Academic Writing First semester English, Fall 2007. Session 2: coherence and cohesion

Academic Writing

First semester English, Fall 2007. Session 2: coherence and cohesion

Sum-up from last week

• The academic genre

• The writing process

Study time – genre text 1There's seldom anything funnier than the self-obsession that precludes self-knowledge. (POSTULATING) As Labour meets for its 10th conference since winning the 1997 election, it's fair to say (PRESUMING) that the party has attained that state and all the fuss of the coming days would indeed be a comical if its record on foreign policy and liberties had not been so damaging to the interests of the British people. But the people are the very last thing to concern Labour at the moment. Sustained by a sense of entitlement and removed from reality by the habit of power (DEGRADING), Labour deliberates succession with all the bewildering violence of an immune system attacking itself (METAPHORICAL LANGUAGE). What lies at the bottom of this sickness is not principle, policy, or ideological vision, but love of power (POSTULATING, LECTURING)- the calculated necessity to dump the man who raised their sorry asses in the first place and who is now considered an electoral liability.

Comment in The Observer (24 September 2006)

Genres text 2 A poem is the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth. There is this difference between a story

and a poem, that a story is a catalogue of detached facts, which have no other connection than time, place, circumstance, cause and effect; the other is the creation of actions according to the unchangeable forms of human nature, as existing in the mind of the Creator, which is itself the image of all other minds. … (LECTURING, PRAISING, POSTULATING)

But I digress. … (DIGRESSING)Poetry is indeed something divine. It is at once the centre and circumference of knowledge; it is that

which comprehends all science, and that to which all science must be referred. It is at the same time the root and blossom of all other systems of thought; it is that from which all spring, and that which adorns all; and that which, if blighted, denies the fruit and the seed, and withholds from the barren world the nourishment and the succession of the scions of the tree of life. …

Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. (LECTURING, AGITATING, PRAISING, PROCLAIMING)

Percy Bysshe Shelley ”A Defence of Poetry” (1819) (ESSAY)

Genres text 3IN THE DECADE SINCE Roddy Doyle published The Woman who Walked into Doors I have often wondered (EXPERIENCE, CONFESS) about

its heroine, Paula Spencer. Did she wake peacefully in the mornings now that the terrifying Charlo was dead and could beat her no more? Did alcoholism take hold of her

and drag her down so far that her liberation had come too little and too late. … (PRESUME)So she’s back, in a new novel, this time entitled Paula Spencer. Ten years older and still ambiguous about the dead Charlo. She has been off the

drink for four months and five days. As she says: “A third of a year, half a pregnancy nearly.” And it’s very hard. …Time has passed and this is a different Ireland — but not for Paula Spencer, whose teeth will never come back and whose joints will always ache.

She is only 48 years old. And yet it’s an amazingly cheerful story (REVIEW), full of real resilience. For Paula to have got to this stage is survival on an epic scale. Her

language is appalling, she seems constantly to score own goals by saying the wrong thing, then realising that she has and, in trying to improve it, making things worse still. …

But she is so utterly likeable that we cheer for her (EXPERIENCE, CONFESS), and every tiny victory for her is a triumph for us as well (LECTURE, POPULARISE, PRAISE).

She is like the kind of exasperating friend that everyone has known (POPULARISE, EXPERIENCE), the friend who has been through so much and taken so much abuse that you cannot really blame her for the next thing, but you still do. (ENTERTAIN) …

And Roddy Doyle has done the impossible — he has made Paula Spencer even more unforgettable the second time round (REVIEW, PRAISE), .

The Times September 2, 2006 (BOOK REVIEW)

Genres text 4She looks around. She’s the only white woman.

Someone smiles. She catches herself, smiles back. She turns to face the front. She remembers — she finds her seat belt and puts it on. She has to push and shove. She’s like a cranky kid.—Sorry.She knows. There’ll be no crack on the way. And no singsong coming home. No one speaks. It takes about an hour and stops being familiar after twenty minutes. Ranelagh, Milltown, Windy Arbour. She doesn’t know them. Dundrum. She knows the name — of course she does — but she’s never been there before. She looks up at the new bridge for the Luas, where the tram goes right over the road. It’s like a different city.She doesn’t feel uncomfortable but it’s weird. She’s the only white woman. And the only Irish woman — she supposes. The only one born here. The driver’s white but he says nothing. He mightn’t be Irish either, although he looks it from where she’s sitting

