ENGLISH HANDBOOK NOTES:  J. L. ILSLEY HIGH SCHOOL.

BDA in a Nutshell  (Before, During, After)

 

Students need to be involved actively before, during and after they read, listen or view.  We need to shift the time from all after to before and during.

 

Before reading:

The reader develops a plan of action by:

  • activating and building upon prior knowledge and experiences
  • predicting what text is about based on text features, visuals, and text type
  • setting a purpose for reading
  • linking experiences to the text

During reading:

The reader maintains and monitors a plan of action by:

  • connecting new texts with prior knowledge and experiences
  • checking predictions for accuracy
  • forming sensory images
  • making inferences
  • determining key vocabulary
  • interpreting the traits of main characters
  • self-monitoring own difficulty in decoding and comprehending text
  • interpreting diagrams, maps, and charts
  • posing how, why, and what questions to understand and/or interpret text
  • recognizing cause-effect relationships and drawing conclusions
  • capturing initial personal response to the text

After reading:

The reader evaluates a plan of action by:

  • discussing accuracy of predictions
  • developing and deepening initial responses to the text
  • summarizing the key ideas
  • connecting and comparing information from texts to experience and knowledge
  • explaining and describing new ideas and information in own words
  • retelling story in own words including setting, characters, and sequence of important events
  • discussing and comparing authors and illustrators
  • reflecting on the strategies that helped the most and least and why

Ask Questions Before, During, and After Reading

 

            Readers generate questions before, during, and after reading. Questions pertain to the text’s content, structure, and language.

Questions BEFORE reading: Activate prior knowledge, general world knowledge, text organization or structure knowledge, and author knowledge:

 

  • What clues does the title / subtitle reveal?
  • What genre of writing does this article represent?
  • Based on the genre of writing, how will you read this selection?
  • What information do you know about this topic?
  • Why are you reading this article? What is your goal? (set a purpose for reading)
  • What information do you hope this article will include?
  • What questions do you hope this article will answer?
  • What do you know about this author’s work?
  • When you scan the text features, what details can be collected to help you prepare for reading?

 

Questions DURING reading: Monitor level of comprehension; apply problem-solving strategies when comprehension breaks down:

 

  • What do you understand from the paragraph you just read?
  • Could you summarize its key ideas?
  • What three words represent key ideas?
  • Do you need to re-read the paragraph to understand what the author is saying?
  • Do you need to slow down your reading in order to understand?
  • What images can you visualize from the reading?
  • Do you need to stop and lookup difficult words? or read on to gather the meaning?

 

Questions AFTER reading: Respond, make connections, extend comprehension, analyse and evaluate ideas, read between and beyond the lines, assess literal and interpretive comprehension:

 

  • Which pre-reading questions did this article answer?
  • Which of my predictions were confirmed, or revised?
  • What are the main ideas of this article?
  • What relationships or generalizations are revealed by the text?
  • What is the overall theme of this article?
  • What connections did you make with the information in this article?

 

Copyright Journey North, 2003. Used by permission. Journey North: www.learner.org/jnorth

 

Key Reading Strategies

 

Activate prior knowledge / make connections

  • readers create their own “poem”/text
  • schema theory

 

Decide what’s important in a text

 

Synthesize information

  • Remove irrelevant data and repeated information
  • Categorize information into lists
  • Try to locate topic sentences to use for summarizing
  • Create topic sentences when they are not found in the text

           

Draw inferences during and after reading

  • Reading between the lines

 

Self-Monitor comprehension

  • Pinpoint confusing passages and vocabulary
  • Repair faulty comprehension
  • Use fix-up strategies

 

Ask Questions

  • Pose questions before, during and after

 

Visualize

  • Pictures in your mind as you read

 

Build Vocabulary

  • Increase word knowledge

 

Develop Fluency

  • Read smoothly and with confidence

 

Adapted from Pearson et al. 1992 & Robb 2001

 

 

Features of Information Text

 

Features of information text support readers in locating information and assist them in making meaning of the text. These features alert readers to important information and help them to navigate the text more effectively.

