AW Fall 2013: Lesson 1

Hi everyone, 

It was really great to meet everyone in today’s class.  I really appreciated your attention and group participation during our class activities.

Academic Writing is one of the most difficult skills in English to master.  Please remember that Academic Writing is even difficult for native-speakers.  When I have to write research papers for conference presentations, it usually takes me one hour to write just one page!  Although this course will be challenging, you will be able to improve your writing and critical thinking skills.  However, it will be very important to complete the weekly assignments.  Remember to manage your time and give yourself enough time to complete your writing tasks.

Essay Structure:

In our lesson, we read a model essay  and then identified the different parts:  
1.  Introduction
2.  Body Paragraphs (3)
3.  Conclusion

Topic Selection
For the last part of class, we looked at the different categories you can choose your research paper topic from:
1.  American and British Literature
2.  Applied Linguistics
3.  Communications

When you choose your topic, make sure it is specific.  Refer to the handout in class to help you narrow down your topics. 

Homework:

1. Choose your topic. 
2. Read the Sample Research Paper: “The Differences between American and Japanese Universities” and identify the different essay parts.  
3. Blog comment #1

Blog Question #1: 

1. Read the sample essay and the sample research paper. What is the difference between an essay and a research essay? 
   
2. What is your research paper topic?  (You must give your specific topic - similar to one of the sample topics on the handout from class.)

*Write 8-10 sentences.
*Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly.
*Submit by Wednesday, October 2 by 6:00pm.

Research Paper Sample
File Size:	106 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---