ALAN BEDOYA

ACADEMIC WRITING

MODULE I: LEARNING THE ROPES

Based on The Politics of English Language, Eco’s Advice to Writers, and The Art of Good
Writing; write a short text (300-350 words) covering the following points:
a. Which English writing habits or mental vices do you consider you have/imitate?
b. What piece of advice do you take from these readings to change, positively affect, or
avoid the writing habits/vices that may be affecting your texts? Note: If you have no habits
or vices as the ones described in these articles, and you consider you write flawlessly, you
probably do not need this seminar.
c. If possible, bring one sample of one of your habits/vices to share with the class—we
all have them, so don’t be shy. Make sure you assess the text and indicate the corrections
needed prior to show it to the class.

Statement: In order to raise awareness about the benefits of an evaluation-for-learning culture in

an ESL course, teachers should involve the different types of evaluation in the development of the
course tasks.

Introduction: In this section, I’ll introduce the context of the course and the different types of
evaluation. Then, I’ll present the thesis statement and enunciate briefly my thesis supporting
ideas.

First thesis support: I’ll explain what happen to students’ own understanding of the learning
process, when the teachers involve different types of evaluation in the course, since students have
access to several sources of feedback.

Second thesis supporting idea: The purpose is to show the importance of feedback not only for
assessing students’ progress, but also as a way to give students’ tools to keep improving
autonomously

Third thesis supporting idea: I will give details about the benefits of an evaluation-for-learning
culture within our students’ performance on tasks.

Conclusion: In this section, I’ll summarize the three supporting ideas and I will conclude the text
with the importance of the evaluation-for-learning culture in this course.

I have chosen this order, since it is the only structure that I remember from my university studies. I
have used it before and I feel confident when developing an essay following that specific structure.
Additionally, it helps me to keep in mind my own ideas, so I can stablish a path for expressing my
arguments in a coherent and cohesive way.

I’ll know that I have finished my essay, when it is as short and clear as possible without losing
meaning and deepness in what I wanted to say. I’ll make sure to revise my sentences, connectors
and coherence of my ideas before proofreading it.