NTUT Academic Writing: Kinds of Logical Order (I)

Chronological Order  Also called “how to” or “process” paragraphs;  Used in a historical narrative (literature review), or fields such as business, science, and engineering, etc.

Find out words/phrases indicative of time sequence

What are the transition signals indicative of various steps?

Test: circle words/phrases suggestive of time and processes

Transition signals for chronological order

When applying transition signals  Be very CLEAR about the sequence of events: did one event happen before, at the same time as, or after another event?  ANY time expression can serve as a chronological transition signal:  Ex. Late that morning; In the next fifteen years; Twenty-five years ago; Before the invention of.

Add appropriate transition signals

Take note of the following before you read the passage  1. Where is the thesis statement?  2. What are the two main processes about?  3. Which paragraph describes the design of nuclear power plant?  4. What are the words/clauses/phrases indicative of time sequence?  5. dramatic introductory paragraph.

Thesis statements for chronological order  Should do 2 things: (A) name the topic, and (B) use words indicative of the intended time sequence (the process, procedure, development, or evolution of; five stages, steps, several phases, etc.)

How many subtopics the article is divided into, and what transition signals are used to indicate the divisions?

Transition signals for order of importance

Find out topic sentences that both apply logical division and suggest order of importance

Before reading another article  The introductory paragraph: “funnel” or “dramatic”?  What is the thesis statement?  How many subtopics does it list?  Is the concluding paragraph a paraphrase of the thesis statement?

Punctuation Marks: 5 uses of colons  1. to introduce a list:  Ex. Libraries have two kinds of periodicals: bound periodicals and current periodical.  (DO NOT use a colon to introduce a list after the verb “to be” unless you add “the following” or “as follows.”)  Ex. To me, the most important things in life are the following: health, happiness, good friends, and a lot of money.  2. Use a colon to introduce a quotation longer than three lines (the quote is indented on both sides and no quotation marks are used).  3. Use a colon between the main title and the subtitle of a book, article, or play.  The name of an article from the New York Times is “Space Stations: Dream or Reality?”  4. Use a colon between the numbers for hours and minutes when indicating the time of day. (20:10)  5. Use colon after the salutation of a formal letter; in informal letters, a comma is more appropriate. (Dear Prof. Li; Dear Tom,)

Quotation marks  1. to enclose a direct quotation that is shorter than three lines (tricky punctuation):  (a) Periods and commas go inside the quotation marks.  Ex. “I thought he was irresponsible,” she said, “but he isn’t.”  (b) Colons and semicolons go outside quotation marks.  Ex. “Give me liberty or give me death”: these are immortal words.  (c) Exclamation points (!) and question marks (?) go inside quotation marks if they are a part of the quotation; otherwise, they go inside.  Ex. “Is it eight o’clock?” she asked. Did she say, “It’s eight o’clock”?  (d) When a quoted sentence is divided into two parts, the second part begins with a small letter unless it is a new sentence.  Ex. “I thought he was cruel,” she said, “but he isn’t.”  “I think he is smart,” she said. “Look at his fine work.”  (e) Use single quotation marks (‘…’) to enclose a quotation with a quotation.  Ex. As John F. Kennedy reminded us, “We should never forget the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, ‘I have a dream.’”  2. Unusual words: used to enclose foreign words or words used in a special or uncommon way.  Ex. A lot of people talk about “machismo” these days, but few people really know what it means.  The “banquet” turned out to be no more than hot dogs and soft drinks.  3. Used to enclose the titles of articles from periodical journals, magazines, and newspapers; chapters of books; short stories; poems; and songs.  (The titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and movies should be underlined or italicized.)

Assignment: add punctuation to the following paragraphs