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WRITING EAP VI
HIGH ADVANCED
1. Pre-Writing
1. Expose students to and encourage them to use a variety of pre-writing strategies (the type
and amount of pre-writing work is at the instructor's discretion. See Writing Appendix for
suggested activities).
2. Writing
1. Reviewing standard paper format guidelines.
2. Reviewing effective sentence-level writing exercises (see Writing Appendix for possible
activities).
a. Avoiding fragments, comma splices, and fused (run-on) sentences.
3. Reviewing the elements of an effective paragraph:
a. Physical format
b. Content of the paragraph:
I. Topic sentence; II. Body development through definition/explanation and
2-3 examples/illustration; III. Conclusion.
c. Cohesion achieved by the use of:
i. Connectors;
ii. Restatement, referencing, and/or renaming (ex: so 1 left by the nearest
exit. The door was marked in red, but .. .)
4. Practicing the critical (i.e., analytical) writing process:
a. Brainstorming ideas;
b. Selecting the ideas to be used (making associations; verifying them);
c. Limiting (writing a thesis statement, i.e. a sentence);
d. Arranging ideas which support the thesis (making an outline in sentence form);
e. Writing the first draft.
f. Revising and rewriting.
g. Proofreading for errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling;
h. Titling the paper.
5. Mastering the elements of an effective college-level essay:
a. Introductory Paragraph containing a Thesis Statement (controlling idea), an
orientation for the reader; and an indication of parts of the essay. It can be likened to an
inverted triangle as it moves from the general statement to the specific thesis statement.
b. Body Paragraphs (4-5), each containing a single major point (in a topic
sentence) which supports the thesis of the essay; provides definitions of terms and
explanations, as needed; 2-3 examples or illustrations or other data to support the point;
and transitions both within each paragraph and between paragraphs (see special lists at the
end of this section).
c. Concluding Paragraph consisting of a restatement of the thesis; an
opinion/reflection; a summary of the discussion; a prediction or a call for action; and a reorientation for the reader, using the same device or the same kind of device as was used in
the Introductory Paragraph.
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6. Developing a deeper awareness of the four kinds of writing: argumentation,
description, exposition, and narration.
7. Becoming familiar with the major patterns of organization in English:
a. Analysis
b. Cause and Effect
c. Comparison and Contrast
d. Definition
e. Enumeration f Illustration
g. Process
8. Developing a greater awareness of audience.
9. Familiarizing students with plagiarism and how to avoid it
10. Varying sentence structure effectively.
11. Using figurative language appropriately and effectively.
12. Employing literary devices such as alliteration, allusion, rhetorical questions, imagery,
or irony.
12. Using academic vocabulary
3. Types of Writing (At every level, some writing may be done using skills studied in the
previous levels)
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All expository types
2
Description
3
Narration
4
Argumentation
5
Summary
4. Style Analyses
1. Classifying kinds of sentences as simple, complex, compound, or compound/complex.
2. Classifying sentences as either loose (cumulative) or periodic.
5. Research Paper Writing
1. Parameters: 2,500 word paper (8-10 typed pages), written in THIRD PERSON point of
view, on a topic which can be developed as an argument either for or against something.
2. Steps in writing this paper:
a. Choosing an Argumentation topic which can been developed into a 2,500 word
paper;
b. Gathering a working bibliography (3-4 books and 8-10 articles).
c. Annotating the bibliography;
d. Writing a thesis statement and an outline in sentence form;
e. Writing a first draft, including parenthetical citations; f Including illustrations
such as pictures, graphs, and/or charts;
g. Conferring formally with the professor;
h. Revising the paper;
i. Titling the paper;
j. Writing an abstract;
k. Binding the paper to present it attractively.
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6. Mechanics
1. Punctuation:
a. Stops: period, question mark, exclamation mark;
b. Pauses: semicolon, colon, comma;
c. Interrupters: hyphen, dash, parentheses;
d. Others: quotation marks, apostrophe, underlining, italics.
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WRITING EAP VI APPENDIX: SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
2. Pre-Writing
1. Brainstorming/ Free association:
a. Oral Discussion;
b. Written notes.
2. Information resources:
a. Reading
b. Media
c. Interviews/ Survey
d. Group Work
d. Experimentation
3. Critical questions (Why, What effect, re: the tone, assumptions, etc.):
a. Information: responding to Wh-prompts (Who, What, When, etc.);
b. Subjective evaluation or response.
4. Free writing.
5. Looping.
6. Audience.
7. Research.
8. Outlining.
3. Types of Writing Activities
1. Controlled exercises: modifying text; depending on an explicit model.
a. Change specific grammatical features in model sentences.
b. Change a feature and corresponding inflections.
c. Rewrite a sentence from a model.
d. Combine sentences by means of:
i. Coordination;
ii. Subordination;
e. Expand a sentence (amplification). f Match for sentence sense (columns of
beginnings/endings).
g. Reconstruct a text.
h. Unscramble scrambled sentences.
j. Reverse the order of model.
k. Imitate a model: (i) By linguistic cues;
(ii) By content cues.
2. Directed exercises: creating text from a given content or organization.
a. Written interviews.
b. Description of a visual or sequence in visuals.
c. Cloze exercise:
(i) Based on a visual;
(ii) Based on content or personal information.
d. Compose description (of visual or other topic) from questions.
e. Retell an oral story or other information in writing
i. With notes or ii Without notes
f. Dictation variations:
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i. Questions and answers;
ii. Fill-in dictations.
3. Guided exercises: using personal or research within a prescribed format.
a. Story-telling: Anecdote
b. Descriptive or situational composition:
i. Personal experience.
ii. Observation (living environment or laboratory) iii. Researched content
c. Opinion (position) paper
d. Article summary
e. Critique/ critical response paper
4. Short response questions in testing
5. Essay test on subject-specific information
6. Free writing: journal