Course info

COURSE 1:  FEATURES OF ACADEMIC WRITING

Introduction :

The scientific production such as discoveries, the inventions should be published to be contributed and shared with peers and hence help the scientific progress and avoid redundancy of researches. This collaboration and complementarity between researches require a conventional writing style between scientists and researchers to facilitate the mutual comprehension and transmission of thoughts and ideas.

the scientific style or the academic writing obeys to many rules and standards which are often and commonly noted the features of academic writing.

Every student and researcher is highly obliged to master this style of writing to share his endeavors in the field of research and any alike initiative. 

1- Definition of academic writing: 

academic writing is any writing done to fulfill a requirement of a college or university. Academic writing is also used for publications that are read by the teacher and researchers or presented at conferences. A very broad definition of academic writing could include any writing assignment given in an academic setting.

Here is a list of documents where academic writing is used. Some are self-explanatory and some have a brief explanation.

• Books and book reports
• Translations
• Essays
• Research paper or research article
• Conference paper
• Academic journal
• Dissertation and Thesis - These are written to obtaining an advanced degree at a college or university.
• Abstract - This is a short summary of a long document.
• Explication - This is a work that explains part of a particular work.

2- Goal of Academic Writing:
 An academic writing assignment is supposed to be your opportunity to explore something that interests you from your course. You have freedom to choose a topic, empty pages on which to express your own ideas, and an audience that is interested in reading what you think.
In an academic writing assignment, you will start by asking a good question, then find and analyze answers to it, and choose your own best answer(s) to discuss in your paper. Your paper will share your thoughts and findings and justify your answer with logic and evidence. So the goal of academic writing is not to show off everything that you know about your topic, but rather to show that you understand and can think critically about your topic (and this is what earns you a good grade).
Plus, you will develop skills in researching, evaluating information, organizing, arguing, responding to others’ arguments, analyzing, and expressing yourself clearly in writing (in English too). These skills, by the way, are all valued by employers.
3- Ten Principles of Academic Writing

          3-1- Clear Purpose: The goal of your paper is to answer the question you posed as your topic. Your question gives you a purpose. The most common purposes in academic writing are to persuade, analyze/synthesize, and inform.

• Persuasive purpose – In persuasive academic writing, the purpose is to get your readers to adopt your answer to the question. So you will choose one answer to your question, support your answer using reason and evidence, and try to change the readers’ point of view about the topic. Persuasive writing assignments include argumentative and position papers.
• Analytical purpose: In analytical academic writing, the purpose is to explain and evaluate possible answers to your question, choosing the best answer(s) based on your own criteria. Analytical assignments often investigate causes, examine effects, evaluate effectiveness, assess ways to solve problems, find the relationships between various ideas, or analyze other people’s arguments. The “synthesis” part of the purpose comes in when you put together all the parts and come up with your own answer to the question. Examples of these assignments include analysis papers and critical analyses.
• Informative purpose: In informative academic writing, the purpose is to explain possible answers to your question, giving the readers new information about your topic. This differs from an analytical topic in that you do not push your viewpoint on the readers, but rather try to enlarge the readers’ view.

Some assignments will have a pre-determined purpose (see the examples above); for other assignments, you will have to choose a purpose when you choose a topic (research paper, term paper). And some assignments may have two purposes. In all cases, the purpose will be clear at the beginning of your paper, and your paper must achieve its purpose in order to be successful.
           3-2- Audience Engagement.

As with all writing, academic writing is directed to a specific audience in mind. Unless your instructor says otherwise, consider your audience to be fellow students with the same level of knowledge as yourself. As students in the field, they are interested in your topic, but perhaps not so interested in reading a paper. So you will have to engage them with your ideas and catch their interest with your writing style. Imagine that they are also skeptical so that you must use the appropriate reasoning and evidence to convince them of your ideas.
              3-3-Clear Point of View:

Academic writing, even that with an informative purpose, is not just a list of facts or summaries of sources. Although you will present other people’s ideas and research, the goal of your paper is to show what you think about these things. Your paper will have and support your own original idea about the topic. This is called the thesis statement, and it is your answer to the question.
               3-4-Single Focus.

Every paragraph (even every sentence) in your paper will support your thesis statement. There will be no unnecessary, irrelevant, unimportant, or contradictory information (Your paper will likely include contradictory or alternative points of view, but you will respond to and critique them to further strengthen your own point of view).
             3-5-Logical Organization: 

Academic writing follows a standard organizational pattern. For academic essays and papers, there is an introduction, body, and conclusion. Each paragraph logically leads to the next one.
                          o The introduction catches the readers’ attention, provides background information, and lets the reader know what to expect. It also has the thesis statement.
                          o The body paragraphs support the thesis statement. Each body paragraph has one main point to support the thesis, which is named in a topic sentence. Each point is then supported in the paragraph with logical reasoning and evidence. Each sentence connects to the one before and after it. The readers do not have to work to find the connection between ideas.
                       o The conclusion: summarizes the paper’s thesis and main points and shows the reader the significance of the paper’s findings.
              3-6-Strong Support

Each body paragraph will have sufficient and relevant support for the topic sentence and thesis statement. This support will consist of facts, examples, descriptions, personal experience, and expert opinions and quotations.
              3-7-Clear and Complete Explanations.

