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ESSAY WRITING
The parts of the essay are much like the parts of a paragraph. The
essay starts with an introductory paragraph containing a thesis
statement which in turn tells the reader what the essay is about, just as
the topic sentence tells the reader what the paragraph is about. The
body of the essay is made up of paragraphs that support the thesis
statement, and the concluding paragraph that completes the essay.
1.Composing a Thesis Statement
1.1. What is a Thesis Statement ?
A thesis statement is a sentence which summarizes the main point or
points (ideas) of a an essay and clearly expresses what the writer is
going to say about his/her topic. In other words, it is merely a
statement of the points the essay makes about a specific topic. Hence,
the thesis statement identifies the topic which will be discussed abd the
purpose of the essay. The thesis statement is usually the last sentence
of the introductory paragraph.
It covers exactly the topic the writer wants to talk about, no more and
no less.
It lets the readers know what to expect.
It helps the writer better organise and develop the ******* of his/her
paper. That is, it is the road map to the argument the writer will
subsequently develop in his essay.
1.2.Characteristics of a Good Thesis Statement
Examples of good thesis statements :
- Every mother has the rioght to work, and the decision should be one
that a mother makes on her own, but first she should carefully consider
the many problems that she might encounter.
- Violence has various aspects and varied causes resulting in serious
effects.
A good thesis statement has the following characteristics :
a. A thesis statement must be a declarative statement, not an
interrogative one.
Examples : - What are the many problems a working mother might
encounter ?
This is a weak thesis statement ; it is a question
-What are the aspects, the causes, and the effects of violence ?
b. Thesis statements must make a claim or argument ; they are not
statements of facts. In other words, the point you make in your essay
should not be obvious ; if most of your readers are likely to believe your
thesis without even reading your essay, you probably do not need to
write an essay to support that thesis.
Examples : Violence is a dangerous phenomenon. This is essentially an
indisputable point and therefore, not a good thesis statement.
c. A good thesis statement is specific, precise, and limited. Probably the
most common problem with trail thesis statements is that they are too
broad, that they claim too much. In a good essay, you will say more
about less, not less about more.
Examples : A mother should consider the many problems that she
might encounter. This thesis statement is too broad since the writer is
going to write about the problems of a mother in general.
Black artists have contributed a lot to the American culture. [ Black
artists , culture , and a lot cover more ground than what can be
dealt with in one short essay ]
Better : Scott Joplin was a major influence in the development of the
uniquely American music called ragtime. [specifically defined and
narrow]
d. A thesis statement is not an announcement of the topic. In other
words, avoid using phrases such as the purpose of this paper is ....
or In this paper, I will attempt to ....
e. Do not clutter your thesis with expressions such as in my opinion,
I believe, and in this essay Ill agrue that ... These unnecessary
phrases weaken your thesis statemnt because they often make you
sound timid or uncertain. This is your essay ; therefore, the opinions
expressed are obviously yours. Be forceful ; speak directly with
conviction.
f. A thesis statement is not a title. Remember that a thesis statement
will always be a complete sentence ; there is no other way to make a
statement.
Examples : Problems encountering a working mother.
Aspects, causes, and effects of violence.
the question.
Your thesis statement tells your reader what you are going to write
about, and your developmental paragraphs give support to your thesis
statement. If you support a thesis that is not aimed toward the
question, you may not get credit for your essay.
good day-care centre that the children can attend. If a child gets sick,
the mother must make special arrangements for the child to be cared
for at home, or she must stay from work herself. While at work, the
mother may worry about her children. For instance, she may wonder if
they are safe, if they are learning the values she wants them to have,
and if her absence hurts them emotionally. She may also regret not
being able to take them to after school activities or participate in
familly activities with them.
Even though a mother is frequently forced into working for economic
reasosn, she soon discovers that there are added expenses. The biggest
expense is child care. Another expense is transportation which includes
not only going to work but also getting her children to school or day
care. This may include purcahsing or maintaining a car. Yet another
expense is clothing, such as a uniform or business suits to maintain a
professional appearance.
