User:Marina T/Academic writing notes

Mariana's notes

INSTRUCTIONAL-> PRODUCING LEARNING

Are you tired that at school, the teacher is talking and talking and you just listen?

In the past, it was common to see the instructional paradigm in classes. now with the new paradigm that has been applied in classes, has been changing students. what does that mean? it is important for teacher, that students produce learning. "The shift to a learning paradigm liberates institutions from a set of difficult constraings" (Bar & Tagg, 1995, p. 1). For teachers, and all the education field, is important to consider the "learning paradigm" because with the application of this new paradigm teachers are helping students to develop their learning. Some years ago, it was commonly seen in classrooms and instructional paradigm, but now with the implication of the new parad.

THESIS STATEMENT

1.It makes a definite and limited assertion that needs to be explained and supported by further discussion: trite, irrelevant

intriguing Shakespeare was the world's greatest playwright. The success of the last scene in Midsummer Night's

Dream comes from subtle linguistic and theatrical references to Elizabeth's position as queen.

1.It shows the emphasis and indicates the methodology of your argument: emotional, vague

This essay will show that the North American Free Trade agreement was a disaster for the Canadian furniture industry.

Worth attention

1.It shows awareness of difficulties and disagreements:

Wweeping, vague

Suitably complex

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

A good research question is a question that’s worth asking. It poses a problem worth solving. “Dichotomous questions” – questions with simple yes or no answers – may have important practical significance but they don’t make good research questions. As discussed earlier1, a good research question requires more than looking something up. It reflects an underlying tension that does not simply turn on one or two missing facts. It should force you to weigh evidence and compare divergent opinions on your topic. It should allow you to develop an answer that your readers find both interesting and significant.

In presenting your research question it’s therefore useful to make clear to the reader what that tension is that provides the heft for your question. Below is a list2 of hallmarks of good research questions. They point to the sort of tension that is characteristic of an engaging and fruitful question. Once you have a decided on a tentative question compare it to the items in the list. Add up the point total in the last column. A good research question need not exemplify all of these characteristics. But a very low score indicates that you may be on the “dichotomous” side of the question spectrum. If so, some additional reading and thought is appropriate.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

WHAT IS AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

ANNOTATIONS VS. ABSTRACTS

Abstracts are the purely descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes. Annotations are descriptive and critical; they expose the author's point of view, clarity and appropriateness of expression, and authority.

THE PROCESS

Creating an annotated bibliography calls for the application of a variety of intellectual skills: concise exposition, succinct analysis, and informed library research.

First, locate and record citations to books, periodicals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic.

Cite the book, article, or document using the appropriate style.

Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the book or article. Include one or more sentences that (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited, or (d) explain how this work illuminates your bibliography topic.

CRITICALLY APPRAISING THE BOOK, ARTICLE, OR DOCUMENT

For guidance in critically appraising and analyzing the sources for your bibliography, see How to Critically Analyze Information Sources. For information on the author's background and views, ask at the reference desk for help finding appropriate biographical reference materials and book review sources.

CHOOSING THE CORRECT FORMAT FOR THE CITATIONS

Check with your instructor to find out which style is preferred for your class. Online citation guides for both the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) styles are linked from the Library's Citation Management page

ANNOTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hamin, S. and Hameed, A. 2006. The use of first language in limited English proficiency classes: good, bad or ugly?. Journal e-Bangui. (online). (October 25 2010)

It is a good example of the use of L1 in L2 classroom. It contains the advantages and disadvantages. The journal talk about the negative transference in the process of writing because it explain the different ways that the students use to start to write, but they think in their first language and then they want to translate in a second language. It is the most of the cases the worst idea because the syntaxes, the grammar and in some cases the pragmatic is incorrect because the second language do not have the same rules or the same word order than their mother tongue. By other hand it also talk about the advantages that the first language has in the process of writing when the students want to start to write any kind of paper. For example when they want to start they use their mother tongue to begin a structure (outline) and then they use their background (it is in Spanish) and they use it, but they start to write in English. It could be a positive transference.

Atkinson, D. 1987. The mother tongue in the classroom: A neglected resource? ETL Journal,

The author’s point of view is very enthusiastic about the use of L1 in L2 classroom. But in a responsible way because the author says that the teacher can negotiate with the students the use of L1, but with his/her conditions. For example the teacher can choose in which moments of the class he or she going to talk in the mother tongue of the students. It could be for example at the moment to explain their mistakes, at the moment that he or she want to explain some assessments or when the students do not understand that the teacher says, but only if the other options of L2 fail ( mimic, gestures, paraphrasing). It agree with the L1 in L2 classroom is a neglected resource for the teachers because with the new age of methods and approaches they underestimate the advantages that the Li has in L2 classroom specially for some students because in some cases it prevent the frustration of the students talking abut the foreing language.

Come, S. (1998) The Use of L1 in Communicative English Classrooms (www) http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/98/dec/cole.html (November 4, 2010)

It refers to the positive influence that the L1 has in the acquisition or in the learning of a new language because it says that the mother tongue could be an advantage instead of a disadvantage. It could be in this way if then teacher now the advances of his/her students in their mother tongue because it is found that the students that have a training in their mother tongue will be easy for them to learn a new language. For example we could use the L1 to translate the word “noun” in order to the students understand easily the structure of the sentences. But it also talk about the moments that the teacher must avoid the use of the L1 because it specifies the reasons and suggest the ways that have success in this moments without the L!. Besides in this article we can fin many points of view of different authors about the use of L1 in L2 classroom.