ELP: Writing skills

By:
Cheu Ching Kiing
Jenny Kong Yug Ying
Wong Siew Jing
Lecturer: Puan Liong Lina
 Descriptive
essays

Argumentative
Narrative essays essays/persuasive
essays

Expository essays Writing Academic writing

 Narrative writing

telling a story.
The main
purpose ----is to
entertain.
 Narrative- 5W and 1 H
• Who is the character?
• When is the event taking place?
• Where is it happening?
• What is happening?
• Why is there a problem?
• How is the problem solved?
When you are given notes and pictures, you have to write a story by:

• Use all the given notes.

• Use the past tense.
• Use dialogue to make your story come alive.
• Give interesting details.
• Create a realistic setting.
• Give names to the characters.
• Check the theme.
 The common features of narrative structure include:

1.Beginning/Orientation:  This sets the scene,

creating a visual picture of the setting,
atmosphere and time of the story. Characters
are introduced and clues are set in place for
the coming complication.
2.Problem/Complication:  This is where a
problem or complication occurs that affects
the setting, time or characters.
3.Problem seems to be resolved/Minor
Resolution:  Everything seems to be resolved.
4.New Problem/Complication:  The problem or
complication is now often worse than before.
5.Problem is solved/Ending/Resolution:  The
problem is solved and the story ends.
6.Moral/Evaluative ending:  There may be a
moral or message at the end of the story.
 Range of language features:

1. Use of dialogue to elicit an emotional

response from the reader
2.Descriptive language, including the use of
devices such as simile, metaphor and imagery
3.Effective characterisation to elicit an emotional
response from the reader
4.Past or present tense
5.Use of a variety of simple, compound and
complex sentences
 Points to ponder

• The framework is given......now organise the

essay.
• Think of a good opening line to catch the
attention of the reader, or in this case, the
examiner.
• Use one idea for one paragraph. Develop the
paragraph by adding relevant details.
• Connect one paragraph to the text. Use
connectors like “in addition”, “therefore”,
“however”, “furthermore”, “but”, “later”, etc.
• Use simple language.
• Have a proper conclusion.
• Check for spelling errors of mistakes in tenses.
Don’t forget punctuation and capitalisation.
• Always do a draft first before writing your final
product.
 Expo
sitor
yw riting

• Expository writing seeks to

inform, explain, clarify,
define or instruct. (writing
that explains or shares
information)
 Eight basic steps to write a good ex-essay:

1.Select a topic:
Be sure the topic is narrow enough to make it
manageable within the space of an essay
2.Write a thesis sentence:
Be sure the thesis statement(or sentence)
expresses a controlling idea that is
neither too broad nor too specific to be
developed effectively
3.Select a method of development:
Check through all the methods before you
finally settle on the one which will best serve
your thesis:

definition example

compare and contrast cause and effect

classification process analysis 

4.Organize the essay:
Begin by listing the major divisions which the
body paragraphs in your essay will discuss;
then fill in the primary supports that each
body paragraph of the essay will contain
5.Write topic sentences for the body
paragraphs of the essay:
For each body paragraph, furnish a topic
sentence that directly relates to the thesis
sentence
6.Write the body paragraphs of the essay:
Each body paragraph should develop the
primary support covered in that paragraph's
topic sentence
7.Furnish a paragraph of introduction:
An introductory paragraph should state the
thesis of the essay, introduce the divisions in
the body paragraphs of the essay, gain the
interest of the reader
8.Write a paragraph of conclusion:
– Restate the thesis and divisions of the essay
– Bring the essay to an appropriate and effective close
– Avoid digressing into new issues
3. Descriptive writing
Use to describe:
Places
People / feelings
Events
Based on notes / pictures
Steps to write a good descriptive essay