Analysis
The first developmental paragraph supports the idea of problems that
was identified in the thesis statement. The topic sentence states the
idea of problems concerning children. All the sentences in this
paragraph describes either a problem concerning children or a detail
explaining a problem concerning children.
The second developmental paragraph in this essay also supports the
idea of problems that was identified in the thesis statement. The topic
sentence states the idea of the problem of added expenses. All the
sentence in the paragraph describes either an added expense or a
detail explaining the added expense.
The Five-Paragraph Essay
A classic format for compositions is the five-paragraph essar, of course,
but it is a useful model for you to keep in mind, especially as you begin
to develop your composition skill. In the following section, we shall try
to describe the body of a five-paragraph essay.
Body---First developmental paragraph
The first paragraph of the body should contain the strongest argument,
most significant example, cleverest illustration, or an obvious beginning
point.
Body---Second developmental paragraph
The second paragraph of the body should contain the second strongest
argument, second most significant example, second cleverest
illustration, or an obvious follow up to the first paragraph in the body.
Body---Third developmental paragraph
The third paragraph of the body should contain the weakest argument,
weakest example, weakest illustration, or an obvious followup to the
second paragraph in the body.
ANALYSING ESSAYS
Keep this list in mind as you write your essay.
1. Is there an introductory paragraph ?
2. Does the introductory paragraph restate the question ?
3. Does the introductory paragraph have a thesis statement ?
4. Does each paragraph have a clear topic sentence ?
5. Do the topic sentence of the developmental paragraphs support the
thesis statement ?
6. Do the ideas in each developmental paragraph support its topic
sentence ?
7. Are the details (examples,facts,descriptions,personal experiences)
clear ?
8. Is there a concluding paragraph ?
9. Does the concluding paragraph give the impression that the essay is
complete ?
10. Does the essay answer all the parts of the question ?
11. Have the grammar and spelling been corrected ? (Incorrect
grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word usage count against you if
the errors lead to a lack of clarity. Your essay will be cleared if you
correct as many of these errors as you can find in the limited time that
you have.)
Practise analising essays by reading the following student-written essay
Lesson fiveSubstitutionI . D e fi n i t i o n
In grammar, the term Substitution refers to the words we use (such as
so, one, do, did, yes,no...) to indicate that something has been left out
and identify what type of data it is. Of course, the use of such words
obeys the rules of the language they occur in.The clearest and simplest
examples of substitution in the English language are the words
Yes
and
No
. Both can substitute long sentences or sequences of sentences, as we
can see in thefollowing examples:-A): Have you ever thought of trying
to get a job abroad?B):No.([I have never thought of trying to get a job
abroad.])In the first example, the short grammatical word (
no
) replaces all the sentence (
I have neverthought of trying to get a job abroad)
-A) Has your father signed your permission for the excursion?B) Yes.([He
has signed the permission for the excursion.])In the second example,
the short grammatical word (
yes)
refers to the whole sentence (
He hassigned the permission for the excursion)
I I . Pa t t e rn s o f u s e
Lets study how we can use substitution:
1)Replacing adverbials of place and time
In the English language, we often find in the sentences expressions of
place and time. Toavoid repetition we use words like
here
,
there
, and
over there
to replace details of place ,andwords such as
then
, and
at that time
to substitute details of time. Things can become clearer with the
examples below:She invited me to her house, but I wouldnt go
there
.In this example,
there
replaces
to her house
A lot of rich people have already visited tropical islands, but many poor
peoplehave never been
there
.In this example,
there
refers to tropical
island
.She invited me last night, but I just couldnt spare the time
then
.In this sentence,
then
replaces
last
night
.
