Welcome to

English Composition

Today’s Class

Final Essay Topic Submission

Reading review

Good and Bad Workshop Examples

TOEFL Essay Class Workshop

Reading preview

Homework

Please tell me your final essay topic

Reading Review

Chapter 3: A Few Matters of Form

A colloquialism is a slang word, phrase, or idiom. Use them like regular speech. Do not put them in ‘quotation marks’.

Use exclamation marks sparingly. If you use too many, they lose their meaning.

Reading Review

Chapter 3: A Few Matters of Form

Headings: I recommend asking your publisher for requirements

Hyphens are only used to combine two adjectives to create one compound adjective.Eg. The big smelly dog (no hyphen) The world-class hotel.

Reading Review

Chapter 3: A Few Matters of Form

Use normal margins unless you have a special purpose, such as leaving room for editing.

Numerals: Write numbers using numerals rather than words, except when writing dialogue (people speaking).

Reading Review

Chapter 3: A Few Matters of Form

The final punctuation mark of a sentence is always outside of any parentheses inside of the sentence.Eg. It looked like a shadow (but may have been a ghost).orIt looked like a shadow (but might have been a carpet, blanket, or ghost!).

Reading Review

Chapter 3: A Few Matters of Form

Words broken at the end of a line should be broken between syllables.

The Importance of Editing

"Books aren't written- they're rewritten.” -Michael Crichton

"Writing is Rewriting.” -Richard North Patterson

""The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time... You can always do it better."  -Robert Cormier

Why We Workshop

To practice our editing skills

To learn how to see common mistakes in other peoples’ work so that we can find them in our own

To learn about the way other people use language to communicate ideas

Most importantly, to find out what is wrong with our writing so that we can fix it

Let’s Look at Some Examples

Group Workshop

Now lets workshop some TOEFL essays as a class

The Structure of the TOEFL Essay:

P1: Background Information + Thesis

P2: Supporting Point 1

P3: Supporting Point 2

P4: Supporting Point 3

P5: Conclusion

WorkshopThings to look for in paragraphs:

Structure: Does the essay use an appropriate structure?

Mistakes: Are there any spelling or grammar errors?

On topic: Do all of the paragraphs and sentences support the main idea? Are there any unnecessary or redundant sentences?

Other Issues:Did the author miss any important ideas?

Are there any unnecessary words?

Are there any sentences that could be made simpler or clearer?

Could any long or difficult words be replaced with simpler or shorter ones?

Reading Preview

Chapter 5: An Approach to Style

1. Yourself in the background.

2. Write in a way that comes naturally.

3. Work from suitable designs.

4. Write with nouns and verbs.

Reading Preview

Chapter 5: An Approach to Style

5. Revise and rewrite.

6. Do not overwrite.

7. Do not overstate.

8. Avoid the use of qualifiers

HomeworkReading for Tuesday, December 8th.

The Elements of Style

Chapter 5: An Approach to Style Parts 1 – 8

Homework for Tuesday, December 8th.

Final Essay Outline + Research

Reading for Wednesday, December 9th.

The Elements of Style

Chapter 5: An Approach to Style Parts 9 – 21

Homework E-Workshop

• Step 1: Format your essay properly (see notes about essay formatting)

• Step 2: Email your essay to all members of your group.

• Step 3: Edit the group members’ essays using the Microsoft Word editing function.

• Step 4: Email the essays back to the group members who wrote them, and the teacher, before 12 noon on Monday, November 30th

Assignment Formatting

• Filetype (please do not paste into the email):– .doc or .docx format

• Font: Times New Roman 12 pt

• File name– should look like: yourname_essay_title.doc

• First three lines of the essay should be:– Title– Name– Word Count