Structured Paragraph Writing

Writing Structured Paragraph

Three elements for successful writing:                                               

·         formal style

·         correct punctuation

·         paragraphing: clear and logical organization of the material to write

Paragraph:

·         a distinctive section in a piece of writing

·         contains related sentences.

·         deals and states one main idea/topic/concept

·         physically easy to identify: a new line for each paragraph.

·         well organized → interrelation and clear link between sentences (cohesion)

·         three qualities to construct a successful paragraph:

o   unity:

§  All sentences in a paragraph must show the same idea.

o   coherence:

§  all sentences clearly related and stick together

§  makes an easy reading

§  create a logical bridge from one sentence to another by:

-        repeating key words

-        substituting keywords with synonyms.

-        using pronouns to already mentioned nouns.

-        using transition words to progress through the text (E.g.: as a result, furthermore, similarly) and to indicate chronological order and relationships.

o   development:

§  the main idea is supported with evidence and examples to give it validity.

§  holds the readers’  interest and explores the topic fully

§  format: use detail and evidence to support the topic sentence.

§  illustrate the point with examples → convinced the reader that the topic sentence statement is valid.

·        parts of a paragraph:

o   Topic sentence

§  Opening and first sentence that clearly state the main idea of the paragraph.

§  Interesting topic and opinion.

§  Not over detailed.

§  Attract reader’s attention.

§  May go elsewhere

§  Includes two parts:

-        The topic, which is the subject of the paragraph-- what to write about

-        The controlling idea, which is the comment about the topic and might answer to a wh-question (who, where, when, what, why, how), each of which is to be developed on one different paragraph.

o   Body

§  heart of the paragraph

§  supporting details/arguments for the topic sentence.

§  solid and concrete details in order of importance or chronology.

§  two ways for ordering details.

-        by order of importance: the strongest argument (that stands out)

-        order of chronology of events: specific order in which an event happens

o   concluding sentence

§  summarize the main points of the paragraphs

§  may not be present.

§  in a long paragraph helps summarize the main idea.

§  gives the reader a final comment on the topic.

§  leaves the reader with the most important ideas.

§  last thing the reader reads: last impression

§  has two functions:

-         remind audience what you are writing about → restate topic sentence in a different way.

-        keeping them thinking.

T.E.E Rule

·         T : Topic sentence

·         E: Explain

·         E: Example / Evidence

Introducing paragraph:               

·         must state the topic of assignment and a briefly comment of its importance → catch the reader attention and go directly to the point of the essay.

·         state the main argument/issue discussed.

·         give intention of how you intend to answer the question → state your plan

Concluding paragraph: 

·         summarize the main point by using different words and changing the way not the contents in a few sentences

·         state assignment main conclusions.

·         must satisfy the reader → the question must be answered.    

·         make it original and striking

·         use your own voice and opinion

Closing paragraph

·         has to keep readers thinking after they finish reading

·         don´t:

o   introduce new material

o   end with a generalization

o   use quotation

Sources

Parts of a Paragraph - English Academic Writing Introduction. (2009). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cCuExRE6N-4. Retrieved: May 25, 2013

Writing Structured Paragraphs. (2009). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w183qB0KDFg. Retrieved: May 25, 2013

Students:

• Caputto, Natalia
• Sarramea, Carolina

She is a writer

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977. After studying medicine and pharmacy for a year and a half, she moved to the United States to study communications and political science. She, then, completed a master in creative writing, and of Arts in African studies.

Chimamanda is the author of three novels and a short story collection. She had received many awards and distinctions for her writings. Moreover, her works have been translated into thirty languages, and some of them had appeared in various publications. Nowadays, Chimamanda divides her time between Nigeria and the United States.

“The danger of a single story”

In the video ‘The danger of a single story’, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tries to make aware her audience that are the consequences of a single story. To start with, a single story could create negative stereotypes, which make a story the only story possible. Secondly, and related to this, is the concept of power; that is to say, the ability to tell a story of another person or society, and make it definitive, as the only existing truth. This is exactly what happened to Chimamanda when she first went to university, and her roommate was impressed with her good way of talking. This was the result of a misconception of African people that she had had for a long time ago, because she only knew a single story. Moreover, a single story, and as it is evidenced in the example, leads to the impediment to view the other as a similar human being. Therefore, a single story does not only have the power to produce stereotypes and make this story the only one, but it can also makes the recognition of the other human as an equal to us.

