How to avoid plagiarism?

Hi class,

Today we're going to talk about the importance of academic integrity and how to avoid plagiarism. To avoid plagiarism, use the following three ways: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. (*Details for how to quote, paragraph, and summarize will be dealt with in ESL115, and ESL114 will not go deep.)

Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word and must be attributed to the original author.

Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.

Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.

If you're more interested in strategies above, you can go to this website to get further information.

Joy

Peer review session

Hello, class,

For today, we had a peer review session, which means you give feedback to your classmate's paper and get comments about your paper at the same time. It's not scary at all like the picture above shows. :D Peer reviews are very helpful and constructive since you can share different perspectives about the same article with your peers, and in so doing you can reflect your own writing based on what you and your peer discussed.

Students from some cultures do not seem comfortable when they give feedback to peers and get comment from others. However, to peer review is totally different from criticism, which is not healthy and constructive. Also, here are some tips that you keep in mind when peer reviewing, so please take a look. As for the youtube video I showed in class, you can find the video in this link.

For yourself:

1. Think of your reviewer as your partner. Be grateful to their help!

2. Tell your reviewer about the purpose and audience. Don't simply ask reviewers to "look it over".

3. Tell your reviewers what you want them to do. Direct their attention to the particular features you want to have advice about.

4. Stifle your tendency to be defensive. (à It’s quite important because we tend to view suggestions as criticisms. This may halt the willingness of reviewers to give feedback.)

5. Ask your reviewers to explain the reasons for their suggestions.

6. Take notes on your reviewers' suggestions. Don't just let them go!

For reviewers:

1. Think of yourself as a coach, not a judge.

2. Consider all writing by your peer as “works in progress.”

3. After hearing or reading a peer’s writing, briefly summarize it to check that you and your peer are clear about what the peer said or meant to say.

4. Start with what you think is well done. No one likes to hear only negative comments.

5. Be honest in your suggestions for improvement.

6. Based your responses on an understanding of the writing process, and remember that you’re reading drafts, not finished products. All writing can be revised.

7. Give concrete and specific responses. General comments such as “This is good” or “This is weak” don’t offer much help. Describe specifically what is good or weak.

Joy

Writing conclusions

Hi class,

For today, we talked about a concluding paragraph. Compared to introductions and body paragraphs, it is bit of simple to write a conclusion as long as you keep some guidelines. In class, we looked at several tips for a concluding paragraph as follows:

1. Restate your thesis statement (normally in the first sentence),
2. Summarize your topic/central ideas and why they are important,
3. Provide a sense of closure or “wrapping up.” (e.g. by using transitional expressions)
4. Call for action or overview future research possibilities.
5. Briefly state a forecast or warning based on facts developed in the paper.

You do not always have to provide possibilities or forecasts in your paper, and it depends on kinds of your paper. However, if you just follow the tips for 1, 2, and 3, it would be a good start to practice writing a conclusion.

Next class, we're going to have a peer review session, so be sure to finish revising paper at least by body paragraphs. Keep working on it!

Joy

Writing body paragraphs

Hi class,

Today, we talked about body paragraphs, and how we make body paragraphs effective. As I said in class, body paragraphs support your main idea, which is expressed in a thesis statement. Also, each body paragraph has a topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence. However, a concluding sentence may be optional depending of the flow of sentences.

Body paragraphs are also required to have features like unity and coherence. I mentioned several techniques in class, if you want to take a look at them again, click on here.

Next class, we're going to work on body paragraphs using diagnostic papers, so be sure to bring your paper with you. Again, don't discard it!

See you on Friday.

Joy

Keep in mind

"There is no great writing, only great re-writing."
Justice Brandeis

"By writing much, one learns to write well."
Robert Southey

"The only way to learn to write is to write."
Peggy Teeters

Please bear in mind that you are the only one who is in charge of improving your writing skill.

Joy

An introductory paragraph

Hi all,

Today, we talked about an introductory paragraph and a thesis statement. As I mentioned in class, an introduction (1) gives a direction of what you're going to talk about, and (2) it plays an eye catcher's role.

First, to show readers a direction about where to go, an introductory paragraph needs to have a clear thesis statement, which has to be specific, reliable, and interesting. As well, to attract your readers, you can use sources such as historical reviews, anecdotes, famous people, statistics, and surprising statements.

This could sound simple and easy. However, since you're not professional writers, so you need to try to refine an introductory paragraph always remembering those tips above. You need to practice writing consciously at first, but once you get used to writing an academic writing, you don't have to remember all the tips whenever you write a paper.

Here's the pdf file for the presentation. If you want to take a look at it again, download the file.

Joy

Free computer-based speaking test

If you are interested in free computer-based speaking test, please contact Young-mi Kim at ymk@illinois.edu. For more information, click on the picture above.

Joy

Pre-writing

Hi all,

Today, we talked about the writing process. The term, writing process, would not seem to be familiar to you. But, yes! There is a process when you write. Even though you do not recognize every single step you make, there exist several steps to finish writing.

