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Demonstrate an understanding of writing academic

essays.
Identify the stages involved in the writing process.
Explain the fundamental principles of writing an essay
to produce a well written piece of work.
Produce a well-written piece that is accepted at
university level can be produced.
Apply the basic writing concepts to produce reports and
proposals.

Unit 1: The Writing Process

List and explain the various stages involved in the writing process.
Choose and narrow the topic of an essay.
Use different ways of generating ideas for an essay to develop an
essay plan.
Organise information in an essay to produce clear, logical and
coherent text.
Use the principles learnt to write the introduction, the body and the
concluding paragraph of an essay.
Revise and edit an essay.
Explain what evaluating an essay means.
Apply the criteria learnt to evaluate an essay.

By the end of this section, you should be able to:


Discuss the basic steps involved in the writing
process.
Choose the topic of an essay using strategies
learnt.
Narrow the topic of an essay.
Generating ideas for an essay by applying
different techniques.

Academic writing follows a certain structure or pattern:


There is an introduction, middle, and a conclusion. In all
your academic writing you follow this structure.
In academic writing, you are writing for a very specific
audience " your tutors, lecturers, peers, and other people
in the academic fraternity.
In academic writing, you are required to follow the rules
of grammar, punctuation, and spelling to ensure that
what you write can be understood by all in an academic
setting.

In academic writing, you are required to write on topics


related to your field of study such as languages,
medicine, law, economics, science, and many other
various academic fields. You are required to discuss
theories, principles, ideas, and concepts; as well as
provide explanations for the processes, procedures,
practices, causes and effects, and many other related
matters.
When giving opinions and judgements in academic
writing, you are required to support them by linking it to
evidence, research, or citing the work of other authors.
Most importantly, in academic writing, you are required
to the cite sources of your information.

Pre-writing
Organising
Drafting
Editing
Proofreading and handing in your
work

Help students organize their thoughts.


Story Frame
Beginning
Middle
End

Issue

Issue

Issue

Issue

Issue

Issue

Organising
Reading
and making
notes

Making
essay plans

Mindmapping

Pay attention to grammar, punctuation and spelling as you


rewrite.
Note down your thoughts.
Write about something you know.
Arrange your ideas in order from the important points to the
less important ones.
Select the ideas that you want to include.
You should choose a topic that interests you.
Proceed to prepare an outline.
After that, read the essay again and amend the parts that
can be further improved.
It is like a roadmap to keep you headed to your destination.
Do not worry about grammar at this point.
After you have arranged your ideas, write the entire essay.

Pre-writing
1. You should choose a topic that interests you.
2. Write about something you know.
3. Note down your thoughts.
4. Select the ideas that you want to include
Organising
5. Proceed to prepare an outline.
6. Arrange your ideas in order from the important points
to the less important ones
7. It is like a roadmap to keep you headed to your
destination.
8. After you have arranged your ideas, write the entire
essay.

Drafting
9. Do not worry about grammar at this point.
Editing
10. Pay attention to grammar, punctuation and
spelling as you rewrite.
Publishing
11. After that, read the essay again and amend
the parts that can be further improved.

Brainstorming ideas for a topic


- write down all your ideas on a paper.
- List down all your ideas.
Choosing and narrowing a topic
a. What is it that interests me?
b. What can I make a statement about?
c. Does it fit my assignment in terms of length,
required research, etc?

to produce ideas which can be used


as content for your essay.
1. Freewriting
2. Mind-mapping
3. Journal writing
4. Asking questions

This is informal, personal writing in which the


writer begins writing and keeps writing in order
to capture thoughts and generate ideas.
The key is to keep the pen or pencil moving
steadily over the paper without pausing.
The writer should continue long enough that the
obvious thoughts are recorded and the brain has
to push for new material.

Start writing and keep writing


Dont worry about conventions of
spelling, punctuation, or grammar
If you get stuck, write, I dont know
what to write, or repeat or rephrase
your last thought
BUTKEEP WRITING!!!!

Get a book for you to write your journal


entries. Write something for a few minutes
every day.
Keep the journal with you at all times.
Sometimes, you may receive inspiration when
you least expect it. That is the time to write your
thoughts lest you forget what you have thought
of.
After reading a novel or doing some work,
write your thoughts about the novel or the work
that you have done.

What?
When?
Why?
Which?
Where?
How?
Who?

By the end of this section, you should be able to:


Prepare an essay outline with an introduction,
body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Use the principles learnt to write an introduction
that is appealing to the reader.
Write thesis statements, topic sentences, and
supporting sentences.
Identify the two elements of a good paragraph.
Write the first draft of the essay.

