ENG101 Expository Essay Writing: Genres, Thesis Statements, and Academic Discourse, Lecture notes of Design Patterns

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Writing in ENG

W-1 WRITING CONTEXTS

W-2 ACADEMIC CONTEXTS

Elements of Writing Contexts  ( The Little Seagull W-1): Refer to your notes.

• Purpose: what are some possible purposes for a piece of writing?
• Audience: who is your audience in Eng101?
• Genre: define the word genre.
• Topic: if your topic is assigned, what could the verbs in the assignment ask you to do?
• Stance and tone: define the word stance.
• Media/Design: what font should you use in Eng101? What size margins?

Process and Product in

Academic Writing

The Academic Writing Process: Read

the assigned text(s)Understand the

text(s)Analyze the text(s)Write an

essay about the text(s)

The product is a particular type of

essay: an EXPOSITORY ESSAY

Expository Essays in ENG 101

According to the Purdue Owl website: “The expository essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea in a clear and concise manner. This can be accomplished through comparison and contrast, definition, example, the analysis of cause and effect, etc.” http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/ 685/02/

2. A clear, appropriately qualified thesis

• In academic writing, you state your central

idea as clearly as possible in a THESIS

STATEMENT.

• The thesis statement is usually at the end of

the INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH.

• QUALIFY your thesis statement: this

means that you show there could be more

than one perspective (opinion) on an issue.

Write a specific thesis.

• State your central idea “in a nutshell”: “Gasoline prices fluctuate for several reasons.”
• Make your thesis more specific by asking questions. Why do they fluctuate? What are the reasons? “Gasoline prices fluctuate because of production processes, consumer demand, international politics, and companies policies.”

Why is the second thesis  more qualified?

• Unqualified thesis: “Giving school age

children computers hurts their academic

performance.”

• Qualified thesis: “Although many

educational experts support giving children

access to computers in schools, there is

increasing evidence that this could be

hurting their academic performance.”

3. A response to what others have said ... the underlying structure of effective academic writing -- and of responsible public discourse -- resides not just in stating our own ideas, but in listening closely to others around us, summarizing their views in a way that they will recognize, and responding with our own ideas in kind. (Graff and Birkenstein 3)** ** They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein

4. Good reasons supported by evidence

• In your ESSAY, you take a position in response to another writer’s ideas.
• You state your position in your THESIS (INRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH).
• You support your thesis with REASONS and EVIDENCE in the BODY PARAGRAPHS.
• Imagine that you are a lawyer defending a client in a courtroom. You must convince the judge and jury to agree with your position.

5. Acknowledgement of multiple perspectives

• All of your essays will discuss the perspectives of several authors: these are your SOURCES.
• You will have at least two perspectives to discuss, and usually three.
• In Essay One, for example, you will discuss Daniel Gilbert’s perspective on happiness.
• You will also present YOUR perspective in response to Gilbert.

The other elements of academic writing

• Evidence that you’ve carefully considered the subject.
• Carefully documented sources: quotation marks, author names, page numbers. Use MLA style.
• A confidant, authoritative stance: write with confidence about your position.
• An indication of why your topic matters: we often explain this in the introductory paragraph.
• Careful attention to correctness: go the Learning Center or eTutoring for help.