This is very important! As a writer, you need to do all the work for the reader. The reader should not have to think hard to understand your ideas, logic, or organization. English readers expect everything to be done for them; your thoughts and thought processes should be clearly and completely explained.
Effective Use of Research. Your paper should refer to a variety of current, high-quality, professional and                   3-8-academic sources:

You will use your research to support your own ideas; therefore, it must be integrated into your writing and not presented separately. That means that source material will be introduced, analyzed, explained, and then cited. Research and APA Style Guide 2010 covers this topic in depth.
              3-9-Correct APA Style:

All academic papers should follow the guidelines of the American Psychological Association as found in Research and APA Style Guide 2010, regarding in-text citations, the reference list, and format.
              3-10-Writing Style:

Because this is your work, you should use your own words whenever possible. Do not try to write like a boring, overly formal scholarly article. Use the natural conversational style that you would use in the classroom. Your writing should be clear, concise, and easy to read. It is also very important that there are no grammar, spelling, punctuation, or vocabulary mistakes in academic writing. Errors convey to the reader that you do not care.
And finally, this rule will override all the principles:

                 3-11-ALWAYS FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS OF YOUR INSTRUCTOR.

Every instructor has a reason for giving you an assignment, and each instructor's requirements may differ. Follow your instructor’s directions to get the most from an assignment.

4- Features of academic writing :

Briefly, these can be summarized in eight characteristics: complexity, formality, precision, accuracy, structure, objectivity, hedging, and responsibility. 

• Academic writing is more complex and has longer words. But do not try to sound ‘clever’. Your marker needs to understand what you are writing.•Words and phrases are more formal. Think about the tone of your writing and make simple changes to phrases. E.g. instead of saying something like ‘This backs up …’ say ‘This supports…’.

• Facts are precise – there is no room for inaccuracy. Check the quality of sources you are using and only use the most reliable (e.g. Wikipedia is not the most reliable source. Instead, look at the more reliable references or further reading lists that often feature at the foot of the page)
• Writing has to be accurate. You will use a lot of technical language in your discipline and you must make sure that you do not use the wrong terms.
  •Most of you will already have had experience of writing a structured essay. Academic writing requires precise clear structure so the reader can follow the argument as clearly as possible. Remember to include an introduction, paragraphs and a conclusion.
  •Depending on your subject, you have to be objective – very little in academic writing requires your personal opinion. Instead you are contributing to an academic debate about something. You have an opinion but this must be expressed objectively. Academic writing has far less emphasis on you and more emphasis on what it is you want to say.
• Hedging is quite a difficult feature to understand. In academic writing you have to make decisions about your stance on a particular subject, or the strength of the claims you are making. Be careful not to make strong claims such as ‘This proves..’ Instead, use phrases such as ‘It could be suggested that…’. Please refer to phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk for other useful phrases.
  •You also have to take responsibility for what you say, and provide evidence for any claims you make. This means justifying why you do or do not agree with what an author has said as well as referencing correctly.

COURSE 2: PARTS OF SPEECH AND SENTENCE

Parts Of Speech And Sentence

 

Introduction

      Since ideas, mainly scientific, are likely to be transmitted through paragraphs and essays, the sentence as their basal unit should be investigated and therefore its components as well. these latter are the parts of speech.

1- parts of speech ( types or classes of the word)

         A word in English may be Nouns, Pronouns, Determiners,  Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs,
Conjunctions, Prepositions, and Interjections.

1-1-     Noun:  A noun is a word for a person, place, or thing. Everything we can see or talk about is represented by a word that names it. That "naming" word is called a noun.

Often a noun will be the name for something we can touch (e.g., lion, cake, computer), but sometimes a noun will be the name for something we cannot touch (e.g., bravery, mile, joy).
Everything is represented by a word that lets us talk about it. This includes people (e.g., man, scientist), animals (e.g., dog, lizard), places (e.g., town, street), objects (e.g., vase, pencil), substances (e.g., copper, glass), qualities (e.g., heroism, sorrow), actions (e.g., swimming, dancing), and measures (e.g., inch, ounce).

A noun is the largest lexical class, and it’s usually the first thing children learn. Why? Nouns are basic: they describe a person, place, or thing. Let’s look at a few sentences–note that all of the nouns in the sentences have been bolded:

The duck swims on the placid pond.

Mandarin Ducks mate for life.

My mother always told me, “a stitch in time saves nine.”

Some basic rules of thumb to remember with nouns is that these are the words that can be pluralized (duck, ducks), made possessive (that man’s sister), and changed with a prefix or suffix like -age or -hood in order to change it to a new verb (sister/sisterhood, sign/signage). While this doesn’t apply to all nouns, it’s a great place to start. Also remember that proper nouns, a subclass of nouns, are always capitalized. For instance: New York, Mrs. Smith, University of Texas.

1-2. Pronoun

Pronouns constitute a rather small lexical class, but they can also be the most confusing. That’s because as a pronoun can take so many forms. They exist in the first, second, and third person, and are further classified into nominative, oblique, reflexive, possessive determiners, and possessive pronouns. If you can believe it, they can be broken down even further than that. But for the purposes of keeping grammar 101 simple, let’s stick to those essential categories, written in the same order as above.

