Writing skills in English

Unit 3
Written expression in English (I): How to write a composition or essay
Unit 4
Written expression in English (II): Coherence, cohesion and grammatical
correctness
Unit 5
Written expression in English (III): Structures and guiding principles
 Unit 3:
Written expression
in English (I). How to
write a composition
or essay

Cristina Lara Clares

 Introduction:
written skills
• Writing skills are used to write effectively and
succinctly
• A good writer can:
• communicate their point to their audience without
using too much fluff, and
• do it in a way that the other person can
understand
• Writing skills do not only involve the physical act of
writing, but also:
• research, planning, outlining, editing, revising,
spelling, grammar, and organization
• Closely related to reading skills
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Introduction:
reading-writing
connections

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA7QU2s8VSQ
Introduction:
writing skills
• Just like learning to read,
learning to write is not a
‘natural’ process, it needs
to be taught!
• Reading comprehension
will help learners
understand how written
language communicates
• How to teach writing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIabt03JQY4
skills?
 What is a composition?

It refers to what something is made of

The word “composition” comes from the Latin componere,

meaning "put together"

o- the act of writing (the way a writer assembles

In the context of writing, it may words and sentences to create a coherent and
meaningful work), or
refer to: o- the piece of writing that results (e.g. an essay)

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What does a composition need?
 My brother’s tall and handsome and
with blue eyes and, yeah, well, maybe
a bit fat, but not much, you know,
something like your cousin, but maybe
not that much. And he’s very funny, ha
ha, I’ll tell you about what he did
yesterday, but not now. And brown-
haired. Almost dark. Well, not dark
but… well, yeah, dark. Oh, I said funny,
but well, when he’s got a bad day, uff,
he scares me sometimes…

Try to rewrite this in a better way

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 My brother is tall, handsome and
has got blue eyes. He is a little
fat, but not much. His hair is dark
brown. I like him because he is
very funny and always makes me
laugh. Nevertheless, he can also
be quite serious sometimes.

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 What does a
composition
need?
• Using “correct” language
• Organisation: flow like music
• Ideas > paragraphs

=> PLANNING!

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 Steps
1. Pre-writing
Gathering your thoughts or research, brainstorming, and planning
the composition
 Make sure you know what you are writing about
 Make an outline, including:
 Opening sentence = topic + approach
 Ideas connected to the opening sentence
 Details about those ideas
 Closing sentence

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 Steps
1. Pre-writing
 Make sure you know what you are writing about
 Make an outline, including:
 Opening sentence = topic + approach
 Ideas connected to the opening sentence
 Details about those ideas
 Closing sentence

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 Step 1 (pre-writing): what is it about?
• What is the purpose of the composition?
• What is the topic of the composition?
• What are the length requirements (if any)?
• What is the appropriate tone or voice?
• Is research required?

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Writing
• Write one text, properly organised
into paragraphs, about this topic:
• Why do you think writing skills
are so important?
• Give three examples of
situations where you would
need to use your writing skills
• What do you think is essential
for *good* writing?
• Approx. 140-160 words
 Steps
1. Pre-writing
 Make sure you know what you are writing about
 Make an outline, including:
 Opening sentence = topic + approach
 Ideas connected to the opening sentence
 Details about those ideas
 Closing sentence

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 Step 1 (pre-writing): Opening sentence
First sentence in the composition. Everything will be connected to it

Opening sentence = topic + approach

Topic: what it is about
Approach: what your opinion about the topic is, or just the way
you see it, or what you want to say about that topic
For example:
Topic: Life in a village
Approach: better than cities
Opening sentence: Nowadays, most people prefer living in cities,
but I prefer to live in a village because life there is much better and
healthy

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 Steps
1. Pre-writing
 Make sure you know what you are writing about
 Make an outline, including:
 Opening sentence = topic + approach
 Ideas connected to the opening sentence
 Details about those ideas
 Closing sentence

