom they think is really interested in them.

II. Identity theft is becoming more common among teenagers.
A. Teens give out too much information.
1. Teens tell strangers the name of their schools or sports teams.
2. Teens post pictures that reveal where they are, the name of their school, and where they live.
B. Advances on the Internet make a little information go a long way.
1. Teens talk about their pets, their birthdays, and their favorite sports teams, giving experienced theives ample information to crack their passwords.
2. Teens tend to brag when they acquire money, bank accounts, or their first credit card.

III. The anonymity of the Internet is misleading.
A. Signing a fake name doesn't guarantee a concealed identity.
1. Each computer has a unique IP address.
2. A good tracking program provides websites with not only the IP address, but also the geographic location of visitors.
B. Okay, I can't think of anything to go here, and I need to get my day started. Hopefully, you get the idea.

PLEASE NOTE: Blogger would not allow me to indent. Remember how I showed you the points are to be indented? Please do that. Also, don't be confused by the topic I am using here. I wanted to use something different from what you are doing.

Questions? Comments? Stay tuned to the ol' blog for more helpful info this week. :)