Academic Writing: Topic Sentences and Body Paragraphs—Worksheet (Assignment #3)

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The Scream (Horizontal Mirror), Edvard Munch
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Before filling in this worksheet, please read this.

I. “Working” Thesis Statement:

1. Paragraph #1: Introduction: (To be developed later)

2. Paragraph #2:

a. Topic Sentence:

b. Body of paragraph (about 100-150 words): Support for your argument or proposed solution, which will consist of solid evidence, offered by expert authors and authoritative publications (both print and electronic), and inferences/ interpretations of your findings.

URLs for research sources:

3. Paragraph #3

a. Topic Sentence:

b. Body of paragraph (about 100-150 words): Support for your argument or proposed solution, which will consist of solid evidence, offered by expert authors and authoritative publications (both print and electronic), and inferences/ interpretations of your findings.

URLs for research sources:

4. Paragraph #4

a. Topic Sentence:

b. Body of paragraph (about 100-150 words): Support for your argument or proposed solution, which will consist of solid evidence, offered by expert authors and authoritative publications (both print and electronic), and inferences/ interpretations of your findings.

URLs for research sources:

5. Paragraph #5: Counterargment Paragraph: (To be developed later.)

6. Paragraph #6: Concluding Paragraph: (To be developed later.)

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Academic Writing—Topic Sentences and Body Paragraphs (For Assignment #3)

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The Scream (Vertical Mirror Image), Edvard Munch
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After reading this page, please fill in this worksheet.

I. “Working” Thesis Statement:

Important:

Your thesis statement is the foundation upon which your essay will be built.

· By the time you are ready to work on topic sentences and body paragraphs, you must have already developed a “working thesis statement,” which simply means that you have created a thesis sentence that (as you work on your issue or call-to-action essay) will be subject to minor changes and “tweaking.”

· Eventually, your final thesis statement will be part of your introductory paragraph.

1. Paragraph #1: Introduction: (To be developed later)

RESIST the temptation to begin your paper by writing the introduction first.

· You should delay working on the introduction because you are still developing your topic sentences and body paragraphs. In other words, you cannot develop an introductory paragraph when your body paragraphs have not yet been written.
· The introduction should be the second-to-last paragraph that you write.

2. Paragraph #2 (Each paragraph MUST support your overall thesis sentence, which is why numbers 1-6 are subsets of “I.”

· Topic Sentence:

This sentence is a summary of the argument or possible solution being covered in this body paragraph.

· Body of paragraph:

Support for your argument or proposed solution, which will consist of solid evidence, offered by expert authors and authoritative publications (both print and electronic), and inferences/interpretations of your findings.

3. Paragraph #3

Topic Sentence: (Same as paragraph #2)
Body of paragraph: (Same as paragraph #2)

4. Paragraph #4

Topic Sentence: (Same as paragraph #2)
Body of paragraph: (Same as paragraph #2)

5. Paragraph #5: Counterargment Paragraph: (To be developed later.)

6. Paragraph #6: Concluding Paragraph: (To be developed later.)

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Academic Writing: Assignment #5—Paraphrasing a Literary Analysis

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For Assignment #5, please paraphrase “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin: Language, Emotion and Marriage, a literary analysis (due December 15).

This assignment must be typed (not handwritten). You may submit this electronically, as an attached MSWord .doc or .docx file. IF you have access only to email (and no MS Word processing program), you may submit this in the body of the email, but I prefer an attached file because it makes much less technical work for me.

Please remember to put your name on your document.

Thanks!

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NOTES

Note #1:

When paraphrasing a literary analysis, please remember to use the appropriate

• Transition signals

• Reporting verb + that + subject + verb (Pattern 1)

• Reporting verb + somebody/something + for + noun/gerund (Pattern 2)

• Reporting verb + somebody/something + as + noun/gerund/adjective (Pattern 3)

(Refer to Unit 2 handout or click here).

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Note #2:

Article by Nicole Smith (http://www.articlemyriad.com/story_hour.htm)

Access Kate Chopin’s story The Story of an Hour.