 

Some common features include the following:

 

 

 

Print Features

Font                                            Coloured print                                  italics

Bullets                                        Bold print                                                        underlining

Borders                                       Shading                                                            spacing

                                    

Visual Supports

Diagrams                                    tables                                                                photos

Sketches                                                     cross-sections                                  drawings

Graphs                                        time lines                                                        labelled drawings

Figures                                        overlays                                                            enlarged photos  

Maps                                           coloured photographs                                  paintings

Charts                                         coloured drawings                                          collages

 

Organizational Supports

Index                                          titles                                                   guide words

Table of contents                                      headings                                                          brackets

Preface                                      subheadings                                                    figure references

Glossary                                                    labels                                                footnotes

Pronunciation guide                   captions                                                          arrows

Appendix                                     page numbers                                                white space

Text boxes                                   headers/footers

Vocabulary Supports

Verbal cues that signal importance include:

 

For example                               in fact                                                              most important

For instance                                in conclusion                                                on the other hand

This includes                               similarly                                                           which means

 

 

                                       

 

                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                               

                ©Active Readers Assessment Resource, Nova Scotia Department of Education

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strategies During Reading

 

©Tovani, Cris. 2004.  Do I Really Have to Teach Reading ?  Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12.  Portland ME :  Stenhouse Publishers.

Getting Students Started with Marking Texts

 

  1. Mark one quote in the text, and have a conversation about the quote.
  2. Write a question that doesn’t have a simple answer.
  3. Ask your partner’s opinion about your ideas.
  4. Are you copying information from the text or sharing your thinking?  Share thinking!
  5. Make a statement or recommendation, based on what you’ve read.  Be decisive!
 
 

 

 


 

Possible Uses of Highlighters

Suggestion:  Photocopy a short piece of text, a page from the textbook or novel, a graph or word problem.  Make a transparency, and model places in the text where you highlight.  Give students an opportunity to do the same.  Use highlighted students’ sheets to drive the discussion.

 

  • Give students a yellow highlighter to mark places that are confusing, and a pink highlighter to mark places that they understand well enough to explain to someone else in the class.
  • Use any colour highlighter to emphasize the reader’s purpose in the text.

For example: 

      A line that causes the reader to ask a question

      A line that the reader can personally relate to

      A line that strikes the reader

      A word or term that is unknown

      A section that is well written

     

 
         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Possible Uses of Sticky Notes

 

When students can’t write on the text, sticky notes make it possible to still mark thinking.  Sticky notes can a flag page and mark a line so readers can:

           

  • Find a part quickly
  • Mark a confusing part to get clarification
  • Hold thinking to share later
  • Pose questions
  • Make connections
  • Visualize
  • Note unfamiliar words
 
 

                                                                                

Think-Aloud

 

Think alouds are done by the teacher (or student) to make their thinking "visible". 

Steps for Think Aloud

  1. Select an appropriate book based on a specific reading purpose. Plan the questions that will be asked and the points that will be emphasized before, during and after the reading.
  2. Invite the students to listen to the story and tell them the reason the book was selected. Engage them in the lesson
  3. Introduce the text to students, discuss the title, content, the author, and illustrator. Emphasize needed points or ask planned questions
  4. Read the story with expression, interrupting the reading at selected points to emphasize a point by doing a think-aloud, asking a question, or allowing students to make personal connections.
  5. Discuss what the students have learned, providing an opportunity for students to extend understanding, link their prior knowledge to new concepts and information presented in the text, and make connections to other literature.

