The document provides information on writing skills such as planning, drafting, editing, and formatting documents. It discusses the writing process, grammar, organization of essays, style guidelines, and common errors. Specific topics covered include outlining ideas, choosing a title, structuring paragraphs and conclusions, using correct punctuation and grammar, and avoiding issues like run-on sentences, word choice errors and repetition.

1. Writing 101
A review of the writing
process and grammar

2. Planning
 What (text message, e-mail, letter, essay, research paper)
 Why (to inform, to argument, to compare)
 For whom (a friend, a teacher, a boss, a class)

3.  The answer to what will determine the information;
this can be planned through an outline, a list, or in
your head.
 The answer to why, or the purpose, will influence the
information, the type of text and the language.
 The audience will help choose the structure, the
language and the tone (formal 0r informal).

4. The process of writing
 Planning
 Drafting (first, second, third…… version)
 Editing (corrections)
 Final version

5. Start writing
 Title: Try thinking of an original title, not just the
topic, for example in the case of cockfighting,
“Tradition or Animal Cruelty,” Entertainment or
Greed”. You can also specify the title a little more:
“Cockfighting in Costa Rica: the pros and cons”

6. Organization of an essay
 Introduction: Thesis statement (it should indicate what
you are writing about and why), definition, background
information, final sentence introducing following
paragraph (the final sentence can also be the thesis
statement.
 Body paragraphs: One single idea should be expressed
through the main sentence, and the other sentences are to
support this one idea. When revising, ask yourself : What
is this paragraph about? Are all the sentences related?

7.  Conclusion : Sum up all the information, offer final
statements or results, restate the main idea, if applicable,
give personal opinion.
.

8. APA Style
 Why?
 How?
 When?

9. Now, what is wrong here?
 In conclusion there a myriad of personal views points
that support and oppose this controversial sport, but it
seems that cockfighting won’t be banned any time
soon. Part of cockfighting’s strength is it’s support
base, garnering the participation of wealthy and
famous people. For example, in many countries around
the world some politicians support this cruel activity.
Despite being illegal and looked down upon in many
countries, cockfighting is legal and considered part of a
cultural heritage that will pass from generation to
generation.

10. Cohesion
 Cohesion: The sentences “stick together” so we know
what is being referred to and how the phrases and
sentences relate to each other. This is done through
the use of conjunctions, pronouns, transitions and
others.

11.  We will see what is going to happened in the next few
days or months and see if it is going to be banned or
not, there are the cock breeders that fiercely defend
these events must continue because is part of our
culture, others that in contrast want cruelty to stop…
and my personal opinion that is definitely against
cockfights.

12. Coherence
 Coherence: The reader should be able to identify the
writer’s purpose and line of thought.
 Die with dignity and not silver as in cockfighting.
 Some people relate cockfights with the culture so might
create all kinds of hard feelings within our society.
 They also argue that use their own money and not cash
from people.

13. Sentences
 Sentences should not be very short because the
writing will seem “choppy” nor too long because they
can become confusing.
 I like to watch tv.
 Their only function is to die and that’s it.
 In the Ark of Noah were fighting cocks.

14.  There are people that are against these combats
because they are not in favor of the abuse animal
and they want to stop these fights because
unfortunately the destiny of the cocks is the death
because they cannot be given to the people because
they can hurt someone so at the end the law has to
kill them.

15. Run-ons
 Run-on sentences have two or more independent
clauses that are placed together without a
conjunction or connector. Commonly, only a comma
was used in your essays.
 I would like to mention as negative aspects the animal
abuse, this is a very violent activity in where..
 …they have no way to scape, have to fight until the end,
at the fights they are force to be violent, they cannot
socialize.

16.  Cockfighting is a blood sport between two roosters
specifically bred for aggressiveness, people call them
gamecocks, they are placed beak to beak in a small ring
called cockpit and encouraged to fight to the death.
 In recent months we have heard, read and seen on
television, more often, the problematic issue of
cockfighting in our country, the police and SENASA…
 The final solution for fighting cocks is sacrificed, we
put them to sleep.

17.  …a cockfight is not something to be proud of. It is an
animal who suffers, who is trained to kill…
 Cockfights are combats between two cocks of the same
gender and race, the winner of the….

18. Incomplete
 How much they can earn in one night to gambling.
 Things such as cockfighting.
 In the Ark of Noah were fighting cocks.
 Die with dignity and not silver as in cockfighting.

19. The definite article
 Remember that the is a definite article, that is, the
noun following it is a specific one (not just any).
 The cannot be used before gerund functioning as a
noun (swimming, cockfighting), the days of the week
or the months of the year.
 In the case of the swimming pool, the gerund is an
adjective.

20.  The rooster fight
 …based on that the rooster have a genetic or
characteristics for fighting.
 They said that the society present a double moral
because they critic the rooster fights but no other
activities were animals….
 most of the countries/ most countries
 …where people practice the clandestine cockfighting.

