Entry N°6

STRUCTURED PARAGRAPH WRITING

      MAIN PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE:

1.    STYLE: Formal

2.    CORRECT PUNTUATION

3.    PARAGRAPHING

      ELEMENTS OF PARAGRAPH:

1.    A distintic piece of writing

2.    Focussed on one main idea

3.    Well organised              COHESION

      QUOLITIES FOR A SUCCESSFUL PARAGRAPH:

1.    UNITY           MAIN IDEA           TOPIC SENTENCE           TOPIC (subject)

                                                                                                                                                                        CONTROLLING IDEA      w-questions

2.    COHERENCE                logical bridges from one sentence to another.

                                                                Repeat key word, use synonyms.

                                                                Use pronouns, transitions words.

3.    DEVELOPMENT               details, evidence

                                                                  Examples

      TEE RULE:  

                      I.        TOPIC SENTE

                    II.        EXPLANATION

                   III.        EXAMPLE, EVALUATION

      INTRODUCTORY :              topic of the assignment (comment on its importance)

                                                                Main argument 

 

      CONCLUSION:

1.    Summarize the main point with different words

2.    State main conclusion

3.    Has the question been answered?

4.    DO NOT: -Introduce new material

                -End with a generalization

                -End with a quotation

REFERENCES

CAGE, K.  Writing structured paragraphs. [ONLINE] Retrieved from: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w183qB0KDFg)

       THE WRITER

       Stereotype:  A conventional, formulaic, and     oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

      The step is how a group of people are regarded by another group of people in that process there is a choice from the moment it is defined the stereotype of a culture and how that stereotype is reinforced by the media, let us take books, newspapers, magazines, films and any other expressive art.

      To begin with, the stereotypes Adichie is exposed to in her childhood about characters in a book were the image of American and British people. Being these “about blue-eyed white children who played in the snow and ate apples”. In addition, as Adichie grew up and become more curious she encountered novels written by African authors. There she could realize that the way she was also projected a stereotype. People like her were also characters of stories. The following quote turned down the possibility of bearing in mind “started believing that I had no place in books”.

      On the top of that, having travelled to The U.S.A to study at university made also her realize that Nigeria stereotype was regarded as “that it was simply a place of natural beauty but with lots of human suffering”. Thought that she had never thought of “Popular images were not enough to describe the whole reality her country lives in”.

In relation to the paragraph about, Adichie wonder if Mexicans were only what the American said what they were. Having being in Guadalajara herself she could prove that Mexican culture was more than popular images “People were going to work, eating, laughing, smoking, just like people in America”. Not just illegal people.

    Coming to a conclusion, over and over again we are shown as set of stereotypes built by a culture of another culture from a single view. However, once within the given stereotype society you realize that there are many more stories to tell. Single persons, individuals, with their worries and happy moments which will not create fiction but real literature.

  Chimmamanda Adichie, spoke on connecting cultures at 2012 commonwealth.  She spoke about her experiences as reader and writer and the importance of what she terms “realistic literature”. She prefers realistic literature to instruct and delight. Then, Literature has the power of transforming facts into truths. She believes that the discovering of reality demystifies that imaginary world creating a truthful connection with the world.  Chimamanda writes the kind of fiction she would like to read.   Besides, Chimamanda writes for whoever enjoys that kind of fiction, due to the fact she is a writer who is not interested in Hobbits or alternative universes, readers who love fiction stories or live in a fairy tale would not be her audience; her books are about real human beings living in real places, what she means real literature. Furthermore, her inspiration comes from her father and her mother’s eyes telling stories. To conclude, realistic literature in books makes her happy and her world goes about her own creation.

 

Sources:

            Adichie, C. (2009). The Danger of the single story. [ONLINE] Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html.

Adiechi, C. (2012). Commonwealth Lecture 2012: Connecting Cultures. [ONLINE] Retrieved from:

 http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/event/commonwealth-lecture-2012. 

Entry N° 4

APA STYLE

In my opinion APA style is the one which is best explained. APA explains how to cite different sources such as books, magazines or web sites etc.

APA style recommends organizing your paper into the following sections: title page, abstract, main body and references.

If we have to cite a book the first thing that has to be mentioned is the author’s surname, followed by the initial letter of his name. After that, the year of publication is going to be included between brackets. Then, the title of the book has to be written using capital letters and italics. Finally, the location and the publisher have to be included, separated with a colon. If we have to cite articles the format provided by APA is the following: Author, A.A, author, B.B, author, C.C. (Year) title of the article. Title of periodical, volume number (issue number) pages.

To cite a magazine, the model is the following: first, the surname and name of the author. After that, and between brackets, the year and date. In italic text type we include the title of the magazine followed by a comma, and the volume and the pages from where the article was taken.