In Think-Aloud you may:

 

 

  • Activate prior knowledge      
  • Observe
  • Argue
  • Philosophize
  • Summarize
  • Use fix-up strategies for confusion

 

 

  • Predict
  • Describe
  • Compare

 

 

  • Monitor and correct
  • Question
  • Clarify
  • Apply knowledge
  • Identify what’s important
  • Speculate
  • Guess
  • Wonder
  • Make connections

 

 

Sample Think Aloud Prompts

Prior Knowledge Prompts                              Main Idea Prompts

I know all about                                              This is important because

This reminds me of                                         The author wrote this because

 

Inferential Prompts                                         Prove It Prompts

I am inferring that                                           I think this because

I have this picture in my head

 

Adapted from JoAnne Caldwell, Cardinal Stritch University , 2002, http://students.lisp.wayne.edu/~ah3082/think_alouds.html

 Fix-up Strategies

 

 

 

A “fix-up” strategy is any strategy used by a reader to help get unstuck when the text becomes confusing.

 

Slow down

Stop and think about what you have already read

Reread.  It is okay to go back. 

Read on

Connect to something you already know (your prior knowledge):

            in your life

            your knowledge of the world

            another text

Predict or hypothesize

Make a picture in your head – visualize

Use text features (pictures, headings, titles, graphs)

Figure out the pattern (cause and effect, sequence, listing, comparison/contrast, description, problem-solution)

Identify the controlling idea

Find key words and signal words (first, second, in summary)

Separate long, wordy parts into fewer words

Restate in your own words (paraphrase)

Summarize

Ask yourself questions

Talk with someone else about the reading

Write (underline, use sticky notes, highlight, write in your own words)

Use a system to figure out an unknown word:

            Read to the end of the sentence (context)

            Try the first few sounds (phonics)

            Break the word apart (structure)

            Use the dictionary/glossary

Ask someone for help

Don’t panic.  If the text doesn’t make sense at first, trust that the author will slowly reveal clues.

 

Taxonomy of Thinking

 

 

Adapted from Bloom’s Taxonomy, 1956, from C.B. Olson, Ed., 1992, Thinking/writing: Fostering critical thinking through writing.  Reprinted by permission of Addison Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.

Category

Definition

Trigger Words

Products

Synthesis

Reform individual

parts to  make a new whole

Compose, design, invent, create, hypothesize, construct, forecast, rearrange parts, imagine, propose, formulate

Lesson plan, song, poem, story, ad, invention

Evaluation

Judge value of something based on criteria, support judgment

Judge, evaluate, give opinion, viewpoint, prioritize, compare, rate, predict, persuade, argue, recommend, critique

Decision, rating/grades, editorial, debate, critique, defence/verdict

Analysis

Break down material into its component parts, understand structure and motive, note fallacies

Investigate, classify, categorize, compare, contrast, solve, examine, map, characterize, research, analyze, interpret

Survey, questionnaire, plan, solution, report, prospectus

Application

Transfer knowledge learned in one situation to another, generalize

Demonstrate, use guides, maps, charts, etc., organize, dramatize, illustrate, build, cook

Recipe, model, artwork, demonstration, crafts

Comprehension

Demonstrate basic understanding of concepts and curriculum, translate to other words

Restate, give examples, explain, summarize, translate, show symbols, edit, paraphrase, recognize, tell, describe, review, report

Drawing, diagram, response to question, revision

 

Knowledge

Ability to remember something previously learned

Tell, recite, list, memorize, remember, define, locate, observe, outline, label, sort, match, repeat

Workbook pages, quiz, test, exam, vocabulary, facts in isolation

 

Essay Format

 Your essay should be in 12 point, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5 x 11 inches) with margins of 1 inch on all sides. Your final essay should include, in the order indicated below, the following:

  • title page, which includes an original, centred essay title and your name, date of submission, class, and teacher’s name in the bottom right corner (see example). 
  • outline (see example)
  • text (introduction, body and conclusion)
  • references

The pages of your manuscript should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of text.  Your surname followed by the page number should appear in the upper right corner of each page. Your references should begin on a separate page from the text of the essay under the label References (with no quotation marks, underlining, etc.), centred at the top of the page.