First, we looked at a big picture when approaching to writing, and then we moved on how we get prepared for writing. We often call this first step 'pre-writing,' which literally means 'something we do before we write.'

In class, we also talked about specific strategies about prewriting, such as freewriting, brainstorming, and mapping&clustering, so we can actually practice the skills for writing. Hope these strategies work for you. See you next class.

Joy

Writing a journal

Hi all,

If you're struggling with finding topics for journals, here are some examples:

• What do you think someone your age can do to help reduce the amount of pollution in our environment?
• What do you think the world needs now?
• What do you think your friends say to each other when you're not around?
• What do you think about the amount of violence on T.V.?
• What do you think about people polluting the environment?
• What do you think about having set rules for people to follow?
• What do you think about people who are inconsiderate of others?
• What do you think the world will be like when you are a grown up?
• What do you think about ghosts?
• What do you think of someone who has bad manners?
• What do you think about people who take advantage of others?
• What do you think about when you can't fall asleep?
• What do you think courage means?
• What do you think makes a good friend?
• What do you think makes a happy family?
• What pollutants do you think do the most damage and why?
• What things do you think are beautiful?
• What do you think about students having to wear school uniforms?

You can also choose any topic whatever you want to write about except for the topics above. For your information, each entry should be a minimum of 400 words. You don't have to submit the journal by email. Instead, just post your journal to your own Blog. Plus, writing a journal is ongoing assignment, and you need to submit it every other week. The next journal will be due midnight Sunday (9/27). Good luck.

Joy

If you want to look like a good student...

Hi class,

I know all of you are freshmen, and this semester is your first semester in your university life. Here's a good tip when you email your professors or TAs. You guys definitely want to look like a good student in class, then start with this simple tip:

How to e-mail a professor (by Michael Leddy)

I've read enough e-mails to know that many college students could benefit from some guidelines for writing an e-mail to a professor. Here they are:

Write from your college or university e-mail account. That immediately lets your professor see that your e-mail is legitimate and not spam. The cryptic or cutesy or salacious personal e-mail address that might be okay when you send an e-mail to a friend is not appropriate when you're writing to a professor.

Include the course number in your subject line. "Question about 3009 assignment" is clear and sounds genuine, while "a question" looks like spam. "Question about English assignment" or "question about assignment," without identifying the class you're in, may leave your professor with the chore of figuring that out. For someone teaching large lecture classes, that might mean reading through hundreds of names on rosters. But even for a professor with smaller classes, it's a drag to get an e-mail that merely says "I'm in your English class and need the assignment." All your English professor's classes are English classes; she or he still needs to know which one is yours.

Consider, in light of this advice, the following examples:

An e-mail from "qtpie2005" with the subject line "question."

An e-mail from an university account with the subject line "question about English 2011 essay."

Which one looks legitimate? Which one looks like spam?

Think about what you're saying. Most students are not accustomed to writing to their professors. Here are some ways to do it well:

Choose an appropriate greeting. "Hi/Hello Professor [Blank]" is always appropriate. Substitute "Dear" and you've ended up writing a letter; leave out "Hi" and your tone is too brusque.

Avoid rote apologies for missing class. Most professors are tired of hearing those standard apologies and acts of contrition. If you missed class because of some especially serious or sad circumstances, it might be better to mention that in person than in an e-mail.

Ask politely. "Could you e-mail me the page numbers for the next reading? Thanks!" is a lot better than "I need the assignment."

Proofread what you've written. You want your e-mail to show you in the best possible light.

Sign with your full name, course number, and meeting time.

Maggie Simpson
English 3703, MWF 10:00

Signing is an obvious courtesy, and it eliminates the need for stilted self-identification ("I am a student in your such-and-such class").

One don't, and one last do:

Don't send unexpected attachments. It's bad form. Attaching an essay with a request that your professor look it over is very bad form. Arrange to meet your professor during office hours or by appointment instead. It's especially bad form to send an e-mail that says "I won't be in class today," with a paper or some other coursework attached. Think about it: Your professor is supposed to print out your essay because you're not coming to class?

When you get a reply, say thanks. Just hit Reply and say "Thanks," or a little bit more if that's appropriate. The old subject line (which will now have a "Re:" in front) will make the context clear. I don't think that you need to include a greeting with a short reply, at least not if you refer to your professor in your reply. And you don't need to identify yourself by course number and meeting time again.

Many e-mail messages end up never reaching their intended recipients, for reasons of human and technological error, so it's always appropriate to acknowledge that someone's message got through. It's also plain courtesy to say thanks. (Your professor will remember it too.) When you reply, you should delete almost everything of your professor's reply (quoting everything is rarely appropriate in e-mail). Leave just enough to make the original context clear.

So what would a good e-mail to a professor look like?

Hi Professor Leddy,

I'm working on my essay on William Carlos Williams and I'm not sure what to make of the last stanza of "Spring and All." I'm stuck trying to figure out what "It" is. Do you have a suggestion? Thanks!

