THREE ELEMENTS FOR SUCCESSFUL ACADEMIC WRITING

        

• style
• correct pronunciation
• paragraphing

WHAT IS A PARAGRAPH

• a distinct section in a piece of writing with a number of related sentences
• one main idea or topic

PARTS OF A PARAGRAPH

1. TOPIC SENTENCE: an interesting topic with arguments.

2.BODY: should be organized according to the order of importance or order of chronology

3.CLOSING SENTENCE: which reminds the audience what the writer is talking about (restate the message) and let the audience thinking.

ELEMENTS OF A PARAGRAPH

• each paragraph must be easy to identify and start in a new line
• it must be focused on a main idea
• it must be well organized
• all its sentences must be related (cohesion)

THREE QUALITIES THAT MAKE A SUCCESSFUL PARAGRAPH

• unity that must share all the sentences in the paragraph
• coherence that makes all sentence be related
• development that supports the main idea with elements

UNITY

-The topic sentence states the main idea of the paragraph

-Start the paragraph with the topic sentence , which tells the reader what the paragraph is about

The Topic sentence is made up by two elements:

TOPIC (the subject of the paragragraph)

THE CONTROLLING IDEA (specific comment of the theme based on Wh-questions)

POSITION OF THE TOPIC SENTENCE

• first sentence of the paragraph
• elsewhere in the paragraph

COHERENCE

• sentences related to each other
• all the details in the sentence are fixed

HOW TO ACHIEVE IT?

• creating  logical bridges from one sentence to another (coherence)
• repeating key words
• using synonyms
• using pronouns
• using transition words

DEVELOPMENT

-details and evidence to support the topic

-illustrative points with examples to convince the reader

To structure the development : TEE Rule

T: Topic Sentence

E: Explanation

E: Examples or evidences

                                 

                              INTRODUCING PARAGRAPH

• it states topic of assignment and comment on its importance
• it states main argument to get reader´s attention
• how you intend to answer the question

CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH

• it summarizes the main points
• it states main conclusion
• assures that the question was answered (satisfy the reader)

A CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH MUST NOT :

-INTRODUCE NEW MATERIAL (THIS MUST BE IN THE BODY)

-END WITH A GENERALIZATION

-END WITH A QUOTATION

SOURCES:

Writing Structured Paragraphs. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w183qB0KDFg. Retrieved May 30, 2013.

Parts of a paragraph-English Academic Writing. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCuExRE6N-4. Retrieved May 30, 2013.

she is a writer

Chimamanda Nogozi Adichie was born Nigeria in 1977. She has received numerous awards and distinctions, including The Orange Broadband Prize For Fiction in 2007, and a Mc Arthur Foundation fellowship in 2008.

Stairway to the stars

      Chimamanda said that books enlarge imagination and that we should see human stories behind stories. This great author lived in a country that used to be an English colony, so, when she was a child she read English stories about white characters and their customs which were very different from Chimamanda´s background. She grew up under a represive and military regimen where African books were not so available, so as she was fond of writing she began to write about the only thing she had read, English stories. After that, when she was 19 years old she went to the university, in America. There, she realized that people like her could exist in literature, not only there were English writers in the world and that when we read as children we are affected by stories. Being in America Chimamda had a roommate who had heard about Africa as a catastrophic country, but that was the single story, not the complete one. The writer said that stories could break and repair dignity so as ecnomic and cultural power could make people believe only the part that powerful people desire. Chimamanda named some things that affected people  in Africa under colonialism, such as, the loss of dignity, of the ancestors land, the language, the story and the way of think. She said that when we write we must think about people and their stories. Once, she was asked about the reasons of being a writer and she answered that she wanted to take all mankind with her in a stairway to the stars.

          the country where Chimamanda grew up

                              

Chimamanda has a non-profit organization stablished to promote reading and culture of social introspection and engagement through the literary art

"farafina trust"

             

sources:

· Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story.(2009) Available at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D9Ihs241zeg

· Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Commonwealth lecture (2012 ) Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vmsYJDP8g2U. 

                        · Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie´s official website. Available at 

                                                          http://www.l3.ulg.ac.be/adichie/

farafina.org

APA citation rules

APA CITATION RULES

Getting started

According to APA style:

• use an administrator program from Microsoft
• use 12pt. Times New Roman
• doubled spaced through up with Microsoft Word
• set to one inch on all sides (top, bottom, right and left margin)
• headers with a left margin
• organize the paper as follows: title page, abstract, main body and references

References

The basic rules are:

Label the paper as "references" at the top of the page but do not ilalize or use quotation marcs

citing books

First include the author´s name, last name first followed by the initials, include the year of publication between parenthesis, title of the book in italics, in subtitle only capitalize the first word eg;

Rutherfurd, E (1988)SARUM Great Britain: Arrow Books

citing articles from scholarly jourals

First author´s name, last name first, year of publication in parenthesis, title of the article, title of the journal in italics, volume number in italics and pages eg;