 

                                                                            An Original Title

 

 

 

                                               

                                                                            A. Student

                                                                                                                            10A 03

                                                                                                                            Sept. 21, 2007

                                                                                                                             Mr. Teacher

 

 

Thesis Statement

 

A thesis statement declares what you believe and what you intend to prove in your essay. A good thesis statement makes the difference between a thoughtful research project and a simple retelling of facts. Initially, the thesis will appear under the title on your outline page. It will also appear in your introduction paragraph.

            When composing the thesis, try to be imaginative, creative and forceful. Avoid commonly over-used expression such as “The following essay will discuss…”, or “In my essay”. In fact, you should avoid using “I”, “me”, or “my” at all in your essay.

 

Examples

 

Although Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 are essentially different novels, careful examination reveals some interesting similarities between the societies and people portrayed in these two works.

 

The causes of the Civil War were economic, social, and political.

 

Although various methods for limiting nuclear waste have been proposed, each has its drawbacks.

 

 

The Outline Page

 

At the top of your page, the title of your essay should be underlined.

Two lines below this, will appear your thesis sentence, single spaced.

Two lines below the thesis, you should write the word “Introduction”. This is to remind you that your essay should have at least one good paragraph of introduction before it goes into greater detail.

            Skip a line, and below the “I” in “Introduction”, begin outlining your essay:

  • For each important main idea you plan to deal with, print a Roman number (I, II, III and so on), followed by the important idea
  • Skip a line, and beneath each main idea, outline whatever ideas, facts or examples will support each one; these should be clearly indented for the main idea’s left margin, and lettered with capital letters (A,B,C,D and so on)
  • These supporting ideas will each be supported by examples, details, or quotations; skip a line, indent again, and write these below each supporting idea, and number them with regular numbers (1,2,3, and so on)
  • Any further breakdown of ideas should also be indented and begin with lower case letters (a, b, c, d, and so on)

Once you have outlined all of your essay’s main body, skip a line and, keeping the same margin as the “Introduction” heading, write “Conclusion”. This is to remind you that you will have at least one paragraph at the end which brings your argument to a close in a clear and effective way.

 In the end, the essay outline format will look like this:

Title of the Essay, Underlined

 

 

A complete sentence, your thesis sentence, should be written here.

 

Introduction

 

I. Main idea

            A. supporting idea

                        1. a detail which backs up supporting idea

                        2. another detail

                        3. another detail, if you have one

            B. another supporting idea

                        1. detail

                        2. another detail

II. Next Main Idea

A.    supporting idea

1. a detail which backs up supporting idea

            B. another supporting idea

                        1. a detail which backs up supporting idea

                        2. another detail

                        3. another detail

III. Third Main Idea

            A. supporting idea

                        1. detail which backs up supporting idea

                                    a. quotation to support the detail

                        2. another detail which backs up supporting idea

 

Conclusion

 

General Guidelines

Works should be cited within the text of the essay, as well as in a bibliography or reference list on a separate page at the end of the essay.  Within the text, cite the author and date of works used in your research.  This enables readers to locate the source of the information in the reference list at the end of the paper.            

·         The title of your reference list page should be References and should appear centred at the top of the page.

·         Arrange citations in alphabetical order by the first element of the citation, usually the author’s last name.

·         Double space your reference list, and do not add extra spaces between citations.

·         Hanging indents are required for citations in the reference list or bibliography, as shown in the examples [link to examples].  The first line starts at the left margin.  All subsequent lines are indented four (4) spaces. 

·         Italicizing is preferred for titles of books, journals and videos, although underlining is also acceptable.

·         Article titles, chapter titles, short stories, poems, songs, etc. are entered in “quotation marks”.

