1. Read the sample essay in the textbook pp. 43-4.
2. Write out the title and source information for the essay that you discussed in class today,
   1. for the original essay
   2. for the Japanese translation (if you used one)
   3. using the MLA format and email it to me as an attachment by Wednesday midnight. Save the document as “AW1 Essay Citation Your Name” and use the same for the subject line of your email. Everything should be in Roman characters. No Chinese characters.
      1. essay in a book: Last name, First name. “Title of Essay.” Title of Collection, edited by Editor’s Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.
      2. a translation, e.g.: Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988.
      3. A page on a web site: For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by an indication of the specific page or article being referenced. Usually, the title of the page or article appears in a header at the top of the page. Follow this with the information covered above for entire Web sites. If the publisher is the same as the website name, only list it once. E.g.:
      1. “Athlete’s Foot – Topic Overview.” WebMD, 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.
      2. Lundman, Susan. “How to Make Vegetarian Chili.” eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.
      3. From Purdue Online Writing Lab https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/

      Today’s class

      • Group discussions of the essays read for last week’s homework.
      • Sentence-correction and analysis

      Share this:

      • Facebook
      • LinkedIn
      • Reddit
      • Email
      • Telegram
      • Twitter
      • Pinterest
      • WhatsApp
      • Tumblr

Homework

Write at least the introduction paragraph  of Essay2 draft1 and bring to class next week.

Today’s class

1. Textbook p. 42, questions 1-5 (on looseleaf)
2. Read the sample essay pp 43-4.
3. Answer the questions p. 44 Practice 1, 1-8
4. p. 45 Practice 2
5. p. 46 Your Turn: choose a topic. Free writing for 10 minutes.

Homework

• (Email me your final draft if you have not already done so.)
• Look again at the “Slip or Trip?” handout.

1. Write out the list of evidence: what can you see in the picture that might be important to prove or disprove Queenie’s claim about what happened?
2. Explain why each piece of evidence is important, i.e. explain why each piece of evidence supports or does not support Queenie’s claim.
3. What is YOUR claim about what happened? Explain your reasons, i.e. support with evidence (listed in step 2 above).

Today’s class

1. Common errors from students’ 3rd draft (download the document here: AW1 Common errors from Essay 1 )
2. Look at the handout “Slip or Trip?”
   1. What is Queenie’s claim about what happened?
   2. What is the evidence (what can you see in the picture that might be relevant)?
      1. The autopsy report (not in the picture) says that Arthur died of a wound on the head and that he had been drunk.
      2. List the other pieces of evidence.
   3. Now link the evidence to Queenie’s claim with explanations about why it supports or does not support Queenie’s claim about what happened to Arthur.
      1. E.g. Evidence: Arthur is still holding an unbroken glass in his hand. When people slip and fall (Queenie’s claim), they usually drop what they are holding and try to stop themselves falling by grasping something solid. So if Arthur had fallen, the glass would not be still in his hand. The fact that it is in his hand does not support Queenie’s claim. Also, being made of glass, it is quite likely to have broken, but it is not broken. These two pieces of evidence do not support Queenie’s claim. However, they do not prove that Queenie is lying, nor do they prove how Arthur received his head wound. So we need more evidence and more reasoning.

Bonus

If you are interested in any of these books, you can have them for 100 yen. Send me an email and I will bring the book(s) to class next week.

1.  SOLD! Click here to visit this item’s Amazon Japan page   売りました！新品はこちらへどうぞー＞
   「グローバル化時代の大学論2 – イギリスの大学・ニッポンの大学 – カレッジ、チュートリアル、エリート教育 (中公新書ラクレ)」
2. English translation of Natsume Soseki’s novel “Bottchan”
3. and “I am a Cat”.

Homework

• Choose a topic from the list on p. 46.
• Read Practice 3 (p. 46-7) and write a similar passage about your chosen topic.
  • Bring it to class next week (June 17th).
• Read the Format checklist (download it here: Academic Writing checklist
• If necessary, re-format your essay,  make any other changes you wish, print it out and bring it to class next week.
• If you have not done so already, please email me your final essay as soon as possible.
  • Use the following format for your file name: AW1_Essay1_Final_<Family Name>
  • Please send as a Word document (not pdf).