1-3. Determiner

Determiners are another relatively small lexical class, consisting mainly of articles and a few demonstrative and interrogative words. In other languages, articles may be gendered. For instance: in French the article la precedes a feminine noun, and le precedes a masculine one. In English, because nouns are not gendered, the most common determiner used in English grammar is the word “the”. Let’s look at a few of the ways determiners are used. In these sentences, the determiner will again be bolded for clarity:

• Basic Determiner: Mike ate an apple.
• Quantifying Determiner: Mike ate many apples.
• Possessive Determiner: Mike’s apple was delicious.

You can see that determiners are necessary because it simply does not make sense to say “Mike ate apple”, right? There are some other instances where either pronouns or numerals can serve as determiners as well, for instance:

• Pronoun Determiner: His apples were not ripe.
• Numeral Determiner: Four apples were rotten.

Of course, like most rules in English grammar, the determiner rule can be broken. However, there aren’t many situations where this acceptable, and generally only applies if you are referring to a large group or class of things. In that instance, you would say something like, “Unicorns don’t exist.”

1- 4. Adjective

In Grammar 101, the adjective is the part of speech that gives a sentence the flair it needs, and they are absolutely essential to great creative writing. These are descriptive words, and modify a word–usually by being placed in front of it–by describing, identifying, or quantifying it. Here are a few common examples:

The sky turned dark and ominous.

Gray clouds rolled in, and rain splattered the window.

Sarah put her polka-dotted rain boots on.

You can see how adjectives are used in English grammar to add “flavor” to nouns and other words in order to describe them more aptly to the reader or listener.

1-5. Verb

Next to nouns, verbs comprise the next largest lexical family and are commonly known as “action words” because they help make an assertion regarding what is being done to the subject in a sentence. We’ll look at some ways that singular verbs are used below, and then we will take a look at some compound verbs in action.

Lily ran to the store to buy some apples.

The dog snarled at the burglar.

These verbs are singular, in that they require no additional word to describe the action taking place in the sentence. Compound verbs are made up of a singular verb and an auxiliary verb to help determine the tense of an action. Auxiliary verbs are commonly known as “helping verbs” for this very reason. Let’s see how compound verbs look in a sentence. The entire compound verb will be bolded, and the auxiliary verb will be underlined.

Lily will run to the store to buy some apples.

The dog was snarling at the burglar.

You can see that in the above examples, “will” is used to help determine the future tense of the verb “run”, and that the auxiliary verb “was” modifies “snarl”. It becomes “snarling”, which helps determine that the action took place in the past.

1-6. Adverbs

A regular adverb serves one purpose: they modify verbs, adjectives, clauses and phrases. You can think of it as a kind of hybrid between a verb and an adjective. Unlike an adjective, the adverb can be placed anywhere in a sentence. Adverbs typically (but not always) end with the suffix “-ly” and can answer the questions “where, when, how, and how much?” Let’s take a look:

Blake sharpened his pencil as quietly as possible.

The child swings her legs impatiently.

Fortunately, we will have enough pizza for everyone.

In the above sentences, we see how the adverb works as a modifier. In the first, “quietly” modifies the verb “sharpened.” in the second, “impatiently” modifies the verb “swings”, and in the last sentence, “Fortunately” modifies the entire phrase. You can also see from these examples how an adverb can be placed anywhere in a sentence, and how it does not change even as the tense changes.

Of course, there are a few “unofficial” grammar rules regarding the use of adverbs. For instance, some consider it bad form to end a sentence with an adverb. There are also multiple instances in which an adverb can also serve as a conjunction, a speech part that we’ll explore in a moment. Beyond grammar 101, a more in-depth look at advanced grammar rules and nuances can help you to understand some of these adverb exceptions.

1-7. Prepositions

Prepositions are linking words; they introduce the object of the preposition in a word or phrase. They also address the spatial or temporal location of the words that they introduce, in other words, where an object exists in space or time. Like pronouns, they are a closed class of lexical elements:

Sarah looked everywhere for her book and found it under the couch.

Marc checked his text messages during his lunch break.

Stefan was well known throughout the academic community; he was lauded for his grammar prowess.

In these examples, you can see how prepositional phrases and stand alone prepositions link words together in the sentence, and how they can be used to introduce an object.

1-8. Conjunctions

Conjunctions are like super-prepositions. Instead of linking just words, they can link entire phrases, clauses, or sentences. They also fall into three main categories; coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions. Let’s take a moment to look at all three categories:

 

• Coordinating Conjunctions: These types of conjunctions are used to link two independent clauses. In other words, if you remove the conjunction, the two clauses that it links can stand on their own as complete sentences.

• Sheena took the train, and Anna bought a plane ticket.
• Van Gogh was a brilliant artist, but he suffered from clinical depression.
• If the plumber comes on Friday, you can finally take a shower.
• We checked beneath the couch cushions, where loose change often falls.

•    Subordinating Conjunctions: Subordinating conjunctions are used to link an independent clause to a clause that can not stand on its own. These are called dependant clauses because they require an independent clause in order to make sense in the context of the sentence.

 

•         Correlative Conjunctions: You will recognize correlative conjunctions as a set of two words that are rarely used independently of one another. They serve to illustrate cause and effect or to make a general correlation between two clauses:

 

• Either she will take the trash out, or the kitchen will start to stink.
• If her mother gives permission, then Jane will stay out late.

