Reviewing your work

I have students conduct peer reviews of 1st drafts. This is done in class. However, check out this video to learn another detailed way to realize the same. Note how he suggests that you may need to write up
3 more drafts
if you want to write the best paper possible.

Duration - 2:39 min

Conclusions - how to write them

This really should be review. However, some of us may want to check out these resources to learn just how to write a conclusion. To make this "topic" more interesting, I've collected these videos to show you how other instructors answer this question.

Dr. Brian Lewis from Century College talks about how to write an effective conclusion for a college-level essay.

Duration - 5:44 min




Tracy Goodwin, holder of a masters in corporate communication and ten years experience in professional speaking, offers these tips for writing a great conclusion.

Duration - 1:14 min



How about this one? Studio4Learning tries to present this topic with a little bit of zest.
Duration - 5:39 min



What do these three presentations have in common? Let me know what you think with a comment.

Thesis / Topic sentences

A great mini slide show to remind you about how to realize a good thesis statement.

Thesis Statements

View more presentations from lfissel.

Paragraph writing - Jane Schaffer method - example 2

Thesis
Global warming is a problem that can no longer be ignored but it is also a problem with many solutions.

Topic sentence / statement (TS)
Global warming is a world problem.

Concrete detail sentence (CD)
If it is not stopped, many experts believe that the world may be drastically hurt.

Commentary (CM)
(CM1) For example, in the movie "Inconvenient Truth", Gore presents many graphs to explain how the earth will be harmed if nothing is done about it (Gore, 2004).
(CM2) These graphs show that pollution from cars and industry are the biggest contributors to global warming.

Concluding Sentence (CS)
(CS1) As a result, we must all begin to solve the problem of global warming now and not tomorrow.
(CS2) It must begin with a look at ways to reduce pollution from cars and industry.

Paragraph

Global warming is a world problem. If it is not stopped, many experts believe that the world may be drastically hurt. For example, in the movie "Inconvenient Truth", Gore presents many graphs to explain how the earth will be harmed if nothing is done about it (Gore, 2004). These graphs show that pollution from cars and industry are the biggest contributors to global warming. As a result, we must all begin to solve the problem of global warming now and not tomorrow. It must begin with a look at ways to reduce pollution from cars and industry.

Paragraph writing - Jane Schaffer method - example 1

Thesis
The story of Cinderella is about a woman who goes through many stages in life

Topic Sentence (TS)
The story starts with Cinderella leading a miserable life.

Concrete Detail (CD)
For example, she does all the cooking, cleaning, and sewing.

Commentary (CM1)
This shows that she feels taken advantage of by her selfish stepmother and stepsisters.

Commentary (CM2)
This is important because her horrible life gives her a present, her fairy godmother.

Concluding Sentence (CS)
As a result, her fairy godmother has no trouble convincing her to leave her work and to become a princess.

As a Paragraph

The story starts with Cinderella leading a miserable life. For example, she does all the cooking, cleaning, and sewing. This shows that she feels taken advantage of by her selfish stepmother and stepsisters. This is important because her horrible life gives her a present, her fairy godmother. As a result, her fairy godmother has no trouble convincing her to leave her work and to become a princess.

Paragraph writing - Jane Schaffer method

A writing teacher in the USA came up with this strategy to help students learn to write "well connected" and "logical" paragraphs. Paragraphs where ideas are properly connected.

Topic sentence / statement (TS)
This sentence should state the fact and be straight to the point.

Concrete detail sentence (CD)
This sentence is the "what" sentence and is a fact. It should be either facts, examples, illustrations, evidence, support, paraphrases, citations, quotations, etc. It should be a concrete detail and should start with 'for example' or a different transition.

• For example,

Commentary (CM)
There are atleast two commentary sentences in each paragraph. They often (but not always) contain no facts. Instead, they contain comments from you the paragraph writer about the fact presented in the CD. This sentence contains analysis, interpretation, opinions, insight, or reasons. It can hold more facts to support the "point" made in the CD.

Most commentary sentences start with one of the following transitions:

• This (also) shows that
• This is important because
• This is because
• In addition,
• Furthermore,
• Therefore,
• For example,

Concluding Sentence (CS)
The Concluding Sentence (CS) is the closing sentence that wraps up the TS and sums up the paragraph. It closes up the thoughts and often provides a clue to what the topic will be in the next paragraph. It often has emotion or connotation in it - encouraging action. It usually begins with "As a result" or another concluding sentence. It can be more than one sentence.

• As a result,

frappuccino freak. (2004, April 10). The Jane Schaffer Writing Program. Everything2.com. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1530903.

Heurta, S. (, n.d). Jane Schaffer How-To. Heurta's English Class. Retrieved May 5, 2009, from http://huertas.vms.lusd.org/Janeschafferhowsto.html.

Various contributors. (2009, May 3). Schaffer paragraph - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. wiki, . Retrieved May 5, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schaffer_paragraph.

Vista High School Staff. (, n.d). Teaching Jane Schaffer’s Multiparagraph Essay - A Step by Step Guide. Vista High School . Retrieved May 5, 2009, from http://209.85.229.132/custom?q=cache:Uu-t_i1o_lkJ:vhs.vusd.k12.ca.us/currint/mpe/mpe95.ppt+Jane+Schaffer&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=pub-4099951843714863.

Note taking - examples

Interesting to discover a variety of links on the internet that either
explain different styles of note taking or provide specific examples of note taking done by students.

Check out this list of links for details.

Styles of note taking

• Englishcompanion.com

Note taking examples

• About Memory

• 
  

Summary writing - how & why we do it (resources)

Here is a short compilation of resources on summary writing. I think you should find these useful for learning more about how to write summaries and why writing summaries is important.