1. List and organize the points.

2. Ask questions: Is it a travel brochure?
: Is it for a report?
3. Check tenses: pass tense, present tense.
4. Vocabulary: use suitable adjectives
5.Make descriptions: interesting + colourful
(Appeal to six senses e.g. smells, noises,sight,
hearing,taste, touch)
 The general characteristics of descriptive
writing include:
• elaborate use of sensory language
• rich, vivid, and lively detail
• figurative language such as simile, hyperbole,
metaphor,    symbolism and personification
• showing, rather than telling through the use
of  active verbs and precise modifiers
structure features of descriptive essay
Title
 
Introduction (state who / what is being describe)
Body
Detail 1
Give details that are special or
Detail 2
interesting
Detail 3
Conclusion (Give an opinion or fact)
 Points to ponder:
1. Read the questions carefully and make a
rough draft.
2. Divide the questions into different parts:
a. The introduction
b. The main points
c. The conclusion
3. Check your draft- is it relevant. Do you have
enough materials?
4. Have you arranged your paragraphs well? Did you
use the right sequence markers?
5. Make your descriptions interesting by looking for
some unusual aspect in the person, place or event.
6. Don’t forget that you should consider the reader
before you start writing. If you are writing for a
tourist magazine, you will use words to attract the
reader to the place. So you choice of adjectives are
very important and must suit the occasion.
 4. Persuasive
/argumentative writing

In persuasive or argumentative writing, we try to

convince others to agree with our facts, share
our values, accept our argument and
conclusions, and adopt our way of thinking. 
Elements toward building a good persuasive
essay include
• establishing facts 
to support an argument
• clarifying relevant values 
for your audience (perspective)
• prioritizing, editing, and/or sequencing
the facts and values in importance to build the argument
• forming and stating conclusions
• "persuading" your audience that your conclusions
are based upon the agreed-upon facts and shared values
• having the confidence 
to communicate your "persuasion" in writing
 Structure Features
Title
 
Introduction –Define the subject. Take a stand.
(Give the basic idea.)
Body
Argument 1 Give points to support your stand.
Give relevant examples / details.
Argument 2
Argument 3
Conclusion
Summarise the information given.
 language features
1. Tells what the argument / exposition are
about.
2. Use the first person point of view.
3. Use words to signal similarities,
contracts and to add on ideas.
 Essential writing tips to write argumentative
essays:
• Understand the topic; underline key words.
• Check format- is it a letter, report or speech?
• Be clear and accurate.
• Be fair and balanced.
• Be rational, not emotional.
• Don’t generalise e.g. “Everyone has”……
• Give details to support your argument.
• Arrange the facts in order of importance.
• Plan your essay.
 Points to ponder:

1. Study the question. Are you expected to see one

side of the argument or both sides?
2. You must know the both advantages and
disadvantages of the topic before you make your
stand.
3. You must have a good knowledge of the topic.
Jot down all the ideas that come to you.
4. Write down examples and details. You will
need them to justify what you are saying.
5. Use contrast markers like “nevertheless”,
“although”, “on the other hand” and others.
6. Relate one paragraph to another logically.
Remember to keep to the question.
7. Conclude your essay with a logical statement
pertaining to the topic. You might have to
make a final choice of what your stand is on
this topic.
Academic writing
 Introduction
• Academic writing in English is linear, which means it has one
central point or theme with every part contributing to the
main line of argument, without digressions or repetitions.
• Its objective is to inform rather than entertain. As
well as this it is in the standard written form of the
language.
• There are five main features of academic writing that are
often discussed. Academic writing is to some extent:
complex, precision, formal, objective, explicit. It uses
language precisely and accurately.
 i. Complexity

• Written language is relatively more

complex than spoken language.
• Written language has longer words, it is
lexically(voca) more dense
and it has a more varied
vocabulary.
The main difference is the grammar, not the
vocabulary!!!!
• You can control the • The use of this method
trains this way and if of control
you do that you can be unquestionably leads to
quite sure that they'll safer and faster train
be able to run more running in the most
safely and more quickly adverse weather
than they would conditions
otherwise, no matter
how bad the weather
gets.
Spoken Written

Whenever I'd visited there Every previous visit had left

before, I'd ended up feeling me with a sense of the
that it would be futile if I futility of further action on
tried to do anything more. my part.