Whew! We’re this close to wrapping up grammar 101, which will hopefully leave you with a better understanding of how the 8 parts of speech are broken down. As promised, we’ll touch very briefly on the 9th part of speech. Some argue that because this final category is almost always used independently, it doesn’t really count as a proper lexical family. We decided to include it anyway because it’s the simplest part of speech to understand. Why not end grammar 101 on an easy-peasy lesson?

1-9. Interjections

Interjections are the little pieces of language that add emotion to speech or writing. They usually end with an exclamation point, leaving them grammatically unrelated to the rest of the sentence, or they can be incorporated into a larger sentence, usually at the beginning or end of a phrase.

“Ouch!” Tamara cried.

Oh no, is that bill due today?

So you’re going to go through with it, eh?

See? Easy and arguably the most fun lexical categories.

2- types of sentences :

2-1-Simple Sentence

- A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb.
- It expresses a single complete thought that can stand on its own.
Examples:
1. The baby cried for food.
^There is a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought.
2. Professor Maple’s intelligent students completed and turned in their homework.
^ A simple sentence does not necessarily have to be short. It can have adjectives. In this case, there are two verbs “completed” and “turned in.” However, the sentence expresses one complete thought and therefore is a simple sentence.
3. Megan and Ron ate too much and felt sick.
^Although there are two subjects and two verbs, it is still a simple sentence because both
verbs share the same subjects and express one complete thought.

2-2-Compound Sentence

- A compound sentence has two independent clauses. An independent clause is a part of a sentence that can stand alone because it contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.
- Basically, a compound contains two simple sentences.
- These independent clauses are joined by a conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
Examples:
1. The shoplifter had stolen clothes, so he ran once he saw the police.
^Both sides of the conjunction “so” are complete sentences. “The shoplifter had stolen clothes” can stand alone and so can “he ran once he saw the police.” Therefore, this is a compound sentence.
2. They spoke to him in Spanish, but he responded in English.
^This is also a compound sentence that uses a conjunction to separate two individual clauses.

2-3-Complex Sentence

- A complex sentence is an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. A dependent clause either lacks a subject or a verb or has both a subject and a verb that does not express a complete thought.
- A complex sentence always has a subordinator (as, because, since, after, although, when) or relative pronouns (who, that, which).
Examples:
1. After eating lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, Tim went to the gym to exercise.
^ The independent clause is ‘Tim went to the gym to exercise.” The subordinating clause before it is dependent on the main, independent clause. If one were to say “after eating lunch at The Cheesecake Factory,” it would be an incomplete thought.
2. Opinionated women are given disadvantages in societies that privilege male
accomplishments.

^ The subject is “opinionated women” and the verb is “are given.” The first part of the sentence “opinionated women are given disadvantages in societies” is an independent clause that expresses a complete thought. The following “that privilege male accomplishments” is a relative clause that describes which types of societies.
3. The woman who taught Art History 210 was fired for stealing school supplies.
^ The dependent clause in this sentence is “who taught Art History 210” because if removed, the rest of the sentence would stand as an independent clause. “Who taught Art History 210” is an adjective clause that provides necessary details about the subject, woman.

2-4-Compound-Complex Sentence

- A compound-complex sentence has two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
Examples:
1. After the two soccer players lost their game, they joined their other teammates for lunch, and they went to the movies.
^ If we remove the dependent clause “after the two soccer players lost their game,” we have a compound sentence. The dependent clause makes this sentence compound-complex.
2. The man believed in the system, and he knew that justice would prevail after the murderer was sent to jail.

Practice:

Identify whether the sentences are simple, complex, compound or compound-complex. Please underline dependent clauses where it applies.
1. Vampires Dairies is my favorite television show, but I also love True Blood.
2. The student wiped the white board that was filthy with last week’s notes.
3. The trendy fashion designer released her new line on Wednesday.
4. Trina and Hareem went to a bar in Hollywood to celebrate their anniversary.
5. Wicked Regina cast a spell on the entire city, so the citizens decided to rebel.
6. While waiting for the paint to dry, Angela went to Home Depot, and Martin organized the kitchen appliances.
7. After listening to the Kanye West CD, I have new respect for his music.
8. After the teacher chose groups, John and Sara were selected as partners for a project, yet Sarah did most of the work.

COURSE 3: THE PROCESS OF WRITING

Introduction :

Writing academically is a very hard task because of the number of processes included in. Indeed, it requires thinking for a long while to find the appropriate topic as well as the relating ideas, evidences, and then a judicious reflection of how to organize them in a descriptive and argumentative flow. this is may in line with the features of academic writing discussed in the first section.

The Process of Writing

To write academically needs many steps to follow and get involved in the writing process.  The following writing process has worked for millions of university students.

an academic writer almost passes through the following steps :

1- Choosing and Narrowing a Topic :

Sometimes your instructor will give you a list of possible questions or themes, and other times you will have the freedom to choose your own topic. Sometimes the assignment will have a specific purpose (argumentative essay, analysis paper), and other times you will have the freedom to determine the purpose (research paper, term paper). This freedom can be both great and terrifying. If you have trouble choosing what to write about, start with a few ideas and choose the best one after several steps. You can also consult with your instructor about the best topic choice.

1-1-How to Choose a Topic : Think about things related to the course that you are interested in. If there is nothing which interests you, look through the textbook, instructor-recommended resources, course slides, handouts, and current periodicals for possible ideas.

