ImprovingYourEnglishWritingAnOverviewTutorIsabel

1、- Sir Francis Bacon: Of Studies閱讀使人充實，交談使人機智，寫作使人嚴謹。 Writing to express: to share and exchange information or opinions through writing on a daily basis. Writing as a thinking tool: the writing process helps clarify our thinking.Common Problems Writers Block: A blank mind in front of a blank piece of

2、 paper; Brief essays with general statements only but little substance; Language problems: grammar, vocabulary, styleStep 1: Step 1: Consider Your AudienceConsider Your Audience Their Interest Their Knowledge Their PurposeAudience-awareness Who is going to read what I write? Why will my readers care

3、 about this issue? What will my readers want or need to know about this issue? What do my readers already know about this issue? What do I want my readers to learn about the issue? If I am trying to persuade my readers of something, how easily will they be persuaded? What will my readers use my writ

4、ing for? Step 2: Select Your PurposeStep 2: Select Your PurposePossible Purposes:to express or shareto entertain or give aesthetic pleasureto informto persuade Step 3: Invention 1 To invent: to develop a topic (to narrow the general topic down and to identify a manageable topic to work on) Brainstor

5、ming: Getting your ideas on paper so you can give yourself the widest range of topics possible Brainstorming Techniques: Listing Clustering Free-writingBrainstormingClustering: Mapping out ideasStep 3: Invention 2 Asking journalists questions about the assigned general topic:Who?What?When?Where?Why?

6、How?Step 3: Invention 3Rhetoric devices: Compare and contrast Cause and effect Problem and solution Analysis ClassificationStep 4: Collection Gathering ideas: books, magazines, the Internet, and discussions Locating and evaluating research Conducting interviewsStep 5: Organizing: putting information

7、 in an OUTLINEOUTLINEI. IntroductionA. Grab attentionB. State thesisII. BodyA. Build pointsB. Develop ideasC. Support main claimIII. ConclusionA. Reemphasize main ideaStep 6: Drafting Give yourself ample time to work on your project. Find a comfortable place to do your writing. Avoid distractions. T

8、ake breaks.Step 7: Revising: reviewing ideas Review higher-order concerns:Clear communication of ideas Organization of paperParagraph structureStrong introduction and conclusionStep 8: Proofreading Review later-order concerns:SpellingPunctuationSentence structure & grammarthe Writing Process1.Re

9、vising2.Proofreading1.Audience 2.Purpose3.Invention4.Collection5.OrganizingDraftingPre-writingWritingRe-writingWhat makes good writing?a. Layoutb. Languagec. Organizationa. LayoutManuscript Preparation IssuesPunctuation MarksCapitalizationFormatting Issues:字體、字號、首行縮進、行距、頁碼設(shè)置、封面格式等等Are they OK to you

10、?1. Online learning classroom is not a dream.We can achieve it!2. This will be free style essay :it can be scientific, or imaginative .3. Does it accurately state your main idea?Is it in fact supported by the paper?Does it need to be changed in any way?b. LanguageLanguage Issues: vocabulary and gram

11、marAccuracyEffectivenessVarietyc. OrganizationWriting Issues: unity, coherence and organizationGood writing? We live in a world in which science and technology is developing very quickly. The development of science needs scientists from all over the world to exchange their work more and more frequen

12、tly. However, the scientists usually come from different countries and speak different languages. If there isnt a common language that can be understood by everybody, they wont understand each other. Whats more, we wish to know what others are doing and what experiences and knowledge we should learn

13、 to improve our work, so we must master the foreign language. However, there are countless languages in the world. And we cant learn all of them. Fortunately, there is one kind of language that is commonly used all over the worldEnglish. Most of the important academic journals are in English, and al

14、l the international academic meetings use English. If we master English, we can go to any corner of the world to communicate with the people without knowing their mother tongues. So English is important to scientists.Revision English is important to scientist because English, as the vehicle of infor

15、mation, is the most widely used language in the scientific world. According to statistics, most of the scientific academic journals are in English. Most of the world important academic meetings use English as the working language. And most of the scientists of the world can speak, read, and write En

16、glish. So, when it comes for scientists from all over the world to exchange their work experiences, the only bridge to mend the language gap is English. As far as China is concerned, if our scientists want to know what the outside scientific world is doing and what they should learn from it, the bes

17、t vehicle of information to decide on is, no doubt, English. Therefore, English plays a very important role in the academic life of scientists. Kaplans theory: The Asian approach by indirectionIn the Asian rhetorical mode, the writer avoids a direct delineation of thesis (i.e., statement of topic) i

18、n the opening sections of text. The thesis may be mentioned towards the middle of the text, towards the end, or indeed perhaps never clearly at all. It is left to the reader to assemble the main thrust of the argument, based upon the clues in the text. The loops revolve around the topic and view it

19、from a variety of positions, but never address it directly.For claritys sake:Good Writing? Different people spend their weekends in different waysSome enjoy going to the mountains to hike， ski or just relaxWater skiing is much more difficult than snow skiingOthers prefer going to the beach to enjoy

20、the seashore activities and to get a suntan Some of these people work very hard during the week；others have rather relaxing jobs Still others like to relax by staying home and reading a good bookConvention: Unity Definition: The entire paragraph/essay should concern itself with a single focus. If it

21、 begins with one focus or major point of discussion, it should not end with another or wander within different ideas.Convention: Coherence Definition: Coherence is the trait that makes the paragraph/essay easy to follow and understand to a reader. Life in the city is quite different from life in the

22、 suburbs. People living in the city are constantly exposed to the hustle and bustle of urban lifeBut life in the suburbs is generally quiet and casual and generally more low-key than in the cityIf city dwellers want to see trees and grass，they must go to one of the public parksOn the other hand，the

23、streets of many suburban communities are lined with trees and shrubs，and each house has its own grassy yardA person living in the city is close to many sources of entertainment，but people living in suburban areas must go into the city for entertainmentIdentifying logical and verbal bridges: Conventi

24、on: Coherence Coherence DevicesVerbal Bridges: Pronouns Synonyms Repetition of key words or phrases Demonstrative pronouns Logical Bridges: Connectors (transitional words/phrases: therefore, on the other hand, otherwise, for example, etc.)Tense Use: Consistent and proper tense to avoid unintentional

25、 transporting (穿越 ）Features of English academic writing Writing is linear. It is the writers responsibility to convey his/her ideas clearly and effectively to the reader.If the reader does not follow you, it is your responsibility. 1.Chinese people do not wait their turn and will squeeze their way o

26、nto the bus.2.Americans are aggressive and assertive in business situations.3.All Americans like to show off their talents and material wealth.1. Americans sometimes form a line at the bus stop while waiting for the bus.2. People from Latin America do not think it is polite to make direct eye contac

27、t in certain situations.3. Japanese are used to living in relatively small space, and they know they sometimes cant avoid bumping someone accidentally. Therefore, Japanese probably wont apologize if they bump into you in an elevator. Everyone has her own lening methods.language is a skill,It is lear

28、ned through practice reading enough information about it. Tentative Revision:People may have various strategies when it comes to the learning of a language. One way to improve language learning would be ample reading practice. In order to improve ability on business, I would like to attend the train

29、ing during my free time. I always feel tired after the five working days. I dont want to spend any more time on traffic jam during weekend. The online training is a good method to solve this problem. I do not have to set up meeting times and travel great distances in order to work on a classroom project. 參考書資源 牛津同義詞詞典 The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms 朗文簡明英語聯(lián)想活用詞典 Longman Essential Activator 詞匯提高資源 Townsend P