This activity will help familiarize you with how professional writers vary their sentences. Visit any or all of the following sites and find an essay that interests you:

• The New York Times Magazine
• The Atlantic Monthly
• Salon Magazine
• New Scientist
• Smithsonian Magazine

1			Can you find examples of each of the following: compound sentences, complex sentences, opening words and phrases, and verbs and adjectives in a series?

For additional help with varying sentences, visit Literacy Education Online or use your favorite search engine to find other useful sites on the web.

2			Take notes about what you've learned during your visit.