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Note #3--Print copy only

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Note #4--Works Cited Styles:

Official MLA citation for this literary analysis, an online source:

Smith, Nicole. “‘Story of an Hour’ by Kate Chopin: Language, Emotion and Marriage.”
-----Article Myriad. 2009. Web. 25 Nov. 2009.

Official APA citation for this literary analysis, an online source:

Smith, N. (2009). “Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin: language, emotion and marriage.
-----Article Myriad. 2009. Retrieved from
http://www.articlemyriad.com/story_hour.htm

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Academic Writing--Assignment #4: Summarizing and Paraphrasing "The Story of an Hour" (Kate Chopin, 1851-1904)

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Kate Chopin, 1851-1904
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Instructions for Assignment #4 (Due November 30):

1. ALL GROUPS: In one or two sentences, summarize “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin.

2. Paraphrase your assigned passages:

Group 1: paragraphs 1-4

Group 2: paragraphs 5-9

Group 3: paragraphs 10-13

Group 4: paragraphs 14-18

Group 5: paragraphs 19-23

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The Story of An Hour

by

Kate Chopin
1. Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.

2. It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.

3. She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.

4. There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.

5. She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

6. There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.

7. She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.

8. She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.

9. There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.

10. Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.

11. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.

12. She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.

13. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.

14. There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.

15. And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!

16. "Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.

17. Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. "Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door."

18. "Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.

19. Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.

20. She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.

21. Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.

22. But Richards was too late.

23. When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills.

(1894; Also appeared in A Vocation and A Voice, an 1897 story collection)

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Biography of Kate Chopin

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The Story of an Hour -- A Modern Interpretation


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Academic Writing--Assignment #3

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Assignment #3 is a revision of Assignment #1. If you did not do Assignment #1, you may still do Assignment #3.

If you did a draft of this assignment, pay attention to my comments on your marked paper. If you do not understand something I wrote, please email me and ASK questions.

As you work on Assignment #3 and prepare to write a letter of application for your final exam, please keep the following suggestions in mind:

1. Re-read the instructions thoroughly.

Some of you are not paying attention to what the employers want from applicants. For example, in the au pair advertisement, Mr Collins does not ask for a CV or references. However, in the Bristol advertisement, Ms Widecombe asks for your CV and two references (referees). Keep in mind: the content of your letter should be based on what the employer requests, not on some “formulaic” template.

2. Include specific details about your experience or related experience, which will require some thinking beyond the obvious.

For example, how could your job as a server in a café or restaurant translate into tending children? Show that you are intelligent and can use your related experience to be a fine au pair, camp teacher, cook, etc.

3. Accentuate the positive.

Don’t focus directly on your lack of experience; most young people your age have little or no job experience, and employers realize this. However, you are highly intelligent and have completed more than two years of university, no small matter; the employer is seeking bright young foreigners with excellent speaking and writing skills in a second language, something that you can offer, but you need to prove it, and your letter offers proof. For better or worse, this letter will demonstrate your natural abilities, education, and characteristics to the employer. In short, don’t lie, but be confident (without being arrogant).

4. Organize your letter according to the instructions given in the assignment:

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The Advertisement:

Au Pairs Worldwide Recruitment Agency

We place au pairs from all over the world with families in the UK. We carefully select all our au pairs and host families and provide constant support for our clients. We are specialists in processing visas for non-EU citizens from the following EEA (European Economic Area) countries:

Andorra/Romania/Bosnia-Herzegovina/Bulgaria/Macedonia/Turkey/Croatia

Interested candidates should send a handwritten letter requesting an application form. Your letter should include:

• Your name, nationality and contact address
• Your age and your current occupation
• The area in the UK in which you are interested in working
• The dates you are available to start work in the UK
• The period of time you wish to work in the UK
• Your reasons for wishing to be an au pair in the UK
• Your reasons for believing that you are suitable for the post

Once we have received your letter, we will send you an application form and a request for two personal references.

Please address all enquiries to:

Mr Stephen Collins, Director, Au Pairs Worldwide, Astley House, Andover, Hampshire HX2 4RE.
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Parts of the Formal Letter (a Reminder):
The heading

"The heading" is simply your name and mailing address.

Telephone contact

Email Contact

Dateline

Date the Letter of Application is being written and sent.

