Writing tips

[Ngô Tố Giao (togiao)]

Không dám múa rừu qua mắt thợ, nhưng thôi thì xem trong nhà, có cái gì đóng góp được thì đóng góp cho board này thêm sôi động. Có mấy tips để viết bài luận tiếng Anh. Mọi người thấy có gì thiếu thì bổ sung nhé!

WRITING

Organizing supporting material

· You can use 4 different kinds of supporting information to develop the main idea of paragraph: examples, facts, statistics and anecdotes
· You can mix and match types of support in a particular paragraph, or use the same kind of 2 or times
· The type of support you choose depends on the main idea of your paragraph

- A good paragraph include the following: a topic sentence, an optional brige statement, supporting material, and a conclusion
- These parts of a good paragraph have the following functions:
1. The topic sentence expresses the main idea
2. The bridge explains the main idea and leads to the supporting material
3. The supporting material includes examples, facts, statistics, and even an anecdote
4. The conclusion reminds the reader of the main idea and concludes the paragraph


Interpretingsupporting material

· A well – developed paragraph offen includes an interpretation ( or analysis) of the supporting material
· An interpretation is one of more sentences following the supporting material that explains how that supporting material relates to and develops the topic sentence.

Read your paragraph and make sure that all the necessary parts are included before you hand your work.

Paragraph organization : Levels of generality

· In a well –developed paragraph the writer organizes the ideas in logical order and explains how the supporting information is connected to the main idea.

- An effective way to organize ideas in a paragraph is to use specific facts and illiustrations to support general statements. Two ways to orgnaize your ideas are through:
1. top- down organization
2. divided organization

Choose the pattern that best fits what you are writing about

Top- down organization: it looks like a set of stairs and each idea in the paragraph moves one step down in generality:
1. Topic sentence ( most general idea)
2. More specific information about the topic
3. More specific information about sentence 2
4. More specific information about sentence 3
5. More specific information about sentence 4

Divided organization: it looks like 2 sets of stairs , as the topic sentence of paragraph has two parts:
1. Topic sentence ( most general: may have 2 or more parts)
2. First part ( more specific)
3. Fact or illustration related to the first part ( very specific)
4. More specific fact about sentence 3
5. Second part ( same level of specificity as the first part)
6. Fact or illustration related to the second part ( very specific)
7. More specific about sentence 6

Using lines, drawing a sketch , or making a diagram or chart is often a fast way to plan the relationships between main points in your essay.

Cause and effect

· The organization pattern you choose for an essay depends on the topic of the essay

- An effective way of making a point in an essay is to show causal relationships
- You can describe a causal relationship in a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire essay
- There are 2 kinds of causal relationships: a simple one where one action leads to the another ( a -> b), and a complex one where one cause leads to one result, which leads to another result ( a -> b -> c). This is called a causal chain.

A causal chain can be as long as necessary to cover all the important causes and effects of yours subject.

Causal chain essay organization 1:

- The thesis statement of a causal chain essay presents the initial cause and final result, the body paragraphs explain the progression in detail.
- There are many ways to organize a causal chain; however, in order for the chain to merit an entire essay, there must be enough intermediate steps to make up at least 2 body paragraphs.

Diagram of one possible organizational pattern for developing an essay showing a causal chain:
1. Introduction: Thesis statement : a -> f
2. a -> b ->c
3. d -> e -> f
4. Conclusion

Causal chain essay organization 2:

- Another way to organize a causal chain essay is to begin with the final result and trace backward to the initial cause

Knowing 2 or 3 organizational patterns for a particular essay type will help you plan and write essays faster in test –taking situaions.


Processes

· An effective way to make a point in an essay is to show cause – effect relationships between events or ideas.
· There are several ways to organize a cause – effect essay.

- Writing that describes processes ( often scientific writing ) requires careful organization
- Chronological descriptions of processes use signals such as first , second, next and finally to describe the steps the process involves.
- Structural descriptions of processes decribe and/or analyze an object or event to determine the organization.
- The thesis statement in a process essay is often an announcement of what you are going to describe and how you will go about it.

