GENERAL FEEDBACK ON YOUR OPINION ESSAYS

- The introduction presents information from general to specific and the

Thesis Statement (last sentence) states the topic and opinion.
- Opinion essays need words and phrases to make it clear that it is an
opinion essay, not a descriptive one.
- The Espaciado should be 0 (not 8) and the Interlineado Doble.
- Márgenes: 2,54 cm en toda la hoja.
- References: section at the end of your essay on a separate page. The
word References should be centered. This section includes every
source mentioned in your essay.
- “You” and “your” and “we”and “us”are usually avoided in Formal
essays. The tendency is to make it as impersonal as possible. The
same happens with telling experiences; it is better to avoid phrases
like “I did/watched/etc.” The “I” is used to state your opinion, no
doubts.
- Very Serious language mistakes are:
1) problems with verbs in the Present Simple (adding s when it is not
necessary or not adding it when it is necessary)
2) problems with agreement between Singular and Plural Forms (e.g.
this activities).
3) problems with “-ed”and “-ing” adjectives like “stressed” and
“stressful’, “relaxed” and “relaxing”.
4) problems with type of words, e.g. “relax” and “relaxing”
5) problems with agreement between Subject and Verb in Relative
Clauses, e.g. “Power Posing is a technique that give…” or “Students
are the people who makes…”
6) problems with use of the article “the”. Don’t use it when you refer to
something or somebody in general, e.g. “students” but if you mean
“the students” in the video, then it is correct.
- Parallelism involves examples like “Students can learn to be…, to do …
and to overcome…”In this case, the second and third “to” should be
deleted because it has already been mentioned the first time. The
same happens when it is said “Students do…, they study… and they
learn…” Only the first subject is necessary to be mentioned, of
course, if all the clauses have the same subject.
- Punctuation must be correctly used. Avoid comma splice, run-on
sentences and fragments. Use the colon more, e.g. when you are
mentioning important info - don’t use brackets or commas.
- Cite every necessary source when you are using their exact words or
mentioning them. Follow APA rules. https://drive.google.com/open?
id=11WBqmov7I_ww5_uxQ1NLXg7oT_thpyx1
https://owl.purdue.edu/
https://www.citethisforme.com/es/apa
- Use a wide variety of vocabulary, grammatical forms and clause types.
Do not repeat. Use other types of words in the same word family.
- Pay attention to collocations and use variety, e.g. “do a power pose”
could also be “strike/ get into a pose”.
- Do an Outline BEFORE writing your essay, not afterwards. That is not
the purpose of outlines.
- Answer the task: “Then write an opinion essay (at least 300 words) on
whether you agree with this idea of power posing at school and why
(not).” Then this essay was not supposed to be about “power posing”
or “body language” in general.
- One sentence cannot be a whole paragraph.
- Every paragraph should start with a Topic Sentence and then have
three or more Supporting Sentences.
- Titles do not usually contain finite clauses and are short (12 max)
- Counterargument paragraphs should have one or two sentences
about what the opponents say, but then, immediately after, three
and more sentences about the refutation to that criticism… This
paragraph should not contain any quotes that support what the
opponents say; otherwise, it would be validating their voice. We just
mention what opponents say to seem polite and fair, but it is
essentially to show they are wrong and validate our own argument.
1) Every source you have quoted, summarized or rephrased in your
paper (in-text citation) has to be mentioned in a separate sheet with the
title:
APA = References (MLA = Works Cited)
BIBLIOGRAPHY includes every source cited in your paper and every
source consulted during your research.
This is ONLY asked to be included as such by some universities or
research papers. Don't include it unless you're required to.
2) How to cite a TED TALK in References:
- If you viewed the talk on the TED website:
Speaker, A. A. (date). Title of talk [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com.rest_of_URL
Example:
Aduaka, N. (2007, June). Newton Aduaka: The story of Ezra [Video file].
Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/talks/newton_aduaka_tells_the_story_of_ezra
- However, if you viewed the TED talk on YouTube, list whoever posted it
(usually TED) in the author space:
TED. (2008, November 4). Newton Aduaka: The story of Ezra [Video file].
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLXsUgL_wpc
You'll notice the date it was posted on YouTube might be different than
the date it was recorded for the TED website.
3) How to cite an online magazine article in References:
https://valenciacollege.edu/students/library/mla-apa-chicago-
guides/documents/OnlineNewspaperMagazineArticlesAPA6.pdf
4) How to cite a video (BBC, YOUTUBE, etc.) in References:
The general format is as follows:
Author, A. A. [Screen name]. (year, month day). Title of video
[Video file]. Retrieved from http://xxxxx
Example:
Apsolon, M. [markapsolon]. (2011, September 9). Real ghost girl caught
on Video Tape 14 [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nyGCbxD848
On YouTube, the screen name is most prominent. If the user’s real name
is not available, include only the screen name, without brackets:
Screen name. (year, month day). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved
from http://xxxxx
Example:
Bellofolletti. (2009, April 8). Ghost caught on surveillance camera [Video
file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=Dq1ms2JhYBI&feature=related