lesson 6 fundementals of writing

• Paragraph


  A group of interrelated sentences that focus on one main idea
• Essay


  A group of paragraphs that focus on one central idea
• Paragraph


  • Topic Sentence
  • Supporting Sentences
  • Cohesive Devices
  • Closing Sentence
• Main Idea


  Expressed in a topic sentence, the key information in the paragraph
• Central Idea


  Expressed in a thesis statement, what the paragraph develops, supports, or proves
• Essay


  • Introduction
  • Body
  • Conclusion
• Introduction


  The lead or attention-getting statements using provocative questions, statistics, startling statement, an anecdote, a quotation, humor or analogy
• Transitional paragraph


  Bridges one paragraph to another
• Body


  Where the topic is developed and the arguments are discussed
• Conclusion


  Restatement of the thesis statement, transitional statement that talks about recommendations, benefits of ideas presented or the purpose of writing the essay, closing statement that wraps up the essay
• Properties of a well-written text

  • Unity
  • Coherence and Cohesion
  • Organization
  • Language Use
  • Mechanics
• Unity


  Achieved when the composition is focused on one idea and all supporting ideas are relevant to the main thought
• Coherence


  Achieved when there is a connection of ideas at the conceptual or idea level
• Cohesion


  Connection of ideas at the sentence level, creates a smooth flow of sentences and ideas
• Cohesion techniques


  • Use of pronouns
  • Use of transitional devices
  • Repetition of keywords
• Levels of Language Use

  • Informal/Personal
  • Standard/Academic
  • Business/Technical
• Informal/Personal language


  Slang, local expressions, text messaging
• Standard/Academic language


  Widely accepted words and phrases found in books, magazines, and newspapers
• Business/Technical language


  Scientific terms, jargons, special expressions
• Principles in Language Use

  • Use clear and concise sentences
  • Avoid redundancies and wordiness
  • Avoid overusing "there" and "It" structures
  • Use precise vocabulary
  • Be consistent in pronoun point of view
  • Avoid sexist language
  • Use appropriate level of formality
• Mechanics


  • Spelling
  • Capitalization
  • Abbreviation and Acronyms
  • Numbers
  • Punctuation Marks
  • Grammar
• Punctuation Marks


  • Period (.)
  • Exclamation Point (!)
  • Question Mark(?)
  • Quotation Marks (" ")
  • Apostrophe (')
  • Colon (:)
  • Parentheses ()
  • Brackets [ ]
  • Hyphen (-)
  • Dash (—)
  • Slash (/)
  • Semicolon (;)
  • Ellipsis (...)
  • Comma (,)
• An effective thesis statement can be found at the end of the introduction paragraph.