Organizing Principles for Essay Development
Topic outline
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ForumNouvelles diverses et annonce
- Instructor: Tarek ASSASSI, a senior lecturer (MCA) at Biskra University. Specialised in Applied Linguistics and ESP, Pedagogical Coordinator at the CEIL, and Certified Assessor of Aviation English at Aures Aviation Academy.
- Contact Information: Phone: 00213790546464 –email: t.assassi@univ-biskra.dz
- Office hours: Sunday. 13:00 – 16:00 (CEIL Chetma)
- Course: Written Expression for Third-Year Students (One “90 minutes” course per week at the Science and Technology Faculty)
DESCRIPTION DE LA MATIERE / COURSE DESCRIPTION
Academic writing is an essential skill that helps tertiary-level learners to cope with academic assignments in different courses. Written expression for 3rd year classes is a course that aims to develop particularly students’ essay writing skills. It equips them with the necessary writing mechanics to write an effective essay with different patterns of organization. The course focuses on both parts and types of essays with intensive practice inside and outside the classroom.
Third-year Written expression is a tutorial-based course (TD) with a weekly schedule of one hour and a half (1h.30). Its program is thematically divided into two terms. In the first term, students will be exposed to different parts of essay writing, namely the introductory paragraph, thesis statement, body paragraphs, and concluding paragraph. In addition, it sheds some light on the essential elements of the essay, especially coherence, cohesion, unity, and completeness. In the second term, students will practice writing some types of essays (methods of development), which include process, classification, cause/effect, compare/contrast, and persuasive (argumentative) essays.
OBJECTIFS/ OBJECTIVES
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
· Extend a paragraph into an essay
· Write introductory and concluding paragraphs using different techniques
· Write an effective thesis statement
· Develop three coherent and cohesive body paragraphs
· Brainstorm, outline, and select ideas for an essay
· Revise, edit, and proofread an essay
· Use appropriately cohesive devices in an essay
· Write different types of essays following a five-body paragraph pattern
EVALUATION
Types d'évaluation (inter. exposés, lectures-discussions, recherches, etc...?)
Tutorial sessions tests and quizzes. Preferably a written test and in-class oral discussions in addition to two end-of-term exams.
PREREQUISITE KNOWLEDGE
To attend this course, students must show adequate linguistic proficiency in both receptive and productive skills. Students must also acquire a common knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, as well as writing mechanics such as punctuation. Skills related to Information and Communication Technologies are of great importance and will serve learners’ learning process immensely.
COURSE POLICIES
Ethical and academic behavior are highly required and to be respected during the whole academic year. In case of missing classes, the students take full responsibility no matter what the alibi is. Zero tolerance policy on dishonesty, cheating, plagiarism, and providing misleading information. Finally, students are allowed to use different electronic devices and other sources of information, only for educational purposes.
DISCLAIMER
The general contents of the course are open to modification, reduction, and addition depending on the learners’ needs and educational circumstances.
The division of the sessions and the activities into lessons is not fixed throughout the whole syllabus as circumstances may change and remedial work might be required. The teacher pays more attention to reaching the course objectives and helps students comprehension of different notions and tactics for writing an effective essay.
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In this video, we will discover how to smoothly move from a paragraph to an essay. In other words, how to expand the paragraph we have developed into a full essay.
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOMX7-w0Ydo
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Lesson
From Paragraph to Essay
We have learned how to plan, organize and write various models of paragraphs so far. We will learn how to write academic essays by using our knowledge of paragraphs. In this pack, we will learn to write a five – paragraphs essay because in academic writing you will usually be asked to do so.
Essay: An essay is a group of paragraphs about one topic and one main idea. It has three parts: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. The structure of a paragraph is very similar to the structure of an essay. We can think of an essay as an expanded paragraph, that is, they have the same structure but an essay is longer.
Read Carefully!
· The topic sentence states the topic.
· The topic sentence states the controlling idea.
· The topic sentence is the first sentence of a paragraph.
· The supporting sentences reflect the idea in the topic sentence.
· The conclusion is the last sentence of a paragraph.
