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Hi everyone,
I can't believe how quickly our semester has passed and that we'll be finished our research papers next week! There were NO homework for the holidays! Conferences: I was able to finish talking with everyone about their drafts. If you have any more questions, please feel free to email me before Thursday. Course Test: We'll be having our course test in next week's lesson. Please review the following for the test:
If you are ill and can't take the test, you need to contact me by Wednesday evening. You will then have to send me a doctor's note and your make-up assignment (five-page essay on New Year's customs) one week later (December 17). If you do not contact me about your absence for the test the day before, you will automatically receive 0%. Homework:
Blog Question #10:
*Write 15-20 sentences. *Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly. *Submit by Wednesday, December 9 by 6:00pm.
12 Comments
Hi everyone,
Just two more weeks, and you'll be finished your research paper. You must be relieved!! Peer Editing Discussions: In the first part of our lesson, you discussed your peer editing activities with your partner. When you edit/revise your conclusion, you can use your partner's comments. Also, check corrections I've made in your research paper. You may have made the same errors in your conclusion. Conferences: For our lesson next week, I'll talk to the remaining students about your drafts. Make sure you prepare your questions because I'll only have about 5 minutes to talk with you. Computer Room for Dec. 3: For our conferences, we'll be in the computer room 217, so remember to bring a USB with your draft on it. Next Week's Lesson: In next week's lesson, you'll get the guidelines for the Final Draft, and I'll give you information about our course test on December 10. Homework:
Blog Question #9: What advice did your partner give you about your writing in your peer editing discussions? *Write 10-12 sentences. *Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly. *Submit by Wednesday, December 2 by 6:00pm. Hi everyone,
We'll now be spending the last part of our course revising and editing our research papers. This part will be much easier for most of you. Revising and Editing: In today's class, we learned about revising and editing. When you revise, you correct the content and structure of your research paper. When you edit, you correct grammar and style mistakes. You then have some time to work on your peer editing task. For this task, you will revise/edit your partner's concluding paragraph. You need to complete the following for this task:
In next week's class, you will give the original copies to your partner, and the copies to me. The worksheet is attached at the end of today's blog summary. Conferences: For the last part of our lesson, you work on your peer editing activities and I had conferences with the first group of students. We will continue our conferences in next week's lesson in Room 217. Homework:
Blog Question #8
Hi everyone,
Can you believe it? We have now finished our entire first draft of our research papers! The most difficult part of our course in now over. Concluding Paragraph: In today's lesson, we looked at the different parts of a concluding paragraph: thesis restatement, body paragraph summaries and a final thought. The most important sentence will be your final thought; you want to leave the reader with a strong impression so that he/she remembers your essay. For your final thought, you can use the following types of sentences: a. prediction b. recommendation c. rhetorical question d. quotation Homework:
Blog Question #7:
Hi everyone,
We have just one more week to go, and you'll be finished writing the most difficult part of your research paper! Paraphrase Review: At the beginning of class, we the differences between a paraphrase and a direct quote. We also reviewed the steps for how to paraphrase and then completed a paraphrasing activity. Summarizing: For the last part of our lesson, we learned how to summarize. This is similar to paraphrasing in that you use your own words, but you only include the main ideas from a passage. Remember to include an in-text citation for both paraphrases and summaries. However, if you are paraphrasing and/or summarizing general facts, you do not need an in-text citation. The steps for paraphrasing and summarizing are on the lesson handouts, which you can download from the website in the Lesson Materials (Lesson 8: summarising) section. Homework: 1. Complete Body Paragraph #3
Hi everyone,
In just two more weeks, we'll be finished our research paper! Paraphrasing: In today's class, we learned about paraphrasing. This is another way we can include information into our research papers from our sources. When you paraphrase, you put the author’s ideas into your own words. Even if you want to use general facts from your source, you still have to paraphrase this information. Remember that some paraphrases need in-text citation and some paraphrases do not require it.