Commonwealth Lecture

In this second video, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about the importance of literature, however, not any literature but a realistic one. To begin with, literature is more than just words, it shows people the differences they have as human beings, and at the same time it delights and instructs them. Realist literature, at the same time, is the process of turning facts into truth. As it is read, people merge into bodies that are not of their own, empathizing with the other and, at the same time, evoking that as human beings, people are emotional. Additionally, realist literature has the power to remind human beings that they are similar, and thus, literature transmits a sense of belonging. In this way, people become conscious that all beings constitute part of a common and equal humanity. To conclude, realistic literature might determine that humans are emotional, and consequently, they are able to empathize with others; however, it also demonstrates that people are not alone, but they belong to an extended humanity.

Sources

Tunca, Daria. The Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Website. Université de Liège, 2004 – 2013. Web. 23 May  2013. 

Citation Rules

Modern Language Association: Citations Rule

MLA provides a guide of how to present an academic paper, and how to cite appropriately.

Paper Layout:

·         The paper should have 1” margin in the four sides.

·         The font should be a readable one, so it is advisable to use Times New Roman; size 11 or 12.

·         The paper should be double spaced.

·         It should have a header, placed on the right margin. And it should contain the last name of the author and the page number.

·         The first page should contain: the name of the writer, the teacher’s name, the course information, the date, and the title of the paper. The latter should be centred and should have capitalized every letter expect for articles, coordination conjunctions and prepositions.

·         In the body, all paragraphs should be indented half inch to the right.

·         In the last page, should have the title “Works Cited” centred, and then all the citations. All the lines after the first one must be intended half inch to the right.

Citing a Book:

The basic format for citation a book is:

Last name, First name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

For example:

Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999. Print.

When a book has more than one author, we should put the last name followed by the first name of the first author; and the rest of the authors are written first by their first name, and then followed by the last name.

For example:

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print.

However, when there are more than three authors, we can either list all the authors’ names or just list the first author followed by the phrase ’et al.’, which means in Latin “and others”. So the two options would be:

Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Logan: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.

Wysocki, Anne Frances, Johndan Johnson-Eilola, Cynthia L. Selfe, and Geoffrey Sirc. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Logan: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.

When we cite more than one book by the same author, we list the books alphabetically by the title. For the first entry we provide the author’s last name followed by the first name, however, for the rest of the entries, we use three hyphens and a period instead f the author’s name.  For example:

Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism. New York: St. Martin's, 1997. Print.

---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1993. Print.

Sometimes, we may encounter a book with no author. In this case, we list these entries alphabetically by the title of the book. For instance:

Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset, 1993. Print.

If we want to cite a poem or story the basic format of citation is:

Last name, First name. "Title of Poem." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication.

For example:

Burns, Robert. "Red, Red Rose." 100 Best-Loved Poems. Ed. Philip Smith. New York: Dover, 1995. 26. Print.

Citing Periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals):

The basic format for citing a magazine article is:

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication.

The month should be abbreviated. An example would be:

Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71. Print.

The basic format for citing a newspaper article is very similar to the one of a magazine. The only difference is that we should indicate which edition is taken from (early or late edition). In this case, the identification of the edition should be after the date. For example:

Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post 24 May 2007: LZ01. Print.

Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times 21 May 2007 late ed.: A1. Print.

Another thing we should bear in mind when we cite an article of a newspaper is that if the newspaper is a less well-known or local publication, we should include the city name and state between brackets after the title of the newspaper.

Behre, Robert. "Presidential Hopefuls Get Final Crack at Core of S.C. Democrats." Post and Courier [Charleston, SC] 29 Apr. 2007: A11. Print.

Trembacki, Paul. "Brees Hopes to Win Heisman for Team." Purdue Exponent [West Lafayette, IN] 5 Dec. 2000: 20. Print.

To cite a review, we follow this basic format:

 Review Author. "Title of Review (if there is one)." Rev. of Performance Title, by Author/Director/Artist. Title of Periodical day month year: page. Medium of publication.

For example:

Seitz, Matt Zoller. "Life in the Sprawling Suburbs, If You Can Really Call It Living." Rev. of Radiant City, dir. Gary Burns and Jim Brown. New York Times 30 May 2007 late ed.: E1. Print.

When citing an article in a scholarly journal, we follow the next basic format:

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication.

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 15.1 (1996): 41-50. Print.

Citing Web Publications:

The basic format for citing from a web page is the following:

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

For example:

The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2008.