· The introductory paragraph states the topic.
· The thesis statement states the controlling idea
· The thesis statement is the last sentence of an introductory paragraph.
· The supporting paragraphs reflect the idea in the thesis statement.
· The conclusion is the last paragraph of an essay.
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· In our sample paragraph, the topic sentence (number 1) becomes the thesis statement of our essay. Notice that the
thesis statement is always written at the end of the introductory paragraph.
· In our sample paragraph, the supporting sentences (numbers 2, 3, 4) expand into three separate body (supporting) paragraphs in our essay. In other words, we divide each major and its minor supporting sentences into separate paragraphs. Since we have three supporting sentences in our paragraph, we have three supporting paragraphs in our essay.
· In our sample paragraph, the concluding sentence (number 5) turned into a conclusion paragraph.
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Students will need to analyze both the paragraph and its expansion in the form of an essay to find out the different parts of the full essay.
The Paragraph
1 A good university should have three important characteristics. 2First of all, it must have enough qualified teachers for every course. Qualified teachers should have adequate teaching skills in their subjects and this helps students improve themselves, so good teachers are indispensable for a good university. 3Secondly, a good university must have many buildings with adequate high-technology facilities for students. The classrooms must be large enough and well-equipped. In addition, libraries should have enough books and materials for students. 4Finally, a good university should have many facilities for students. For example, there must be enough sports centers and cafes for students to spend their free time. 5 In conclusion, all these characteristics define a good university.
It is common knowledge that education plays an important role in our lives. The utmost level of education is undoubtedly to have a university degree. However, not every university may meet your expectations. In order to state that you are a graduate of a good university, there should be some requirements to be met. 1In my opinion, a good university should have qualified teachers, technologically adequate buildings, and many facilities for students.
2 First of all, it must have enough qualified teachers for each course. Qualified teachers should have adequate teaching skills in their subjects. Without adequate teaching skills, it will be difficult for the teacher to transfer his/her knowledge to the students. Also, as a person, the teacher should have a proper personality, that is, a teacher should be kind, supportive, and understanding to his/her students. Otherwise, they may be disliked. So, good teachers are indispensable for a good university.
3Secondly, a good university must have many buildings with adequate high-technology facilities for students. The classrooms must be large enough and well–equipped. A small classroom or a classroom without technological supplies such as the internet or television will certainly demotivate students. In addition, libraries should have enough books and materials for students. This is very important to do research for students’ studies or assignments. All these above considered, technologically developed buildings are necessary for a good university education.
4Finally, a good university should have many facilities for students. For example, there must be enough sport centers and cafes for students to spend their time. Since students spend most of their time studying at school, they need a place to rest and chat with their friends.
In addition, students sometimes need to get over the stress of spending time in a sports center. Thus, besides academic study, a good university should provide social opportunities to its students.
5 In conclusion, universities are places where students spend the most important stage of their lives. Universities should support the learning process with qualified teachers, technologically adequate buildings, and many social facilities. Students should become familiar with all these characteristics so that they can choose a good university, which will affect their future.
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This part of the lesson discusses the main parts of the introductory paragraph with details and examples. The main parts are the topic sentence, the hook, and the thesis statement.
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Hook: It is the first or better the second sentence of the introductory paragraph. A hook is necessary to grab reader’s interest and attract their attention, and make them curious about your writing. There are some types of “hook” you can use:
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Hook: It is the first or better the second sentence of the introductory paragraph. A hook is necessary to grab readers’ interest and attract their attention and make them curious about your writing. There are some types of “hook” you can use:
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Mindmap
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Here are a few examples you can rely on for your next assignment.
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Lesson
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Let's practice
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Follow the link above and you will discover the common errors we commit when developing the thesis. You will find examples of faulty thesis statements and corrected/revised forms.
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· There are some rules we have to follow while writing a thesis statement.
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Use the following points to check your thesis, then post your reaction/feedback
The Thesis Tests
Is this a complete sentence (and not a question)?