The cities in Switzerland Violence changed the face

had once been peaceful, but of once peaceful Swiss
they changed when people cities.
became violent.
Because the technology Improvements in
has improved its less risky technology have reduced
than it used to be when the risks and high costs
you install them at the associated with
same time, and it doesn't simultaneous installation.
cost so much either.

The people in the colony Opinion in the colony

rejoiced when it was greeted the promised change
promised that things would with enthusiasm.
change in this way.
ii.Formality
 In general this means in an essay that you should avoid:
a. colloquial 通俗 words and expressions;
""stuff", "a lot of", "thing", "sort of",
b. abbreviated （缩） forms: "can't",
"doesn't", "shouldn't"
c. two word verbs: "put off", "bring up"
d. sub-headings, numbering and bullet-points
in formal essays - but use them in reports.
e. asking questions.
 iii. Precision
In academic writing you need to be precise when you use

Do not use
information, dates or figures. "a lot
of people" when you can say "50 million people".
 For example:
• Chemists had attempted to synthesize quinine for
the previous hundred years but all they had
achieved was to discover the extreme complexity of
the problem.
• The volatile oily liquid beta-chloro-beta-ethyl
sulphide was first synthesized in 1854, and in 1887 it
was reported to produce blisters if it touched the
skin. It was called mustard gas and was used at Ypres
in 19I7, when it caused many thousands of
casualties.
 iv. Objectivity
•This means that the main emphasis should be on the
information that you want to give and the arguments you
want to make, rather than you.
•This is related to the basic nature of academic study and
academic writing, in particular.
Nobody really
wants to know what you "think" or
"believe".
•They want to know what you have studied and
learned and how this has led you to your various conclusions.
•The thoughts and beliefs should be based on your lectures,
reading, discussion and research and it is important to make
this clear.
  Compare these two paragraphs:
• Researchers have suggested • Some researchers have
ways of making second tried to find ways for us to
language teaching and testing make teaching and testing
more "communicative" (e.g., more communicative
Canale and Swain, 1980; because that is how
Oller, 1979b) on the grounds language works. I think that
that a communicative language is something we
approach better reflects the use for communicating, not
nature of language an object for us to study
proficiency than one which and we remember that
emphasizes the acquisition of when we teach and test it.
discrete language skills.
 Which is the most objective?
In general, avoid words like "I", "me",
"myself".
• A reader will normally assume that any idea
not referenced is your own. It is therefore
unnecessary to make this explicit.
Don't write:" In my opinion, this a very
interesting study."

Write: "This is a very interesting study."

 Avoid "you" to refer to the reader
or people in general.

• Don't write: "You can easily forget

how different life was 50 years ago."

• Write: "It is easy to forget how difficult

life was 50 years ago."
 v. Explicitness

Academic writing is explicit in several ways.

