IE3W Lesson 2: Introduction

10/7/2015

Hi everyone,

Great work today! I really appreciated how well everyone fully participated in pair and group work. Although it's only the second lesson, we're getting into the nuts-and-bolts (=idiom for details) of essay writing.

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.

Introduction Structure:
We also learned about the different parts of an introduction:
a hook
b. general statements
c. thesis statement

You can choose from four different hooks:
a. quotes
b. rhetorical questions
c. statistics
d. interesting facts

Late Submissions:
Please be aware that your writing must be submitted on time if you would like to receive my comments. If you submit your writing after a deadline, it will not be checked.

Essay Format:
We quickly went through how to format your essay (e.g. spacing, titles, etc.). If you need additional information, please see the Introduction Guidelines.

Homework:

Bibliography: due Oct. 13 before 12noon by email
Introduction: due Oct. 12 before 12 noon by email
Blog posting #2

Please submit your Introduction and Bibliography as Word documents. You will need to attach them to the emails you send to me.

Blog Question #2:

What difficulties did you have writing your introduction?
What are the benefits of writing your essay step-by-step?

* Write 8-10 sentences.
* Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly.
* Submit by Tuesday, October 13 by 6:00pm.

22 Comments

IE3W-Yuuka

10/8/2015 09:02:18 pm

When I was writing my introduction, I got confused what the hook sentence is and what general statement is. So I had to re-read the papers and the exmple essay again and again. I wrote my introduction, but I'm not really sure if I wrote it in the right way. It was also hard for me to find information about my essay. I found lots of information in Wikipedia, but I didn't want the information only from Wikipedia, so i had hard time finding other sites.
I think the benefits of writing your essay step-by-step is that you get to check and make sure if you are writing it correctly. I didn't really have time and opportunity to check what I'm writing so carefully. I might have to write graduation thesis, so i think by learning step-by-step, I think you can be sure of what you are writing and also can use the ability when you are writing other essays too. Which I think that can also lead to confidence, and good grade.

IE3W-Takumi

10/10/2015 06:55:26 am

It was really difficult for me to write a hook sentence because I didn't easily hit upon a good sentence which attract readers. In addition to that, I had a difficulty in making my whole introduction because I tried to write it simply, but full of what I want to explain. I think that the benefits of writing my essay step-by-step is to be able to consider carefully, and also I can revise my essay for each stages.

Takumi

10/10/2015 07:19:57 am

Sorry, I posted my blog before I finished writing. Sentences below are continued from my blog.

In IE2 writing classes, I wrote my essay at once, so I couldn't consider careally and couldn't revise. Thus, my essay sometimes didn't make sense. However, because of writing my essay step-by-step, I have confidence to write my essay correctly now. In addition to those merits, I can afford to do my homeworks at my own pace. It is really helpful for me to write my essay step-by-step because I have so many homeworks to do.

IE3W-Ryosuke

10/10/2015 10:10:12 pm

Difficulty that I had in writing my introduction was thinking of a hook statement.
A hook statement is a sentence that catches the reader’s attention, so I chose words that made up it carefully.
Especially, I paid attention to avoiding making a hook statement too abstract and too concrete.
Therefore, it can be said that writing a hook statement was the most difficult thing that I had while I wrote my introduction.

I think that there are two benefits of writing my essay step-by-step.
Firstly, writing my essay step-by-step enables me to reflect on sentences that I write more seriously than writing it at once does.
Secondly, by writing it little by little, I can elaborate my idea and polish up my style of writing.
I would like to make my essay better, repeating one trial and error after another.

IE3W-HIDEAKI

10/11/2015 04:17:01 am

I had in trouble when I wrote general statement because there are lots of General information related to my topic: soccer, so I spend a bit time longer to this sentence compared to the other sentences in the introduction paragraph. Are there any yardstick when I write this sentence?? In addition to this, I became confused when I connected the general statement and main idea sentence. Are there any tips for this?? I had to ponder how to connect these two sentences quite long.
I think that the advantage of writing essay step by step is that it will prevent me from writing essay in wrong direction immediately. If the professor makes us to write all of essay without checking it, people who made mistakes in essay end up wasting of their time and have to rewrite it or start new essay. So, to use time effective, it is necessary to write our essay step by step.

IE3W-Ryoma

10/11/2015 06:47:18 am

The trouble I had in making the introduction was the hook statement. The reason why I thought this way was that I have never written a hook statement to attract the readers. I didn't think the first sentence of the essay was to be this important. Also, I have never written the introduction this long, so I first thought it was very hard for me, but when I started my essay I thought it fun and I barely managed to finish the introduction.
I think writing my essay step by step makes me easy to organize my essay. It will not go off topic easily and we can find my errors in an earlier stage. When I was in IE2, we didn't do this tasks, so I think it is a new and refreshing way to write my essays. Overall, I prefer writing it step by step.

