lang prof mid

• Essay


  A piece of writing with several paragraphs, about one topic
• Paragraph


  • Develops only one idea
• Thesis statement


  The essay is controlled by one main idea
• Thesis statement


  • Must be a complete sentence
  • Cannot be a question
  • Should be an opinion rather than a fact
  • Should not be a detail or an example
  • May state or list how it will support an opinion
  • Contains a single topic / one main subject
  • Is neither too general nor too narrow to be covered in an essay
  • Is precise and clear
• Introductory paragraph


  Serves as a "map" of the essay, outlining the main argument and points
• Introductory paragraph


  • Begins with a general statement that leads the reader into the topic
  • Includes the thesis statement
• Body paragraphs


  Explain, illustrate, discuss or prove the thesis statement
• Body paragraphs


  • Each discusses one aspect of the main point
  • Each begins with a topic sentence that states the point to be detailed
  • The controlling idea should echo the central idea in the thesis statement
  • Should have coherence and unity, with the order matching the thesis statement
• Concluding paragraph


  Signals the end of the essay, summarizes the main points, and leaves the reader with the writer's final thoughts
• Writing process


  1. Think of a topic

  2. Set your purpose

  3. Know your reader

  4. Prepare an outline

  5. Write your first draft

  6. Set aside your first draft

  7. Revise, polish, and correct

  8. Write the final draft
• Write or print on one side only of each paper
• If you are writing, choose wide-lined paper (about three-eighth between lines) or skip a line when writing
• If you are encoding, use double spaces between each line. Leave margins of at least 1'/2 inches wide at the left side and at the top and bottom of the page and at least one inch margin on the right side
• Skip one space after each comma and semi-colon and two after all other forms of punctuation except dashes
• Indicate a dash by typing two hyphens with no space before, after or between them
• Use either blue or black ink, not any color. Never use pencil
• Try to avoid splitting a word to fill up the end of a line. Instead, leave the extra space blank and put the whole word on the next line
• Indent the beginning of each paragraph the equivalent of a five-letter word
• Spell out any numbers below ten unless you are using numbers in a small space. Spell out any number, large or small that begins a sentence
• Go over the encoded material and implement corrections. Avoid correcting on the printed copy. Erasures are usually messy. In a handwritten copy, write the corrections neatly
• Careful correction is an essential last step for anything you write outside the class; it is equally important in letter, in-class themes, written report, thesis, and examinations written under pressure
• Expressing good judgment in making changes requires a special ability called writer's empathy, which allows you to identify with your readers and to imagine how your words would affect them
• Changes can affect a piece of writing on three levels: changes that affect the whole essay, paragraph level changes, and sentence level revisions
• Paraphrasing


  Restating ideas from the original text in a similar length
• Paraphrasing


  • Do not change the original thought of the text; change the way it is conveyed
  • Do not confuse it with a summary. Focus on details, not on the main idea alone
  • Ensure accuracy by comparing the original and the paraphrased texts
• Summarizing


  Presenting an author's most important information in shortened form
• Summarizing


  • Does not match the source word for word
  • Involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, but including only the main point(s)
  • Presents a broad overview, so is usually much shorter than the original text
  • Must be attributed to the original source
• Reading is a cognitive process that involves decoding symbols to arrive at meaning
• Reading is a complex interactive, problem-solving process of making meaning from texts
• Reading


  The process in which information from the text and the knowledge possessed by the reader get together to produce meaning
• Reading


  • Recognizing and analyzing words, often referred to as decoding
  • Understanding words and ideas, often called comprehension
• According to a research at Cambridge University, it doesn't matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and last letter be at the right place. The rest can be a total mess and youc an still read it without problem
• Murray's Interactive Theory


  Reading is an interaction involving the reader and the text being read. The interaction between the text and the reader's various sources determines the amount and type of comprehension
• Information sources in Murray's Interactive Theory

  • Knowledge of language (syntax, semantics, pragmatics)
  • Knowledge of the word/background knowledge
  • Metacognitive knowledge
  • Knowledge of the alphabetic-phonemic system
• Gough's Bottom-up model


  The reader pays close attention to the words and words part, synthesizes and gets meaning to what he is reading
• Goodman's Top-down model


  Focuses attention to the reader. Readers bring information based on past experiences with language and their world to the act of reading
• Rumelhart's Interactive Model


  Reading is a combination of bottom-up and top-down models. Fluent readers use both text features and conceptual background about the language in order to get meaning
• Factors affecting reading


  • Physiological factors
  • Intellectual factors
  • Psychological factors
  • Linguistic factors
  • Sociological factors
• Comprehension


  The "essence of reading", a complex thinking process that requires the reader to construct meaning from the text
• Reading Comprehension


  The ability to read text, process it and understand its meaning. An intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and after reading