Inside address

This is the recipient's full name, title, and address (including country)

Formal salutation

Dear Mr Collins, (UK)

Dear Mr. Collins: (US--note period after "Mr")

Body of letter

The body consists of approximately four main paragraphs, which present very specific information--well-written, of course--about the job applicant:

Paragraph 1: State your reasons for writing the letter;

Paragraph 2: Introduce yourself, give details about your current education/occupation, and state your preferences in regards to the job;

Paragraph 3: Discuss your work experience/relevant qualifications

Paragraph 4: Request additional information/application form

(NOTE: Be sure to address other information that the advertisement requests.)

Formal call for action

The call for action consists of one sentence that implicitly or explicitly asks the recipient to follow up on his or her application.

Complimentary close

Yours sincerely, Yours truly, etc.

Signature (your handwritten name)

(First name, last name. If you have a common name like "John Smith," you might consider including your middle name as well.)

Typed name

5. PROOFREAD and correct all errors in spelling, grammar, syntax, and sentence structure.

This aspect matters very much because this is your first contact with the prospective employer; therefore, you want to make a good first impression by showing off your English-language skills.

6. Pay attention to format

If you have any questions, please email me.
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Academic Writing--Assignment #2 (Due November 2, 2009)

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I'm giving you a head start on Assignment #2, which is due on November 2.

Select ONE of the following options:

Option #1:

Write a formal letter in response to the following advertisement in The Guardian, 15.10.2005 Include a request for further information regarding pay and conditions:

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BRISTOL SUMMER CAMPS NETWORK

ALL KINDS OF JOBS FOR ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE!

BSCN UK runs summer camps all over Europe for children between the ages of 10 and 14

We are currently looking for temporary staff: teachers, nurses, cooks, cleaners, general helpers, etc.

Please send your CV and the names of two referees to:
Ms Anne Widecombe, The Director, BSNC UK, PO Box 29, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS10 7OX.

Please include a short covering letter telling us:

--Where you heard about our organisation

--The type of work you are interested in

--The country (or countries) you would like to work in

--Your work experience and educational qualifications

--Why you believe you would be suitable

--The dates when you will be available

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For this assignment, issues to consider:

--What is your reason for writing?

--What kind(s) of work could you do/would you like to do?

--What experience do you have—if any—of such work?

--Think of two reasons you would be suitable to work with children in a Summer Camp.

--What information will you include in your first paragraph?

--What information will your second paragraph contain?

--What information will your third paragraph contain?

--What additional information would you like the director to send you?

--How will you form your salutation and sign-off?

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Option #2:

As the university continues working on developing its credit transfer system (in accordance with the Bologna Accords), one would expect some growing pains (for example, the influx of additional students and the recent student demonstrations). From a foreigner’s perspective, these are interesting times in Macedonia—while possibly vexing for Macedonian students and faculty.

Your assignment:

Dr. Gerald Siegel, a Professor of English, a scholar, and Fulbright Professor in Macedonia (in 1988-1989 and again in 2004-2005), is conducting research on the changing landscape of Macedonian higher education and the Bologna Accords; he has been interviewing your professors and other people connected with the educational system in Macedonia, including some private university professors and administrators.

However, he would now like to see the student perspective on the educational changes and how these changes are affecting university students.

Therefore, write Dr. Siegel a formal letter (American style), using one of the templates on the website , in which you reveal (from your perspective) how the educational changes, positive, maybe positive, and negative, are affecting students and overall university education in Macedonia.

Keep in mind that this letter is being addressed to someone who has no power to effect change in Macedonia, so you are not setting out to persuade Dr. Siegel to take a position on the issues surrounding the changes; you are simply imparting information to him so that he can incorporate your views into a scholarly paper, which will be written from a neutral point of view. Thus, while you may feel passionate about these issues, your register should be formal and neutral (non-laudatory and non-accusatory).

Use the following paragraph format:

Paragraph 1:

Introduce yourself (I will give you part of this one for free!)

I am__________________, a ______ year student at the State University of Skopje at the Faculty of Philology, where I am studying ____________________. I am grateful for the opportunity to offer my perspective on the changes in higher education in Macedonia because _____________________________.