Then you need to narrow your ideas from subjects to topics. A subject is a broad concept: conflict management, abortion, the Cold War, capital budgeting, organizational culture, global warming, Toyota’s management style, and EU agricultural subsidies are a few examples. These are not paper topics; these could all be the subjects of books.
Narrow a subject by looking at its smaller parts, or by choosing a specific problem, time period, or place to cover. You may need to do a little general research here if you do not know much about the subject. Also asking yourself “Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?” questions about the subject can help you limit the subject and determine your interests.
Doing this with abortion, for example, leads to topics like the reasons American women choose abortion rather than adoption, the psychological effects of previous abortions on women who become pregnant again, the consequences of Poland’s ban on abortions on Polish women’s lives, solutions to ending the practice of using abortion as a tool for gender selection in India, and whether or not the morning after pill should be sold to girls under 16. From here, choose a topic which fits the prescribed purpose of your paper (if there is one).
Specific topics like these are much more likely to fit the goal of academic writing and to fit the number of pages allowed in your paper.

1-2-Writing your Topic as a Question :Once you have a specific topic for your paper, write your topic as the question which your paper will answer. Doing this is a great way to focus your paper and ensure that you meet the paper’s purpose. In fact, your purpose will determine the type of question that you ask.
For example, an argumentative paper would probably have a yes/no question, such as “Should the U.S. have used the atomic bomb in World War II?” or “Should the morning after pill be sold to girls under 16?” or “Should animal organs be used for human transplants?” or “Which is a better strategy for the EU to follow to encourage change in Burma – engagement or isolation?” And then, of course, your paper would argue for your answer to the question.
An analytical paper most likely has a why/how question, such as “Why has childhood obesity been increasing in the United States?” or “How has Poland’s ban on abortions affected women’s lives?” or “How effective is the article in supporting the author’s thesis?” or “How could the EU best reform its agricultural subsidies?” And then, of course, your paper will analyze the various answers, justifying your point of view to the audience.
An informative paper often has a what/why/how question, such as “What are the negative aspects of wind energy?” or “What are the causes of anorexia in teenage boys?” or “How can managers evaluate whether to invest money in a software upgrade project?” And then, of course, your paper will explain the various answers, giving the readers a new way of looking at the topic.

1-3-Characteristics of a Good Paper Topic :

 

• Your question does not have a simple answer. A good question has several alternative answers, or no accepted answer, or maybe an easy but unsatisfactory answer. In other words, there is no one “right” answer to your question. Your paper will give and justify your own best answer(s), and it will require research and critical thinking to do this.

 

• Your question is worth answering: The readers will care about the answer to your question. Your answer will have some significance.
• Your paper will achieve its purpose Will your informative paper truly give your readers a new perspective? Will your readers accept your analysis in your analytical paper? Will your persuasive paper succeed in changing your readers’ view?

This is especially important to consider with persuasive paper topics. Avoid topics in which arguments are mostly based on (usually unchanging) personal beliefs, rather than reason and evidence. Whether abortion should be legalized is such a topic.

 

• You are interested in the topic. You will spend a lot of time with this topic, so choose something that will not bore or torture you.
• The topic is the right size for the length of the paper. Make sure you will not have too little or too much to say for the number of pages allowed.
• There is enough (but not too much) information available in reliable sources. If you find too much information, you will need to narrow your topic further; if you find too little information, you should widen your topic.
• You have enough time to do what you need to do. How much time do you have before the due date? You may have to limit the complexity of your topic if you have waited too long to start….

2-Thinking (Brainstorming) :

When you have a topic, start brainstorming. Write down all the possible answers to your question, and write down all the information, opinions, and questions you have about your topic. Brainstorming will help you see what you already know, what you think, what you think you know, and what else you need to find out about your topic. Writing things down also ensures that you will not forget your great ideas later. (Although this is a really short section, it is a very important step!)
3- Doing Research :

Doing research is covered on pp. 3-12 of the Research and APA Style Guide. Read them!
What you must remember is that “doing good research takes time.” Do not expect to do research once and find everything that you need for your paper. Research is an on-going part of the writing process. You will start now, doing general research to learn more about your topic, but you will continue doing research throughout the writing process, as you discover a thesis, make a basic outline and then a detailed outline, write your paper, and revise your paper. Also, do not be afraid to change your topic a little (or a lot) if your research leads you in a different direction.
To make research more effective and less time-consuming, you can do three things:

• Plan your research before you start, using the research guide’s tips .
• Set up and follow a research schedule. Give yourself a set amount of time to do your preliminary research. Start working on your paper, and go back to researching later when you know exactly what you need to find.

• Immediately record source information. Write down the address or bookmark the web page of every good source, even if you are not sure if you will use it…you may want to later.

4-Thesis Statement
The thesis statement is the most important sentence in your paper. If someone asked you, “What does your paper say?” your answer would be your thesis statement. Everything you write will support this statement.
A good thesis statement usually includes

• Main idea of the paper. ONE idea. The entire paper is based on this statement.

• Your opinion or point of view. The thesis statement is not a fact nor a question, but your view of the topic and what you want to say about it.

• Purpose of the paper. From the thesis, it should be clear what the paper will do.
• Answer to the research question. Ask yourself the question and then answer it with your thesis. Is it truly an answer? (if not, change the question or the answer!)
• An element of surprise. This means that the thesis is interesting, engaging, and perhaps not so expected.
• Clarity. It should be understandable after one reading and have no mistakes.