Hu, Y. Wood. J. F; Smith, V (2004) Friendships trhough IM: Examining the relationship between instant messaging and intimacy. Journal or Computer-Mediated Comunication,10(1),38-40

citing newspaper

First author´s name, last name first, title of the article in italics, number of pages with double pp: if necesary for more than one pages eg;

Elliot, C (2012; August 29) The skies aren´t always friendship to nursing moms. Buenos Aires Herald, p 13

citing articles from encyclopedias

First author´s name, last name first, title of the encyclopedia in italics with the word IN fists, volume and number of pages in parenthesis, city of publication, state and publisher eg;

Bergman, D. G. (1993). Relativity. In The New Encyclopedia Britanica (vol.26.pp.501-508).Chicago, Il:Encyclopedia Britanica

citing web-sites

First name of the author or authors, last names first, the date in parenthesis, title of the article, title of the journal in italics, volume number and page, indicate the DOI after a colon. If the article has no DOI simply include the URL eg.:

Wooldrige, M.B.,& Shapka, J.(2012). Playing with technology:Mother -Toddler interaction scores lower during playing with electronic toys. Journal of Applied developmental Psychology,33(5), 211-218. 

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2012.05.005

Paragraphs

Metacognitive analysis:

First paragraph is an informal phone conversation between two friends
Genre: phone conversation
Register: formal
Context: two friends talking about their holidays

Ana:Hi! Vale, how are you?
Vale: Hi!, fine, how are you?
Ana:ok!, I ´ve been thinking about going holiday togeher, what do you think?
Vale:That would be a great idea, have you talked to Darlene and Jacky?
Ana:No, I haven´t, Darlene is as misserable as ever and Jacky never comes to visit us, I think she is still upset about last summer, you know. I´m sure you don´t want to hear about my problem, so let´s get back to those holidays plans
Vale:Yes!sure, how abou inviting Lisa, she is kind
Ana:good idea I´ll call her and then I tell you, ok? Bye!
Vale:ok! Bye, see you!

Seccond paragraph is an advertisement for any audience
Genre:  bikes shop advertisement
Register: informal
Context: a girl talking about bikes in the street

    I think bikes are very useful nowadays and everybody wants to keep it brilliat. You can go anywhere without spending any money but the necessary to keep them in a good running. I am a bikes fun, yesterday after school I spent the rest of the day watching the cycling on television. Oh! talking about bikes, have you got yours mended yet? If you haven´t come to visit us, in "speedy bikes" you´ll get your bike looks wanderful and comfortable. We´re waiting for you and your bike to come soon! you can buy a new one if you want, as cheaper as ever.

I am a writer (final edition)

"I am a writer"

          I have always dreamed about being a writer as my grandmother was. Never had I believed my dream would become true. By the time I was finishing school I started working on my stories. I have been fond of writers like Alfred Hitchkok and Agatha Christie, apart from my grandmother. As a result of having reading  too many stories about detectives and murderers, I have been writing this type of stories for many years.

          However, I have written successful stories based on real people and cases. One of this happened in my country some years ago and made me feel like a real detective and throughout the case carefuly. The case was about a woman who belonged to a wealthy family, and had been murdered. Many members of her family were involved in the crime and considered suspicious. After years of judgements, the husband was foun guilty and sent to jail. As a result of this, I succeeded in writing the stories I had desired for long time.

          To conclude,  I may say that writing about tragedies that real people suffer is not something desirable. Moreover, I think that being a true stories writer is not an easy subjet and most of the times I speak to the family of the victim before starting the issue.

Nevertheless I know my grandmother would be pride of my works and If I had to say what a life of a writer is like,I would say that writing give the life an especial and marvelous sense.

Pre writing ideas:

• I thought about writing as if I were a real writer, and thouht in real subjects such as writers or real characters
• I collected ideas about things writers say and what I would say as a writer in a formal note for a magazine
• I considered that the audience would be adult people

Drafting:

• I organized the ideas and wrote them
• I revised the language (formal words and expressions)
• I rearranged, added and deleted content

Proofreading and publishing

• I edited and improved the content and wrote the final version

sources:

http://lewis.cpsb.org/faculty_pages/stacey.blanchard/THE%20FIVE%20STEPS%20OF%20THE%20WRITING%20PROCESS.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/5115/write_process.htm

http://www.dailywritingtips

I am a writer (first draft)

" I am a writer"

          When I was a child I used to listen to my grandmother to say those words every time she had an interview for a famous magazine. As I admired my grandmother and her wanderful works at writing I have always dreamed about sayn those same words "I am a writer"

          As a result of my admiration for some famous writers such as Agatha Cristi and Alfred Hitchckok I became a writer also. I have dedicated my works to suspense and thriller stories. Although I prefer writing fictions stories about crimes and detectives, I have written true stories that had happened in my country. I can mention one inspired in a true case of a wealthy family in which the woman had been murdered and several members  of her family were involved and accused. Some years passed and after several judgements the husband was found guilty and sended to jail.

          As a conclusion I may say that writing is the best job I could have. I feel glad about this, but the best thing is that it was the inspiration of my grandmother my best motivation.