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 Step 1 (pre-writing): Ideas
Deriving or connecting to opening sentence (both topic and approach!)
They must explain, expand, support or prove the opening sentence, never
modify or contradict it
Avoid digressions: talking about a point which is connected to another point
in the composition, but not directly connected to the opening sentence

• Example of good quality points:

• no pollution
• people know each other
• Example of bad quality points:
• Villages in the south of Spain are bigger than in the north (we must compare life in the
village with life in the city, not comparing different villages)

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 Steps
1. Pre-writing
 Make sure you know what you are writing about
 Make an outline, including:
 Opening sentence = topic + approach
 Ideas connected to the opening sentence
 Details about those ideas
 Closing sentence

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 Step 1 (pre-writing): Details
Think of each point as the seed for a future paragraph
For every point  few details to explain that idea

• Example: friendly people

• people help you
• people talk to you in the streets
• people invite you to a drink in the bars

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 Step 1 (pre-writing): Details
Start with a cluster or bubble exercise and then write the outline

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 Steps
1. Pre-writing
 Make sure you know what you are writing about
 Make an outline, including:
 Opening sentence = topic + approach
 Ideas connected to the opening sentence
 Details about those ideas
 Closing sentence

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 Step 1 (pre-writing): Closing sentence
Cannot say anything after it. Several ways to close a composition:
1. A restatement of the opening sentence (same idea, different words)
Example: There’s no doubt about it: life in a village is much better than life in a city.
2. A summary of the points (ideas)
Example: With a cheaper life, a close contact with nature, a healthy environment and
surrounded by nice people, villages are the ideal place to live.
3. A look to the future
Example: I really think I should leave the city and look for a nice house in a village as soon as
possible.
4. A related thought that grows out of the body (usually a conclusion from the
points)
Example: That’s why our urban societies are more efficient, but its people are less human.
5. Mixed type (a combination of several types of conclusions)
Example: That’s why I’m planning to move to a village, because life there is much better
than in the cities (type 3 + type 1, even the whole sentence can be an example of type 4)

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 Bottle of perfume

• The glass: The opening

sentence. Your first sentence,
which will contain all the ideas of
your piece of writing inside
• The perfume: All the things you
have to say. Don’t let even a
drop fall outside the bottle
• The cap: The last sentence in
your composition. The one that
will close it and make it a
finished piece of work

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 Steps
2. Writing
 Write a title
 Organise ideas into paragraphs
 Write the composition
 Don’t forget about transitions!

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 Steps
2. Writing
 Write a title
 Organise ideas into paragraphs
 Write the composition
 Don’t forget about transitions!

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 Step 2 (writing): Title
Words expressing the topic (usually not the approach)
Typical format:
Centre and top
Capitalisation of lexical words (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs).
No capitalisation of grammatical words (prepositions, articles…)
Not a sentence (subject+verb+complement)
No final stop
No underlining

Good example:
Life in a Village
Bad example:
I prefer to live in a village.
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 Steps
2. Writing
 Write a title
 Organise ideas into paragraphs
 Write the composition
 Don’t forget about transitions!

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 Step 2 (writing): Paragraphs
Group ideas into units
Every paragraph contains one or several points, all of them about the same
general idea
but the general idea of each paragraph must be different from the
general idea of the other paragraphs

Typical format:
Indenting in every paragraph
Sometimes double spacing between paragraphs

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 Step 2 (writing): Paragraphs
Example: Topic: Life in a village
Approach: better than cities

Introduction: opening sentence and + bad things about living in a city

Body:
Paragraph 2: people and why they make life there better (they’re nice, they know you,
care about you and help you)
Paragraph 3: life there being more natural (clean air, no pollution, contact with nature,
beauty of the landscape, more animals)
Paragraph 4: the way of life (everything is cheaper, healthy entertainments, more
exercise).
Conclusion: closing sentence + reinforce the closing sentence (or one or several points
that will help us accept the idea in the closing sentence better)
For example, if the closing sentence is a look to the future (“I have decided to move to a
village”) then the previous sentences in that paragraph may explain that in the last
months I’ve been getting more and more tired of cities
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 Steps
2. Writing
 Write a title
 Organise ideas into paragraphs
 Write the composition
 Don’t forget about transitions!