When should you write your thesis statement? It depends on when you know the answer to your research question. You may have an idea before you begin researching, you may discover it as you research, or you may not know it until you have almost finished writing your paper. It’s useful to have a thesis idea at the beginning to help you focus, but it’s also OK to change your thesis statement as you go through the writing process and learn and think more about your topic.

5- Planning – Basic Outline
After you have a preliminary thesis statement (the answer to your research question), you can make a basic outline. You may be able to do this before doing any research, or you may need to read more about the topic first. You should, however, have a basic outline before you finish researching in order to ensure that your paper is focused on YOUR thoughts, not just your sources’.
A basic outline is your first attempt to organize the ideas of your paper. It will help you focus your research and consider the order of your ideas. To make one:

•  

• Choosing and ordering points
  1. Write your question and answer (preliminary thesis statement). Don’t worry about writing a beautiful, memorable, strong thesis statement yet; just a simple answer to your question is enough to start the basic outline.
  2. Write down all the reasons/arguments/effects/solutions (each type of paper is different) you have to answer your question and support your thesis. Do not look at your sources – use your own brain.
  3. Look at your list and organize the ideas. Some may be combined as one larger idea; some may just repeat others in different words. You may decide to delete some too.
  4. The remaining ideas will be the main points of your paper. These ideas are the sections of your paper.
  5. Decide how to order these points. What order will you follow – chronological, cause to effect, problem to solution, most important to least important, weakest to strongest? Which order will make your paper the strongest and most interesting?
  6. Your paper should also cover alternative or opposing viewpoints to show that you have done complete research and considered all ideas. In this “con section,” you will present and refute (argue against) other views of your topic.
  Breaking sections

         Breaking sections into smaller parts
                   7. Those are very basic outlines. It is possible to add more to them, especially after a little research. For each section, think of how much support you have. If you have a lot of supporting details (facts, examples, expert opinions) and explanations, then you will need more than one paragraph for that section. Some sections, especially your strongest, need more than one paragraph, while others may have only one.
                 8. Divide your sections into smaller points. Write the idea of each possible paragraph as a sentence so you can see how/whether it still answers the research question.

6- Planning – Taking Notes

An important part of the research and planning process is taking notes of the information and ideas that you find. As you read a source, marking and writing down the important things that you read will help you to remember them and understand them better. It may seem time-consuming, but writing the paper will go faster if you already have all your ideas marked and written down.
Start taking notes from or on your sources during or after your research period. It’s easier to do this after you have a basic outline. Then you can organize the notes around the main points of your paper. Still, you will probably have more notes than you need for your paper because your original ideas and organization will change.
Where to take notes On photocopies or printed Internet documents

• Highlight or underline important information.
• Take notes in the margin. Write down your comments/questions about the information. Note which main point from your paper the information supports (this will help you when you are organizing and writing your paper later). On a computer file
• Create a separate Word document for each section of your paper.
• Take notes of important information from paper sources. Don’t forget to include the author’s name.
• Put text copied from web pages in quotation marks. Be very careful – this often leads to unintentional plagiarism. Don’t forget to include the author’s name and web address. In a notebook
• Write the author's name at the top of the page.
• Take notes of important information. In the margin, note which main point from your paper the information supports. On note cards
  o Write one piece of information on each card.
  o Don’t forget the author’s name and other source information.
  o Put the main point from your paper at the top of the card so you can organize all the notes later.
  What to take notes about Background information about your topic which is necessary for your paper. Arguments and explanations which support or oppose your ideas. Facts, examples, expert opinions, and other supporting details.
  How to take notes Summarize – Write the main points of the source in your own words. Good for sources with ideas, but not many details, related to your topic. Paraphrase – retell important information in your own words; use quotation marks for directly copied words. Good for details which will support/oppose you. Quote – copy the exact words from the source. Good for strong, exciting passages. Comment – write any questions or ideas you think of when you are reading sources.

7-Planning – Detailed Outline :

After going through your sources and taking notes, you can create a detailed outline by adding details to your basic outline as well as adding any new points that you found.
A detailed outline plans each body paragraph of your paper for you, from main point to supporting points to supporting details.
Many students would prefer to skip this part of the writing process and just start writing their papers, since it takes a lot of time, thinking, and re-thinking to develop a good outline. Well, if you are an advanced academic writer, go ahead. Writers with a lot of experience know what works best for them. However, if you are still learning how to write academic papers, you should make a detailed outline for several reasons: You will learn whether you have enough support for your thesis statement. You will have a map to follow when writing your paper. You will avoid major organizational problems in your paper if you organize your ideas before you write. You will have a chance to think more about your topic, refining your ideas. Some instructors will require draft outlines before your paper is due, or even final outlines with your paper, so you need to know how to write outlines.
After you have mastered the academic writing process, then you can decide whether or when to write a detailed outline. Here are the steps to follow when making your outline:
1. First, make changes to your basic outline’s thesis and main points until you are satisfied with your ideas and the order of your sections.
2. Then go through your notes and find supporting points for each section of your outline.
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3. Organize the supporting points in each section.
4. Go through your notes and add supporting details (facts, examples, expert opinion, descriptions, quotes, etc.) to each point. Be thorough so that the reader of your outline can understand how the detail supports the point.
o Always include the source of any research that you put in your outline (Author, year). If you use the source’s exact words in your outline, use quotation marks.
5. Now, based on the amount of supporting points and details in each section, you can determine how many paragraphs you will need.
6. Divide your outline into paragraphs, each with a main point written in sentence form (preliminary topic sentence) and list of supporting points and details.

