Class: 5 30/09/2015Student: AlexTutor: Gustavo

Academic English

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1. PARAGRAPH REVIEW

A good topic sentence

o is a complete sentence with a subject, a verb, and a controlling idea.o is neither too general nor too specific. It clearly states the main idea of the paragraph but

does not include specific details.o is usually the first sentence in the paragraph.

Good supporting sentences

o explain or prove the topic sentence.o are specific and factual.o can be examples, statistics, or quotations.

A good concluding sentence

o signals the end of the paragraph.o summarizes the important points briefly or restates the topic sentence in different words.

2. NARROWING THE TOPIC

If you are given a specific writing assignment, the subject you can write about is limited. Then you must narrow the topic to a particular aspect of that general subject. The point is, you must narrow the subject of your paragraph to a specific focus so that you can write about it clearly and completely. The diagram on page 4 illustrates the process of narrowing a general topic to a specific one.

Class: 5 30/09/2015Student: AlexTutor: Gustavo

Exercise: Choose a general topic of your area and narrow it into a very specific topic that you can write about.

3. BRAINSTORMING

a. Freewriting

Freewriting is a brainstorming activity in which you write freely about a topic because you are looking for a specific focus. The purpose of freewriting is to generate as many ideas as possible and to write them down without worrying about appropriateness, grammar, spelling, logic, or organization

Write the topic at the top of your paper. Write as much as you can about the topic until you run out of ideas. Include

such supporting items as facts, details, and examples that come into your mind about the subject.

After you have run out of ideas, reread your paper and circle the main idea(s) that you would like to develop.

Take that main idea and freewrite again.

b. Clustering

Clustering is another brainstorming activity that you can use to generate ideas. Here is how to use this technique: In the center of your paper, write your topic and draw a "balloon" around it. This is your center, or core, balloon. Then write whatever ideas come to you in balloons around the core. Think about each of these ideas and make more balloons around them.

Exercise: Choose one of the previous techniques, freewriting or clustering to brainstorm about your topic.

4. WRITING PROCESS

Class: 5 30/09/2015Student: AlexTutor: Gustavo

a. Sublists

Imagine you decided to write about cultural chock, and then have narrowed this theme into “communication problems between native speakers and international students on the United States”. After that, you have brainstormed and identified possible ideas that could be discussed on your paragraph. These ideas are sown on the box below divided in two sublists. The left sublist represents the problems related to international students. The right sublist represents the problems related to native speakers.

b. Primary outline

The ideas listed under "communication problems" could be divided further into two sublists, those that describe international students and those that describe Americans. Two items, (1) poor verbal skills and (2) Americans difficult to understand, can serve as titles for the sublists. New language and lack confidence did not fit in either sublist, so they were crossed out. The remaining items could be put under 1 or 2. When you have grouped all of the points into their appropriate sub list, you have created a preliminary outline for a paragraph.

c. Writin a topic sentence

Class: 5 30/09/2015Student: AlexTutor: Gustavo

Finally. write a topic sentence. The topic sentence is the most general sentence in a paragraph, and it expresses the central focus of the paragraph. The topic of Group A is clearly communication problems. Therefore, a possible topic sentence might be as follows.

d. Outline

An outline is a formal plan for a paragraph. In an outline, you write down the main points and subpoints in the order in which you plan to write about them. The following is an example of an outline of the topic "communication problems."

With this outline in front of you, it should be relatively easy to write a paragraph about international $students' communication problems with Americans. There is a topic sentence, two main supporting points, two supporting details for the first main point, and four supporting details for the second main point. You could, of course, add some examples and a concluding sentence if you wanted to, but the main planning for the paragraph has been completed.

Exercise: Write a paragraph about a specific topic in your area using the methods and techniques presented to you during tis class.