Tag Archives: week 13

AW2: Week13 January 10th, 2020

Homework

None. But email me your Essay 5 if you have not done so already. Also, make sure you have given me your Essay 4 Final version. I will write comments on your Essay 5 and return it to you next week.

Also, please answer the survey here about the Essay 4 Class Collection, if you would like your essay to be included: https://www.sheffnersweb.net/blogs/classblogs/kpu/aw2-essay4-class-collection-survey/

Today’s class

Schedule:

  • Jan 10th – chapter 6, timed essays, textbook exercises
  • Jan 17th – in-class timed essays (practice)
  • Jan 24th – in-class timed essays (test: no dictionaries or devices)
  1. Examples from student writing of inappropriate, subjective sentences.
  2. Review: citation examples from Wikipedia
  3. Textbook p. 133
  4. p. 134 questions 1-4
  5. p. 136 C and Practice 1
  6. p. 138 Practice 3
  7. p. 140 A and Practice 5

 

AW1: WEEK 13, JULY 12TH, 2019

  • Choose a topic for your “compare-contrast” essay (essay #3) from the list on p. 72 (“Your Turn”).
  • Write your first draft, save it as “AW1 Essay3 Draft1 (YourFamilyName).docx” and email it to me by Friday noon 12:00.
  • Bring a hard copy to class to share with your classmates.

Today’s class

  • Exchange your “Problem-solution” essay with a classmate and use the “Peer Review Form” on p. 55 of the textbook.
  • Read the section on “hedging” on p. 59,
  • Textbook p. 61-2 Practice 12 and 13.
  • Textbook p. 63 Practice 14 and 15
  • Textbook p. 65 C
    • English prefers the order main clause + subordinate clause.
    • This may be different from Japanese.
    • In English, the phrase that comes at the end of the sentence gets more emphasis, so put the one you want to emphasize at the end.
      • E.g. “Our family eats beef every day but on Fridays, we eat fish.”
      • Compare with, “We eat fish on Fridays.” I.e. not on any other day.
    • The reason for the comma after the subordinate clause when you put it at the beginning of the sentence is that it shows this is not the subject of the main clause, which usually comes first (S+V+C).
      • E.g. “On Fridays, we have Academic Writing.”
      • The subject is “we”, but it comes in second place.
    • Chapter 3, p. 69 – read the sample essay “Friends.com”.
    • Textbook p. 70, C
    • Choose a topic and make an outline like the one on p. 78. You can also use the Venn diagrams on pp 73, 74 and 77 to make an outline.

AW2: WEEK 13, JANUARY 18TH, 2019

Update – essay #5 class collection now available

Essay #5 class collection is now available for free download here: https://www.sheffnersweb.net/blogs/classblogs/kpu/download/essay-5-class-collection/

Many thanks to all those students who gave permission for their essay to be used.

Homework

  1. What was one big decision that you had to make? When? How did you decide? Who did you consult (if anyone)? Why did you consult (or why not)?
  2. “The broken window fallacy” (note: there are at least two versions of the story; the one you should know is the story by French economist Frederic Bastiat). You will need to know the story in order to write next week’s timed essay.
    1. Learn the story
    2. Understand what it means

Today’s class

  1. Think academically = think like an academic:
    1. analyze meaning (e.g. what does “akemashite” mean? What does “hatsu-mode” mean?)
      1. ask “who? what? when? where? how? why?” (e.g. when do people say “akemashite”? When do they go to “hatsu-mode”? What is “hatsu-mode”? Why do people do it? Who does it? Where? etc.)
  2. Timed essay #1 (30 minutes):
    1. ‘”America First” is good for Japan.’ Discuss.
      1. Paragraph #1 – explain the correct meaning of “America First”, its history (what? when? who?)
      2. Paragraph #2 – suggest some arguments for and against this policy (or you can make the “for” arguments paragraph #2 and the “against” arguments paragraph #3).
      3. Your personal conclusion with your reasons.
  3. Timed essay #2 (30 minutes):
    1. ‘Japanese New Year traditions have no meaning in today’s world.’ Discuss.
      1. What are some Japanese New Year traditions? Why are they traditions? When did they start (for example)?
      2. Give some arguments for and against (or you can make the “against” arguments paragraph #3).
      3. Your personal conclusion with reasons.

