Antar Abdellah

 Writing is a process NOT a product  You need to go through the experience of writing to produce real valuable pieces  Copying or quoting only is not real writing  True writing is writing COMPOSITION

 Writing is like magic; it fascinates readers and changes worlds  Good structure of Writing  Prewriting (Analyzing- brainstorming – researching)  Writing ( revising – using sources)  Post writing (editing – revising)

 Writing skills will be implemented in other courses  Especially humanities and social sciences  Academic writing is quite different from fiction writings  Can be used in life workforce (writing reports – analyzing articles..etc).

 Discuss  Analyze  Argue  Assess  Comment on  Compare  Contrast  Illustrate  Outline

 Determining keywords  Outlining  Transitions (signposts)  Arguments  conclusions

 Academic writing  Bibliography  The classical period  Essay  Non academic writing  Pre-/ post – writing  Signpost/ road map  Thesis statement  Theme  Transitions

 Aims:  how to collect and assess bibliography  How to use source materials from bibliography

 A bibliography is a list of sources. Developed for handling an essay question.  Materials (sources) can be print and electronic  Print: books, journals, video script, audio recordings  Electronic: internet sources, computer programs CD, DVDs

 Relevance (related to the topic)  Accuracy (reliable, from authentic sources)  Versatility (quite different: different authors, different sources, different points of view)

 Primary: the original work of art, piece of literature under discussion  Secondary: a commentary on the work of art by the same or different authors  Tertiary: a commentary on the commentary

 Who wrote this article? A professional in the field or an amateur?  Who hosts the article? A university, an organization or just a forum of friends?)  When was this information posted? (recent or old? If old, out of date or still celebrated?)  Who manages the information? Wikipedia is not reliable)

 Paying attention to small details of a text, and thinking about what they might mean or imply?  For a critical reader: any single text provides but one portrayal of the facts; one individual perspectives- not the absolute truth.

 What is the author trying to do in the article?  What is the tone of the article?  What position is he writing from?  Are there biases for or against something?  Search for: the thesis statement  main ideas  shifts in argument  insufficient evidence  conclusions

 To approach a topic with an open mind  Critical thinkers: are skeptical  are active  are open to new ideas Critical reading requires critical thinking

 Involves the processes of comparing, contrasting and evaluating source materials and ideas.  One good strategy for critical writing is NOTETAKING:  They make you focus your attention on the text  Pick out and think about main ideas  Leaving a trace of the sense you made of the pages

 A summary is a short description of the thesis and main ideas of a longer piece of writing.  How to make a summary:  Read carefully  Reread taking notes  Write the main ideas  Write one sentence summary for each main idea  Revise your writing

 It is a short paper about an article – starts with a summary + evaluation of the original text. Writing a Synthesis: A short summary + evaluation+ uses various sources into a logical short essay. Get a good understanding of each source, write a summary for each, look for relationships among them. Be selective in choosing details for each resource.

 Bibliography  Citation  Database  Electronic sources  Plagiarism  Refereed journal  Search engine  Tertiary sources

 Brainstorming : ListingClustering Free writing questions

 A road map to the essay  The skeleton of the essay  Topic sentence: opening sentence (tells the topic of the essay)  Thesis statement: the angle or argument about the topic.  Pollution is a world problem that can not be ignored. The side effects of pollution in the Arab countries in particular should be revisited.

 Formula:  In this thesis I argue that _________________  I am using the evidence / sources of ________  This is important / interesting because _____  Claim, explain, illustrate, prove, explore …

 Brainstorming  Clustering  Free writing  Outlining  Thesis statement  Topic sentence  Writer’s block

 THE HERO:  Most exam questions will ask you to analyze a character or an event taken by a character  To do this you should have:  - read the original text  -Understood deeply the nature of the character and even  - overviewed other sources that handle the text

 You need reading:  Basic reading (vocabulary and structure)  Reading comprehension (events and endings)  Critical reading (why certain characters behaved in certain ways)  Creative reading (why the author followed this model, how this relates to other works by the same other or the same movement)

 You need Resources:  Literary criticism that handled the author or the trend  Articles about the author or the story  Websites on the author or the work  Understanding the different evaluations of the author or his work.

 You need citation and quotation:  He Read generally to get a common understanding  You can rephrase the ideas you understood or write their exact words.  In both cases you need to cite the resources  Author (date). Title. City: publisher.  Allan. J. (1999). Poetry. London: Longman