The "controlling statement," a method of teaching students to write in an organized and efficient manner, consists of three basic parts: the idea, the viewpoint, and the key terms. Once introduced to students, these three parts can be easily used throughout the year (or years) to refer to basic areas within the composition process. This method of composition stresses practice, refinement, and more practice as the levels of difficulty increase. It begins with a single paragraph assignment that introduces the idea of the controlling statement and its three parts. Developing an idea into several paragraphs is the second phase of the composition program. At this point, the introductory paragraph becomes the controlling statement, and each of the key terms becomes a paragraph of its own. When students are comfortable writing with the controlling statement, they can be taught the value and use of an outline to coordinate with it. Next, the same technique can be applied to answering an essay question. A term paper is the culmination of the composition sequence. The final benefit of this teaching method is that it gives objective criteria for evaluating student writing. (JL)