8-Writing the First Draft :

There are many ways to write the first draft of your paper. The key is to be prepared before you start – have a purpose, a thesis, enough research, and a plan (some sort of outline). And then, just write.
You could start at the beginning and write until the end. Or you could write paragraphs separately, in any order you like. Many writers do the body paragraphs first and save the introduction and conclusion for the end.
Advice for the first draft Read about the introduction, body, and conclusion in this guide before you start. Know how to use source material (see Research and APA Style Guide, pp. 13-26) before you start. Then just write! Do not worry about perfection yet. Do not worry about grammar. Keep going! If you are missing information, mark the spot and then do more research later to fill in the gap. Be aware of plagiarism. Write down the source whenever you use anything from a source. Do not wait until the last minute! You will need time to revise, edit, and proofread.

9-Revising

Your first draft is complete, but your paper is far from finished. The next step is to revise your paper – strengthen the content. Start this at least a week before your paper is due. In fact, you don’t need to wait until you have a complete first draft to start revising. You can revise individual paragraphs as you finish them as well.
Know what to fix
Before you can revise, you need to know what to fix. How can you find that out? Get feedback. In some courses, you and your classmates will be asked to exchange papers to read and comment on them in class or online. If not, ask a friend to read it. You can also ask your instructor to look at parts of your paper (most instructors are happy to help if you have started your paper early. They may not be willing if you ask for advice at the last-minute). Listen to the advice of your reviewers, but remember that in the end, your paper is your responsibility.
USING TRANSITIONS
Sentence. Transition, sentence. OR Sentence; transition, sentence.
Transitions usually connect two sentences. Therefore, they will usually appear at the beginning of a complete sentence – after a period or semi-colon.
The law does not stop teenagers from drinking therefore it is ineffective. WRONG
The law does not stop teenagers from drinking, therefore it is ineffective. WRONG
The law does not stop teenagers from drinking; therefore, it is ineffective. RIGHT!
The law does not stop teenagers from drinking. Therefore, it is ineffective. RIGHT!
Transitions must also be followed by a comma and a complete sentence.
Many organizations use English, for example, the UN, the EU, and NATO. WRONG
Many organizations use English. For example, the UN, the EU, and NATO. WRONG
Many organizations use English. For example, it is one of the official
languages of the UN, the EU, and NATO. RIGHT

Refer to the paper requirements or grading criteria or look at the checklist in this guide. Read your paper and look at the requirements or checklist at the same time. Check off what you have, and mark what you need to fix. Outline. Make an outline of your first draft by listing the main point of each topic sentence. This will show you whether your ideas are clearly organized and whether they focus on answering the research question (the thesis). Read your paper for focus. Read every sentence of your paper. After each, ask yourself, “Does this support the thesis statement?” If it doesn’t, cross it out or change it. [Or consider changing your thesis.] Read each body paragraph for support. Read a body paragraph, and then read its topic sentence again. Did the paragraph support that sentence enough? Were there enough specific details – facts, examples, descriptions, expert opinions? Re-read your paper as the audience. Imagine that you are seeing your paper for the first time (this is often hard to do, which is why it’s good to have another person read your paper). As you read, write down any comments or questions your audience might have. Make sure that the tone fits the audience – will the audience be offended or attracted by your writing?
Fix it
Once you know what to fix, you must do it. Be daring. You will not have a good paper if you are afraid to change things. It may be easier to completely re-type your paper while just looking at your first draft. How should you change your paper? Erase words, sentences or paragraphs; eliminate all unnecessary or irrelevant ideas. Add words, sentences or paragraphs; add new points, details, or explanations. Reorganize words, sentences or paragraphs; put everything in a logical order. Re-write words, sentences or paragraphs; keep your ideas but present them better.
Revise it again
If there is time (make time!), revise your second draft. And keep revising. Good writers actually tend to revise more rather than less as they gain more writing experience.

10- Editing

When you are happy with your paper's content, it's time to edit. Try to do this in the week before your paper is due.
Editing will make your writing more precise and easier to understand (not necessarily shorter, but clearer). When editing, you examine every sentence and ask yourself if has a purpose and if it’s complete, clear, and concise in English. A grammar resource and an English-English dictionary are both helpful editing tools.
Experiment with the following strategies until you find what works best for you.
Read your paper out loud slowly (or ask someone to read it to you).
You will hear mistakes, wordiness, repetition, and lack of clarity, which you can correct. If you don't know how to correct something, start looking through those grammar books.
Use the spell check and grammar check functions in Microsoft Word.
They will find some things, but not everything. This should not be your only strategy.

