Consolidation: Writing Unit 2

1. Warm-up (10 minutes):

Look at the illustration below and answer the questions which follow:

a) Can you think of similarities between a hamburger and a paragraph? Discuss with
your partner.
b) If you swap the beef patty (meat) and salad of a hamburger, will it lose its structure?
Look at the answer below and discuss it with your partner.

No. The structure of a hamburger will remain intact regardless of the order of the beef
patty and the salad. The most important thing for a hamburger to be a functional
hamburger, is that the top part of the bread bun and bottom part of the bread bun
remain in position.

c) Look at the table below and match the letters with the numbers. Number 2 & 3 have
two answers and A & D can be used twice ☺.

1 Top part of the bread bun A Substantiating Part

2 Beef Patty B Concluding Sentence
3 Salad C Topic Sentence
4 Bottom part of the bread bun D Explanatory Part

2. Paragraph Structure Analyzed (15 minutes):

Each part of the paragraph serves a particular function. Read the section below (on the next
page) attentively and then complete the activities that follow.
1) The Topic Sentence

• The topic sentence should contain the main idea of the paragraph.

• This idea directs the paragraph's development.

• When reading the topic sentence, the reader must already know what the
paragraph is about.

2) Explanatory Sentences

• Paragraph development continues with an expression of the rationale or the

explanation that the writer gives for how the reader should interpret the
information presented in the topic sentence.

• This explanation can also link the idea to the thesis statement.

3) Substantiating Sentences

• Examples and/or references (NB) will support your idea.

• References make the ideas and argument at large academically sound.

• Supporting Sentences can also link your ideas to your thesis statement.

4) The Concluding/ Linking Sentence

• This part/sentence(s) has a double function:

• Firstly, it concludes your idea of the paragraph.

• Secondly, it transitions your idea into the next paragraph (or topic sentence).

a) Underline/Identify the substantiating sentences in the following paragraph:

The society has been dramatically changed with the evolution of technology.
Before the advent of modern-day technology, life was burdensome and
everyday chores consumed too much of our time. Immense opportunities are
being provided by technologies which play an important role in human life. The
access to education, medicine, industry, and transportation has been simplified
due to modern day technology. Due to the convenience and efficiency provided
by technology, our lives have improved significantly. There used to be a time
when executing a simple task like doing laundry would take most of the day.
Thanks to modern technology, a lot of burden has been lifted from our
shoulders and we have more time and energy to do what we want to.
b) Underline/Indentify the concluding/linking sentence in the following paragraph:

Modern technology also poses serious health problems. People are sleep
deprived nowadays since taking their eyes off their phone or laptop screens
become a near to impossible task. This leads to problems in vision, cancer,
obesity etc. We have become lazier. We prefer to sit, play games or listen to
music instead of walking or going outdoor or performing any work which
requires physical activity.

c) Underline/Identify the topic sentence in the following paragraph:

One of the most obvious effects of global warming is extreme weather. The
weather patterns are rapidly changing in all parts of the world. The increased
rainfall in certain regions affects the balance that animals and plants need to
survive. Climate changes cause health problems, animal migration, and the lack
of food resources. Extreme heat and droughts in diverse regions of our planet
have become disastrous to human health. The frequency of the heavy
precipitation has led to the greater prevalence of floods. Global warming
creates more natural disasters. Extreme weather events will continue to occur
with greater intensity. So, we will experience significant changes in seasonal
temperature variations, wind patterns, and annual precipitation.

d) Underline/Identify the explanatory sentences in the following paragraph:

Integral to this proposed study is the consideration of forms of South African

female subjectivity. As Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak indicates in her work, it is
important to ‘cross the borders’ from Eurocentric understandings of cultures,
languages and subjectivities and to conduct Area Studies in the Global South
to understand their subjectivities. In my mind, scholars from countries such
as South Africa have a duty to engage their local cultures, literatures and
histories and interpret aspects of these mentioned sites for an international
audience and produce area related knowledge. It is therefore of value to
consider South African female subjectivity from a local perspective and also
informed by scholars of the region.
 e) Rearrange the following parts of the text to make a coherent paragraph:

In past generations, the elderly were looked upon in admiration for their

A accomplishments in life. Now, they are tossed aside, due to their inability
to work in this day and age.

Although the death has not occurred yet in the modern age, the text
B shows that the lack of respect has gone up substantially.

In a summary of the fiction piece, Time Machine, by H. G. Wells, there is

C tale about how “in the land of everlasting youth, the problem of ageing -
if it is a problem- has been apparently resolved. A genre of utopian and
dystopian writers raises often unanswered questions about the place of
the elderly in future society. In the past, as in the present, that
experience has often become grim. This book is about, bluntly, the killing
of old people”.