Paragraph 2:

Discuss the educational changes that seem to be working well and why you believe they are good for Macedonian university students. Offer specific examples (In other words, do not be vague).

Paragraph 3:

Discuss the educational changes that, with some further development, could work well and why you believe they might eventually be good for Macedonian university students. Offer specific examples.

Paragraph 4:

Discuss the educational changes that do NOT seem to be working well and why you believe they are NOT good for Macedonian students. Offer specific examples.

Paragraph 5:

Write a one- or two- sentence remark that returns the reader to the positive tone of paragraph 2.

Paragraph 6:

Call for action, for example,

If you need any further comments or clarifications, please write or email me at the address in the heading. I look forward to reading your completed scholarly paper on the changing educational system in Macedonia.

In reality, Dr. Siegel does plan to incorporate in his paper the information that you offer him; however, your specific identities will remain confidential.

Dr. Siegel’s formal title and U.S. address:

Professor Gerald Siegel, Professor of English, Department of English and Humanities, York College of Pennsylvania, 441 Country Club Road, York, PA 17403, USA

(Disclosure: Dr. Siegel is my spouse.)

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Academic Writing: Templates for a Job Application Letter and Assignment #1

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How would you answer the following newspaper ad for an Au Pair Job in the UK? (for a larger view, click on the photograph)




Fortunately, this ad asks for some very specific information, all of it related to the job being offered. (NOTE: in the U.S., it is illegal for potential employers to ask your age or marital status. BUT they can ask when you graduated from high school or university.)

Thus, if you follow a basic template for writing a Letter of Application--or any formal letter, actually--the task becomes much easier.

Therefore, I would like this class not to obsess too much about letter-writing formats as a main activity or as a major part of your grade. I'm more interested in the body of your letter and how you "sell" your enthusiasm and skills to a potential employer, using a formal tone (or "register").

Specific formats tend to be highly subjective and capricious, based on different cultures and attitudes. Even in the U.S., there are several ways to format a formal letter. So how to choose the "right" format?

In the end, it really doesn't matter what "format" you select as long as your format is consistent and that you present all the appropriate information in a logical and coherent manner. So does it really matter if you choose use a partial block format or a full block format? Indented paragraphs?

Not really, at least from my perspective. HOWEVER, every formal letter must contain the following elements:

Parts of the Formal Letter:

The heading

"The heading" is simply your name and mailing address.

Telephone contact

Email Contact

Dateline

Date the Letter of Application is being written and sent.

Inside address

This is the recipient's full name, title, and address (including country)

Formal salutation

Dear Mr Collins, (UK)

Dear Mr. Collins: (US--note period after "Mr")

Body of letter

The body consists of approximately four main paragraphs, which present very specific information--well-written, of course--about the job applicant.

Formal call for action

The call for action consists of one sentence that implicitly or explicitly asks the recipient to follow up on his or her application.

Complimentary close

Yours sincerely, Yours truly, etc.

Signature

Your handwritten name (First name, last name. If you have a common name like "John Smith," you might consider including your middle name as well.)

Typed name

Formal title

For students, including a title is probably not necessary.

The title is included when a professional is seeking a new job in the same or a similar field.

Basic Template for a Job Application Letter (Partial Block Format) (for a larger view, click on the photograph):



Partial Block Format: Template for a Job Application Letter (Examples of The Heading, Telephone Contact, Email Contact, Dateline, Complete Inside Address, Salutation, Formal Call for Action, Formal Complimentary Close, Signature, Typed Name, Formal Title) (for a larger view, click on the photograph):


Full Block Format: Template for a Job Application Letter (Examples of The Heading, Telephone Contact, Email Contact, Dateline, Complete Inside Address, Salutation, Formal Call for Action, Formal Complimentary Close, Signature, Typed Name, Formal Title) (for a larger view, click on the photograph):


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Assignment #1:

For class on October 19, please answer the ad for Au Pairs Worldwide, using a formal register (or "tone," as we say in the U.S.). I will consider this a rough draft, so it may be handwritten.

You will be rewriting this, so don't worry too much about exact correctness.

However, before attempting this letter, please read the above information.

I will not be distributing print copies of this post, but I will place a copy on reserve in the library.

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