Short Quotations

To indicate direct quotations of fewer than four (4) lines in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author, year, and specific page citation in the text, and include a complete reference in the reference list. Punctuation marks, such as periods, commas, and semicolons, should appear after the parenthetical citation. 

Examples:

(Cheek & Buss, 1981, p. 332)
(Shimamura, 1989, chap. 3)

For electronic sources that do not provide page numbers, use the paragraph number, if available, preceded by the paragraph symbol or the abbreviation para. If neither paragraph nor page numbers are visible, cite the heading and the number of the paragraph following it to direct the reader to the location of the material (see section 3.39).

Examples:

(Myers, 2000, ¶ 5)
(Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1)

 

Examples of short quotations:

§         She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style," (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.

§         According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

Long Quotations (block quotes)

Place direct quotations longer than four (4) lines in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented five (5) spaces from the left margin and type the entire quotation on the new margin, single spaced.  The parenthetical citation should come after closing punctuation mark.

Example:

Jones's 1993 study found the following:

Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help (p. 199).

Use an ellipsis (…) to replace the part of a quotation you wish to omit.

Quotations from Poetry & Drama

 

Poetry

If the body of your essay already explains the source adequately, do not re-state the information in parentheses. For example, you might write the following analysis of Keats’ poetry:

 

The poet speaks of the lure of death in “Ode to a Nightingale”:

 

            Darkling I listen; and, for many a time

                        I have been half in love with easeful Death,

            Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,

                        To take into the air my quiet breath(51-54).

 

Here only the line numbers are listed in parentheses, since the title of the poem is given in the body of the essay itself. Note, too, that a long quotation is indented and written without quotation marks. If it were only two lines long, it would be written in the body of the essay in the following way, using quotation marks:

 

            The poet speaks of the lure of death in “Ode to a Nightingale”: “Darkling I listen, and for many a time / I have been half in love with easeful death”(51-52).

Drama

A reference to a play must refer to the act, scene, and line numbers, as in the following case:

 

In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania, enchanted with Bottom, sees the world around her with romantic eyes. As she says,

            The moon methinks looks with a watery eye;

            And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,

            Lamenting some enforced chastity. (3.1.202-04)

 

 

Setting Off Quotations

 

Set off quotations when you wish to use an entire sentence (or more) from your source. One option is to use a signal phrase, followed by a comma, to introduce the sentence. Signal phrases have the grammatical status of introductory elements; for this reason, you must be quoting a complete sentence after your signal phrase.

 

Examples:

 

Using signal phrases (identify the speaker, sources, or immediate context of your quotation)

 

As Robert’s mother tells him, “we’re all cut off at birth with a knife and left at the mercy of strangers” (Smith, 2001, p.28).

 

In Marian Turner’s (1998) words, “language is a strange thing, isn’t it” (p.186).

 

Using colons (following dependent clauses in which you explain or give further information about the quotation that follows)

 

The battlefields, the narrator tells us, resist description in words: “[t]here is no good picture of this except the one you can make in your mind”(Smith, 2001, p.71).

 

Robert is stunned when he is called upon to kill an injured horse: “[h]e had never squeezed a trigger against a living creature in the whole of his life” (Smith, 2001, p.62).

 

 

Acknowledgements: Professor R. Maitzen

Reference List (Based on APA style)

Your references should begin on a separate page from the text of the essay under the label References (with no quotation marks, underlining, etc.), centred at the top of the page. It should be double-spaced just like the rest of your essay.

 Basic Rules

1.      Authors' names are reversed (last name first); give the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work.

2.      Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last names of the first author of each work.

3.      Use "&" instead of "and" when listing multiple authors of a single work.

4.      If no author is given for a particular source, begin with and alphabetize by using the title of the work, which will be listed in place of the author, and use a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.

5.      All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.

6.       When referring to any work that is NOT a journal, such as a book, article, or Web page, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound word.

 

 

 

Reference Formats

 

A NONPERIODICAL (e.g., book, report, brochure, or audiovisual media)

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of Work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.