AW1: Week 13, July 20th, 2018

Announcement

No class on July 25th. Makeup on July 28th, 14:30 – 17:40

Homework

Essay 3 “Compare-contrast”, draft 1, by e-mail by Friday next.

Today’s class

  1. sample problem-solution essay 1: the four things
  2. sample problem-solution essay 2: how to learn freedom
  3. (option) “The Fountainhead” chapter 1
  4. sample compare-contrast essay: university – Britain vs Japan
  5. textbook p. 70 C Essay structure
  6. P. 72 – choose a topic
  7. P 73/74 create a Venn diagram for your essay topic.
  8. write your outline.

AW1: week 13, July 14th, 2017

Homework

  • Review your essay #2 draft#2 after considering what you learned in today’s class.
    • Re-write your essay – this will be your final draft
    • Print it out and bring it to class next week
    • Also email it to me when you are ready (next Friday is fine)
  • Choose a topic for essay #3 “Problem-Solution” from the list on p. 72 in the textbook.
  • (Option) Watch this short video of comedian Louis C.K. giving a funny counter-claim to the common claim that lying is bad.
    • Louis’ counter-claim is that lying solves almost every problem like magic.
  • Schedule:
    • Friday July 21st:
      • start writing your compare-contrast essay in class.
      • gather data,  design questions to ask classmates tin class.
      • After class,  email me your essay#3 draft#1 as soon as possible. I will correct and return your draft asap.
      • If I have time, I will email it to you. If not, I will give you my corrections personally in class on July 28th.
    • Friday July 28th: using my corrections and comments, you will write the final draft of your compare-contrast essay in class.

Today’s class

  1. You need a counter-claim. Most students had no counter-claim or very weak counter-claims. This makes you look lazy (you can’t be bothered to think of any) or ignorant (you don’t realize there are arguments against your position). Either way, you need counter-claims.
  2. What exactly is the problem? Some of you did not clearly define the problem.
    1. E.g. “putting things off is a problem.” No, it isn’t. It’s a bad habit, maybe, but it is not a problem. It CAUSES problems, yes, but putting things off itself is not a problem. You need to be clear in your own mind exactly what the problem is.
  3. If you did some original research, e.g. by asking classmates some questions and gathering data, then you need to present the results to your readers. Usually this is the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs (the 1st and 2nd body paragraphs).
    1. See this worksheet for a model outline (this outline works for a compare-&-contrast essay as well). STRUCTURE OF POLICY ARGUMENT ESSAY
  4. When choosing a topic: Problems with some essay topics
  5. Textbook chapter 3 p. 69: read the first paragraph of the model essay “Friends.com”.
  6. Read p. 70 C “Essay structure”
  7. Read p. 71 D “Topics
  8. P. 72 “Your Turn”: choose a topic from the list (or decide your own topic)
  9. P. 73 Venn diagrams for brainstorm ideas.
  10. P. 76 D Organizing a comparison-contrast essay
  11. p. 79 F “Language for comparing and contrasting” (for your reference).

AW2, week 13, January 20th, 2017

Homework

None. But if you were absent today, read the parts of the textbook we read in class today. You need to have read this material in order to participate in next 2 weeks’ classes. There will not be time in class to read the material. You must read it before class.

Next week and the week after (week 15) we will be writing test, timed essays in class.

Today’s class

  1. Chapter 6, p. 140 A read.
  2. Practice 5
  3. p. 141 Practice 6.
  4. p. 134, questions 1-4.
  5. p. 135, B.
  6. p. 136, C and practice 1
  7. p. 137, D and practice 2.
  8. p. 138, practice 3.
  9. p. 139, practice 4.
  10. p. 139, E: choose a topic and p. 141, B, write an outline (see also p. 142, outline A).

Academic Writing I, week 13 : July 15th, 2016

Homework

  • Read the model essay on pages 70-1 of the textbook, “friends.com”
  • Choose a topic for your comparison-contrast essay (essay #3). You can use the list in “My Turn” on page 72 or you can choose your own topic.
  • Write the first draft of your essay (hand-written is ok) and bring it to class next week. This essay is due July 29th (the last class, week 15).

