This document provides guidance on academic writing for a language and written expression course. It covers various topics such as organizing an essay, developing paragraphs, avoiding plagiarism, using sources, grammar rules for verbs and articles, and different types of writing like comparative essays, science writing, and admissions letters. The document emphasizes planning and outlining essays, using various paragraph structures, citing sources properly, and revising for clarity, style, and grammar. It also includes sections on writing literature reviews, research proposals, and bibliographies in academic format.

1. ISFD N°41
LANGUAGE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION IV
TEACHER: STELLA SAUBIDET
STUDENT: VANESA LONGHI
MAY 2020

2. General
Organizing and planning
Paragraphs
Using sources
English as a second language
Subject- Verb agreement
Verbs referring to sources
Types of writing
Revising and editing
Bibliography

3. Academic essay should have an argument, it should
prove something by reasoning and evidence.
Formulate questions you will seek to answer in your
essay.
Design an organized presentation.
Present your argument clearly and persuasively.

4. Organize your
paper during a
pre-writing stage,
it can save you
from having to do
a lot of
reorganizing
when the first
draft is
completed.
Define what type
of essay you are
going to write.
Does it belong to
a specific genre?
The earlier you
begin planning,
the better. It is
usually a mistake
to do all the
research and
note-taking
before beginning
to draw up an
outline.
Use index cards
or your computer
for note-taking
You may use
thesis
statements.

5. INTRODUCTIONS.
1-Be aware of the dangers of skinning too much time into the
introductions.
2-It can be fine to leave the writing of the introduction for a later stage in the
essay-writing.
3-Introductions for most papers can be effectively written in one paragraph
occupying half to three-quarters of the first page.
4-If your essay has a thesis, your thesis statement will typically appear at
the end of your introduction, but this is not a hard-and-fast rule.
5-Find a startling statistics that illustrates the seriousness of the problem
you will address to capture readers 'attention.
6-Use quotations.

6. CONCLUSIONS.
1-If you wish to
summarize, do it
in fresh language.
2-The conclusion
must involve
critical thinking.
3- Broaden your
focus a bit at the
end of the essay.
A good last
sentence leaves
your reader with
something to think
about.
4-The length of
the conclusion
should reflect the
length of the
essay.
5-Give a startling
statistic, fact, or
visual image to
drive home the
ultimate point of
your paper.

7. Express your central idea
in a topic sentence.
How to develop your ideas
in a paragraph:
1- Illustration: supports a
general statement by
means of examples, details
or relevant quotations.
2- Definition paragraph: it
defines a term often by
drawing distinctions
between the term and
other related ones.
3- Analysis or classification
paragraph: develops a
topic by distinguishing its
component parts and
discussing each of these
parts separately.
4- Comparison or a
contrast paragraph.
5-Qualification paragraph:
acknowledges that what
you previously asserted is
not absolutely true or
always applicable.
6- Process paragraph:
involves a straightforward
step-by-step description.
Very often, a single
paragraph will develop by
a combination of methods.

8. How Not To
Plagiarize.
1- Give the
reference as
soon as you
have mentioned
the idea you are
using.
2- You need to
identify the
sources.
3- If you use the
author´s exact
words, enclose
them in
quotation
marks.

9. USING ARTICLES.
Articles are special modifiers that appear before noun or
noun phrases. There are two articles in the English
language: “the” and “a” ( and its variant “an” used before
words that start with a vowel sound.
A USEFUL SET OF RULES FOR USING ARTICLES.
You can determine which article to place in front almost
any noun by answering these questions:
1-Is the noun countable or uncountable?
2-Is it singular or plural?
• A noun is countable if you can have more than one instance of it.
• Knowing whether the particular use of a noun is singular or plural: Am I referring to more than one instance of
something?
• A noun is definite when it is clear to your reader which specific instance or instances of an entity you are referring to,
otherwise it is indefinite.
3-Is it definite or indefinite?
DO NOT PLACE AN ARTICLE IN FRONT OF A
PROPER NOUN.

10. With fractions, percentages, and indefinite
quantifiers the verb agrees with the
preceding noun or clause.
Expressions of time, money and distance
usually take a singular verb.
Adjectives preceded by the and used as
plural nouns take plural verb.
Expressions using the phrase number of
depend on the meaning of the phrase.
USING GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES.
•Following a verb: I expect to have the report done by Friday/ I anticipate having
the report done by Friday.
•Following a preposition: Can you touch your toes without bending your knees?
Gerunds and infinitives are verb forms that
can take the place of a noun in a sentence.
NOTE: take care not to confuse the
preposition “to” with an infinitive form or with
an auxiliary form such as “ have to, used to,
going to”.