The three parts of an essay


1. Introduction:
The Introduction should have a thesis statement. This sentence states what the
essay is about.
2. Body Paragraphs:
Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence. This sentence tells the
reader what the paragraph is about.
The body paragraphs should also have supporting sentences. These
supporting sentences provide explanations, arguments and examples that will
give further understanding to the reader regarding the topic sentence.
3. Conclusion:
The Conclusion should summarise the essay. You can give your opinion,
advice, or a prediction of what will happen in future.

Introduction
Opening Sentence/Hook
General/Background Information
Thesis Statement

DO
Introduce the specific issue(s) or the side of an argument you are
focusing on in your essay.
Let your readers know exactly what they will expect in your
essay, and the approach that you are taking in your argument.
Be brief in the introduction. However, do provide adequate
background information to ensure that someone who has no
knowledge about the topic can follow your argument.
Maintain your readers attention by setting the tone for the
essay, and provide a map for the rest of the paper, i.e., stating
the subtopics you intend to discuss.

DO NOT
Try to explain or make arguments in your
introduction. That should be done in the body of
your essay. Briefly state what you will be
explaining or arguing in the essay.
Provide too many details. These details can be
discussed in the body of your essay.
Be repetitive as your readers may find your
introduction to the topic uninteresting.

Captures your readers attention.


Convinces your readers that your paper
is worth reading.
Sets the tone for the rest of the paper.
Sufficiently introduces your topic to your
reader.

Quotation
Refutation/Denial
Shocking/surprising
Personal experience
Anecdote/Story/ Definition
Question statement
Statement
Dialogue

T stands for Topic. Here you state what youll be talking about in the
paragraph. It only needs to be one line, just enough to specify what you're talking
about.

E - stands for Explain. Here you will elaborate on your Topic, giving the reader
more information about what it is. One line will do here, but two is more
beneficial for your mark.

X - stands for Example. This is where your paragraph comes to the crunch. You
will have to use a real example. If youre Responding to Literature, you'll need a
real quote. If you're doing a formal writing essay you'll be able to get away with a
looser interpretation of the word 'real'. You will be judged on the content of your
quote and how you use it to back up your argument.

A - stands for Analysis. Here you discuss how your example backs up your
argument. Two lines is a good bet here, the more you show how much you
understand your example the better. Feel free to start it off with, 'This shows
how..." or "Here we see..." You shouldn't get marked down particularly, but
you'll get marked up for a more original link.

S - stands for Summary. This often means repeating your Topic statement with
more affirmative grammar. Rearranging the words never hurt either.

The topic sentence is the most important sentence in your


paragraph. For that reason, the topic sentence is usually (though
not always) the first the first sentence in the body paragraph.
Therefore, do put some thought into its construction.
The topic sentence has two clear parts:
1. Topic
2. Controlling idea (or Main idea)

Although a topic sentence can be placed anywhere in a


paragraph, it is recommended for the student to put it at
the beginning of the paragraph.
Make sure the topic sentences are related to the thesis
statements.
Use the same language as you have used in your
introduction for your body paragraphs.
Discuss one main idea in each body paragraph. Do not
attempt to include too much information.
Ensure that you phrase everything clearly so that your
specific audience can understand what you are trying to
convey.

Restatement
You should begin your conclusion with a
restating your thesis statement. The restatement
serves to remind your readers what you have
written.
Summary
After your restatement, you can summarise the
main ideas of your body paragraphs. You may
list out the subtopics discussed. Do not present
any new information.

Closing statement(s)
Your final statement(s) should leave your
readers thinking about what you have
written. They may agree or disagree with
you, but you last sentence should make them
reflect on your topic.
Please read Strategies for writing the closing
statement in page 47.

Unity
Unity means the whole paragraph discusses
one single idea, and only that idea.
Coherence
The next element in a good paragraph is
coherence. This basically means the sentences
of the paragraph must be linked logically and
sensibly. We make use of cohesive devices or
ways to achieve cohesion

Pre-Writing Notes

Outline
First Draft

By the end of this section, you should be able


to:
Explain what revising, editing, and
proofreading an essay means.
Revise the first draft of an essay.
Edit the draft of an essay.
Proofread the final draft of an essay.

Revising the essay


Editing the essay
Proofreading the essay

By the end of this section, you should be able to:


1. Explain what evaluating an essay means.
2. Apply the criteria learnt in evaluating the various aspects of
an essay

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