Today’s class

  1. Final check of essay #2 and hand in.
    1. 5 + 3 = 9  Correct or incorrect?
    2. 2 x 5 = 20  Correct or incorrect?
    3. 4x = 12.  x =4 x 12 = 48  Correct or incorrect?
    4. All the above examples are mathematically, logically incorrect. This is not a matter of opinion. Personal opinion has nothing to do with whether they are correct or not.
    5. In the same way, we should examine and analyze the following two sentences. Is the thinking correct or incorrect?
      1. “These days, low-carbohydrate diets are popular. However, a study conducted by the U.S. military using a zero-carbohydrate diet resulted in muscle loss and weakness among the participants.” Discuss. Do not give your opinion about diets, or low-carbohydrates diets.
      2. First, is it true that “low-carbohydrate diets are popular”? This needs to be examined for truthfulness.
      3. Second, “low-carbohydrate diet” si not the same as “zero-carbohydrate diet”. Because the two are not the same, the conclusion of the article is also incorrect.
        1. zero-carbohydrate diet = dangerous.
        2. Therefore low-carbohydrate diet= dangerous. INCORRECT. Because
          1. low-carbohydrate ≠ zero-carbohydrate.
          2. Therefore, low-carbohydrate diet ≠ dangerous.
      4. Third, what exactly is a “zero-carbohydrate diet”? Is that even possible? Carbohydrates are found not only in bread, rice and starches (potatoes, etc), but also in carrots and other vegetables. To really have a “zero-carbohydrate diet” would mean not eating carrots or those vegetables which had some carbohydrates in them. This is nearly impossible to achieve. Exactly what were these soldiers in the study given to eat? We need more details.
      5. Fourth, people who are interested in low-arbohydrate diets (or any diets) are usually ordinary people, but the people in the study are not ordinary but soldiers in the military, who have very different lifestyles and nutrition needs. Therefore, any conclusion drawn from this study does not necessarily apply to ordinary people.
      6. Fifth, the article tries to suggest that low-carbohydrate diets are dangerous because zero-carbohydrate diets are dangerous. It does not state this, but merely suggests it. People read “zero-carbohydrate = dangerous” and so they assume that “low-carbohydrate also = dangerous”. But this is incorrect thinking (see step #2 above).
  2. Textbook Unit 3. Page 70. Read section C
  3. p. 71-2 practice 2 – on looseleaf paper
  4. p. 70 practice 10 – on looseleaf paper.
  5. Start writing you r essay #3.

Academic Writing II, week 13: January 8th, 2016

Homework

  1. Find an example of each of the following:
    1. A good review in English of a book or movie
    2. A bad review in English of a book or movie
    3. A good review in Japanese of a book or movie
    4. A bad review in Japanese of a book or movie
  2. Analyze them:
    1. what makes the good reviews good?
    2. what makes the bad reviews bad?
  3. Do you notice any differences between the English and Japanese reviews? If so, what differences?

Today’s class

  1. Why are school and university vacations so long, and at such strange times?
  2. Can young people learn a foreign language, e.g. English, even if it is not taught in school? If so, how? If no,t why not?
  3. Free writing:
    1. write about your winter vacation:
      1. a book you read, or
      2. a movie you saw, or
      3. an event you attended
  4. Re-write it as a more objective piece of (academic) writing.

Academic Writing I, week 13: July 10th, 2015

Announcement

Make-up class will be Sat. July 11th, 5th period (16:10 – 17:40) in the same room (21).

Homework

  1. Re-write your problem-solution essay, as per my instructions, print out and bring to the next class.
  2. Choose a topic for your comparison-contrast essay (a list of suggested topics is in the textbook p 72 “Your Turn”, but you may choose another topic if you prefer), write your outline (see textbook p. 78 E) and bring it to the next class.

Today’s class

  1. Class survey
  2. Syllogisms:
    1. Socrates:
      1. If all people die, and
      2. if Socrates is a person, then
      3. Socrates will die.
    2. gun control laws
      1. If gun control laws become stricter, and
      2. if criminals do not care about laws, then
      3. criminals will not be deterred by stricter gun control laws (and therefore the problem of gun violence and mass shootings will not be solved by this policy).
    3. Body cameras for police. Complete the third line:
      1. If police must all wear body cameras, and
      2. if police who shoot unarmed civilians are not prosecuted, then
    4. Minimum-wage law.   Complete the third line:
      1. If the minimum wage is increased, and
      2. if profits do not increase, then
      3. businesses will…
  3. Textbook, p. 70 C (read) and p. 71 Practice 1
  4. P. 73 E and Practice 3.
  5. P. 76 D and Practice 6 and 7.