Before you paraphrase, you have to identify shared language (= words that you cannot change) and find synonyms for words that you can change. This is the most important step in writing a good paraphrase. This is a difficult skill to master and it often takes a long time to paraphrase information. I even have trouble paraphrasing when I have to prepare research papers, too. Be patient and don’t give up! Homework: 1. Blog Comment #6 2. Complete Body Paragraph #2
Blog Question #6: Review the feedback on body paragraph #1
Hi everyone,
In just one more month, you'll be finished writing the first draft of your research paper. The hard part is almost over. In-text Citation: In today's lesson, we learned to use use in-text citation. There are three types of in-text citation that you can use in your research paper: a. quotations b. paraphrases c. summaries We need to use in-text citation to support our own ideas. If we use the opinions of others and statistical information, this improves the credibility of your research paper. In other words, the reader will trust your opinions. Also, we need to use in-text citation to avoid plagiarism (= copy somebody’s idea and claim it as your own). If you use another person’s idea, you must tell the reader where you got that information. Quotations: We looked at different styles of using in-text citation and focused on how to cite direct and second-hand quotes. Pay careful attention to difference between direct and second-hand quotes. 1. Direct Quote When you use a direct quote, you are quoting the information directly from your source. For example: James (2001, p. 3) says that “Less than half of all internet users use English as their native language, and this figure continues to decrease." This tells us that James said the quote and you can find the quote on page 3 of James’ source. 2. Second-hand Quote When you use a second-hand quote, you are quoting a quote from your source. For example, President of the Council of Ministers for the European Union, Anna Lindh, says that “Russian, Mandarin, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese have all been guilty of extinguishing other languages” (as cited in James, 2001, p. 3). This tells us that Lindh said the quote, but Lindh did NOT write the source. James uses this quote in his source and you can find it on page 3. Homework: 1. Body Paragraph #1
No blog comment this week! Hi everyone,
We're one-third the way through our course! It's been a busy five weeks for sure!! Body Paragraphs: In today's lesson, we focused on the type of organization you'll have to use in your body paragraphs: funnel organization. This means that information is arranged in this way: a. general --> topic sentence with subtopic b. less general --> supporting ideas c. specific --> details We also learned about the different types of details that you can use in your body paragraph: a. expert opinions b. statistics c. descriptions d. facts Keep in mind that descriptions and facts over overlap with each other. Many writers often use facts in their descriptions. Outlines: We also looked at how to prepare an outline. For your outlines, you need to include: a. Topic sentences (in sentence-form) b: supporting ideas (two for each body paragraph) c. details (3-4 details for each supporting idea). Remember that you can use note-form for your supporting ideas and details. You don't have to use sentence-form. Introductions: For the last part of our lesson, I returned your introduction with my comments. Make sure you start correcting your writing every week. In this way, you'll have less work to do when you have to submit your entire research paper. If you were not in class, you will have to get your introduction in next week's class. Homework: 1. Blog Comment #5 2. Research Paper Outline
Blog Question #4: Review my comments on your Introduction. What three points (e.g. structure, grammar, etc.) do you need to pay attention to when you write body paragraph #1?
Hi everyone,
Wow! One month has passed already! After next week, we'll be one-third through our semester!! Introduction Structure: For the first part of our lesson, we learned about the different parts of an introduction: a. hook b. general statements c. thesis statement The first 2-3 sentences of your introduction is called the hook statement. These sentences catches the reader's attentions and makes him/her interested in your research paper. You can choose from five different hooks: a. quotes b. rhetorical questions c. statistics d. interesting facts e. simile General Statements: For your general statements, you will give some information that will help the reader become familiar with your topic. General statements can explain meanings of terminology, give historical explanations or biographical information. When you organise this information, you need to use funnel structure. This means that your information is organised from general to less general to specific to more specific to very specific. Thesis Statements: Finally, we learned how to write a thesis statement. You need to include your main idea and your three sub-topics in your thesis statement. Homework:
Blog Question:
Hi everyone,
We had another busy class. I can't believe how quickly the time passes in our lesson. Bibliography We learned how to make a bibliography for a research paper. A bibliography is an alphabetical list of all the sources you use for your research paper. When you organize your source information in your bibliography, you need to arrange it using the MLA style (MLA=Modern Language Association). APA Referencing: APA referencing is one of the ways you can document your sources in your research paper. This style is used in the humanities, especially for writing about language and literature. In class, I gave you an APA guide with all the different types of referencing. You'll need this during our entire course. Bibliography Guidelines: For the last part of our lesson, we went through the bibliography guidelines. You can find these in the AW Lesson Materials of the website. Please remember these points when making your bibliography:
Homework: 1. Bibliography: email by Oct. 6 before 12:00noon. 2. Blog Comment #3 Blog Question #3: In next week's lesson, we are going to learn about how to write your introduction. You have your topic for your research paper. Now, you need your main idea (=your opinion) and three sub-topics (=smaller topics for each body paragraph). Example #1: Topic: British and American English Main Idea: Both use English, but there are many differences Subtopics: vocabulary, grammar, spelling Thesis Statement: The U.S. and U.K. share the same language, but there are many differences between them. These differences include vocabulary, grammar and spelling. Example #2: Topic: English language education in Japan Main Idea: use a variety of approaches Subtopics: grammar-translation, audio-lingual, communication language teaching Thesis Statement: English language education in Japan uses a variety of approaches. These approaches include grammar-translation, audio-lingual and communicative language teaching. For Blog Post #3, I would like you to do the same with your topic. (1) Write down your topic, your main idea and three subtopics. (2) Then, combine all of this information into 2 sentences. This will be your thesis statement.
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