Transcript 幻灯片 1 - 北京外国语大学网络教育学院官网

Improving Your English Writing:
An Overview
Tutor: Isabel Yajiao Deng
Oct. 11, 2012
Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready
man; and writing an exact man.
- Sir Francis Bacon: Of Studies
阅读使人充实，交谈使人机智，写作使人严谨。
Why do I need to improve my English writing?
• Writing to express: to share and exchange
information or opinions through writing on a
daily basis.
• Writing as a thinking tool: the writing process
helps clarify our thinking.
Agenda
I. The Writing Process (写作过程)
II. English Writing Conventions (英语写作规
范)
III. Pitfalls to Avoid in English Writing (写
作误区)
IV. Useful Resources (有用资源)
Common Problems
• Writer’s Block: A blank mind in front
of a blank piece of paper;
• Brief essays with general statements
only but little substance;
• Language problems:
grammar, vocabulary, style
Step 1:
Consider Your Audience
• Their Interest
• Their Knowledge
• Their Purpose
Audience-awareness
• Who is going to read what I write?
• Why will my readers care about this issue?
• What will my readers want or need to know
about this issue?
• What do my readers already know about this
issue?
• What do I want my readers to learn about
the issue?
• If I am trying to persuade my readers of
something, how easily will they be
persuaded?
• What will my readers use my writing for?
Step 2: Select Your Purpose
Possible Purposes:
•to express or share
•to entertain or give aesthetic
pleasure
•to inform
•to persuade
Step 3:
Invention 1
• To invent: to develop a topic (to narrow the general
topic down and to identify a manageable topic to
work on)
• Brainstorming: Getting your ideas on paper so you
can give yourself the widest range of topics possible
• Brainstorming Techniques:
– Listing
– Clustering
– Free-writing
Brainstorming
Clustering: Mapping out ideas
Step 3: Invention 2
• Asking journalists’ questions about
the assigned general topic:
–Who?
–What?
–When?
–Where?
–Why?
–How?
Step 3: Invention 3
Rhetoric devices:
•
•
•
•
•
Compare and contrast
Cause and effect
Problem and solution
Analysis
Classification
Step 4: Collection
• Gathering ideas: books, magazines,
the Internet, and discussions
• Locating and evaluating research
• Conducting interviews
Step 5: Organizing: putting
information in an outline
OUTLINE
I.
Introduction
A. Grab attention
B. State thesis
II.
Body
A. Build points
B. Develop ideas
C. Support main claim
III. Conclusion
A. Reemphasize main
idea
Step 6: Drafting
• Give yourself ample
time to work on
your project.
• Find a comfortable
place to do your
writing.
• Avoid distractions.
• Take breaks.
Step 7: Revising: reviewing
ideas
• Review higher-order
concerns:
–Clear communication of
ideas
–Organization of paper
–Paragraph structure
–Strong introduction
and conclusion
Step 8: Proofreading
• Review laterorder concerns:
–Spelling
–Punctuation
–Sentence
structure &
grammar
the Writing Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Pre-writing
Writing
Re-writing
Audience
Purpose
Invention
Collection
Organizing
Drafting
1. Revising
2. Proofreading
Agenda
I. The Writing Process (写作过程)
II. English Writing Conventions (英语写作规
范)
III. Pitfalls to Avoid in English Writing (写
作误区)
IV. Useful Resources (有用资源)
English Writing Conventions
What makes good writing?
a. Layout
b. Language
c. Organization
a. Layout
Manuscript Preparation Issues
•
•
•
Punctuation Marks
Capitalization
Formatting Issues:
–
字体、字号、首行缩进、行距、页码设置、
封面格式等等
Are they OK to you?
1. Online learning classroom is not a dream.We
can achieve it!
2. This will be free style essay :it can be
scientific, or imaginative .
3. Does it accurately state your main idea?Is it
in fact supported by the paper?Does it need
to be changed in any way?
b. Language
Language Issues:
vocabulary and grammar
• Accuracy
• Effectiveness
• Variety
c. Organization
Writing Issues:
unity, coherence and organization
Good writing?
• We live in a world in which science and technology is
developing very quickly. The development of science needs
scientists from all over the world to exchange their work
more and more frequently. However, the scientists usually
come from different countries and speak different languages.
If there isn’t a common language that can be understood by
everybody, they won’t understand each other. What’s more,
we wish to know what others are doing and what experiences
and knowledge we should learn to improve our work, so we
must master the foreign language. However, there are
countless languages in the world. And we can’t learn all of
them. Fortunately, there is one kind of language that is
commonly used all over the world—English. Most of the
important academic journals are in English, and all the
international academic meetings use English. If we master
English, we can go to any corner of the world to communicate
with the people without knowing their mother tongues. So
English is important to scientists.
Revision
• English is important to scientist because English, as the
vehicle of information, is the most widely used language in
the scientific world. According to statistics, most of the
scientific academic journals are in English. Most of the world
important academic meetings use English as the working
language. And most of the scientists of the world can speak,
read, and write English. So, when it comes for scientists from
all over the world to exchange their work experiences, the
only bridge to mend the language gap is English. As far as
China is concerned, if our scientists want to know what the
outside scientific world is doing and what they should learn
from it, the best vehicle of information to decide on is, no
doubt, English. Therefore, English plays a very important role
in the academic life of scientists.