1. Does it have an opposing argument?
2. Is every word clear and unambiguous in meaning?
3. Is the sentence a dead end, or does it call for additional information and explanation?
4. Does the statement make such a large claim that you believe the writer has no hope of proving it
to be true in the space of 4 to 6 pages?
5. What evidence will you need to see before you will believe that the thesis is true?
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Assignment
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Body paragraphs are the core of the essay
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Tips to help you build better body paragraphs
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The Body Paragraph(s)
The core of the essay is the body paragraph(s). Body paragraphs usually explain and detail the information in the essay. As we have learnt during the first section of the semester one contents, the thesis statement is the most important section of the essay, yet it is not enough to elaborate what the essay contains. Often, we tend to include the major supporting ideas in the thesis, it makes it look even more specific, and that is what we are looking for in a thesis. We call that an overt thesis statement. The major supporting ideas in the thesis must be included in the body paragraphs, with more detail. Remember, they must all be mentioned and exactly as you organized them in the thesis. That is each of the paragraphs in the body must be connected to subtopics in your thesis statement.
Activity: Take a look at the following example.
People can reduce the risk of heart- attack by exercising regularly, eating healthy food and not smoking.
Exercising regularly
PARAGRAPH – A
Eating healthy food
PARAGRAPH- B
Not smoking
PARAGRAPH- C
In this essay, the first body paragraph will explain how exercising regularly can reduce the risk of heart- attack. The second body paragraph will explain how eating healthy food can reduce the risk of heart- attack and the third body paragraph will explain how not smoking can reduce the risk of heart- attack. That is, all of these subtopics support the thesis statement.
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In this assignment, students will examine the provided prompts as an enabling task to write their own topic sentences for the body paragraphs from the shared thesis statements
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Completing the missing parts of an essay
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Coherence in writing is the logical bridge between words, sentences, and paragraphs. Coherent writing uses devices to connect ideas within each sentence and paragraph. Main ideas and meaning can be difficult for the reader to follow if the writing lacks coherence. In this lesson, you will see some examples and learn some tips for making your writing coherent between words, sentences, and paragraphs.
Careful!!!
Coherence means the connection of ideas at the idea level, and cohesion means the connection of ideas at the sentence level. Basically, coherence refers to the “rhetorical” aspects of your writing, which include developing and supporting your argument (e.g. thesis statement development), synthesizing and integrating readings, and organizing and clarifying ideas. The cohesion of writing focuses on the “grammatical” aspects of writing.
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Here, we discuss the difference between coherence and cohesion
https://t.ly/iq9F
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How to ensure Cohesion and Coherence
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Assignment
Using the prompts to form a whole coherent paragraph/essay
Activity: use the following points and the linking devices you have learned to form a coherent paragraph; you can add extra information if you have to.
Farris is 16
Farris is American
Farris’ parents were born in Baghdad
Farris studies journalism
Farris wanted to see Baghdad
Farris wanted to check how people live in Baghdad nowadays
Farris wanted to write about Baghdad
Farris broke his money box
Farris bought a ticket to Kuwait City
Farris landed in Kuwait City
Farris phoned his parents
Farris’ parents implored Farris to go back
Farris tried to cross the border
Farris hired a taxi
The taxi driver asked for 250 dollars
The taxi driver took Farris to Baghdad
Farris reached Baghdad on Christmas day
Farris went to a hotel for Western people
Farris couldn’t speak the language at all
It was very difficult for Farris to communicate
Farris decided to go to the Associated Press
The reporters heard Farris’ story
The reporters were shocked
The reporters phoned the American Embassy
Farris was put on a plane
Farris flew back to America
Farris’ parents were angry
Farris’ parents were relieved.
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The Concluding Paragraph
The conclusion is the last paragraph of the essay. It does three things.
· It signals the end of the essay.
· It summarizes the main points.
· It leaves the reader with the writer’s final thoughts on the subject.
Just as the introductory paragraph has parts, the concluding paragraph has two parts:
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- How to Write a Better Conclusion?
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Write a concluding paragraph using the information provided by the teacher as a guide.
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Workshop
Students will discuss openly all challenges they faced developing different parts of the essay.
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