A Glimpse of the World of Writing PDF
Document Details
Uploaded by Deleted User
Tags
Summary
This document provides a general overview of academic writing, reading skills, and the writing process. It discusses different types of writing, like academic essays and personal narratives, and how to distinguish between them. The document also touches upon important reading skills such as skimming and scanning, and emphasizes the importance of understanding the writing process, including the different stages and how they are connected. The document's main focus is to help readers gain a general grasp of these fundamental topics.
Full Transcript
ENGLISH A Glimpse of the World of Writing Do you still rember the days when… you were asked to write about your summer vacation or Christmas vacation? Book review or a Reaction paper? Maybe at some point…....
ENGLISH A Glimpse of the World of Writing Do you still rember the days when… you were asked to write about your summer vacation or Christmas vacation? Book review or a Reaction paper? Maybe at some point…. you were also asked to write…. letters, speeches, skits, poems, etc. What are the differences? Would you know the diffrence between an academic essay and a personal narrative? Can you distinguish a news report from an editorial? You should be able to: ✓ define academic writing and distinguish it from other kinds of writing; ✓ identify the purpose, audience, language, and style of academic writing; ✓ analyze sample texts using standards of academic writing; ✓ situate academic writing in the Philippine context. Equip yourself with Reading Skills… What are they? Can you recall? Be reminded of the Writing Process… What are they? Can you recall? Be familiar with Academic Writing its kinds and characteristics. What are they? Can you recall? Reading Skills Rapid Reading aims to locate specific information or main ideas in a very short span of time. Scanning Locating the Main Idea Skimming Scanning the technique of scanning is a useful one to use if you want to get an overview of the text you are reading as a whole -- its shape, the focus of each section, the topics or key issues that are dealth with, and so on. Locating the Main Idea Literary skills are defined based on the criteria needed to understand a material. It refers to set of knowledge that asks the readers to analyze and dissect the ideas through formalistic approach. This includes textual evidences wherein the reader is finding examples, details, and support from the literature being studied in order to back up the analysis he or she is making. It also following correct story grammar by using the right structure of a plot thus, it is a strategy used to analyze the elements of literature, and then establish the relationship between them. Topic Sentence - main idea Topic Controlling Idea (subject) (predicate) Supporting Details - minor -major Transitional Devices Conclusion Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information, or gist. Run your eyes over the text, noting important information. It is covering the chapter to get some of the main ideas and a generl overview of the material. Read the first paragraph of the chapter line by line. Next, read all the bold print headings starting at the beginning. Read the first sentence of every paragraph. Study any pictures, graphs, charts and maps. Finally, read the last paragraph of the chapter. As you skim, you could write down the main ideas and develop a chapter outline. According to Skills You need (2019), there are two main types of listening although they still have sub types. Thr first type is first developed at a very early age- perhaps even before birth, in the womb. This is the most basic form of listening and does not involve the understanfding of the meaning of words or phrases but merely the different sounds of the voices of the parents - the voice of the father sounds different to that of the mother. This is known as discriminitive listening. This is subjective in terms of the sounds like trying to get familiar with pronunciation and intonation. On the other hand, comprehensive listening is complimented by sub-messages from non-verbal communication, such as the tone of voice, gestures and other body language. These non-verbal signals can greatly aid communication and comprehension but can also confuse and potentially lead to misunderstanding. In many listening situations, it is vital to seek clarification and use skills such as reflection aid comprehension. These two fall in the idea of listening because most of the time, people may just hear us but not actually, listen to us. Hence, they are being distinctively described as an assessment of learning in silence. Literal Reading involves the understanding of ideas and facts that are directly stated in the printed material. Note-taking Paraphrasing Summarizing Summarizing Summary: In an article by Skills You Need (2019), it was mentioned that there are two main types of listening although they still have sub types. The first type is known as discriminative listening and the second type is the comprehensive learning. Both of these skills are said to be an assessment of learning in silence. How? Annotate Add notes to the original text to highlight important ideas but avoid putting your own comments. If you are summarizing with multiple paragraphs, get the main ideas and write in your own words. Combine them into a coherent article using transitional devices. Always compare your summary to the original text. Paraphrasing According to Conway and Clark in their article "The Journey Inward and Outward: A Re- Examination of Fuller's Concerns-Based Model of Teacher Development," teachers undergo three stages in their professional life (2003). In the first stage, teachers desire to project an ideal image and be liked by their students. In the next stage, they are more concerned with classroom control and management. Both of these stages cover a large part of teacher's professional life. By the third stage, teachers develop the needed confidence to sacrifice classroom popularity and focus more on improving student's learning outcomes. Teachers at this stage are able to formulate their own teaching philosophies and strategies. This article indicates that teachers may have different teaching principles, beliefs, and strategies based on the stage they are in. Paraphrasing restating ideas from the original text; the length of a paraphrased text is almost similar to the length of the original text. How? Do not change the original thought of the text; change the way it is conveyed. Do not confuse it with a summary. Focus on details, not on the main idea alone. As with summarizing, ensure accuracy by comparing original text from paraphrased texts. Paraphrase: Conway and Clark (2003) discussed the three stages of teacher's professional journey in their article titled, "The Journey Inward and Outward: A Re-Examination of Fuller's Concerns-Based Model of Teacher Development." The first two stages span most of the