Extract from PAULA SPENCER by Roddy Doyle (2006)

Genres text 5This article discusses (DISCUSSING) postwar efforts to document (SUBSTANTIATING) the survivor

experience,which continue to the present time (CONTEXTUALISING). Many historians today acknowledge the

importanceof these primary source materials to their work as well as the necessity forcareful analysis of them ( REASONING). These materials could not be used without both physicalaccess—which reinforces the need for preservation regardless of media—and recognizedcataloging standards and vocabulary.(REFLECTING) The article includes examples of the usesmade of testimonies in various disciplines (EXAMINING) and challenges present and future

researchers (RELATING, CONTEXTUALISING, CRITICISING)to expand the use of such resources with a view to obtain a more complete historyof the Holocaust.(REASONING)

ACADEMIC WRITING

Genres text 5 cntd. To return to Boder’s work mentioned previously (DISCUSSING), Boder titled his bookI Did Not Interview the Dead. This is a profound recognition of a major limitationof witness testimony. (INTERPRETING) Primo Levi (2001: 122) reminds us as well: ‘‘Allof us survivors are, by definition, exceptions because in the Lager you weredestined to die. If you did not die it was through some miraculous strokeof luck.You were an exception, a singularity, not generic, totally specific.’’ (CITING)The Holocaust is about being killed, not about surviving (ARGUING). Although (QUALIFYING) Levi

observed that ‘‘the story has been almost exclusively written by those whohave not fathomed the depths of human degradation.Those who did havenot come back to tell the tale’’ (ibid.: 30), (CITING) it is incumbent on us to try toreconstruct those stories, using all the resources we have. (PROVING, SHOWING, JUSTIFYING)

Joanne Weiner Rudof, ”Research Use of Holocaust Testimonies”. Poetics Today 27:2 (Summer 2006)

Reflection on your own writing process

Coherence: the logical linking of ideas• Paragraph

– A unit of thought• Topic sentence

– The unifying top-level statement of the paragraph• Concluding sentence

– The rounding up of the paragraph (and the link to the next paragraph)

• Levels of generality– The hourglass shape

• Linking words (week 41)

Compendium p. 11, task 1

Compendium p. 16, Task 1a) The rest of the sentences in the paragraph refer back to the topic sentence ad support it, thus

providing the reader with evidence, examples, facts etc. at various levels of generality, which contribute to the reader’s understanding of the main idea.

b) They are visually set off from other paragraphs by double spacing.c) In extended texts, paragraphs help create global coherence in that the unifying idea expressed

in the topic sentence links up with the other topic sentences to form the overall theme or line of argument of the whole text.

d) The main idea is usually announced in a general statement, called the topic or controlling sentence, and it is often – but not always placed towards the beginning of the paragraph.

e) Despite variation in structure, length and pattern of development, paragraphs can be said to have certain features in common.

f) (One sentence paragraphs are rarely found in academic prose.)g) This sentence contains key words which control the way the paragraph will be developed.h) Well-developed paragraphs consist of a succession of sentences which develop one dominant

idea.i) The last sentence in the paragraph usually rounds off the idea being developed or serves as a

transition to the next paragraph.

Task 1(E) Despite variation in structure, length and pattern of development, paragraphs can be said to have certain features in common. (B) They are visually set off from other paragraphs by double spacing. (H) Well-developed paragraphs consist of a succession of sentences which develop one dominant idea. (F) (One sentence paragraphs are rarely found in academic prose.) (D) The main idea is usually announced in a general statement, called the topic or controlling sentence, and it is often – but not always placed towards the beginning of the paragraph. (G) This sentence contains key words which control the way the paragraph will be developed. . (I) The last sentence in the paragraph usually rounds off the idea being developed or serves as a transition to the next paragraph. (A) The rest of the sentences in the paragraph refer back to the topic sentence ad support it, thus providing the reader with evidence, examples, facts etc. at various levels of generality, which contribute to the reader’s understanding of the main idea (C) In extended texts, paragraphs help create global coherence in that the unifying idea expressed in the topic sentence links up with the other topic sentences to form the overall theme or line of argument of the whole text.