Video

I found this short video on YouTube done by a couple of English students. It has no audio, hasn't the greatest graphics but it does a great job of introducing

• the concept of a summary
• the importance of summary writing
• how to write a good summary (with an example)
  

duration? -1:40 min


But there is no shortage of very good summary resources.

Other resources

What's the real goal of a summary?

The goal of writing a summary of an article, a chapter, or a book is to offer as accurately as possible the full sense of the original, but in a more condensed form. A summary restates the author’s main point, purpose, intent, and supporting details i n your own words.

from
Columbia University Writing Center. (n.d.). Writing Summaries. Columbia University - School of Social Work. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/write/handouts/summary.html

Tips for writing a summary

Remember that a summary is mostly a reading exercise. It is impossible to write an accurate summary after reading an article quickly or just one time. Most problems in summary writing have more to do with understanding the text than writing the summary.

Colorado State University. (, n.d). Standard Summaries. Writing Guides - Writing Summaries. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/documents/standsum/.

Bibliography

Colorado State University. (, n.d). Standard Summaries. Writing Guides - Writing Summaries. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/documents/standsum/.

Colorado University . (, n.d). State the Essence - Guidelines for Writing a Summary. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://lsa.colorado.edu/essence/guidelines.html.

Columbia University Writing Center. (, n.d). Writing Summaries. Columbia University - School of Social Work. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/write/handouts/summary.html.

Israni, L. (2007, April 29). kanisha's and lavina's english project. YouTube. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRVxCr8eurA.

Wehmeyer, D. (, n.d). Summary Writing - Learning Activity - Flash Player Installation. Wisc-Online. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index_tj.asp?objID=TRG2603.

Writing notes - tips

I went on the prowl looking for resources to help you learn more about note taking. I went to You Tube and was surprised by how poor the selection was on "how to write notes". I managed to still find a few. Here they are. I hope you will find them helpful.

A mini lecture but without visuals.
duration? 3:59 min



How to take effective notes
duration? min



Great simple tips - applied to lectures .. but equally useful for taking notes from reading.
1) selective note taking
2) laptop vs notebook
3) write in your own words
4) review your notes after class
5) understand first, write second ***

duration? 3:35 min



Note taking techniques - a bit flashy but the ideas are again useful.

duration? 1:46

Writing an Outline - why bother? (support resources)

Check out these resources. You can learn more about the importance of an outline.

Powerpoint presentation (requires headphones)


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by shakira

Writing an Outline - why bother?

Adapted from Developing an Outline: Why and How to Create a Useful Outline - The OWL at Purdue

Why create an outline? Good question. There are many reasons; but in general, it may be helpful to create an outline when you want to show the logical ordering of information.

For research papers, an outline may help you keep track of large amounts of information. Many people find that organizing an oral report or presentation in outline form helps them speak more effectively in front of a crowd. Below are the primary reasons for creating an outline.

• helps in the process of writing
• helps you organize your ideas
• presents your material in a logical form
• shows the relationships among ideas in your writing

How do I create an outline?

• determine the purpose of your paper.
• determinethe audience you are writing for.
• develop the thesis of your paper.

Then:

• brainstorm: list all the ideas that you want to include in your paper.
• organize: group related ideas together.
• order: arrange material in subsections from general to specific or from abstract to concrete.
• label: create main and sub headings.

Remember:

If you create an outline before writing your paper, it will make organizing your thoughts a lot easier. Whether you follow the suggested guidelines is up to you, but making any kind of outline (even just some jotting down some main ideas) will be beneficial to your writing process.

Source
Purdue OWL . (2008, November 13). Developing an Outline: Why and How to Create a Useful Outline - The OWL at Purdue. The OWL at Purdue. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/02/.

Sample Outline

This is a sample outline that I found on the internet. It shows the sorting of information according to main ideas, and supporting ideas. It is NOT globalization essay but it does show you the general organization, you need to realize in your own outlines.

The Conquest of Mt. Everest

1. Introduction
2. Background Information (used to introduce new or important terms - for almost all of you it will mean explaining "globalization" and the question that you are answering)
   
   1. Location of Mt. Everest
   2. Geography of the Surrounding Area
   3. Facts about Mt. Everest
      1. Height of the mountain
      2. How the mountain was named
         1. Peak XV
         2. Joloungma (Tibetan name)
         3. Sagarmatha (Nepalese name)
      3. The number of people who have climbed Everest to date
3. Major Explorers Covered in this Paper
   1. Sir Edmund Hillary
      1. First to reach the summit (1953)
      2. Led a team of experienced mountain climbers who worked together
   2. Tenzing Norgay and the Sherpas
      1. Norgay was an experienced climber and guide who accompanied Hillary
      2. Sherpas still used to guide expeditions
   3. Rob Hall
      1. Leader of the failed 1996 expedition
      2. Led group of (mainly) tourists with little mountain climbing experience
4. The Impact Expeditions have had on Mt. Everest and Local Community
   1. Ecological Effects
      1. Loss of trees due to high demand for wood for cooking and heating for tourists.
      2. Piles of trash left by climbing expeditions
   2. Economic Effects
      1. Expedition fees provide income for the country
      2. Expeditions provide work for the Sherpas, contributing to the local economy.
   3. Cultural Effects
      1. Introduction of motor vehicles
      2. Introduction of electricity
5. Conclusion

Source

Ferber, A. (n.d.). Sample Essay Outlines - TeacherVision.com. TeacherVision. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from http://www.teachervision.fen.com/writing/essays/1779.html.