 

Book, single author

 

Gilbert, H. S. (2000). Racism and Mapmaking: Never a Straight Line?. New York : Preston Press.

 

Book, two authors

 

Gilbert, H. S., & Hart, L.N. (2000). Racism and Mapmaking: Never a Straight Line?. New York : Preston Press.

 

Book, no author given
           

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. (10th ed.). (1998). Springfield , MA : Merriam- Webster.

 

Edited books

 

Gilbert, H. S., & Hart, L.N. (Eds.). (2000). Racism and Mapmaking: Never a Straight Line?. New York :  Preston Press

 

 

PART OF A NONPERIODICAL (e.g., a book chapter or an article in a collection)

 

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). “Title of Chapter”. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of Book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.

Reference Books - Entry in an encyclopedia or dictionary

Marchant, E. (2003). “Gypsy Oak”.  In The New Encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 42, pp. 304-305). Chicago : Encyclopedia Britannica.

 

PERIODICALS (e.g., a journal, newspaper, or magazine)

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). “Title of Article”. Title of Periodical, volume number, pages.

 

 

Journal / magazine article one author
           

Wolf, E. (1990). “Distinguished Lecture: Facing Power”. American Anthropologist, 586-596.

 

Daily newspaper article, no author
           

“New Drug Appears to Sharply Cut Risk of Death from Heart Failure”. (1993, July 15). The Washington Post, p. A12.

 

ELECTRONIC REFERENCES

 

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). “Title of Article”. Title of Journal, volume number (issue number if available). Retrieved month day, year, from http://Web address.

 

 

Internet article

Lessing, J. P. (2001). “The Physics of Cultural Magnets”. Journal of Anthropological Studies, 8, 273-299. Retrieved July 3, 2002, from http://jas.org/2001-8-lessing.html

 

Stand-alone document, no author identified, no date

TechNo's Adolescent Quotient Questionnaire. (n.d.). Retrieved August 5, 2002, from http://www.asnu.edu/TechNo/AQQ.htm

 

A Motion Picture or Video Tape

 

Producer, P. P. (Producer), & Director, D.D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of Motion Picture [Motion picture]. Country of origin: Studio or distributor.

Smith, J.D. (Producer), & Smithee, A.F. (Director). (2001). Really Big Disaster Movie [Motion picture]. United States : Paramount Pictures.

A Television Broadcast or Television Series

Producer, P. P. (Producer). (Date of broadcast or copyright). “Title of Broadcast” [Television broadcast or Television series]. City of origin: Studio or distributor.

Important, I.M. (Producer). (1990, November 1). “The Nightly News Hour”. [Television broadcast]. New York : Central Broadcasting Service.

A Music Recording

Songwriter, W. W. (Date of copyright). “Title of Song” [Recorded by artist if different from song writer]. On Title of Album [Medium of recording]. Location: Label. (Recording date if different from copyright date)

Taupin, B. (1975). “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” [Recorded by Elton John]. On Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy [CD]. London : Big Pig Music Limited.

 
 
Student 7


 
References


 
Benjamin, B. J., & Spacek, S. (2001). “Multicultural Issues in Home Health Care”.  Journal of Multicultural Nursing & Health, 7(3), 26-28. Retrieved December 10, 2001, from ProQuest database.

Beyer, W. N., Heinz, G. H., & Redmon-Norwood, A. W. (Eds.). (1996).  Environmental

Contaminants in Wildlife: Interpreting Tissue Concentrations.  

Boca Raton
, 
Fla

: Lewis Publishers.

Borenstein, S. (2000, April 6).  “Protective Ozone Layer at Record Low: Huge Study Predicts Worse to Come”. The Gazette (

Montreal

), p. B1.  Retrieved November 20, 2001, from Canadian Newsdisc database.



Braintree

.  (2000). In The Encyclopaedia Americana (Vol. 4, p.433).  