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 Step 2 (writing): Writing
It should only be done after all the previous steps

Some aspects that will make your writing better:

Avoid long and complicated sentences! Use simplex sentences or
compound/complex sentences with only two clauses (main +
coordinate/subordinate clause)
Don’t try to sound “smart”: only use words or phrases that you know how
to use
Use transitions

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 Step 2 (writing): Writing

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 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Transitions
They add “flow” to the text, and they are used to show connections in writing
i. between paragraphs, and
ii. within paragraphs

“Transitions signal relationships between ideas—relationships such as: “Another

example coming up—stay alert!” or “Here’s an exception to my previous statement”
or “Although this idea appears to be true, here’s the real story.” Basically,
transitions provide the reader with directions for how to piece together your ideas
into a logically coherent argument. Transitions are not just verbal decorations that
embellish your paper by making it sound or read better. They are words with
particular meanings that tell the reader to think and react in a particular way to your
ideas. In providing the reader with these important cues, transitions help readers
understand the logic of how your ideas fit together.”
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 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Transitions
The organization of your written work includes two elements:
i. the order of presentation of the different parts of your discussion or
argument, and
ii. the relationships you construct between these parts.

 Transitions cannot substitute for good organization, but they can make
your organization clearer and easier to follow

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 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Transitions

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 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Transitions

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Step 2 (writing): Writing
Transitions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpDTxvxuFpM
 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Additive transition words

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 Step 2 (writing
Adversative transition words

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 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Causal transition words

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 Step 2 (writing)
Enumeration transition words

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Step 2 (writing): Writing
Transitions – practice
 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Transitions – practice
Choose the correct linking word or phrase.
Here is your list of options: Although/As/but also/Despite/However/In any case/in order to/not only/until/while

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 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Transitions – practice
Choose the correct linking word or phrase.

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 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Examples:
• Sentence 1: Cities are getting more and more aggressive, so I’m thinking
of moving to a village
• Sentence 2: I don’t like cities because, after all the changes in modern
societies, they are getting more and more aggressive and polluted, as
everybody can see, although I know that on the other hand, life in a city
offers more opportunities for some things such as jobs and entertainments,
but the good things don’t compensate for the bad things, so that’s why I’m
thinking of moving to a village, since life in a village is much better, natural
and healthy than life in a city, especially big cities, which are still growing
with more and more new people coming to live there.
• How would you rewrite the second sentence to make it better?

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 Step 2 (writing): Writing
Examples:

Everybody can see that, in modern societies, cities are getting more and
more aggressive and polluted. It is true that, in big cities, the suply of jobs
and entertainment is much bigger; nevertheless, the good things don’t
compensate for the bad things. I really believe life in a village is much better,
natural and healthy than life in a city, and that’s why I’m thinking of moving to
one.

(that’s why vs. which is why: https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/eb/qa/that-is-why-and-which-is-why )

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 Steps
3. Post-writing
 Correct your composition

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 Step 3 (post-writing): Correcting
• Read your composition as if you were the evaluator reading
someone else’s composition
• Do not only check grammar or spelling, but also content: move
paragraphs where they fit better, delete sentences that are not
relevant, rewrite ideas that are not clear
• One trick: read it out loud
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89mVr-zJcoI  Checklist

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Some recommended videos/readings
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFkFFu_7c_I
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IFDuhdB2Hk
• http://www.edu.xunta.gal/centros/iesblancoamorculleredo/syste
m/files/how+to+make+a+composition_0.pdf
• https://www.scribbr.com/category/academic-essay/