11. SOME VERBS
REFERRING TO
SOURCES
OBSERVE
INDICATE
FIND
DOUBT
DISCOVER
DEMONSTRATE
CONSIDER
BELIEVE
ACKNOWLEDGE

12. WRITING AN
ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
An annotated
bibliography gives
an account of the
research that has
been done on a
given topic. It is an
alphabetical list of
research sources.
SELECTING THE
SOURCES.
• Define the scope and
limits of your research
carefully so that you
can make good
judgments about what
to include and exclude.
• Summarize the
argument of a source.
• Asses the relevance
and value of a source
THE
LITERATURE
REVIEW.
Literature review
lets you gain an
demonstrate skills
in two areas:
1- Information
seeking: the ability
to scan the
literature
efficiently, using
manual or
computerized
methods.
2-Critical
appraisal: the
ability to apply
principles of
analysis to identify
unbiased and valid
studies.

13. A literature review must
do these things:
Be organized around
and related directly to
the thesis or research
questions you are
developing.
Synthesize results
into a summary of
what is and is not
known.
Identify areas of
controversy in the
literature.
Formulate questions
that need further
research.
The abstract.
Abstracts are important
because they give a first
impression on the
document that follows.

14. An abstract should
represent as much
as possible of the
quantitative and
qualitative
information in the
document.
An abstract will
nearly always be
read along with the
title, so do not
repeat or rephrase
the title.
Emphasize the
different points in
proportion to the
emphasis they
receive in the body
of the document.
Do not refer in the
abstract to
information that is
not in the
document.

15. • A comparative essay asks that you
compare at least two items.
• Make sure you know the basis for
comparison.
• Develop a list of similarities and
differences.
• Develop a thesis based on the
relative weight of similarities and
differences.
• Come up with a structure for your
essay.
THE
COMPARATIVE
ESSAY
• Avoid plot summary.
• Master the art of analytical thesis
• Let the structure of your argument
determine the structure of your paper.
• Do not confuse the author with the
speaker.
• Pay attention to both content and
technique.
• Integrate quotations fully into your
argument.
WRITING
ABOUT
LITERATURE

16. WRITING A
PHILOSOPHY
ESSAY
Read the texts
carefully, asking
questions.
Organize your ideas
into a logical structure.
Argument your thesis
with a road map that
reveals the structure of
your argument.
Show your
understanding through
clear and accurate
exposition.
Critically evaluate a
philosophical theory.
Develop your own
answers to
philosophical
questions.
WRITING IN
THE
SCIENCES
Write it in a clear and
concise style.
Paragraphs should be
coherent and well
organized.
Be particularly aware of
your audience.Readers
of science- related
writing can have
different levels of
knowledge.
Titles can be either
fragments or full
sentences.

17. Headings
emphasize the
systematic
nature of
scientific
enquiry and
provide an
excellent
organizational
tool.
Jargon refers
to language
that is
unrecognizable
to most people.
In science this
technical
language can
be
indispensable.
Passive voice
helps
emphasize the
objectivity of
the sciences.
The most
common
tenses in
science papers
are present
and past.
WRITING AN
EFFECTIVE
ADMISSIONS
LETTER
• Be focused.
• Be coherent.
• Be interpretive.
• Be specific.
• Be personal.

18. OPTIONS FOR
ORGANIZING AN
ADMISSIONS
LETTER.
You will probably
use one or more
of these standard
expository
patterns:
Narrative: a
chronological order
is easy to organize.
Analytic: discuss
your interests in
terms of key issue
and theories in tour
discipline.
Technical: show
your involvement
with a specific
issue.
APPLICATION
LETTERS AND
RÉSUMÉS
Keep the reader´s
interests in mind.
Balance facts and
claims.
Write concisely
THE ACADEMIC
PROPOSAL
An academic
proposal is the
first step in
producing a thesis
or major project.

19. An academic
proposal is expected
to contain these
elements:
1- A rationale for the
choice of topic.
2- A review of existing
published work that
relates to the topic.
3-An outline of your
intended approach or
methodology.
•Start with why your idea is worth doing.
•Give enough detail to establish feasibility, but not so much as to bore the
reader.
•Show your ability to deal with possible problems or changes in focus.
•Show confidence and eagerness.
SOME GENERAL
TIPS

20. SOME
STEPS TO
FOLLOW
• Start large,end small.
• Check whether you have fulfilled the intention of
the assignment.
• Look at overall organization.
• Polish and edit your style
• Include a cover page.
• Number your pages.
• Double space your text.
• Use a standard front.
• Put the reference list or bibliography on a
separate page at the end.
• Staple your pages.

21. Sentence
fragments
Faulty
parallelism
Vague
pronouns
Dangling
modifiers
Wordiness

22. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Prof. C.A Silber, Department of English. “Some general advice on
Academic Writing Essay” Toronto, Canada. University of Toronto. Last
edited: Oct. 04th.2018
Available at https: https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/
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