When writing an essay , read the directions carefully in order to determine who you are writing for. This will tell you how formal or informal your writing should be. Knowing who your audience is makes writing easier.

 

[Đỗ Huyền My (Sagittarius)]

Tips for writing

For everyone:
http://askearth.com/go/intro?t=536&a=writing&c=7
http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/
http://de.essortment.com/writinganessay_rxyv.htm (very basic)
http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/tips/paragrap/
http://explore.kent.edu/asc/writing/topten.html
http://www.powa.org/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/
http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/wa/Resources/students.htm (links to other sites)

Research papers (extremely helpful for college-bound folks & current college kids):
http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml
http://www.gmu.edu/gmu/personal/paper.html
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/csdc/paper.html
http://www.writing.nwu.edu/tips/plag.html

Essay exams:
http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/essayexm.htm
http://www.csbsju.edu/academicadvising/help/essayexm.html (love it!)

Enjoy, and feel free to comment/ add more to the list.

 

[Đỗ Huyền My (Sagittarius)]

Hê hê... chả hiểu chị với em thần giao cách cảm thế nào mà start 2 cái threads tương tự nhau cùng một lúc )

Oops, should've written in English, since this is after all an English box

 

[Vũ Đàm Linh (Mazerlin)]

five-paragraph essay

The five-paragraph essay

( I think it's a very good formula for an essay. The sample is interesting,right?)
I have it in my PC for a long time---> forget the source. Try the key word " English essay", maybe that'll help

Introduction:

Introductory Paragraph
See, first, Writing Introductory Paragraphs for different ways of getting your reader involved in your essay. The introductory paragraph should also include the thesis statement, a kind of mini-outline for the paper: it tells the reader what the essay is about. The last sentence of this paragraph must also contain a transitional "hook" which moves the reader to the first paragraph of the body of the paper.

Body:

Body — First paragraph:

The first paragraph of the body should contain the strongest argument, most significant example, cleverest illustration, or an obvious beginning point. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the "reverse hook" which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the introductory paragraph. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the second paragraph of the body.

Body — Second paragraph:

The second paragraph of the body should contain the second strongest argument, second most significant example, second cleverest illustration, or an obvious follow up the first paragraph in the body. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the reverse hook which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the first paragraph of the body. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the third paragraph of the body.

Body — Third paragraph:

The third paragraph of the body should contain the weakest argument, weakest example, weakest illustration, or an obvious follow up to the second paragraph in the body. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the reverse hook which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the second paragraph. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional concluding hook that signals the reader that this is the final major point being made in this paper. This hook also leads into the last, or concluding, paragraph.

Conclusion:

Concluding paragraph:

This paragraph should include the following:

an allusion to the pattern used in the introductory paragraph,
a restatement of the thesis statement, using some of the original language or language that "echoes" the original language. (The restatement, however, must not be a duplicate thesis statement.)
a summary of the three main points from the body of the paper.
a final statement that gives the reader signals that the discussion has come to an end. (This final statement may be a "call to action" in an persuasive paper.)

A Sample Paper

1 Stephen King, creator of such stories as Carrie and Pet Sematary, stated that the Edgar Allan Poe stories he read as a child gave him the inspiration and instruction he needed to become the writer that he is. 2 Poe, as does Stephen King, fills the reader's imagination with the images that he wishes the reader to see, hear, and feel. 3 His use of vivid, concrete visual imagery to present both static and dynamic settings and to describe people is part of his technique. 4 Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a story about a young man who kills an old man who cares for him, dismembers the corpse, then goes mad when he thinks he hears the old man's heart beating beneath the floor boards under his feet as he sits and discusses the old man's absence with the police. 5 In "The Tell-Tale Heart," a careful reader can observe Poe's skillful manipulation of the senses.

