Overview

This course equips the learners reading and writing skills. It requires students to

think critically and demonstrate critical thinking, (organizing skills), fundamentals

reading skills, selecting and organizing information and patterns of development

and critical reading Skills. In addition, Reading and Writing involves analyzing

texts, building effective arguments and introduces the Process of writing (stages

of writing).

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Fundamentals of Writing

➢ The writing Process (stages of writing)

➢ Principles of Effective Writing

➢ Thesis Statement, Topic Sentence, and Supporting Details

➢ Academic and Professional Writing

THE WRITING PROCESS (STAGES OF WRITING)

1. PREWRITING – find a topic; establish your purpose and audience; research

and plan your writing.

2. DRAFTING- organize your thoughts; get an introduction, body and conclusion

on paper in rough form.

3. REVISING/EDITING – improve content , structure and flow of your writing.

4. PROOFREADING- check for errors in spelling, grammar, and mechanics.

5. PUBLISHING/PRESENTING – prepare writing for oral or written presentation

A composition can either be a paragraph or an essay. A paragraph is a group of

interrelated sentences that talk about one main idea while an essay is a group of

paragraphs that talk about one central idea.

A paragraph is composed of three major parts: the topic sentence, the body which

consists of the supporting details, and the closing sentence.

PROPERTIES OF A WELL- WRITTEN TEXT

 Unity - is achieved when composition contains one focused idea.

 Coherence and Cohesion – achieved when ideas are logically, clearly and

smoothly linked to one another. Coherence occurs when ideas are connected at

the conceptual or idea level. Cohesion is the connection of ideas at the sentence

level.

❖ Use of pronouns to refrain from using a specific word repeatedly.

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 ❖ The use of transitional devices to connect sentences with linked ideas.

❖ Employs a repetition of keywords to tie up paragraphs subtly.

 Organization- is achieved when ideas are logically and accurately arranged.

 Language use- one of the clearest indicators of a well-written text.

 Mechanics – technical aspects

Mechanics

✓ Always use standard English

✓ Avoid contractions (e.g, shouldn’t)

✓ Avoid exclamation mark unless they are part of a direct quotation.

✓ Mention the full name of an institution or organization with the abbreviation in

parenthesis, in first mention. Thereafter, use the abbreviation.

✓ Numbers from zero to ten should be spelled out while numbers higher than ten

should be written in figures.

Generally, citations are used in academic and formal texts.

Thesis Statement, topic Sentence, and supporting Details

 In writing a paragraph or an essay, your chief guides are the thesis statement and

the topic sentence, respectively; the topic sentence in your paragraph is then

reinforced by supporting details.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is the central idea of multiple – paragraph composition. It is one

sentence summary that guides, controls, and unifies ideas when writing a paper. In simple

terms, all the other ideas present in an essay revolve around the thesis statement.

Generating a thesis statement can be done through various methods.

 Topic: Jogging

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  Question: why is jogging beneficial?

 Thesis Statement: Jogging is beneficial

One strategy that you can use in writing a thesis statement is asking a question. After

identifying the topic, ask a question that would entail multiple details. The answer to this

question is most likely your thesis statement.

How to Write an Effective Thesis statement

✓ It should be written in a complete sentence with a clearly stated subject.

✓ It should not be too narrow nor too broad, and it should contain at least two details.

✓ Avoid an awkward thesis statement which states the obvious. These statements

start with the phrase “ I will tell you..” or “ I will talk about..”

✓ Enumerated details should have the same level of significance. If one of the details

can be classified under another detail, you can omit it.

✓ It should not state an absolute fact, because it will not present any central idea that

can be developed further. It should have a point.

Topic Sentence

 A topic sentence guides, controls, and unifies ideas in a paragraph. It develops

one argument of the thesis statement.

 A topic sentence can either be explicitly or implicitly stated. An explicitly stated

topic sentence can be placed in four different locations: at the beginning, at the

middle, at the end a paragraph, or at the start and end of a paragraph. An implied

topic sentence, on the other hand , is not directly seen in a paragraph. It is up to

the readers to deduce what the topic sentence is.

The thesis statement and the topic sentence are very much related to each other

. Basically, the topic sentence develops the details in the thesis statement; if the

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 thesis statement contains three details, then the paper will have three topic

sentences.

 Topic: Jogging

 Question: why is jogging beneficial?

 Thesis Statement : Jogging is beneficial because it positively affects physical

wellbeing and mental fitness.

 Topic sentence 1: jogging positively impacts one’s physical wellness by preventing

hypertension and other diseases.

 Topic sentence 2: Another benefit of jogging is that it maintains mental fitness.

 A topic sentence has one subject ( similar to the subject of the thesis statement )

and one detail

Supporting Details

A composition is incomplete without the supporting details. These details are pieces of

information necessary to better understand the main idea. They can be facts, reasons,

testimonies, statistics, and experiments that support the topic sentence. Supporting

details are divided into two levels: major details and minor details. Major details directly

support the topic sentence whereas minor details directly support the major details.

Academic and Professional Writing

Components of Academic and Professional Writing

Academic Writing

Is a type of writing produced by students in an academic setting. Its purpose is to inform

and persuade , not to entertain.

Example :

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Academic essays , book reviews, literature reviews , research report , project proposal,

position papers, and reaction papers.

Professional Writing

 Is any type of written communication done specifically in a professional context; it

is most often applied in business and technical writing.

 Involves private businesses , government corporations and offices , and academic

institutions which produce online and offline documents that aim to communicate

information to a particular audience.

1. Context- refers to the situation where professional writing is performed. It

includes the people involved ( i.e, the sender and the receiver ), relationship

between the people involved in the communication, time and place , and some

possible interferences.

2. Message- refers to the content of your document. It includes the main topic

and the details that support it. These details may be in the form of facts,

statistics, testimonies, and observation.

3. Language- refers to the channel used to convey the message. It can either be

visual or textual, formal or informal , verbal and non – verbal.

4. Purpose- Purpose is the reason or motive that you have when communicating.

5. Audience- Is the receiver of the message. It can either be primary ( i.e., the

direct receiver of your document ) secondary ( i.e., the indirect receiver of your

document ).

6. Product- refers to the output that you intend to produce after considering all

the other components.

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 REFERENCE
Anderson, L.W&Krathwohl. D.R. (2001)/ A taxonomy for learning teaching, and
assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York:
Longman.
Chaffee, J., McMahon., & Stout. (2005).Critical thinking, thoughtful writing: A rhetoric with
readings (34rd ed.).Massachusetts, USA:Houghton Mifflin.
https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/fiction/w/plot-planning/7309/5-elements-
of-plot-and-how-to-use-them-to-build-your-novel