In today’s society, America is represented by the young, the cool, and

D most importantly, the active.

3. Topic Sentences (10 minutes):

The topic sentence is the most important part of the paragraph. It helps organize the
paragraph by summarizing the information in the paragraph. In formal writing,
the topic sentence is usually the first sentence in a paragraph, and it consists of two
parts: the topic and the idea related to the topic.

• Complete Task 2 number 1, 3 & 4

4. Cohesion in a Paragraph (10 minutes):

a) Read the Academic Language (Cohesion 1) section on page 31.
b) Read the paragraph below (next page) and decide what the highlighted word refers
to. Discuss it with your partner and write it down.
Seasonal tourism is especially important for privately-owned restaurants in
small towns. It contributes up to forty percent of these businesses’ annual
revenue. Shaun Nuernberger, a researcher at the Concordia Institute of
Tourism and Trade, argues that income generated by seasonal tourism can
really broaden the profit margins of small-town restaurants. He notes that it
is thus crucial for such establishments to focus on a niche which represents
the authenticity of the environment (2009, p.233-234). Local restaurants can
thus benefit from local tourism if effective measures are taken.

5. Concluding Sentences (10 minutes)

A concluding sentence should:

1) Restate the topic and main point of the paragraph

2) Summarize the information in the body of the paragraph
3) Give a brief evaluation of the main point

a) Complete Task 5 number 1 on p. 32

b) Complete Task 6 number 1 on p. 33 – discuss with your partner
c) Complete Task 7 (1 & 2) on page 3 – evaluate your partner’s concluding sentence.

Please complete the quiz on SL for Writing Unit 2

下课了
 Answers:
1. Warm-up Note: Just like a hamburger is held together by two bread buns (top and bottom)
C: 1C so is a paragraph kept intact by a topic sentence and concluding sentence.
Usually, we want to have the topic sentence followed by the explanatory part,
2 A, D but it is not always the case. Sometimes we need a quote or citation to support
3 A, D the idea presented in the topic sentence. For this reason, we can alternate the
sequence of explanatory and substantiating parts.
4B

2. Paragraph Structure

a)

The society has been dramatically changed with the evolution of technology.
Before the advent of modern-day technology, life was burdensome and
everyday chores consumed too much of our time. Immense opportunities are
being provided by technologies which play an important role in human life. The
access to education, medicine, industry and transportation has been
simplified due to modern day technology. Due to the convenience and
efficiency provided by technology, our lives have improved significantly.
There used to be a time when executing a simple task like doing laundry
would take most of the day. Thanks to modern technology, a lot of burden
has been lifted from our shoulders and we have more time and energy to do
what we want to.

b)

Modern technology also poses serious health problems. People are sleep
deprived nowadays since taking their eyes off their phone or laptop screens
become a near to impossible task. This leads to problems in vision, cancer,
obesity etc. We have become lazier. We prefer to sit, play games or listen
to music instead of walking or going outdoor or performing any work which
requires physical activity.

c)
 One of the most obvious effects of global warming is extreme weather.
The weather patterns are rapidly changing in all parts of the world. The
increased rainfall in certain regions affects the balance that animals and
plants need to survive. Climate changes cause health problems, animal
migration, and the lack of food resources. Extreme heat and droughts in
diverse regions of our planet have become disastrous to human health. The
frequency of the heavy precipitation has led to the greater prevalence of
floods. Global warming creates more natural disasters. Extreme weather
events will continue to occur with greater intensity. So, we will experience
significant changes in seasonal temperature variations, wind patterns, and
annual precipitation.

d)

Integral to this proposed study is the consideration of forms of South

African female subjectivity. As Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak indicates in her
work, it is important to ‘cross the borders’ from Eurocentric understandings
of cultures, languages and subjectivities and to conduct Area Studies in the
Global South to understand their subjectivities. In my mind, scholars from
countries such as South Africa have a duty to engage their local cultures,
literatures and histories and interpret aspects of these mentioned sites
for an international audience and produce area related knowledge. It is
therefore of value to consider South African female subjectivity from a local
perspective and informed by scholars of the region.

Note: This is an example of a paragraph where the explanatory part does not follow
the topic sentence, but the substantiation part.

e) D, A, C, B

3. Topic Sentences

Task 2

1. Observations

3 & 4. Each topic sentence will be different. Students must evaluate one another’s topic
sentences.
 4. Cohesion in a Paragraph
b) It – seasonal tourism
These – privately-owned restaurants
He – Shaun Nuernberger
Such establishments – privately-owned restaurants

5. Concluding Sentences

a) Task 5 no.1
1. A
2. B
3. A