In the case that there is no indication of the publisher or sponsor name, we should use the abbreviation n.p. Additionally, if there is no publication date, we use the abbreviation n.d. Moreover, if we are require providing a page, but there is no one provided in the source, we use the abbreviation n. pag.

In case that we have to include the URL, this one should appear in angle brackets after the date of access. For example:

Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.

Sources:

OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab. The Writing Lab & OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. Web. 14 May 2013.

Effective Writing Center. MLA Formatting. University of Maryland University College. Web. 14 May 2013.

You tube. OWL Purdue, 12 August 2012. Web. 14 May 2013

Parragraphs

Paragraph 1:  Conversation between two friends.

- Oh, I almost forget to tell you the most important thing! Yesterday, when I went out to have lunch, I met Lance Armstrong, the American cyclist. I was so excited after meeting him, that I spent the rest of the day watching the cycling on television. Talking about bikes, have you got yours mended yet?

- Yes. Tomorrow I have to go to look for it.

Paragraph 2: A telephone conversation between two friends:

- Hello, Marie. How are you?

- Hi, Jenny! Fine and you?

-  Great!

- What are you going to do this holiday? We were planning with the girls to go on holiday all together to the Caribbean. Would you like to join us?

-  I don’t know, yet. All depends on the days I have the holiday in the job…  Besides, I was planning to go somewhere with my sisters, you know, to cheer them…

-  Yes, you are right. How are they assimilating your dad’s death?

-  Darlene is as miserable as ever, and Jackie never comes to visit us. Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear about my problems, so let’s get back to those holiday plans.

 -  Come on! You know you can lean on me, always!

-Yeah, I know. Thank you my friend. I’ll let you know about the holiday.

-  Yes, don’t worry about it.

"I am a writer" - improved version & reflexion

Writing is a skill we start developing since we are very young. At about the age of five I learnt how to write. First I began to write my name and simple and familiar words. Then as I grew older, I began to write simple sentences, and finally, without noticing, I was able to write long pieces of writing.

Ever since school, I was asked to write. Although I was not required to write a specific genre, I had always had to write the answers to an exam, and in this way, I needed to make myself clear. However, in the last year of secondary school, our language teacher, asked as to write in pairs an essay about a novel. When I saw the results of my writing, I began to see writing as an important skill.

However, it was not until my first year in the teaching training collage, when I was required to be able to write successful a writing piece, that I have realized the importance of writing. At the same time, I became conscious of how good I was evolving in this skill I have always disgusted, mainly because of my lack of imagination.

As in my years on the teaching training collage I had to fulfil more and more writings, my writing abilities increased. And slowly, I began to appreciate writing. In this way, I commenced to believe myself as a writer, though not as a professional writer. 

Reflexion

I believe that if I had used the different steps in writing, the composition “I am a writer” would be much better. To start with, I should have written down all the ideas. And then I should have written some sentences and paragraphs related to those ideas. Once I had done this, I should have begun to write the composition, instead of writing as the ideas crossed my mind.

I am a writter - 1st version

Ever since I was a little girl, my parents and my school teacher taught me how to write. I first began to write my name and then, little by little, I started writing sentences.
However, it was not until secondary school that I first wrote a composition. I had never paid attention to it, as I hated writing, especially because of my lack of imagination to write about a specific topic in a limited time, as an hour of class.
Nevertheless, on the last year of secondary school, our language teacher asked as to write a composition in pairs. Since that day, I thought that writing was an important thing in my life.
As time passed, and I continued my studies at the teaching training course, I started to believe more and more the idea that I was a writer indeed. I still consider that I am not good enough in writing, but somehow, I managed to get to the fourth year of my course of studies and I had passed successfully all three years of Written Expression.

Welcome!

Hi! I am Natalia Caputto, and welcome to my blog! Here I will be uploading all my writing pieces for Written Expression4. Please bear in mind that I am only a student of the English Teaching Training College, so you will not find any master piece of writing…

 As I just said before, my name is Natalia Caputto, and I am in the last year of my career. So hopefully this year I will be receiving my degree of English teacher.

However, being an English teacher was not what I thought I would become. The last year of high school I was convinced that I wanted to be an English translator, but as my level of English was below the one needed for the admission to the career, I began my studies in the English Teaching Training College. Year after year, I began to love this profession more and more. But still, I am not abandoning the idea to study English translation.

I hope you like my writings. And in case you encounter any mistake please do let me know, all suggestions are welcome.