To cite newspapers APA provides the following format: author, A.A. (date). Title of the article. Title of newspaper, page number(s). P for single page and PP for double pages.

To cite an article from an Encyclopedia the first thing to include is the Author, A.A. (date). Title of the article. In the Encyclopedia, (volume, page numbers). City of publication, state of publication: Publisher.

Finally, to cite a web- based source, the format is the following: author, A. (year). Title of journal. Volume, page. Retrieved from http://www.article. Com/full/url.

Sources:

The publication manual of the American Psychological association. Retrieved from http://www.apastyle.org/accessed  on May 15, 2013.

Metacognitive reflection

When we have to experience the writing situation, many things need to be taken into account. The pre-writing process is necessary to determine the genre of our text, plan how the ideas will be presented and organize the information accordingly. In the first version of "I am a writer", I had not paid much attention to the revising and editing steps of writing.  I did not take any notes before writing this text. I did not even write an outline. I planned some basic things in my head and started writing, I am aware this is not the correct way to proceed.

So when I improve the writing I made an outline and a good conclusion, I rearranged words and punctuation. The writing strategies help us to have a clear idea of what we are going to talk about.

Welcome!!!

Hi people!! My name is Mariel; I am attending the last year in The Teaching Training College at ISFD N ° 18. Hopefully I will get my degree this year!!  I do not consider myself as a great writer, but I will do my best!!!!

I am a Writer (Improved)

I am a writer… to be

If I had to choose to be a writer or a reader being these two faces of the same reality; I should go for

 the second one alternative. As a reader one of the most inspiring authors has been Gabriel Garcia 

Marquez, and here I paraphrase his own becoming the writer he is.

“As a child growing up in Aracataca, Colombia, education didn't seem to be one of my strong points.

My parents did little to give me guidance in my school time. I was not forced by my parents to read or write

much when I was younger. Despite my father always advising me to read comics. He said that it was a good

way to improve my writing at school. Nowadays I think, it was the best advice I had ever had.

When my family and I moved up here to Barranquilla, I attended San José Institute. My parents thought

that at san José, my level would improve and I would pass my previous academic level. A part of this was

true. My academic level did improve greatly but the school didn't challenge any of its students. That would

 later change when I came to “Liceo Nacional” where I finished my college.  Liceo Nacional gave me a

demanding curriculum which made me challenge myself and that forced me into becoming a better student

altogether. My writing did suffer because of the lack of experience I had in the previous schools. I remember

one of my papers that I wrote for Mrs. Rojas´s class. It was about my time in Cartagena. It seemed as if my

writing was the equivalent of sixth graders . This paper had made me feel stupid as the level of my

classmates were really good.

The next two years for me were a tremendous step up from what I had written the previous year.  After I

had learned the writing process, my compositions had a more elegant style.

I believe my writing had shown a great deal of improvement since my time at Liceo Nacional

Over the years I've seen my writing improve exceeding my expectations.  One thing that I've learned

through my writing is that many people may find it lacking in numerous ways, but I am positive that my

writing came from all my experiences along my life that make me feel  glad  with my work”.

If I had to choose to become a writer as he is, I would have to recall my single memory of my schooldays

and bring the best of myself. Maybe one day, you will see a famous story signed by me M.A.C.

                               

I am writer (original)

I am a writer

As a child growing up in Aracataca, Colombia, education didn't seem to be one of my strong points.

My parents did little to give me guidance in my school time. I was not forced by my parents to read or write

much when I was younger. Despite my father always advised me to read comics. He said that it was a good

way to improve my writing at school. Nowadays I think, it was the best advice I had ever had.

When my family and I moved up here to Barranquilla, I attended San José institute. My parents thought

that at san José, my level would improve and I would pass my previous academic level. A part of this was

true. My academic level did improve greatly but the school didn't challenge any of its students. That would

 later change when I came to “liceo Nacional” where I finished my college.  Liceo Nacional, gave me a

demanding curriculum which made me challenge myself and that forced me into becoming a better student

altogether. My writing did suffer because of the lack of experience I had in the previous schools. I remember

one of my papers that I wrote for Mrs. Rojas´s class. It was about my time in Cartagena. It seemed as if my

writing was the equivalent of sixth graders . This paper had made me feel stupid as the level of my

classmates were really good.

The next two years for me were a tremendous step up from what I had written the previous year.  After I

had learned the writing process, my compositions had a more elegant style.

I believe my writing had shown a great deal of improvement since my time at Liceo Nacional

Over the years I've seen my writing improve exceeding my expectations.  One thing that I've learned

through my writing is that many people may find it lacking in numerous ways, but I am positive that my

writing came from all my experiences along my life that make me feel  glad  with my work.