IE3W-Sae

10/11/2015 07:58:46 pm

When I was writing my introduction, I found it difficult to write a hook statemant. At first, I was making a question hook statement, and then realized it had to be a rheotorical question. I looked up the meaning of rheotorical in many web sites. I kind of understood it, but I was not able to make it for my topic. I finally used an interesting fact for my hook statemant. I actually spent 5 hours on writing introduction, and most of the time, I spent on a hook statement.

The benefits of writing my essay step-by-step is that I can deeply understand each of 5 paragraphs has diffrent roles in an essay. In addtion, I can spend enough time on each of them so that I can make my essay more attractive. Even if I come up with new ideas, I can add them later.

Nanako

10/11/2015 08:39:50 pm

It was really difficult for me to think of how to write the introduction which catches reader's attention. And also, how to make my essay interesting and believable. When I read essays written by proffesional writers, I can concentrate on reading if the articles were interesting for me. However, if not, I can't concentrate on reading and fall asleep. So I understood how difficult to write an interesting essay.

I think the benefits of writing my essay step-by-step is I can consider the structure carefully. When I have to write an essay in both English and Japanese, I often notice that I don't know what I am writing. I lost what I want to tell readers. However, I realized I could make my essay more believable by step-by-step writing. I think that's the benefit of step-by-step writing.

IE3W-Saki

10/11/2015 09:39:44 pm

I had difficulty in thinking about the hook statement. Since I was not sure how to capture readers' attention. However, your(Nicole's) lesson materials helped me and I could manage to write my hook statement. I'm not sure whether my hook statement is good or not, but I understood how to attract them.

In my opinion, the benefits of writing my essay by step-by-step are I can consider writing it and take my time. I can notice mistakes, like wrong spellings or gramatical problems if I take my time over it. That's why I think so.

IE3W-Kanta

10/12/2015 02:00:40 am

Before writing my introduction paragraph, I had a hard time choosing my topic. After choosing my topic, I had difficulties thinking up of a hook sentence. But everything went quite smooth after I realized that all I had to do was write about something that I'm interested in. So writing my introduction wasn't that much of a pain.
I think the benefit of writing an essay step-by-step is that it makes the essay easier for the readers to understand. I don't think people would want to read something that's hard to understand. I believe that it's important to write an essay that is easy for the readers to understand. I also believe that writing step-by-step makes it easier for yourself to write the essay as well.

Momond

10/12/2015 06:35:45 am

It took a lot of time to make my introduction since my topic "religion" was hard to explain in simple senteses, and without any pictures nor gestures. In addition, most of japanese people are atheist who do not belive in god. That is why i was unsure about the readers could understand what i wrote about.

The advantage to write an essay step by step is that we have enough time to study, research, and take care of each sections. I think these process are very important for writers. Through these, our level of understanding the rule and the writing skill of an essay may rise. For example, our topic is going to be more interesting, our introduction will attract people more. Moreover, we would have less grammer or spell mistakes.

IE3W-Iyona

10/13/2015 12:34:12 am

I had difficulty writing the hook statement. It was hard to think how I can catch the readers attention. I understood how it's not a easy to think of it. It was also hard to make my introduction clearly but also interesting. I think I should learn more how to write a good introduction by learning from your class and reading many essays or books.
I think the advantages of writing the essay step-by-step are to understand what I am writing, to make the readers easy to understand and to get checked by the teacher or friends. Getting checked by teachers or friends will be a good way to make a better essay. This is why I like writing the essay step-by-step is good.

IE3W-Kana

10/13/2015 01:15:27 am

When I wrote my introduction, I had difficulty to write the hook statement. I didn’t know how to catch the reader’s attention more. I still don’t know whether my hook statement catches it enough or not. Actually I wanted to think about the phrase which the reader’s is interested in more. I’m not good at writing essay so I usually hesitate which conjunctive I should use when writing sentences. I’m afraid whether I can use conjunctive appropriately.

The benefits of writing my essay step-by-step enable me to write what I want to say definitely in turn. There is always only a vague thought when writing the essay, but I can express that I want to say concretely by writing the essay step-by-step.