teacher's professional life; the former is characterized by teacher's yearning for the approval of students and their desire to be an ideal image, while the latter is charaterized by a shift in focus to the successful supervision of the class. As they approach the last stage, they focus more on developing their students' learning capabilities rather than wanting to be well-liked. This phenomenon shows that teachers' philosophies and strategies change as they move up the stages of their career. Avoiding Plagirism Inferential Reading deducing facts and ideas not directly expressed in the text. This is "reading between the lines." Critical Reading Imaging this: Girls most likely do well in academics during high school years but boys get ahead of them in college. Female teenagers are more concerned with their physical appearance than male teenagers. Critical Reading involves scrutinizing any information that you read or hear. - means not easily believing information offered to you by a text. "Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider." - Francis Bacon, The Essays Critical Reading As identified by Ramge, Bean, and Johnson (2006) and as mentioned by Saqueton and Uychoco (2016): ✓ The ability to pose problematic questions ✓ The ability to analyze a problem in all its dimensions - to define its key terms, determine its terms, determine its causes, understand its history, appreciate its human dimension and connection to one's own personal experience, and appreciate what makes its problematic or complex. ✓ The ability to find, gather and interpret data, facts and other information relevant to the problem. ✓ The ability to imagine alternative solutions to the problem, to see different ways in which the question might be answered and different perspectives for viewing it. ✓ The ability to analyze competing approaches and answers, to construct arguments for and against alternative, and to choose the best solution in the light of values, objectives and other criteria that you determine and articulate. ✓ The ability to write an effective argument justifying your choice while acknowledging counter- arguments. Steps to Become a Critical Reader Annotate what you read You can underline, circle or highlight words, phrases or sentences that contain important details, or you can write marginal notes asking questions or commenting on the ideas of the writer. Outline the text. In order to fully engage in a dialogue with the text or with the writer, you need to identify the main points of the writer and list them down so you can also identify the ideas that the writer has raised to support his/her stand. Example: Thesis statement: The concept of Standard English is problematic because there is no clear definition of what standard is. Point 1: The author gives a scenario in the Philippine classrooms in which English teachers get frustrated because of student's grammatical errors. Point 2: The author mentioned that research studies are being conducted in order to improve teaching English as a second language but failed to mention what those specific studies are. Point 3: The common errors that Filipino college students commit in their writings are mentioned. Summarize the text. Aside from outlining, you can also get the main points of the text you are reading and write its gist in your own words. This will test how much you have understood the text and will help you evaluate it critically. paraphrase --- detail Evaluate the text. The most challenging part in critical reading is the process of evaluating what you are reading. This is the point where the other three techniques - annotating, outlining, summarizing - will be helpful. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A4JEOQakdeS5SM7l2g-UvK6b7zxAUKQJ/view WRITING PROCESS Let us have a recap first of the writing process! Pre-writing Process Drafting Revision Editing and Proofreading Publishing Pre-Writing Brainstorming Freewriting Clustering The Writing Process: Drafting to Publishing Get your pen and paper ready, and let us do this! Drafting Focus on the content and organization not on the grammar and mechanics. Introduction, Body and Conclusion Parts of a Paragraph Introduction this is the part to define some of the terms in the title, get the reader's attention with a provocative idea, and show how you intend to organize your essay. Body it contains the supporting details for the thesis statement and topic sentence. Supporting details can be through examples, description, facts and statistics, arguments and many others. Coherence and cohesion should be observed here. Conclusion this is a restatement of the thesis statement to synthesize the overall content of the paragraphs. Topic Sentence guides, controls, and unifies ideas in a paragraph. It develops one main point/idea related to the thesis statement. Drafting Build your papers credibility by using reliable and valid sources. Exercise caution and critical thinking in using information from different sources. Cite experts ideas to support your paragraphs. In-Text Citations are citations that are inserted in the main text of your paper. The purpose of these citations is to let your reader know from where a specific piece of information came. If you do not include in-text citations, your readers will be more likely to distrust your credibility as an author and you are in danger of plagiarizing. Remember A Paragraph is consisit of thesis/statement/topic sentence, body, conclusion. A writer should not forget the Properties of a Well-written text Supporting details should include citations if an idea is coming from a different source. A thesis statement in multiple-paragraph is considered different from a topic sentence. Observe if supporting details make use of logical fallacies. Revise and organize your thoughts if noticed. Revising It is the act of improving the original paper by applying changes based on the feedback. You need to apply critical thinking and evaluation skills when considering the comments on your paper. Feedback and Revising Feedback is a response to the written work which focuses on all aspects of writing. During the drafting stage, the feedback focuses more on the content, structure, organization, and clarity of the message. Feedback can be classified into three: self-feedback, peer feedback, and professional's feedback. Editing and Proofreading The finishing stages of writing are editing and proofreading. Focus on grammar and language use for editing. As for the proofreading, focus on typography and mechanics. You can do this manually or directly using virtual tools. Publishing The stage to showcase your work to other people. You may utilize: Google Sites Blogspot/Blogger Tumblr Wix WordPress Remember: Editing and Proofreading always come together. Feedback is necessary to make our work even more valid and reliable. Citations and references are needed for academic texts: reaction, postions, critic, short essays, and reviews. Revision could happen after feedback and drafting again.