ELP 022 Intermediate Writing

July 10 - First Journal Entry Assignment

Due Tuesday July 15
Write a paragraph about yourself.
This should be a definition paragraph of 5 to 10 sentences. It should
include the four features of a paragraph that we have learned (see
pages 9-10):
1. A topic sentence that states the main idea
2. All of the sentences should be about one topic (you).
3. The first line of the paragraph should be indented.
4. The concluding sentence should bring the paragraph to a
logical conclusion.

You dont need to tell the reader everything about yourself. Its
better if you choose a specific area of interest like your home life,
sports activities, professional activities, or your native country.
Try to focus on the you aspect.
Example:
(1)My name is Mei Ling and I come from Beijing, China. (2)My
favorite part of life in China is that there are many opportunities for
success in business. (3)To prepare myself for a career in business, I
went to the university in Beijing and studied business
administration and marketing. (4)I took many interesting courses
that will help me to get a job with a company in the travel industry.
(5)I want to work in the travel industry because I love learning
foreign languages and going to new places. (6)I hope after some
years of working for a travel agency in Beijing, my education and
experience will help me to open a travel agency of my own in the
future.

In the paragraph above, notice that in the topic sentence (sentence
#1), the writer introduces herself in general terms giving her name
and where she comes from.
In the sentences that follow, (#2-5) the writer informs us about her
favorite thing about her home country and then gives some detail
about what her hopes for herself in her countryher plans to go
into business and how she prepared for them. In the concluding
sentence (#6), she joins the information about her education, her
experience, and her hopes for in her future together to reach a
statement that brings all the ideas in the paragraph to a conclusion.
This is a logical progression of ideas and a clearly stated conclusive
final sentence.