IE3W-Shoko

10/13/2015 01:23:53 am

I had difficulties in writing the hook statement, as I had no idea what kind of sentence would attract the readers. In the essay I wrote in the IE2 class, I used to write the hook statement in the question form. During the lesson in your class last Wednesday, I knew that it is not good to start an essay in a format of questioning the readers of an answer you already know. Not only the hook statement, I also felt hard to write the general statement. I got confused what is a general fact, and thought a lot. Writing essays step-by-step will prevent us from writing the essay into the wrong direction. You can read back the previous part you wrote after a while, and check again what you were meaning. This way of writing enables you to write with confidence.

IE3W-Mizuki

10/13/2015 01:25:27 am

At first, it took a long time to decide the topic and sub topics because I hadn't fully understood the writing style of classification essay. However somehow I managed to decide them after I heard that classification essay is different from compare-contrast essay. It was hard as well to find appropriate works cited on web sites. Except that, I can smoothly write my essay because I have been interested in my topic for years.
I suppose that our essays will be more logically by writing step-by-step than not writing so. Moreover, readers are easily to understand my ideas if I use step-by-step writing style. We need to consider to write an easy-to-read essay. I believe that writing our essays step-by-step will bring us many benefits.

William

10/13/2015 01:31:16 am

Before writing the introduction of my essay, choosing the topic was very difficult for me. I couldn't come up with a good topic to write with. What was more even more difficult for me was the hook statement. My topic was easy and very simple, so I had a hard time making it a interesting hook statement. And it was hard to connect it to the theses statement. I'm very worried about my body paragraphs from now.

The writing class in the IE2 was similar to what we are doing now, but the work we are doing now is more steady and helpful. The class before was a simple "first", "middle ", "end" essay, so I think I can write a better essay by working step by step like this.

IE3W-Yume

10/13/2015 01:36:52 am

I had difficulty in writing general statement. There are a lot of general statements related to my topic so it was difficult to choose. I got confused if I could choose suitable one which is connected to my opinion. I think it is important to think about whole structure of my essay before I write my introduction.

I think the benefit of writing my essay step by step is that I can elaborate my idea. I can check if my essay is reasonable and clear by reading it again and again. Also, I can find errors in my essay easily. I would like to improve my ability to write reasonable essay by learning in your writing class.

IE3W-Seicho

10/13/2015 01:48:09 am

The difficulties I had in writing the introduction were the structure of the essay. I had to write the article in a right way. From hook statement to general statements and thesis stamens. I had to pay attention to the structure instead of just writing anything I want. It was a little hard for me to write the introduction in a certain pattern.

I think the benefit of writing the essay step by step is that I can look back to the words I wrote afterwards. I can check my essay and I have time to fix it if I don't like what I wrote. Also, writing it step by step can be less troublesome. It's a better chance for me to write a good essay.

IE3W-Miki

10/13/2015 01:58:11 am

When I was writing my introduction, I had difficulty in making a hook statement. I couldn't think of good hook statement which catches reader's attention. I also had difficulty in making a thesis. It was very hard to explain my topic and opinion in a short sentence. I think I need to learn more how to write good essay.
I think the benefit of writing the essay step-by-step is that I can focus on each paragraph and understand what I'm writing. I think understanding what I'm writing is necessary to make the essay logical. Writing the essay step-by-step is key to make a good essay.

IE3W-Yuu

10/13/2015 01:58:13 am

When I wrote my introduction, I found it difficult to write a hook sentence and got confused. I didn't know well a hook sentence but gradually understood it. I want to write a sentence which catches the reader's attention through your writing class.

I think the benefits of writing my essay step by step is to check my essay at every step. If I have enough time, I can notice mistakes and make my essay much better. So I can avoid big mistakes. This is why I think so.

IE3-Misaki

10/13/2015 02:00:40 am

It was very difficult to think up hook statement. I'm not satisfied with the present sentence. So I'd like to take longer time to find better hook statement before finishing of writing. When I made bibliography, I did not know how to make a hanging indent as it was hard.
I think writing a essay step-by-step enables me to learn the essay structure. In addition, Writing step-by-step makes clear what I should write in this part. That's why I can write essay smoozly and clearly

IE3-saki.n

10/13/2015 06:52:03 am

I had difficulties writing by introduction because I didn't know if the sentence I wrote was proper for my hook statement. After I chose my topic, I wasn't sure if it's a good topic. But when you said I'd chosen a good topic I was able to write it with conference.
I think writing an essay step-by-step is good to improve you writing skills. I especially don't know if the format I write is correct or not. So, by doing it step-by-step really helps me to notice the things I'm writing is wrong or not.Since I took writing classes in America I have a little confidence in writing. But through this class I want to improve my writing skills more.

IE3W Lesson 2: Introduction

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