2 )Replacing longer stretches of text
In substitution, we use the terms this and that to refer to ideas or
information which areexpressed over several clauses or which cant be
precisely related to a specific part of thesentence. Lets explain this pint
with the following example:Weve had a few unexpected problems.
That
/this
is why Ive called another meeting.
Remark1
-We use
this
and that to point to or indicate real objects:
This
refers to what is near to us, as in the following example:This is where I
live
That
is used to refer to what is far from us, as in the sentence:That is where
father died.-We use
this
to precise new, key information like in:56
This
is really what I wanted to say.-We use
this
to show sympathy and ownership towards something
This
is my own opinion.-We use that to disassociate ourselves from
something in particular:
That
s rubbish.
2 ) Replacing predicates
Before we start talking about the manner we use substitution to replace
a predicate, letsfirst say what the predicate is. It is everything that
follows the subject. In order to replace the predicate, we use auxiliary
verbs, modal verbs, combinations of auxiliary verbs and forms of the
verb be. Here are some examples:Shed like to take a few days off work
but just
cant. (modal can)
Remark3
When we express similarity with something stated in the past simple or
the simple present we use do, does or did. As in:A): I like ABBA.B):
So
does
Liza. [she likes Abba]A): I ate an apple.B):
So
did
I. [ate an apple]
5 ) Comparative structures
In general, we leave out information in comparative structures.Paris is
big but London is bigger [than Paris]We also use pronouns to avoid
repetition of action.I can run faster than
them.
III.Practice
Exercise
1
What do the underlined words substitute?
The old man said
he
was going to take
his
cat to the vet and ask
her
if
she
could look after
him
while
he
was in hospital, but then
he
asked
me
if
you
could possibly look after
it
with
yours
.
Exercise
2
In the following extracts, examples of substitution have been singled
out. Ineach case explain and specify what information is implied
This extract is from an article written by a film critic:Heres a useful rule
of thumb: never trust those (1) usually comedians, entertainers and
thelike- who say, I love people. And heres another (2): never trust
film critics who say: Ilove movies....What keeps a film critic going and
enjoying his job is optimism. Each film, you ferventlyhope, will be the
one (3) that makes up all the dross you saw last week.
Exercise
3
The following is part of a text from an elementary coursebook, where it
isused as a source of examples of future tenses and prepositions of
time. It includesseveral examples of substitution.
(Jane and Bill are talking on Monday April 19
th
, at nine oclock in the morning)Jane:Is everything all right?Bill:Yes,
Ithink so. I m picking up the visas on Wednesday morning and the
tickets in theafternoon, and Im getting the travellers cheques from the
bank tomorrow.Jane:Oh, good. Dont forget that the children are going
to stay with Mother on the 22
nd
-youre driving them.Bill:Oh, yes how long for?Jane:Just for two days.
Back on Friday night.Bill: That isnt long.Jane:Darling- you know its
Johns birthday on the 24
th
.Bill: So it is. We must have him fhome for his birthday. What are we
giving him?Jane:A bike.Bill: Oh yes, thats right. When are you going to
do the packing?Jane:At the weekend, at the last possible moment.
Youre going to help Ihope58
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Bibliography
1)Carter ,R ., Hugue , R .,& Mc Carthy , M .,(2006) Exploring
Grammar in Context.Cambridge, Uk:Cambridge University Press.2)Coe
, N .,Harrison , M .,&Paterson ,K .,(2007) Oxford Practice
Grammar .Oxford, UK :Oxford University Press.3)Nettle, M .,Hopkins ,
D .,(2003) Developing Grammar in Context .Cambridge,
UK:Cambridge University Press.4)Parrott, M., (2007) Grammar for
English language Teaching. Cambridge, UK / Cambridge University
Press .5)http://a4es/.org/q/h/9901/tmreported1.html 6)http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/types.html 7)htt
p://www.englishpage .com/prepositions/phrasaldictionary.html 8)Htpp:en
.wikipedia.org/wiki/ellipsis9)Htpp:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/substitutio
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