21.  …the roosters were born to fight.
 …people enjoy the bet and they say that the bet does
not hurt anybody.
 The director of National Animal Health Service…

22. Pronouns
 Pronouns always need a antecedent which should
be near enough to understand who or what the
pronoun is replacing. They should not be used over
and over again at the beginning of each sentences,
and never to start a paragraph.

23.  I encourage all the people how has ever participate in
this to stop the gambling and every kind of motivation
they have to be part of it. (paragraph)
 They are even brought to this world with special
techniques that makes them very violent in nature.
They have a special and very sharp beak that makes
them even more violent because their function is to…
They also explain is a very unsanitary practice because
of the environment in which these activities are held.
And also, because the main attraction of these
activities is the bets which make cockfighting illegal.

24. Participles
 …without being abuse…
 …it is an activity that has been practice in Costa Rica
for many years and that it is a Costa Rican tradition
and of course they do not want to lose this tradition.
 Used as adjectives:
 prohibit activity
 creatures create by God

25. Conjunctions
 Coordinating Conjunctions and, but, or , so are used
to combine clauses, both independent and
dependent. Therefore, they should never start a
sentence.
 And one of the traditions I’m going to talk about is the
cockfight, which has been practiced for many years by
our ancestors….
 But I will point out the positive and negative…
 And to conclude…

26. Prepositions
 …against of this activity…
 There were about a hundred of spectators…
 They take out fish from the water…
 at arenas/in arenas
 …work on poultry farming…
 The worse thing of this…

27.  Cockfighting is a tradition on which…
 This animal only knows to the owner…
 In a positive aspect,…

28. Possessive forms
 …the animal’s rights
 …gamecock’s owners
 …bird’s songs

29. Adjectives
 positives aspects
 …reduce this kind of inhumanity activity, starting with
informing…
 …many other animals competition…
 The fights defenders said…

30. Punctuation
 Remember the commas that go after adverbs or
independent clauses that begin a sentence.
 When the police arrived at the scene, the spectators
started to leave…..
 Finally, he was able to fulfill his dream of….
 The semicolon is placed between two independent
clauses. It can be used only between IC that are
related in content and in purpose.

31.  An optional conjunctive adverb, following the
semicolon, can make the sentence more coherent by
demonstrating the relationship between the two ICs.
 Indian classical dance became a form of worship;
therefore, it was performed only in temples.
 In general, the colon means “as follows”. It indicates
that what follows explains or emphasizes that which
preceded the colon.
 There are three sitcoms I like to watch: ……….

32. Agreement
 Subject – Verb:
 …he gamble…
 …he only buy…
 …he does not care if he lost a rooster…
 Animal fights are a social gathering that bring…
 …one of the cocks are seriously..
 People who likes…

33.  …many kind of hormones…
 …It could be a tradition that come…
 This practice have been done not only in Costa Rica…
 They said that the society present a double moral…
 What are in people’s minds…
 This majority have…
 …the weakest one just run away…

34.  Other types of agreement:
 Several night…
 Some of the images seen in TV can be very perturbing
for its violence….
 …the rooster attacks their opponents and inflicts
serious injury and often death of his opponent
 One of the tabu…

35.  This type of fights
 These places are where some people get together to
bet? on this animals, drink and….

36. Verb use
 Letting two or more roosters to fight…
 People still practicing it…
 Last weekend, they have closed…
 …50 police officers and SENASA personnel arrested 200
participants and have confiscated 150 fighting cocks, 4
guns, and 26 underage spectators and 1 on the run.
They have also found….
We would not like to treat us the same way…

37. Repetition
 They are planning to legalize through laws and do what
it takes to make them legal. They think this is not
animal cruelty and these must be legally accepted as an
ancient entertainment from biblical ages.
 At this moment, my concern is more particularly with
cockfighting. My concern is driven by the fact that
cockfights have been popular for centuries. The main
questions I ask to address this concern is;…
 Costa Rica

38.  These fights are illegal in Costa Rica for many reasons.
One of the reasons is the animal cruelty…
 Even this is a reality even today…
 Cockfighting is a fight…
 …are placed in a place…

39. Don’t repeat ideas just to fill in
your essay because you are not
going to fool the professor!!!

40. Missing components
 …because is illegal for many reasons, first is very
violent and put two animals to kill each other is cruel,
there is alcohol and drugs and underagers participating
in brutal fights and learning things won’t make them
better individuals… It violates all kinds of rules possible
and well being for animals and humans.
 …when the bird tries to socialize with other of the same
species is difficult…
 …avoid sedentary life style.

41.  An example of the gains possible through such illegal
gamblings _found in Iraq…
 …Inform _about it or_ what to do.
 …because _is cruel sport…
 …because of that _is important…
 At the natural environment cocks fight among them
but_ is a natural way…
 …in the Bible _is written

42.  This activity is illegal, _causes health risks…
 This _a practice that involves…
 Because of this situation_ is important to know…

43. Connectors
 Also the places where the fights take place are
inadequate because they do not have health permits.
Although these people do not care the animals they
only think in the money.
 As well mentioned by the…. that this is a regular
tradition practiced since biblical times, as well this
animals are well care…
 …this kind of activity is their main incoming although
it is a lucrative one.

