Composition Skills

Tamkeen Zehra Shah

Week2-Lec2
Fall 2020
Writing in Response to Reading
• Subjective responses – require your personal interpretation of a text
or elicit your opinions, thoughts, and experiences relating to the topic
under discussion
• Analytical Responses – asks you to closely examine a text in terms of
the author’s main points, supporting points, and how these come
together to put forth a certain point-of-view
Analytical Responses
1. Identify the main idea
1. First sentence of the paragraph
2. Last sentence of the paragraph
3. Not obvious, but implied
2. Judge the supporting points in an essay (R.S.A.O)
1. Are the supporting points statements of fact or opinion?
2. Are there enough supporting points?
3. Are the supporting points relevant to the main point?
4. Has the writer considered opposing points?
5. Are there any fallacies in the writer’s arguments? (after midterms)
3. Determine the writer’s tone
Can the writing be taken at face value, or is it ironic?
What is the writer’s attitude towards the subject?
Writing in Response to Reading
Directive words in writing prompts:
•Account for: Explain why and give reasons based on evidence.
•Analyse: Break it down into parts and examine in detail to see how it fits together.
•Argue: Discuss and reason. Present the case for and against a particular idea.
•Comment: Give an opinion based on the evidence you have examined.
•Compare: Find similarities and differences between ideas.
•Contrast: Show the differences between ideas and assess how different they are.
•Critically evaluate: Assess the strength of the evidence for or against particular theories,
opinions or models. Evaluate each one and come to a clear overall view.
•Debate: Present the evidence for and against a particular point.
•Describe: Give a detailed account; say what it is.
•Discuss: Examine in detail and give explanatory reasons (for and against if appropriate). Come to
your own conclusion based on the evidence.
•Estimate: Judge the value or worth of; Weigh up the evidence and say to what extent a theory or
opinion may be preferable.
•Evaluate: Assess the value of something and come to an opinion based on evidence.
•Examine: Investigate in detail and discuss.
•Explain: Give reasons; make clear why something is the way it is.
•Explore: Investigate a concept, idea, issue or opinion, showing that you understand why there
might be debate or uncertainty involved
•How important: Estimate the worth of an opinion, theory or concept and put it in context (e.g.
time, place).
•Illustrate: Explain and give clear examples as evidence in support of points
made.
•Interpret: Explain the underlying meaning and give your own judgement.
•In what ways: Give a number of descriptions and explanations.
•Justify: Give reasons for decisions or conclusions and support these with
evidence.
•Outline: An overview covering the key points and relationships between them.
•Relate: Show how things are connected to each other and the extent to which
they affect each other.
•Review: Examine the subject critically and come to a view.
•Show how: Give the main characteristics or features, or outline a
sequence, and use illustrative examples or other evidence in support.
•State: Present the main features or key ideas clearly.
•Summarise: Give a brief account or overview of the whole without
going into detail.
•To what extent: Consider how far something is true and the ways in
which it is not true.
Identifying the main idea
• In a paragraph – topic sentence
• In a composition – thesis statement
Topic sentence
• Consist of a topic and a controlling idea
• The topic is the concept or subject under discussion (what the
paragraph is about)
• The controlling idea expresses what is being said about the topic, or
what direction the writing will take in discussing the topic (the angle
of discussion)
Identify the topic and controlling idea in each topic sentence:
Running provides many health benefits.
When writing a laboratory report, you must complete four sections.
Practice Exercise – Identify the topic
sentence
The following groups of sentences can be rearranged to form paragraphs. Put them in correct order by
numbering them appropriately and underline the one that you think is the topic sentence.
Paragraph 1
a. Next, add antifreeze to your windshield washer fluid; otherwise, the fluid will freeze and possibly
break the container.
b. First, put on snow tires if you plan to drive on snowy, icy roads very often.
c. Driving in winter, especially on snowy, icy roads, can be less troublesome if you take a few simple
precautions.
d. Finally, it is also a good idea to carry tire chains, a can of spray to unfreeze door locks, and a
windshield scraper in your car when driving in winter weather.
e. Second, check the amount of antifreeze in your radiator and add more if necessary.
Paragraph 2
a. A breakthrough in one of these areas will hopefully provide a means of relieving both the
overstretched oil market and the environment.
b. Researchers in the automobile industry are experimenting with different types of engines
and fuels as alternatives to the conventional gasoline engines.
c. One new type of engine, which burns diesel oil instead of gasoline, has been available
for several years.
d. Finally, several automobile manufacturers are experimenting with methanol, which is a
mixture of gasoline and methyl alcohol, as an automobile fuel.
e. A further type is the gas turbine engine, which can use fuels made from gasoline, diesel
oil, kerosene and other petroleum distillates.
f. The increasing depletion of oil reserves, along with environmental concerns, have
prompted some radical developments in car design over the past few years
•Paragraph 3
a. Later on, people began to write on pieces of leather, which were rolled into scrolls.
b. In the earliest times, people carved or painted messages on rocks.
c. In the Middle Ages, heavy paper called parchment was used for writing and books were
laboriously copied by hand.
d. With the invention of the printing press in the middle of the fifteenth century, the modern
printing industry was born.
e. Some form of written communication has been used throughout the centuries.
Practice Exercise – Write a topic sentence
•Exercise 2) Write good topic sentences to begin each of the following paragraphs.
Remember to include both a topic and a controlling idea.

1.
Americans relaxing at home, for example, may put on kimonos, which
is a Japanese word. Americans who live in a warm climate may take an
afternoon siesta on an outdoors patio without even realising that these are
Spanish words. In their gardens, they may enjoy the fragrance of jasmine
flowers, a word that came into English from Persian. They may even relax
on a chaise longue, while sipping a drink made with vodka, words of French
and Russian origin, respectively.
2.
In European universities, students are not required to attend classes.
In fact, professors in Germany generally do not know the names of the
students enrolled in their courses. In the United States, however, students
are required to attend all classes and may be penalized if they do not.
Furthermore, in the European system, there is usually just one
comprehensive examination at the end of the students' entire four or five
years of study. In the American system, on the other hand, there are usually
numerous quizzes, texts, and homework assignments, and there is almost
always a final examination in each course at the end of the semester.
3.
For example, the Eskimos, living in a treeless region of snow and ice,
sometimes build temporary homes out of thick blocks of ice. People who live
in deserts, on the other hand, use the most available material, mud or clay,
which provides good insulation from the heat. In Northern Europe, Russia
and other areas of the world where forests are plentiful, people usually
construct their homes out of wood. In the islands of the South Pacific, where
there is a plentiful supply of bamboo and palm, people use these tough,
fibrous plants to build their home.
Further Practice
Q) Now write two or three topic sentences for each of the following topics.
You should choose two or three different controlling ideas for the same topic.
1. Foreign travel
2. A healthy lifestyle
3. Studying a second or foreign language
e.g.
Topic: Television’s effects on children
Topic sentence 1: Television is harmful to children because it teaches them violence as a
means to solving problems
Topic sentence 2: Television can improve a child’s general knowledge
Overview/Summary
• (To be filled out by the students after the session)