1. It is explicit in its signposting of the organisation of the ideas
in the text (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999,
pp. 880-882).
2. As a writer of academic English, it is your responsibility to
make it clear to your reader how various parts of the text are
related.
3. These connections can be made explicit by the use of different
signalling words.
 What is the cultural context of academic
writing?
• Academic writing is produced in a context that
values:
• 􀂑 analytical skills
• 􀂑 independent thinking
• 􀂑 critical disposition
• 􀂑 an orientation towards ideas
• 􀂑 an ability to rise above the personal and the
communal 公用 .
 Tips of Academic English writing:
• has a clear structure. It is evident to the reader from the
introduction that the writer has organised his or her
thoughts and knows what he or she wants to communicate;
• has fewer clauses per sentence than spoken English, but
more words per phrase;
• has more nouns (often abstract ones) than spoken English
and fewer verbs;
• makes less use of coordination (joining clauses with and or
but) and greater use of subordination (joining clauses with
words such as while, because, subsequently,) than spoken
English;
• almost always uses the third person (he, she, it,
they), rarely uses first person (I, we) and never
uses second person (you);
• makes limited use of personal pronouns for
cohesion (it, them), preferring other ways of
achieving cohesion e.g. summary words used with
this or these; repetition of key words/themes,
• avoids colloquial vocabulary e.g. There are a lot
of…
• avoids contractions (do not is used rather than
don’t);
• avoids words that have emotional or attitudinal
connotations such as “This has had enormous
impact”…instead of “The significant influence of
this change may be attributed to…”
• avoids phrasal verbs, e.g. look into, preferring
single word often polysyllabic verbs, e.g.
investigate;
• uses linguistic “hedges” (probably, in most cases,
seems, might be) to qualify generalisations.
 Academic Writing Skills
Strong writing:
• Thinking precedes writing. Good writers spend
time distilling information from their sources
and reviewing major points before creating
their work.
• Writing detailed outlines helps many authors
organize their thoughts. Strong academic
writing begins with solid planning.
  Excellent grammar
• Learn the major and minor points of grammar.
• Spend time practicing writing and seek detailed feedback
from teachers, professors or writers you respect.
• English grammar can be detailed and complex, but
strong writers command the major points after many
years of study and practice.
• Investing in a good writing reference, such as Strunk and
White’s book, The Elements of Style, or referring to Your
Dictionary can provide advice on the more troublesome
points of grammar. Proper punctuation use and good
proofreading skills improve academic writing as well.
  Consistent stylistic approach:
• Whether your school or employer requires use
of the MLA, APA or Chicago Manual of Style,
choose one style and stick to it. Each of these
style sheets provide guidance on how to write
out numbers, references, citations, and more.
• The MLA is commonly used in English classes,
while APA is for psychology and science.
Chicago Manual of Style is often the choice in
the workplace.
 What expectations do lecturers have of
student writers?
In their writing students are expected to:
• show understanding of the topic
• explore issues in the field of study
• identify their position in relation to the issues
• use evidence effectively
• display critical and analytical skills
• present a logically persuasive argument supporting
their position
• identify the relevance of their argument
 The process of writing an essay
Task Skills Needed Product
1. Read the question and thinking academically Essay subject.
understand what you
are required to do.
Think about the
subject, the purpose
and the audience.

2. Think about what you brainstorming Diagrams or notes.

know about the
subject. Write it down
in some way.

3. Go to the library and library/research skills Reading list.

find relevant books or
articles.

4. Find the books on your reading skills: List of materials

reading list and study skimming and scanning studied.
them.
5. Make notes on reading in Notes.
these books and detailselecting &
articles.Record note-taking
full details of the paraphrasing/su
materials you mmarising
use.
6. Organise your planningorganisatio Essay plan.
essay/assignment. n
7. Type or write your writing from First draft.
first draft. notessynthesis
writing paragraphs
typing/word-
processing
8. Discuss your first speaking List of
draft informally with skillslistening skills revisions/changes.
friends, other discussion skills
members of your
class and your
lecturer if possible.
9. Revise your first use of dictionaries Second draft.
draft, bearing in & reference
mind any bookswriting
comments that introduction &
were made in your conclusion
discussions.Go quoting/writing a
back to 2. if list of references
necessary
Produce your
second draft.
10. Proofread your checking for spelling Assignment with
draft.  mistakeschecking changes marked.
punctuation and
grammar
checking
vocabulary use
checking style
checking
organisation,
references etc.
checking for
plagiarism
11. Produce a final typing/word- Final assignment.
typed version. processing
writing
title/contents
page
12. Check everything. final check Hand in.
 Check list
Here are some useful questions to ask yourself about your essay:

• Does the essay deal with the topic that was set?
• Does the essay answer the question that was set?
• Does it cover all the main aspects and in sufficient depth?
• Is the content accurate and relevant?
• Is everything in the essay relevant to the question?
• Is the material logically arranged?
• Is each main point well supported by examples and argument?
• Is there a clear distinction between your ideas and those of other authors?
• Is your voice clear throughout?
• Have you acknowledged all the sources you have used?
• Is the length of the essay right for its purpose?
• Is it written plainly and simply, without clumsy or obscure phrasing?
• Is the grammar, punctuation and spelling acceptable?
• Is it neat and legibly written?
Thank you