BBI 2421 Essay - Introduction:
- What the essay is all about
- Last sentence is called “thesis statement”
- Body:
- Elaborates each subdivision of the essay
- One paragraph for one subdivision
- Conclusion:
- Summarizes or reviews the main point
- Introduction
- General statement
- Thesis statement
- Body
- Topic sentence 1
- Supporting point 1
- Supporting details 1
- Topic sentence 2
- Supporting point 2
- Supporting details 2
- Topic sentence 3
- Supporting point 3
- Supporting details 3
- conclusion
Introductory Paragraph - Attracts the reader’s interest (general information)
- Introduces the topic of the essay (thesis statement)
Thesis Statement - State the specific topic of the essay
- List the subtopic of the main topic
- Eg:
- Three of the more successful styles are …
- Therefore, workaholics’ lifestyles can affect their families, social lives, and health.
- Teenagers express their separateness most vividly in their choice of clothes, hairstyle, music and vocabulary.
Body Paragraph Conclusion - It signals the end of the essay
- It reminds the reader of your main point
- It leaves readers with your final thought
MISTAKES - Unclear introduction
- Unclear thesis statement
- Disorganize thesis statement
- Disorganize body paragraph
- New subdivision in body paragraph
- Conclusion does not reflect your whole essay
- Introducing new idea in conclusion
- Wrong usage of transition signals
- Get lost in one’s own writing
- Contradict one’s own idea
Opinion Essay: - Introduction
- General idea
- Thesis statement
- Body paragraph
- Conclusion
- Thesis statement
- Topic sentence
Definition: - There are three parts:
- Concept
- Category
- Characteristic(s)
- Concept:
- Category:
- Distinguishing characteristics:
- Eg: of office workers wearing casual clothes to work on Friday.
- Casual Friday refers to the custom of office workers wearing casual clothes to work on Friday.
Body Paragraph: - Have a clear topic sentence
- Discuss each points separately, one after the other.
- Introduce each point with a signal word / phrases.
- Eg:
- The first reason…
- Another quality of a …
- In addition, … is another advantage of …
Expansion of Points: - To give a clearer idea to the reader
- This is necessary, especially when you have a one-word term or a phrase such as staycation, memory, medical tourism, low blood pressure.
Example: - Support each point with relevant details like examples or statistics; numbers, costs, amounts, percentages.
Coherence: - Flow (one sentence must lead to the next one)
- Ways to practice coherence:
- Use nouns and pronouns CONSISTENTLY.
- Use transition signals:
- To move to new idea.
- To show relations among ideas.
- Use logical division of ideas:
- Most important – less important.
- Less important – most important.
Use Nouns and Pronounce CONSISTENTLY: - Continue to use the same nouns and pronouns you start with.
- Eg:
Tips: - Use a plural noun rather than a singular noun when referring to a group of people of both sexes.
- Use a plural pronoun rather than a singular pronoun to make it less awkward.
- Eg:
- A student must display his or her matric card when in campus.
- Students must display their matric card when in campus.
APA citation - Use author-date method
- In-text citation:
- Short / long quotations
- Directly quoting from a work
- Summary / paraphrase
Short quotations - Author (Year of publication), “xxx”
- Page number for the reference (p. 25)
- Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase
- According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).
- Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199).
- She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199).
Long quotations - 40> words
- Free-standing block
- No quotation marks
- On a new line, indented 5 spaces from the left margin
- Jones's (1998) study found the following:
- Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)
Summary / paraphrase - Author (year of publication), xxx
- Page number is optional but encouraged.
- According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners.
- APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).
Author(s) - 2: name both, use ‘and’
- Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports...
- (Wegener & Petty, 1994)
- 3-5: name all the 1st time, first author followed by ‘et al.’ the 2nd time onwards
- (Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 1993)
- (Kernis et al., 1993)
- 6>: first author followed by ‘et al.’
- Harris et al. (2001) argued...
- (Harris et al., 2001)
- Indirect source: use the original, (secondary)
- Johnson argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102).
| | | - Use reporting phrase:
- - He said
- - He stated
- - According to name of the source, (use “x” if you copy words exactly)
| - “I like you,” he said.
- He said, “I like you.”
- According to veterinarian Dr. Brown (2000), “…”
| - Begin each quoted sentence with a capital letter.
- When a quoted sentence is separated into two parts, begin the second part with a small letter.
| - “Your dog is a pit bull,” he continued, “and I am afraid of him.”
| - Comma, question mark, exclamation marks etc go inside the second quotation mark.
| | - Give the quoted person’s title or occupation.
- Use appositive clause to help you write this better.
| - My older sister, financial manager for a large insurance company, claims, “I save myself time, and I save my company money by telecommuting.”
| Reference list: Printed - Book:
- Author, A. A. (year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
- Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Reference list: Printed - Newspaper:
- Author, A. A. (year, month day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper, p. x.
- Parker-Pope, T. (2008, May 6). Psychiatry handbook linked to drug industry. The New York Times, p. 7.
Reference list: Printed - Newspaper (no author):
- Title of the article. (year, month date). Title of newspaper, p. x.
- Report casts shadow. (2007, October 16). Waikato Times, p. 7.
Reference list: Printed - Magazine:
- Author. A. A. (year, month date). Title of the article. Title of the magazine, volume, page number.
- Goodwin, D. K. (2002, February 4). How I caused that story. Time, 159, 69.
Reference list: Electronic - Newspapers:
- Author, A. A. (year, month day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
- Parker-Pope, T. (2008, May 6). Psychiatry handbook linked to drug industry. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
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