Editing strategies for specific problems Connection between ideas

• o Read the beginning and end of every paragraph to make sure they flow together.
• o Go through the paper sentence by sentence and find connections between them.
• o If the ideas don't connect, add a transition, pronoun, repeated word, synonym, or another sentence. Wordiness
• o Find all the very long sentences (25 words or more). Can they be rewritten more clearly and concisely?
• o Read each sentence. After each one, ask, “Is it necessary to the paragraph? Does it add something new? Could it be eliminated completely or partly? Could it be combined?”
• o Read each sentence word by word. Is every word necessary? Could some be eliminated or re-written in a shorter, clearer way? Could passive verbs be rewritten as active ones? Repetition, Lack of variety
• o Read each sentence and ask, “What is the purpose of this sentence?” Does it introduce a new idea? Does it support or explain the previous idea? OR does it just repeat it?
• o Read the first 5 words of each sentence to find sentences starting in the same way (such as with a transition word). Change some so your sentences have variety.
• o Look at the length of every sentence. There should be a variety of short and long sentences. Make sentences shorter by dividing them or longer by combining.
• o Find words which are repeated a lot. Use a thesaurus to find other words to use. Sentence structure
• o Go through the essay sentence by sentence. Label the subject(s) and the verb(s) in every sentence. Make sure each sentence has a subject and verb. Make sure there are not too many subject-verb combinations in each sentence and that word order is Subject+Verb+Object. Fix fragments, run-ons, and word order. Word choice
• o Find all the long words. Could some be replaced with shorter, clearer words? Clarity, Non-English structure
• o Read your paper without using a lot of effort – you're just reading because you are interested in the topic. If you have to read something twice, it's not clear.
• o Read your paper and translate it into your native language in your head. If it's really easy to translate, then maybe the writing is not following English structure and style.
• o Say your ideas out loud in English. Write exactly what you said. You probably speak more clearly than you write.

11-Proofreading 

When you think your paper is ready to turn it, it's time to proofread (check for mistakes). If you don't proofread, your paper may be full of careless errors, which shows the audience that you were too lazy, rushed, or uncaring to fix your paper. To proofread: Do not look at your paper for 24 hours (this requires time management skills!) Print your paper – you'll see mistakes that you might not see on a computer screen.

Start with the last sentence of your paper and read your paper sentence by sentence, going backwards. (This will help you focus on grammar, not content). Cover all the other lines with another piece of paper. Point your pen at each word. Think about the grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, meaning... of every word. If you are unsure about anything, use a dictionary or grammar book. If you are still unsure, mark the line and ask someone for help. Fix any mistakes that you found. Print your paper and proofread it again!
It is a long, slow, unpleasant experience at first. However, the more you proofread, the easier it gets, the better your English gets, and the higher your grades get too.

COURSE 4 WRITING A WELL STRUCTURED COHERENT PARAGRAPH

PARAGRAPH

INTRODUCTION

Regard the paragraph as the unit of organization for your essay, paragraphs can be of varying lengths, but they must present a coherent argument unified under a single topic as it is clarified by instructor Adams in the video here attached. Paragraphs are hardly ever longer than one page, double spaced and usually are much shorter. Lengthy paragraphs usually indicate a lack of structure. Identify the main ideas in the paragraph to see if they make more sense as separate topics in separate paragraphs. Shorter paragraphs usually indicate a lack of substance; you don’t have enough evidence or analysis to prove your point. Develop your idea or integrate the idea into another paragraph.
The structure of a paragraph parallels the structure of an essay in order as well as the content. Both contain a coherent argument, supporting evidence/analysis, and a conclusion.

The structure of the paragraph

Specifically, the contents of a paragraph are as follows:

•     The Topic Sentence

serves two functions: first, it functions as the thesis of your paragraph; second, it pushes the thesis of your essay forward and presents an arguable point. The topic sentence is usually the first or second sentence of a paragraph. Occasionally, you may find it interesting or necessary to place the topic sentence at the end of the paragraph, but don’t
make a habit of it!

• Supporting Evidence/Analysis makes your claim digestible.

You need tofind a balance between evidence you provide (facts, quotations, summary of events/plot, etc.) and analysis (interpretation of evidence). If your paragraph is evidence-heavy, you haven’t presented an argument; if it is analysis-heavy, you haven’t adequately supported your claim.

•      The Concluding Observation

closes your paragraph with an observation that is more than just summary of the contents of the paragraph. The concluding observation provides a final idea that leads to the next step in your argument. The observation is usually the last or second-to-last sentence in the paragraph.

Example of an academically written paragraph

The following paragraph has been broken down into its constituent parts:

                                       TOPIC SENTENCE
The means by which environmentalists seek to achieve their political
goals demonstrate a willingness to operate within traditional political channels.
[point arguable: some people may believe environmentalists largely use antidemocratic strategies.]

Supporting Analysis and Evidence

Like many other special interest groups, advocates for the environmentalist
movement use lobbying tactics such as contributing financially to the
campaigns of environmentally friendly candidates. Lobbying provides a
source of political influence and power. As one analyst of environmental
politics notes, in “making some commitment to work within the political
system. . .[environmental lobby groups] succumb to. . .pressure to play ‘by the
rules of the game’ in the compromise world of Washington, D.C.” (Vig and
Kraft 70). [blend of supporting evidence/analysis]

Concluding Observation

Some might argue that environmentalists have taken a distinctly anti-American approach to policy change, claiming that lobbying is inherently undemocratic in its bias towards certain segments of the population; however, lobbying remains a constitutionally legitimate form of political activism. [more than just summary, the point is arguable and could easily lead to
another point.]