• locked on the pre-existing opinion of the

WEEK#7 reader.

DEFINITION OF WRITING BINARY READING

According to Nunan (2003) • provides only “agree or disagree”
- Writing is physical and mental act. answers.
• does not allow for an understanding of
• physical act of committing words or
complex arguments.
ideas to some medium
• mental act of inventing ideas,
thinking about how to express them,
and organizing them.
- Has a dual purpose- to express & to
impress.
• themselves, and their own desires to
express an idea or feeling.
• readers who need to have ideas
expressed in certain ways.
- Is a process and a product.
• writing process (planning, drafting,
revising, editing, publishing) is the
series of actions taken by writers to FACTORS OF CRITICAL WRITING
produce a finished work. What exactly do you play close attention to when
writing critically?
RESPOND
1. Pay attention to your thinking Element of reasoning
OPENMINDED & OBJECTIVE
• What purpose is in your paper?
• requires a careful study of ideas
• What questions are you addressing?
presented.
• What implications and consequences are
• analytical and evaluative
of saying X rather than Y.
• productive and progressive
2. Pay attention to the quality of your thinking
NUANCED READING
• allows for deep and detailed • Ask yourself whether what you’re saying
understanding of complex texts. is: accurate, clear, or relevant to the
• Considers “grey” areas. issue you’re addressing.
Standards of critical
thinking
REACT
3. Pay attention to yourself as you write
EMOTIONAL & SUBJECTIVE
• Ask questions about intellectual
• quick and shallow perseverance, intellectual integrity, and
• works on an emotional rather than an fairmindedness.
intellectual level. Critical Thinking
character traits
4. Pay attention the to fundamental concepts Research is an essential part of writing a paper.
that are central to all writing
• It can help you in understanding
• content or message you are trying to your chosen topic.
convey in a particular context or • It helps enrich the
situation. trustworthiness of your paper.
• audience you are trying to convey it to • It is not a separate component,
• communication you need to use to but rather something that is
convey it to done in conjunction with other
components.
✓ Critical writing is interdependent with the Next you write the paper itself (or at least a
skills of critical thinking and reading. draft of it) WRITING/DRAFTING
✓ Descriptive writing is different from critical
• paper begins with an introductory section
writing.
and ends with a concluding section.
✓ One must pay attention to certain factors to
effectively write critically.
• Body bulk of what you will be writing. This is
where you turn your plan – the thesis and
the main points – into the actual paper.
• Give credit to those whose ideas you have
used in your paper to maintain your
intellectual integrity.

WEEK#8 You give credit using:

• in-text citations
The Components of a Paper • references in footnotes or endnotes
• bibliography and “works cited” section.
Writing a paper begins with planning.
Revising is done to make changes, to add and
• Topic is the general subject you will be subtract ideas, and to sharpen it up. Revising is
writing about. “making the paper better.” It is something you
do all the while you are writing.

Elements of Reasoning

Once you choose a topic, the starting point is to

develop your thinking about it, and then to
• Thesis statement or thesis is the specific move from there to a concrete, articulated plan
claim you want to put forward about the for your paper.
topic. Also, the claim that the whole paper
will be centered on.
• main points will explain, support, or
elaborate on your thesis statement. Also,
need to be backed up with further
supporting points.
• thesis + main points = STRUCTURE/OUTLINE
the skeleton or blueprin
 • analyze your topic, focusing it and • Keep going for 15 to 20 minutes or until you
opening it up so you can begin your feel you have enough to start to build your
paper with direction. paper.
• generate a strong workable thesis
statement.
LISTING
• create the structure and outline of your
paper. • It involves writing down keywords to
• see clearly what you will need to generate ideas.
research. • Notice how the writer doesn’t really know
• construct the introductory section and the answers yet but is asking questions to
concluding section of your paper, step- see what turns up.
by-step. • The questions range from the definition of
prostitution to its effects,
• Writing is a recursive process that involves Once you make a list see if…
several components. • you can observe patterns or similarities
• Paying close attention to the elements of among the items listed.
reasoning will help you develop and narrow • you generated a question worthy of its own
down your chosen topic. thesis statement.

DIAGRAMMING
WEEK#9
A. CLUSTERING
- At the middle of your notes, indicate the
BRAINSTORMING topic or phrase summarizing your topic.
• a prewriting technique used to identify - Encircle it and write down a related word
possible aspects of the topic that your paper or idea.
will pursue. - Continue jotting ideas and make
• Its purpose is to identify as many ideas connections and indicate relationships
related to the topic/subject as possible among these ideas.
B. BRANCHING
Brainstorming strategy where one writes freely, - Some writers find it useful to draw a tree
whatever comes into one’s mind, without caring diagram, moving from the central topic
about spelling, punctuation, etc. It increases the to the main branches (main points/chief
flow of ideas. ideas) and then to the twigs (aspects of
the chief ideas).
In FREEWRITING: C. COMPARING IN COLUMNS
• Write down every idea you can think of about - Draw a line down the middle of the page
your topic, no matter how “crazy” it is. and then set up two columns showing
• Do not worry about correct grammar or oppositions.
spelling.
• Write in sentence and paragraph form.
THESIS STATEMENT tosupport with the evidence available to
you.
• it states the subject matter and the main
• A thesis should be clear.
ideas of your paper.
✓ Remove as much ambiguity as possible
• it defines the scope and focus of your
from your thesis statement and define
paper.
any technical or ambiguous terms.
• it is a road map for the paper, it tells the
• A thesis should be original.
reader what to expect from the rest of
✓ It must not merely recapitulate another
the paper.
writer’s argument.
• it makes a claim that you can prove with
evidence and that others might dispute.
• A thesis should be concise.
✓ Generally, it must be contained within a
single sentence.
✓ Sometimes more complex theses are
developed over two or three sentences.

STEPS OF WRITING A THESIS STATEMENT:

FEATURE OF A GOOD THESIS STATEMENT: 1. Start out with the main topic and focus
of your paper.
• A thesis must consist of a claim. 2. Make a claim or argument in one
✓ A thesis is not a topic or theme. sentence. It can be helpful to start with
✓ It is a contention or assertion— a question.
something to be argued. 3. Revise the sentence by using specific
✓ It must take a stand. terms.
• A thesis should not be obviously true or 4. Further revise the sentence to cover the
false. scope of your essay and make a strong
✓ If a claim is obviously true or false, there statement.
is no need to argue for it. 5. Keep your thesis statement flexible and
✓ The claim should be plausible, but in revise it as needed. In the process of
need of argument and evidence. researching and writing, you may find
• A thesis should be arguable. new information or refine your
✓ There must be evidence available to understanding of the topic.
support the claim. OUTLINING
✓ The claim must be of an appropriate
scope that can be adequately argued An outline is the skeleton of your essay, in which
within the length of the paper. you list the arguments and subtopics in a logical
• A thesis should express one main idea. order.
✓ If your thesis statement expresses more THE FORMAL OUTLINE
than one idea, then it might confuse
your readers. • Major points are indicated by I, II, III;
• A thesis should not be overly abstract or • points within major points are indicated
general. by A, B, C.
✓ It must be specific enough to be • divisions within A, B, C are indicated by 1,
arguable, that is, specific enough 2, 3; and so on.