44.  …claims that this activity is not only a matter of
animal cruelty but also is unsanitary and illegal.
 …in rural areas of our country it is common for people
to participate in these practices although it is a
lucrative and clandestine activity in rural sectors.
 Spite/In spite
 I think we have the right to enjoy our Costa Rican
traditions but also I think the animal…

45.  We must take into account that the values and virtues
only are protected if the community is involved in this
activity. On the other hand, some people think it is
better that people are united as a community and not
be in their houses in a solitary way.
 For them the important thing is that it generates
money. Otherwise, they believe it is better to invest
their money.
 other words/in other words

46. Structures
 …one of the foundations of the cockers is “these…..
 I think that today, with sports and other events that do
not require the cruel death of animals, that blood
sports like animal fights…
 In this kind of fight always count with a referee…
 …participants greed is highest than the animal
consideration…
 This is a practice where the animals are especially
raised to be fighting and then to be dead.

47.  …while in cockfighting only ones who enjoy them…
 Owners train the animal to kill the other cock or till it
is seriously injured.
 Then another reason for those that say they are in
favor, is just because…
 …hurt more each other…
 …and fight until die…

48.  It is due that exists a winner cock, and therefore a loser
cock.
 Also, it’s important to take into account that although
the rooster will not die physically. Often wounds in the
body will make the bird is living dead.
 The most important aspects are the opinions in favor
of cockfighting, the opinions against these practices
and a personal opinion.

49. Word choice (meaning)
 These animals genetically are made to fight.
(genetically?)
 …intended to charities…./ be given to charities
 We all have listened…/ We have all heard…
 …replace them by steel blades to be more accurate
when fighting/ ?
 This activity will come down/ stop

50.  …mistake he did about animal cruelty/ made-regarding
 …a fine of…. colons can be apply/ can be fined with
 …and honor that the rooster’s owner made win/ can
gain
 …see the difference due the animals don’t have to
fight…/ since

51.  …the Penal Code does not cover it as a crime, so only
punished with fines… / according to the PC, it is not a
crime…
 Supporters believe that rooster fights are a healthy
activity/ entertaining? wholesome?
 And, since they haven’t been set as illegal no legal
institution can be after them trying to cancel them
until the government states them as illegal activities

52.  …cockfights are a cruel situation against these birds/
cockfights are cruel
 …even take it as a sport…/ consider it…
 …they are penalized by massacring roosters / killing
 They also complaint/ complain

53.  assist/attend
 massacre/ killing
 concerning/ disturbing
 specially/ especially
 disagreeable point/ negative aspect
 deathly/ deadly

54.  article/ object
 fishers/ fishermen
 field of fight/ cockpit
 battle field/ cockpit

55. Impersonal statement
 It is considered + adjective + infinitive + prepositional
phrase
 “It is considered rude to smoke on the train.”
 Also it is consider a cruelty…

56. Information given
 …practices that are similar in violence and bad
behavior.
 …the owners turn them into aggressive animals and
sometimes they inject them unknown substances to
make them more aggressive.
 These are many of the opinions…
 Michael Vick is currently serving a prison sentence
because….

57. Don’t
 This essay contains different people’s opinions about
“rooster fights” and many of the organizations that are
against cockfighting in Costa Rica.
 I think how nice would it be if people only sacrifice
some animals as God considered necessary for our own
survival.
 It crosses my mind to think how these cocks feel at the
moment they are fighting.

58.  Once I searched about it I found that some of the
reasons are because; (follows with one example)
 …the thing is that…
 I bet that like me…
 …earn big bucks of the bet…

59. Ok
• Y • really
 good • thing, something,
 bad everything, nothing
• there are/ there is
 evil
• this (alone)
 very
• it (at the beginning of
 nice
a sentence)
 you • God

60. Another and Other
 Another is an adjective or pronoun used with a
single referent and it means one more.
 My favorite book is “One hundred years of solitude” ,
and another book by García Marquez that I like is
“Love in the times of cholera”.
 Other means different ones.
 Other disadvantage/ another disadvantage

61.  Other means different ones.
 Lisa likes to dance, but there are other activities she
also enjoys such as swimming, and hiking.
 Other disadvantage/ another disadvantage

62. To agree
 I agree
 You agree
 He agrees etc..
 Not, I am agree, you are agree…

63. Be careful with what you write
 …breeders say that the act of cockfighting is not illegal,
even they dared to say…
 …all the fish are killed to be eaten by humans.
 …because to their food is added chemicals with the
intention of a chemical reaction in their bodies.
 The most curious is that only in countries with less
access to education is realized and developed countries
are prohibited. (legal in Spain and France, Costa Rica
has access to education)

64.  It is an industry like drug trafficking and white slavery
which generates a lot of money.
 …when they gamble for the cocks that will win the
battle.
 …if the cockfight is going to be against the law…

65. Foreign Words
 Foreign words, titles etc… go in ITALIC.