Structure

English 101 Stevens What is it?

English 101 Stevens

English 101 Stevens

• Are there patterns (structure) within writing?

English 101 Stevens

These most commonly used words are ranked by frequency. The first 25 make up about one-third of all printed material in English. The first 100 make up about one-half of all written material, and the first 300 make up about sixty-five percent of all written material in English.

English 101 Stevens

The First Hundred

1.the 2.of 3.and 4.a 5.to 6.in 7.is 8.you 9.that 10.it 11.he 12.was 13.for 14.on 15.are •as 1.with 2.his 3.they 4.I

21.at 22.be 23.this 24.have 25.from 26.or 27.one 28.had 29.by 30.word 31.but 32.not 33.what 34.all 35.were •we 21.when 22.your 23.can 24.said

41.there 42.use 43.an 44.each 45.which 46.she 47.do 48.how 49.their 50.if 51.will 52.up 53.other 54.about 55.out •many 41.then 42.them 43.these 44.so

61.some 62.her 63.would 64.make 65.like 66.him 67.into 68.time 69.has 70.look 71.two 72.more 73.write 74.go 75.see •number 61.no 62.way 63.could 64.people

81.my 82.than 83.first 84.water 85.been 86.call 87.who 88.oil 89.its 90.now 91.find 92.long 93.down 94.day 95.did •get 81.come 82.made 83.may 84.part

Taken From: The Reading Teachers Book of Lists, Third Edition; by Edward Bernard Fry, Ph.D, Jacqueline E. Kress, Ed.D & Dona Lee Fountoukidis, Ed.D.

English 101 Stevens

Tell us about your morning

English 101 Stevens

Describe the place you live

English 101 Stevens

A GOOD ESSAY STRUCTURE:

• Is made easier by prior planning • Makes it clear how you are going to address the question,

where you are going and why • Sets out your main ideas clearly • Makes it clear how the main ideas relate to each other • Takes the reader through your answer in a logical,

progressive way • Helps the reader to remember what you have said • Organizes groups of related information in paragraphs • Uses connecting words and phrases to relate each

point/idea to earlier and later pointsIsn’t there an easier way to

think about this?

English 101 Stevens

English 101 Stevens

• Birth

• Middle age

• Old age

English 101 Stevens

• Beginning

• Middle

• End

English 101 Stevens

• Introduction

• Body

• Conclusion

English 101 Stevens

• Once upon a time

• Blah blah blah blah blah

• And they lived happily every after

English 101 Stevens

English 101 Stevens

Getting started: blank page syndrome

• Promise yourself that if you prepare (get paper/pens/books together…) you can have a break before starting

• Promise yourself that if you write the first twelve words you can have a break

• Many people find it best to write the introduction last, not first

English 101 Stevens

Learning Objectives

A continuous piece of writing, arranged in clearly demarcated paragraphs, in which an argument is developed

The argument is supplemented by evidence, which you are required to analyze and evaluate, before reaching a conclusion

English 101 Stevens

Introduction

Beyond the subject,

The structure and language of your essay should engage your readers– easily and convincingly.

But how do you choose the most appropriate way to organize your essay?

English 101 Stevens

Beginning

Middle

End

English 101 Stevens

Every essay needs an effective introduction and conclusion.

Introduction

Main body

Conclusion

But what information should it contain, and how much?

English 101 Stevens

Body

Conclusion

Introduction

How best can I connect to my reader?

The introduction is like a “hello” or “excuse me; do you have a minute?” It is your first – and best – chance to engage your audience.

The main question to ask is:

English 101 Stevens

A good introduction leads the reader from general knowledge into details.

It should also do at least three specific things for the reader:

Create a context shared by the reader and the writer

Clearly establish the purpose of the essay

Get the reader “hooked”

1

2

3

Body

Conclusion

Introduction

English 101 Stevens

Introduction

A good body is great to have . . .. . . But you already knew that

Conclusion

Body

English 101 Stevens

Main body

Conclusion

Introduction

The conclusion gives you one last chance to move your reader in the direction you choose.

Techniques for effective conclusions:

Enlarge the context of your essay

Revisit points of action

Create a sense of ending

English 101 Stevens

Organization and explanation techniques

There are three common schemes (or sequences) that can help you:

How to organize and explain your information?

The inductive sequence begins with specific details and uses them to build up to a general conclusion or recommendation.

The deductive pattern is the opposite of the inductive pattern.

The space/time pattern arranges information according to the sequence in which you or your readers might encounter it in the real world.

English 101 Stevens

Organization and explanation techniques

Within the organizing schemes, there are essentially six techniques for explaining your information:

Example

Analogy

Definition

Categorization

Comparison and contrast

Cause and effect

An example makes a general idea concrete, by giving one or more specific instances.

An analogy is a type of example, which compares one thing to another.

A definition uniquely identifies something.

Categorization is taking information and dividing it into distinct parts.

Comparison and contrast illustrates the similarities and differences, respectively.

Cause and effect explains why something happened.

English 101 Stevens

Writing clear and concise sentences

Your writing style needs to be:

clear, explicit, and to move along quickly and logically.

A high level of readability can be reached by incorporating:

clarity, economy and straightforwardness into your writing.

(especially at the sentence level)

English 101 Stevens

To “measure” readability, ask yourself the following questions:

Will my reader be able to understand what I have just stated by reading the sentence quickly?

Will my reader be able to understand what I have just stated without having to go back and re-read parts of it?

Will my reader run out of breath in the middle of the sentence?

Have I used a big word when a little word will work?

Is there more than one idea in my sentence?

Are there any words (particularly adjectives and adverbs) that I can remove?

Writing clear and concise sentences

English 101 Stevens

Editing your documents

Once you have completed a draft of your essay, you will need to review it carefully.

Here are some of the elements to pay attention to:

Spelling Repetition of information

Punctuation Dense, heavy sentences

Sequencing of paragraphs/ideas Clarity of the message

Missing information Sensitive issues

Format Paragraph coherence

Unnecessary information Unnecessary word repetition

Logical sequence of sentences Grammatical mistakes

English 101 Stevens


An optimal editing process has three stages:

Conceptual/structural stage

Linguistic stage

Proofreading/format stage

English 101 Stevens


In this first stage you are simply reading quickly the document.

You should only be focusing on the following elements from the previous chart:

Conceptual/structural stage

Clarity of message Sequencing of paragraphs/ideas Missing information Unnecessary information Repetition of information

English 101 Stevens

English 101 Stevens


The linguistic editing is the time-consuming stage, since you are carefully reading the document, word by word, and asking yourself, “Do I like the way that I have expressed this idea?”

You will be focusing on the following elements from the chart:

Linguistic stage

Dense, heavy sentences Clarity of the message Unnecessary word fodder and repetition Logical sequence of sentences

English 101 Stevens


Proofreading is simply checking for mistakes. You will be focusing on the following elements from the chart:

Spelling Punctuation Grammar

Proofreading/format stage

Structure

Education

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