Today’s class

1. Read the textbook chapter 2, pages 42-44.
2. Read the sample essay.
3. Answer the questions in Practice 1 on looseleaf paper (if you did not hand in your paper, please do so noext week June 17th).
4. Textbook p. 45 Practice 2 (in your textbook).
5. Choose a topic from the list on p. 46.
6. Read Practice 3 (p. 46-7)

Homework:

1. Re-write the first and last paragraphs of your Essay1 (Rewrite) to match your new,  argumentative thesis statement which you wrote in class today.
2. Read the sample essay in the textbook, chapter 2.

Makeup class for May 1st will be July 11. Time and place will be announced later.

Today’s class:

1. Today’s class focused on
   1. thesis statement, and
   2. using evidence to support claims.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is a sentence that states your main argument

1. It must be
   • argumentative
   • capable of advancement or development.
   • concise
   • supported

   E.g.
   1. The purpose of my paper is to discuss dark chocolate.
   2. My paper will explore dark chocolate.

   1 is a purpose statement, but not a thesis statement because it is not argumentative and not capable of advancement. It is concise, but not supported.
   3. In this paper I argue that dark chocolate has more positive benefits than other types of chocolates.
   4. My discussion shows that dark chocolate contributes to people’s happiness and satisfaction.
   Which thesis statement is argumentative?
   1. In his article, Jefferson (2003) insisted that social media was responsible for corrupting the mind of America’s high school students.
   2. Social media can create distractions for high school students as they focus on talking with their friends rather than their studies.
   3. The purpose of this paper is to consider the positive and negative ways that social media affects high school students.

    

TASK: Re-write the thesis statement of your Essay 1 Rewrite to be argumentative.

Using evidence

Statements in academic writing need to be supported by factual details. You will need to support your claims with adequate evidence.

What kind of evidence can be used?

• numbers
• facts
• examples
• personal experience (including your own, but also that of others)
• quotations

TASK: What kind of evidence could you use in your new, argumentative essay? List the types of evidence you might need.

Evidence is the support you give for your statements and arguments. In academic writing, there are strict rules about the evidence you use. You must acknowledge another’s intellectual material every time you use it—words (e.g. single words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs); graphic material (e.g. tables, diagrams, drawings); multimedia sources (e.g. videos, CD-ROMS, Internet).

TASK: Look at handout #1. (You can download handout #1 here: How_to_work_out_less_edt  )

• Is this argumentative writing, or explanatory?
• What is the meaning of the blue words?
• If you click on them, what kind of page do you think you will be taken to?

TASK: Look at handout #2. (You can download handout #2 here: Is_Your_Doctor_Harming_You_edt  )

• Where is the hook?
• What kind of page do you think you will be taken to if yo click on the hyperlink in the first paragraph beneath the title?
• Why does that first paragraph provide all this detail?

Homework:

Write the complete first draft of your problem-solution essay. Write it by hand or type it and print it out and bring it to next week’s class.

Today’s class:

1. Sheffner’s principles of academic writing:
   1. the reader is not interested in you – avoid writing essays where you are the focus
   2. give value to the reader – a fresh point of view, a new or different insight, an original thought or idea, some new information of  interest or value to the reader, something funny or moving.
   3. write about universals, and avoid local topics – write about matters which are common to educated human beings everywhere. Essays such as “My Trip to Okinawa” or “How to do Bonsai” may be interesting, but no-one will read them!
   4. New!! Be as accurate and as truthful as possible – be careful with your statements. “Smoking causes cancer” means smoking always causes cancer, which is not true. Instead, write, “Smoking may cause cancer.”
2. Read the blue paragrapn (Practice 5), p. 50.
   1. Which two sentences tells you the problem?
   2. Which sentence tells you the solution?
3. Write your introductory paragraph.
4. P. 54 F
5. Read p. 56, B
6. P. 58, C and Practice 10.
7. Write the rest of your essay.