Writing Workshop

Writing an Academic Essay

Finding your thesis Think and brainstorm to find a focus/thesis that you want to write

Look for quotations and support for your ideas

Keep track of those gems from the texts

Beginning thesis examples:Communication stumbling blocks with language were the most difficult for me in my first year in the United States.

Reading has opened my eyes to new ideas and reinforced my love of learning.

I learn best when the classroom is interactive, collaborative and includes everyone in the work.

Introductions Attract InterestWrite an introduction so anyone reading the paper could share where you have been to write this paper.

Use something to get attention and begin the focus on your thesis idea.

An introduction can be one or two paragraphs, but must have a clear thesis section of one or two sentences.

Points need illustration & explanation to make a whole.

Illustration Explanations

Points

Body Paragraphs

Each Body Paragraph should develop a sub-point or idea in your thesis

Illustrate your idea with well chosen quotations or close paraphrases--one-three (depending on length) in each paragraph

Don’t overload your paragraph with too much quotation--choose quotations carefully to support your thesis

Use the MLA in-text style of citation

Signal phrases introduce your source by name or clear reference to the text.

Write as smooth a beginning to a quote, summary or paraphrase as you can.

Lead carefully into each use of another source and explain it completely afterwards.

Rules for DocumentationPut quotation marks around directly copied words or phrases.Paraphrase and summarize correctly and acknowledge your sources.Acknowledge each writer by last name after the first time where a full name is given.List sources on Works Cited at the end.

In-Text Documentation

When you copy words, information, or ideas:

Cite in parentheses information reader needs to find the entry in the list of Works Cited.

ORCite part of the information in the sentence as a signal phrase and put the page number in parentheses at the end of the passage.

Long QuotationsLong quotations are 40 words or 4-5 typed lines longUse only one or two in a 4-5 page paperBlock indent the quote over 10 spaces or two tab indents on the leftRemove quotation marks. Put the period at the end and then the parenthetical citation.

Example of a block IndentIn “Barriers” by Rolando Niella he talks his anxiety and moods as he learns English:

I have another problem that generates feeling snd puts me in moods similar to those that I experience when I play it. This is daily conversation with people. It may sound bizarre, but it is not. I am a foreign student, and in playing tennis as in speaking English, I am still in the learning process. (13)

NOTE: The long indented quotation does not have quotation marks. The citation goes at the end after the period that ends the quote.

Writing as Essay using two or more stories/authors

When you use two or more stories and authors, be careful about the use of pronouns so your reader isn’t confused.

Be clear about the ideas from each story and don’t feel they have to be covered equally--let your thesis determine which is covered more completely.

Signal your reader clearlyUse the author’s last name to introduce or signal a direct quote or close paraphrase. If the source is clear, you don’t have to include the author’s last name in the citation.

Every direct quote and close paraphrase must have a citation after it in parentheses.

Examples of direct quote:

In Jackson’s story about “Waiting in Line at the Drugstore” he says, “ I must have read every worthwhile book on that “Lending Library” shelf” (18).

Example of a close paraphrase(this is the same “idea” as the previous example)

In Jackson’s story he reads books while waiting for over a year and he says that he read everything on the lending shelf that was valuable for him to read and learn from (18).

Works Cited (at the end or last page)Observe the punctuation and the Hanging Indent

Works CitedStrong, William. Sentence Combining: A

Composing Book. New York: McGraw- Hill, 1994.

Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” In Guidelines: A Cross-Cultural Reading/Writing Text.

Ruth Spack. New York: Cambridge UP, 2006. 46- 51.