The introductory paragraph includes a paraphrase of something said by a famous person in order to get the reader's attention. The second sentence leads up to the thesis statement which is the third sentence. The thesis statement (sentence 3) presents topic of the paper to the reader and provides a mini- outline. The topic is Poe's use of visual imagery. The mini- outline tells the reader that this paper will present Poe's use of imagery in three places in his writing: (1) description of static setting; (2) description of dynamic setting; and (3) description of a person. The last sentence of the paragraph uses the words "manipulation" and "senses" as transitional hooks.

1The sense of sight, the primary sense, is particularly susceptible to manipulation. 2In "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe uses the following image to describe a static scene: "His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness . . ." Poe used the words "black," "pitch," and "thick darkness" not only to show the reader the condition of the old man's room, but also to make the reader feel the darkness." 3"Thick" is a word that is not usually associated with color (darkness), yet in using it, Poe stimulates the reader's sense of feeling as well as his sense of sight.

In the first sentence of the second paragraph (first paragraph of the body) the words "sense" and "manipulation" are used to hook into the end of the introductory paragraph. The first part of the second sentence provides the topic for this paragraph--imagery in a static scene. Then a quotation from "The Tell-Tale Heart" is presented and briefly discussed. The last sentence of this paragraph uses the expressions "sense of feeling" and "sense of sight" as hooks for leading into the third paragraph.

1Further on in the story, Poe uses a couple of words that cross not only the sense of sight but also the sense of feeling to describe a dynamic scene. 2The youth in the story has been standing in the open doorway of the old man's room for a long time, waiting for just the right moment to reveal himself to the old man in order to frighten him. 3Poe writes: "So I opened it [the lantern opening]--you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily--until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye." 4By using the metaphor of the thread of the spider (which we all know is a creepy creature) and the word "shot," Poe almost makes the reader gasp, as surely did the old man whose one blind eye the young man describes as "the vulture eye."

The first sentence of the third paragraph (second paragraph of the body) uses the words "sense of sight" and "sense of feeling" to hook back into the previous paragraph. Note that in the second paragraph "feeling" came first, and in this paragraph "sight" comes first. The first sentence also includes the topic for this paragraph--imagery in a dynamic scene. Again, a quotation is taken from the story, and it is briefly discussed. The last sentence uses the words "one blind eye" which was in the quotation. This expression provides the transitional hook for the last paragraph in the body of the paper.

1The reader does not know much about what the old man in this story looks like except that he has one blind eye. 2In the second paragraph of "The Tell-Tale Heart," Poe establishes the young man's obsession with that blind eye when he writes: "He had the eye of the vulture--a pale blue eye, with a film over it." 3This "vulture eye" is evoked over and over again in the story until the reader becomes as obsessed with it as does the young man. 4His use of the vivid, concrete word "vulture" establishes a specific image in the mind of the reader that is inescapable.

In the first sentence of the fourth paragraph (third paragraph in the body), "one blind eye" is used that hooks into the previous paragraph. This first sentence also lets the reader know that this paragraph will deal with descriptions of people: ". . . what the old man looks like . . .." Once again Poe is quoted and discussed. The last sentence uses the word "image" which hooks into the last paragraph. (It is less important that this paragraph has a hook since the last paragraph is going to include a summary of the body of the paper.)

1"Thick darkness," "thread of the spider," and "vulture eye" are three images that Poe used in "The Tell-Tale Heart" to stimulate a reader's senses. 2Poe wanted the reader to see and feel real life. 3He used concrete imagery rather than vague abstract words to describe settings and people. 4If Edgar Allan Poe was one of Stephen King's teachers, then readers of King owe a debt of gratitude to that nineteenth-century creator of horror stories.

The first sentence of the concluding paragraph uses the principal words from the quotations from each paragraph of the body of the paper. This summarizes those three paragraph. The second and third sentences provide observations which can also be considered a summary, not only of the content of the paper, but also offers personal opinion which was logically drawn as the result of this study. The last sentence returns to the Edgar Allan Poe-Stephen King relationship which began this paper. This sentence also provides a "wrap-up" and gives the paper a sense of finality.

 

[Tô Thùy Linh (tothuylinh)]

Here is the source:

http://www.findwriter.com/5_paragraph_essay.html

There are also some more interesting things on this website.