Task 1 Repetition of key words or phrases (paragraph, idea, topic sentence)

(E) Despite variation in structure, length and pattern of development, paragraphs can be said to have certain features in common. (B) They are visually set off from other paragraphs by double spacing. (H) Well-developed paragraphs consist of a succession of sentences which develop one dominant idea. (F) (One sentence paragraphs are rarely found in academic prose.) (D) The main idea is usually announced in a general statement, called the topic or controlling sentence, and it is often – but not always placed towards the beginning of the paragraph. (G) This sentence contains key words which control the way the paragraph will be developed. (I) The last sentence in the paragraph usually rounds off the idea being developed or serves as a transition to the next paragraph. (A) The rest of the sentences in the paragraph refer back to the topic sentence and support it, thus providing the reader with evidence, examples, facts etc. at various levels of generality, which contribute to the reader’s understanding of the main idea. (C) In extended texts, paragraphs help create global coherence in that the unifying idea expressed in the topic sentence links up with the other topic sentences to form the overall theme or line of argument of the whole text.

Task 1: Use of synonyms for key words (E) Despite variation in structure, length and pattern of development, paragraphs can be said to have certain features in common. (B) They are visually set off from other paragraphs by double spacing. (H) Well-developed paragraphs consist of a succession of sentences which develop one dominant idea. (F) (One sentence paragraphs are rarely found in academic prose.) (D) The main idea is usually announced in a general statement, called the topic or controlling sentence, and it is often – but not always placed towards the beginning of the paragraph. (G) This sentence contains key words which control the way the paragraph will be developed. . (I) The last sentence in the paragraph usually rounds off the idea being developed or serves as a transition to the next paragraph. (A) The rest of the sentences in the paragraph refer back to the topic sentence ad support it, thus providing the reader with evidence, examples, facts etc. at various levels of generality, which contribute to the reader’s understanding of the main idea (C) In extended texts, paragraphs help create global coherence in that the unifying idea expressed in the topic sentence links up with the other topic sentences to form the overall theme or line of argument of the whole text.

Task 1: Use of pronouns as substitutes (they, it, this)


Task 1: Use of connective words (the rest)


Task 2• The life story of a neighborhood reflects that of

its inhabitants. • Neighborhoods share their inhabitants’ life

stories.• Neighborhoods grow with their inhabitants, and

they age with them.• A neighborhood’s condition reflects that of its

inhabitants.

Task 3

1. exemplification

2. argumentation

3. comparison and contrast.

Hourglass shape

Topic sentence (the ’broadest’ most general ideas)

Concluding sentence (broadening out and rounding off the paragraph)

Hourglass shape

Levels of generality

Supporting sentences (various levels of supporting ideas)

Task 4Level 1 Writing is a complex…Level 2 The skills needed…Level 3 The first skill area involves…

The second skill area requires …

Third, writing involves…Level 4 One important aspect of

this last feature is …Level 1 Because of these characteristics, writing is not

…

Next week

• Workshop about peer feedback

• Writing task before workshop: three paragraphs on either ”The origins of English” or ”Modernity and English: British and American Englishes” – bring a paper copy to class.

Study time

Compendium p. 13, task 2 + try to rewrite and make a better paragraphCompendium p. 16, task 1Compendium p. 17, task 5 – save for your portfolio

Task 2The first English colonies in what is now the US.England made several failed attempts at setting up permanents settlements in what is now the US before they eventually succeeded. In 1585, for example, Sir Walter Raleigh, who was an English poet, soldier and statesman, tried unsuccessfully to found a new settlement on Roanake Island, later to be known as the ‘lost colony’. Roanake Island is situated near the coast of what is now North Carolina. About two decades later, in 1607, England managed to establish the first permanent settlement in what is now the US in Jamestown, Virginia. This is still 13 years before the Pilgrims, who were English separatists, landed in Massachusetts and founded Plymouth Colony in 1620.

Task 2Kings and queens of EnglandIn 1688-89 England witnessed what is now known as ‘the Glorious revolution’ or the ‘bloodless revolution’, which resulted in the deposition of King James II and the accession of his daughter Mary II and her husband William III (William of Orange) The Glorious revolution also resulted in the Bill of Rights, which is one of the basic instruments of the British constitution, and the establishment of Parliament as the ruling power of England. In 1701 an act was passed, which -among other issues – required that the English king should be protestant. This act was called the act of settlement, and since 1701 it has regulated the succession to the throne of Great Britain.

Task 2Kings and queens of England what is now the USFollowing the act of settlement, king George II was the king of Great Britain from 1727-60. He was married to the beautiful and intelligent Caroline of Ansbach, and it is after her that the American states of North and South Carolina are named.

Documents

Academic Writing First semester English, Fall 2007. Session 2: coherence and cohesion