Guidelines in Writing

Some points to remember

 Writing is a skill that people all walks of like must
perform
 Good writing requires :
1. Good Grammar
2. Good Organization
 To write effectively,
 1. Learn some strategies
2. Practice them
 Writing is a process
 Overcome writer’s block by understanding the steps
in the process.
Steps in the writing process (1)
 Prewriting:

 1. Know what to write (text type/genre)

who reads it (style), and why you write it
(mode and tone).
 Chose and narrow a topic.
 Generate ideas (listing, clustering, asking
questions, brainstorming, free writing).
 Collect data.
Steps in the writing process (2)
 Outlining/Planning:
 1. Group ideas : put similar ideas into a group,
delete double ideas, and more ideas coming up
during the grouping.
 2. Make the ideas into an outline. (Simple
paragraph and essay outlines).
Outlining improve organization, speed and
grammar.
Draft→revising/editing →Final draft
PARAGRAPH
 A Paragraph is a basic unit of organization in which
a group of related sentences develops one main
idea.
 A good paragraph consists of:

1. topic sentence
2. supporting sentences
3. concluding sentence(s)
● An effective paragraph must be:
1. unified
2. coherent
3. adequately developed
Unity
 To make a paragraph unified, we should have
only one main idea.
 Other supporting ideas must relate to and
directly explain the main idea.
 The main idea is expressed in the topic
sentence.
 The position of the topic sentence in the
paragraph: beginning, end, beginning and
end, middle, and implied.
Writing a topic sentence (1)
A topic sentence is a sentence.
 It has a topic and a controlling idea.

● A boss has good reasons for not answering

the phone directly.
● An average American teenager consumes
enormous quantities of junk food.
Writing a topic sentence (2)
 It is not too broad and not too specific.
▪ Padang food is delicious. (too broad)
▪ Padang food is has strong taste and greasy
because the Minangkabau use too many spicies
and because everything is in oil . (too specific)
● It has too many ideas:
Jakarta is famous for its hot climate, heavy traffic,
narrow streets and less friendly people.
(too many ideas)
Coherence
 Fora paragraph to be coherent, the sentence
should be arranged logically and flow
smoothly from one to the next.
 Ways to achieve coherence:

1. Arranged sentences in specific order.

a. Time order
b. Space order
c. Order of climax
d. General to particular
e. Particular to general
Coherence (2)
Ways to achieve coherence:
2. Make the relationship among
sentences clear.
a. Maintain consistency in point of view.
(Eliminate shifts in person, number and
tense)
b. Use a parallel construction
c. Repeat the key word
d. Use transitional markers.
Note on Cohesion
 For a paragraph to be cohesive, use grammar
devices to make sentences flow smoothly.
 The house is surrounded by a large garden. There
are many trees such as mango, guava and star fruit
trees in the garden. Bamboo benches lie under the
trees, purposely made to while away time in the cool
shades…
 The house is surrounded by a large garden. In the
garden there are many trees such as mango, guava
and star fruit trees. Under the trees lie bamboo
benches purposely made to while away time in the
cool shades.
ADEQUATE DEVELOPMENT
(1)
 How much detail has to be provided to
support the main idea?
 Is the detail sufficient/adequate?

 The length of the paragraph depends on:

 1. The type of the audience
 2. The complexity of the subject matter
 3. The construction of the topic sentence
 4. The purpose of the paragraph
ADEQUATE DEVELOPMENT
(2)
 Methods of paragraph development:
1. Detail
2. Example
3. Illustration
4. Comparison and contrast
5. Analogy
6. Cause and effect
7. Analysis
8. Classification
9. Definition
Points to remember (1)
 Information should be:
 1. Relevant : Air pollution in Jakarta.
 2. Truthful : She is very popular.
 3. Accurate : He won many gold medals.
Elvys Presley.
Points to remember (2)
 Arguments should be:
 Be logically sound.
 Be supported with facts/data/evidence from a
reliable resource.
 Fallacies (hasty generalization)
 Distortion in language (negative: eg. radical,
permissive, cover-up)
 False issues (misleading information)
 Discrediting to proponents (attacking a
person’s character)