Kaplan’s theory:
The Asian 'approach by indirection'
• In the Asian rhetorical mode, the writer avoids a direct delineation of
thesis (i.e., statement of topic) in the opening sections of text. The thesis
may be mentioned towards the middle of the text, towards the end, or
indeed perhaps never clearly at all. It is left to the reader to assemble the
main thrust of the argument, based upon the clues in the text.
• The loops revolve around the topic and view it from a variety of positions,
but never address it directly.
For clarity’s sake:
Place Points
before
Particulars!!!
主旨/论点先行，论据随后。
Good Writing?
① Different people spend their weekends
in different ways．②Some enjoy going to
the mountains to hike， ski or just relax．
③Water skiing is much more difficult than
snow skiing．④Others prefer going to the
beach to enjoy the seashore activities and
to get a suntan．⑤ Some of these people
work very hard during the week；others
have rather relaxing jobs．⑥ Still others
like to relax by staying home and reading a
good book．
Convention: Unity
• Definition: The entire paragraph/essay should
concern itself with a single focus. If it begins
with one focus or major point of discussion, it
should not end with another or wander within
different ideas.
Convention: Coherence
• Definition: Coherence is the trait that makes
the paragraph/essay easy to follow and
understand to a reader.
Identifying logical and verbal bridges:
Life in the city is quite different from life in the
suburbs. People living in the city are constantly
exposed to the hustle and bustle of urban
life．But life in the suburbs is generally quiet and
casual and generally more low-key than in the
city．If city dwellers want to see trees and grass，
they must go to one of the public parks．On the
other hand，the streets of many suburban
communities are lined with trees and shrubs，
and each house has its own grassy yard．A
person living in the city is close to many sources
of entertainment，but people living in suburban
areas must go into the city for entertainment．
Convention: Coherence
Coherence Devices
Verbal Bridges:
–
–
–
–
Pronouns
Synonyms
Repetition of key words or phrases
Demonstrative pronouns
Logical Bridges:
– Connectors (transitional words/phrases: therefore, on
the other hand, otherwise, for example, etc.)
Tense Use:
– Consistent and proper tense to avoid unintentional
transporting (穿越 ）
Features of English academic writing
• Writing is linear.
• It is the writer’s responsibility to convey
his/her ideas clearly and effectively to the
reader.
So, some challenging news for the writer: If the
reader does not follow you, it is your
responsibility.
Agenda
I. The Writing Process (写作过程)
II. English Writing Conventions (英语写作规
范)
III. Pitfalls to Avoid in English Writing (写
作误区)
IV. Useful Resources (有用资源)
a. Avoid Absolute Statements
1.
2.
3.
Chinese people do not wait their turn and will squeeze
their way onto the bus.
Americans are aggressive and assertive in business
situations.
All Americans like to show off their talents and material
wealth.
1. Americans sometimes form a line at the bus stop while
waiting for the bus.
2. People from Latin America do not think it is polite to
make direct eye contact in certain situations.
3. Japanese are used to living in relatively small space,
and they know they sometimes can’t avoid bumping
someone accidentally. Therefore, Japanese probably
won’t apologize if they bump into you in an elevator.
b. Avoid “Random” Writing
Everyone has her own lening methods.language
is a skill,It is learned through practice
reading enough information about it.
Tentative Revision:
People may have various strategies when
it comes to the learning of a language. One
way to improve language learning would be
ample reading practice. …
c. Avoid Excessive Coordination
• In order to improve ability on business, I
would like to attend the training during my
free time. I always feel tired after the five
working days. I don’t want to spend any more
time on traffic jam during weekend. The
online training is a good method to solve this
problem. I do not have to set up meeting
times and travel great distances in order to
work on a classroom project.
Agenda
I. The Writing Process (写作过程)
II. English Writing Conventions (英语写作规范)
III. Pitfalls to Avoid in English Writing (写作
误区)
IV. Useful Resources (有用资源)
Recommended Writing Resources
参考书资源
• 《牛津同义词词典》
The Oxford Thesaurus – An A-Z Dictionary
of Synonyms
• 《朗文简明英语联想活用词典》
Longman Essential Activator
词汇提高资源
• 《Townsend Press英语词汇学习丛书》
（共六册）
Recommended Writing Resources
写作书籍资源
•
•
•
•
The Elements of Style (by Strunk & White)
On Writing Well (by William Zinsser)
Writing Analytically (by David Rosenwasser )
Beyond Feelings (by Vincent R. Ruggiero)
Recommended Online Resources
视频资源
• 《英语写作系列课程视频》 (The Complete
Upgrade Your Writing Series)
• 《英语语法写作系列课程视频》 (English
Grammar Series)
http://www.youku.com/playlist_show/id_34423
84.html
Recommended Testing Resources
免费英语测试
http://www.beiwaibest.com/
Three “A” training
Awareness training: One can’t write well if
he has no knowledge of features of good
writing.
Application training: One can’t write well if
he has no skill of applying features of good
writing to his own writing.
Assessment training: One can’t write well if
he has no technique of critically reviewing
his own writing and sustainably making
progress.
Road to Success
Extracurricular Reading/Writing
• 精读、泛读结合
• 精写、泛写结合
• Improve your feel for the language
• Raise your language awareness
• Create writing opportunities
Sample use of Model Passages
Read aloud; Recite 朗读背诵: the feel for
the language
Dictation 听写: language awareness 普特听写
文本比较：
http://home.putclub.com/tools/find/
 Modeling 摹写: awareness for the language
and organization
Take-home Messages
• Writing is a process.
• Writing involves thinking.
• Writing is rewriting.
Thank you for your
participation.
Good luck in your academic
endeavors!