Danbury
, 
CT

: Grolier.



Canada

. Health 

Canada

. (1999). A Handbook for Health and Social Service Professionals Responding to Abuse During Pregnancy. 

Ottawa

: Author.

Green, A. (n. d.).  “Living in Harmony with Vegetarians”. Retrieved December 8, 2001, from http://www.vegweb.com/articles/harmony.html

The National Clearinghouse on Family Violence. (1995). The Parent-Teen Relationship:

        Life Through a Teenager's Eyes [Facts sheet]. 
Ottawa
, 
Ontario
: Health 

Canada

, Author. 

Saunders, E. D.  (2000). Buddha and Buddhism.  In The Encyclopaedia 

Americana



        (Vol. 4, pp. 687-611). 

Danbury
, 
CT

: Grolier.

Smith, S. (2001, July/August). “Fighting Fat”.  Psychology Today, 26.  Retrieved November 19, 2001, from ProQuest database.

© Copyright Purdue University Online Writing Lab http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/index.html

 

Transition Words and Phrases

Transition words and phrases help establish clear connections between ideas and ensure that sentences and paragraphs flow together smoothly, making them easier to read. Use the following words and phrases in the following circumstances.

To indicate more information:
Besides
Furthermore
In addition
Indeed
In fact
Moreover
Second...Third..., etc.

To indicate an example:
For example
For instance
In particular
Particularly
Specifically
To demonstrate
To illustrate

To indicate a cause or reason:
As
Because
Because of
Due to
For
For the reason that
Since

To indicate a result or an effect:
Accordingly
Finally
Consequently
Hence
So
Therefore
Thus

To indicate a purpose or reason why:
For fear that
In the hope that
In order to
So
So that
With this in mind

To compare or contrast:
Although
However
In comparison
In contrast
Likewise
Nevertheless
Similarly
Whereas
Yet

To indicate a particular time frame or a shift from one time period to another:

After
Before
Currently
During
Eventually
Finally
First, . . . Second, . . ., etc.
Formerly
Immediately

Initially
Lastly
Later
Meanwhile
Next
Previously
Simultaneously
Soon
Subsequently

To summarize:
Briefly
In brief
Overall
Summing up
To put it briefly
To sum up
To summarize

To conclude:
Given these facts
Hence
In conclusion
So
Therefore
Thus
To conclude

 

 

 

 

 

Acknowledge http://www.factmonster.com/homework/ttransition.html

 

 

Essay Writing Checklist

  

Before & During Writing:

  • Narrow the topic in light of your audience and purpose. Be sure you can discuss this topic fully in the essay.
  • Write a clear thesis statement. You many want to free write or brainstorm first; then narrow the topic and write the thesis statement. 
  • Free write or brainstorm, generating facts, details and examples to develop your thesis statement.
  • Make your outline for your essay, with as many main ideas, supporting ideas, and details as you can.
  • Write a topic sentence that expresses each main idea.
  • Decide on a logical order in which to present the paragraphs.
  • Plan the body of each paragraph, using all you have learned about paragraph development.
  • Write the first draft of your essay.
  • Revise as necessary, checking for support, unity and coherence. (See revision questions attached).
  • Proofread carefully for grammar; punctuation, sentence structure, spelling and mechanics.

 

 

 

After Writing:

  • Did I write on the assigned topic?
  • Is my thesis statement clear? 
  • Does the body of the essay fully support my thesis statement?
  • Does the essay have unity; does every paragraph relate to the thesis statement? 
  • Does the essay have coherence; do the paragraphs follow a logical order? 
  • Are my topic sentences clear? 
  • Does each paragraph provide good details, well-chosen examples and so on? 
  • Is the language exact, concise and fresh? 
  • Have I checked my spelling?
  • Have I checked my punctuation? (logical, correct punctuation makes it easier for the reader to understand your train of thought)
  • Does the essay conclude, not just leave off? Have I proofread my paper at least twice, and asked someone else to proofread it as well?