Maggie Simpson
Eng 3703, MWF 10:00

And a subsequent note of thanks:

> "It" is most likely spring, or life itself. But have you
> looked up "quicken"? That'll probably make
> "It" much clearer.

It sure did. Thanks for your help, Professor.

Maggie Simpson

-----------------------------------------------
(This post is from http://mleddy.blogspot.com/2005/01/how-to-e-mail-professor.html, which is Orange Create Art.)

Here are our blogs! :D

Hello, class!
Today, we created our own blogs, so feel free to bookmark you classmates' websites and to visit them. Your blog can be used not only for journals but for your personal interests.
Here are your classmates' blogger sites:
(If I miss your blog, please let me know so I can add your website.)

• Nicky Zhang: .http://jiajunpenghuijiachifan.blogspot.com/
• Chris Lin: http://justaeslstudent.blogspot.com/
• Ja young Kang:http://wkdudholly.blogspot.com/
• Xiufu Wang: http://wangxiufu.blogspot.com
• Christy Wang: http://krysistie.blogspot.com/
• Da Wei: http://daweichina.blogspot.com/
• Xin Zhang: http://www.esl114xinzhang.blogspot.com/
• Fiona Yu: http://fionainlovewithuiuc.blogspot.com
• Maple Lin: http://mapleyingjielin.blogspot.com/

Also, feel free to leave any comments about postings on this website. :D
Enjoy blogging!

Joy

Cultural differences

Hi guys!

Today, we talked about cultural differences we could face in the U.S. In fact, we can recognize the differences not only in a real life but in American academic writings, and this will an issue that you need to think about for this semester as well.

We talked about a script about a movie, Writing across borders, and we found that students from different cultures may go through what they've never experienced before. As for the materials we talked about, if you need the script, please click on here. Also, if you need the pictures that we saw in class, please click on here.

Plus, we're going to meet in G23, FLB next Friday as I said in class. For homework, please refer to the announcement for the homework menu on the right. I've been checking every single homework and attendance since the semester began, so please be sure to visit the website as often as possible to check out assignments.

Good luck!
Joy

How to start Blogger and Twitter

As the first day handout says, you need to write a journal every other week, and it'll be ongoing assignments even though I don't mention it in class.

As I talked about, you may use either Blogger or Twitter. I know many of you haven't heard about these websites before, so you might don't have any idea about the first step to move on. However, you do NOT worry at all! It's a really piece of cake! I want to ENCOURAGE (not "force") you to use one of them once you stay in the U.S. From now on, you're going to meet a lot of friends with different backgrounds on campus, and those websites will be interesting playgrounds for you guys to build great social networks!

Also, we'll be having a class in a computer lab this Friday, so everyone can join the websites finally. However, before we have a class in a lab, I want you to take a look at tutorials about how to start Blogger or Twitter, and here are Youtube videos about using the sites.





Enjoy Blogging or Twittering!
Joy

Canoe Trip

Hi class,

Are you looking for something fun to do this weekend? :D
Please make sure there's no holiday until fall break, which will be right before the end of the semester. So this labor day probably would be a last chance for you guys to go somewhere else with no worries!

Here's good information about a canoe trip, which costs only $20! If you're interested in an outdoor activity, just go for it, and have fun!

For more information, please go to the following site:
http://intcoffeehouse.blogspot.com/

Joy

Week 1, Day 1

Hello, class!

Welcome to week one and to the class blog. I'll be posting the outline for each day's lesson on this site. You' re not going to get lost if you keep on tracking postings on this blog.

On the first day, you're going to get to know each other by introducing yourselves since you'll meet new classmates and a new teacher! It's going to be exciting! Also, I'm going to pass out a handout, which explains this course. If you miss the first class, please download the handout so you can know about the course. Also, here's homework for the first class:

1. Visit our class website, and bookmark it in your computer. Please take a look at the site, and email me at ee2@illinois.edu to prove you visit the site.

Hope you had lots of fun on your first day in U of Illinois. See you in class! :D

Joy

Greetings!

Hello, class!
Welcome to the ESL 114 site!

This course is about an introduction to academic writing for undergraduate students from non-English speaking countries. All of you are internationals, so you might feel unfamiliar with a different language, different environment, different currency, and finally different academic writing styles in the United States! However, don't panic at all! You'll be getting used to the American academic writing step by step, so you're able to get a general understanding of it at the end of this semester.

On the first day, we're going to meet in room G20 Foreign Language Building, which is a red brick building next to Foellinger Auditorium, and this room will be our classroom for the entire semester except for some lab experiences. Hope everyone can easily find the building.

Plus, I expect some confusion for a while at the beginning of the semester as always, but again, do NOT panic at all. I'm not going anywhere, and will be here next to you. Please feel free to contact me or ask me at ee2@illinois.edu when you have problems. If you see this posting at home drinking coke, chatting with your roommate, then you're on the right track! Keep on following me! :D

Joy