Day 5: Introductions and Conclusions

1. Warm up: Just Joe

We will start by watching a video of a man that is introducing himself to the world in order to meet a girlfriend. While watching this, ask yourselves if you or anyone you know would be interested in dating him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Scks954Hcs

2. Critiquing Just Joe's Intro

Now it’s time to critique his introduction. Get into groups of 4 that I will assign and write down reasons why this was a poor introduction and provide suggestions for improvement. Be sure to have one group member write down your ideas because you will be asked to share with the class.

3. Improving Just Joe's Intro

You’ve got a good idea on how to strengthen Just Joe’s introduction, so get back into your groups and organize an attention grabber and a clear thesis statement for him. Only you can help him meet the girl of his dreams!

4. Writing Conclusions

It’s time to focus on the conclusion now. You’re going to need to have a general idea of what a conclusion is, which I assume you all do. Therefore, you’re going to get into groups of 4 and brainstorm ideas of what makes a successful conclusion. Be sure to have one member of the group write down the group’s responses because you will be asked to share your ideas.

5. Clincher

Many people know what a conclusion is and can provide some general ideas about what to put into a conclusion, but few will tell you an exact formula for writing a conclusion. This is because there are many different ways to write one. However, teachers can separate a high scoring conclusion from generic conclusions based on something called a clincher.

6. Activity

Effective clinchers have some sort of connection with a statement in the introduction (usually the hook) and often come after a brief summary that is typical of conclusions.

I’m going to assign each group a conclusion to develop a clincher for. Follow the directions on the clincher activity sheet and have one member of your group write down your clincher because you will be asked to share with the class.

Day 4: Thesis Statements

Today we will discuss our thesis statements. Your thesis statement is the backbone of your paper--it is the contract with your reader that you are responsible for. We will talk about characteristics of thesis statements and what makes them better or worse.

Here are the links for the activities we will be doing today.
Task I
Task II
Task III

HOMEWORK
For homework, look over your diagnostic (I'll post some comments later today), and UNDERLINE your thesis statement. Also, read this article and come up with your own thesis statement. Upload your homework to your "Unit 1" folder in Dropbox with the file name thesishomework_name.doc

Day 3: The Writing Process

Today we will talk more about academic writing. We will introduce the topics of tone, audience, and purpose and how differ among various types of writing. We will also talk about our personal writing process and the steps that we take (or should take) before, during, and after we write an academic paper.

For more information on the writing process, you can refer to the handout I will give to you at the end of class, and read pages 2-39 in the Hacker text (optional).

If you haven't already, upload the writing process activity that we worked on in class to Dropbox. I only need one copy per group, so make sure both of your names are on it.

Next week, we're going to discuss paragraphs. Read Hacker pages 40-57 for Monday.

Day 2: In-Class Diagnostic Exam

In-class diagnostic exam:

This exercise fulfills several purposes. The first is to give me a place to start the course. I will assess your organization, logical flow of ideas, clarity of explanations, grammar, vocabulary and style in order to get to know your writing and learn how best to help you this semester. The second, but perhaps primary purpose is to give YOU a starting point for evaluating and improving your own writing performance. Note also that you must be a preapproved/registered attendee in order to take the diagnostic exam.

If you miss this exam, you will need to schedule a make-up session with me.

You will have the entire period minutes to complete the exam. You will not be able to access the internet during this time. When you're finished, upload it to your shared, dropbox folder that you created on Wednesday. Save the file as 115 Diagnostic_FirstnameLastname and upload it to your "Unit 1" folder.

**IMPORTANT! Once you have uploaded, do not touch this document! Opening it will change your last modified date, indicating that you changed the document after the due date. You will then have to retake the exam. I will be reviewing your essays this week and we will begin discussing and revising them on next week.

Day 1: Welcome to ESL115

Hey everyone!

Welcome to ESL115, Principles of Academic Writing.

Section F will meet Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 11:00-11:50 a.m. in room G13 in the Foreign Languages Building.

In this class, we'll work on developing your writing and critical thinking skills to help you research and write college-level academic papers that are well organized, logical, and properly sourced. That might sound very official and intimidating, but I hope that we'll be able to have some fun along the way!

On this blog, I'll post class announcements, daily assignments, writing tips and links to resources that will help you with your coursework. Take time to familiarize yourself with the site. There is a link to the course information sheet I handed out in the first class, as well as the Student Information Survey that I asked you to complete.

If you have any questions, please visit me during my office hours (time and location are in the sidebar), or send me an email at salvado2@illinois.edu.

HOMEWORK due Friday, 1/21: Share your dropbox folder ESL115F_FirstnameLastname with me (salvado2@illinois.edu). Within this folder, create a folder called "Unit 1" and complete the Student Information Survey. Also, upload a picture of yourself to the Unit 1 folder.

Task IV

Task 3

In questions 3  and 4, choose the sentence that would work better as a thesis statement for a two-to-five-page college paper. Remember that a thesis should be a central idea that requires supporting evidence; it should be of adequate scope for a two-to-five-page paper; and it should be sharply focused.

Discuss your answers in small groups.

Question 3:

a.     The Sex Pistols were popular with young English audiences, and the singer and lyricist Johnny Rotten was very important to their success.

b.     The Sex Pistols could not have succeeded without singer and lyricist Johnny Rotten, who provided the stage presence, poetry, and authentic working-class rage that galvanized the group’s young English audiences.

Question 4:

a.     Because it has become outdated, the electoral college should be replaced by a system that allows the US president to be elected by direct popular vote.

b.    Rather than voting for a presidential candidate, voters in a US presidential election merely choose their state’s Electoral College representatives, who actually vote for the president; in most states, all of the electoral votes go to the candidate who wins the popular vote in that state, no matter how close the outcome.

Task II

In questions 1 and 2, choose the better introduction: the one that, in addition to engaging the reader’s attention, clearly states a thesis.

Discuss your answers with a partner.

Question 1:
a. Soft money is the term used for campaign contributions that sidestep laws governing the amount of contributions candidates can get from any one source. Many election campaigns are financed largely with soft money, whether it is raised by the candidates themselves or by their party organizations. Soft money pays for items such as television ads that endorse a political issue rather than a candidate.

b. Every election year, political parties and candidates raise millions of dollars in soft money, contributions that sidestep laws limiting the amount of money a candidate can receive from any one source. Because unregulated soft money can make winning candidates feel indebted to wealthy donors such as unions and corporations, we must close the undemocratic loopholes in our current campaign finance laws.

Question 2:
a. In the eighteenth century, an English clockmaker named John Harrison received a prize for a clever invention that allowed sailors to calculate longitude. He created a clock that required no pendulum and contained different kinds of metal. This clock worked on board a ship that was at sea, and it worked in many different temperatures and climates.

b. Until the eighteenth century, ships at sea had no way of calculating longitude with any accuracy. As a result, countless sailors died when their ships lost track of their position in the ocean and ran aground or failed to find their way home. Great scientific minds tried to solve the problem of longitude without success, but it was a self-taught English clockmaker, John Harrison, who invented a device that worked. Harrison’s invention must rank as one of the greatest contributions to the field of navigation.

Introductions: Task I

Which thesis statement is the most effective for an argument about the need for V-chips in television sets?

-       Parents, often too busy to watch television shows with their families, can monitor their children’s viewing habits with the aid of the V-chip.

-       To help parents monitor their children’s viewing habits, the V-chip should be a required feature for television sets sold in the U.S.

-       This paper will describe a V-chip and examine the uses of the V-chip in American-made television sets.