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                Student 1

 

Original Title from Cover Page

            The first paragraph is the introduction to the essay.  The introduction paragraph should contain the thesis, a statement of what you will prove in the essay, a brief description or explanation of the thesis and, in a literary essay, the title and author of the literary work to be discussed.

The margin settings for a formal essay are one inch on all sides. The header consists of the author’s last name followed by an automatic page number (in the Word program, use the number sign icon on the header toolbar). Do not use p. before the page number. The essay, including the reference block above the title, is double-spaced. The title is neither underlined nor written in all capital letters. Capitalize only the first, last, and principal words of the title.

            Long quotes are indented five spaces from the left margin. The reference notation consisting of the author’s last name, publication date and the page number is keyed at the end of the quotation in parenthesis. The following is an example of a long quotation:

      In a young country like Canada , I am of the opinion that it is of more consequence to endeavour to develop its resources and improve its physical advantages, than to waste the time of the legislature and the money of the people in fruitless discussions on abstract and theoretical questions of government (Creighton, 2004, p.97).

An explanation or clarification of the quotation should normally follow a quotation.

                                                                                                           

 

Student 2

 

A short quote is contained within the body of the formal essay as in the following example illustrated in this paragraph. “Macdonald’s political style was open, free-wheeling and casual” (Johnson, 2003, p.147).  In spite of these descriptions, Sir John A. Macdonald must be considered as a great Canadian.

            In word processing, underlining is not used for emphasis. Use italics for book titles instead of underlining in both your essay and in the Reference page. Once you have completed the body of your formal essay, you insert a page break and enter the text for the Reference page. The header is included on the Reference page as well as the pages of the essay. The citations in the Reference page are listed in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name and keyed in double spacing with one blank line between each item. The first line of each citation is on the margin with wrap-around lines indented five spaces (in the Word program, use a hanging indent).

            The final paragraph of the essay is the conclusion.  Here, the writer should remind the reader of the key points or arguments, thereby returning to the thesis of the essay.  The conclusion should be a summation of the thesis ideas, not a duplication of the exact words. 

 

 

 

 

Reference Websites

 

Great Grammar Help

 

http://occawlonline.pearsoned.com/bookbind/pubbooks/long_longman_uoplezap_1/chapter8/deluxe.html

ExerciseZone – a great interactive site for grammar

 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Purdue University – research, essays, grammar, handouts, practice exercises; great for students and teachers

 

http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

Guide to Grammar and Writing – sentence, paragraph and essay writing, grammar

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other sites for reference:

 

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
The Math Forum – Ask Dr. Math

 http://www.mathwords.com/

Mathwords: Terms and Formulas

www.histori.ca

Canadian History 

 

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/

Physics

 

 
 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

APA Style for Essay Writing

 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/pp/APA.PPT

PowerPoint for using APA style

 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/index.html

Researching and using APA style

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading Strategies and Literacy

 

http://www.teachersfirst.com/getsource.cfm?id=5922

ü      Teachers First site has interactive lessons for reading strategies, word of the day, how to write a paragraph, how to write an essay …

 

http://muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/reading.html#Misc

ü      Basic reading strategies

 

http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_olson_readwrite_1/0,6714,136395-,00.html

ü      Companion website for Olsen’s The Reading/Writing Connection text

http://students.lisp.wayne.edu/~ah3082/rdg_strategy_presentation_files/frame.htm

ü      Think Aloud PowerPoint

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Library Resources

 

EBSCO from home

Linked from Library page on the JL website www.jlihs.ednet.ns.ca/pages/perm/library.html

 

USERNAME:  s1683986

PASSWORD:  judges

 

Choose:  EBSCOhostWeb

                Canadian Reference Centre

Select      “Full Text”

Search

 

** Check library webpage for additional research links